**Olivia POVI woke up still groggy, the world going from a dark blur to a light blur. Everything that had happened slowly rearranged itself in my mind.Pain came back along with the memories, if in a reduced form. With a wince, my head turned just right, and I saw Ellis seated by the bed, where he’d always been before getting arrested and would always be if I had anything to say about it.Ellis looked troubled, something I rarely saw. He was always so capable and in control of himself if not the situation. I reached out to him instinctively, and Ellis took it tenderly.“Can you be here?”“Of course,” he said.“No, I mean your house arrest.”“That is taken care of. Even if it wasn’t, I think this counts as compassionate grounds.”I relaxed a little, letting out a breath. Then I remembered what happened with the baby.“How is she?” I asked.He squeezed my hand, letting me know something was wrong, no matter what he might say.“She will be fine,” he said, “I’ll take you to the NICU to se
Ellis POVI sat in the executive chair in the office, getting work done as well as I could under the circumstances. Even with the new legal troubles, some things never changed. “And tell them if they don’t they will have to answer to me,” I said. “Got it,” my project manager, William, said, looking a little shaken. Handling contractors came with the job, and was mostly a matter of patience, and being commanding. Much the same as handling a child having a tantrum. I relaxed a little as the call went away, taking more of the immediate problems with it. There were other problems hanging over my head that I didn’t like to think about. A little annoyed and very tired I loosen my tie, which had come to feel like a noose. After the house arrest, theoretical as it might have been, I hardly wore one anymore.I felt Olivia’s absence in my chest, like a weight. One I tried to lighten with another drink. Sipping lightly from the tumbler of rum, careful not to get drunk. I wanted to be alert
Had I known where I would end up and who I would run into, I never would have set foot in the Peterson house that night.***"Mr. Peterson is waiting for you." A maid, who I had never met before, opened the door of the mansion. She looked at me and politely smiled, "Follow me, please."Carl Peterson, my fiance, and his family had a large house in New Jersey, only forty minutes away from Manhattan. Carl and I were both sophomores at NYU, and since his place wasn't too far away from our university, I'd occasionally stop by to spend time with him.Earlier, the guard at the gate let me in without a word, probably because everyone knew that I was always welcome in my fiance's home.As my footsteps echoed in the hall, however, my best friend Jenny's warning echoed in my head. Although I tried to ignore it, it kept coming back.'I walked in on your fiance kissing another woman in the parking lot of a five star restaurant yesterday.' Jenny's words repeated like they were on a broken reco
**Ellis POVI watched her from the shadows, taking slow sips from my glass of imported red wine from my personal winery in the south of France.The woman froze, as if she was surprised by the command that echoed from my lips. She was gorgeous and just my type, young and beautiful, with her little summer dress and her ballet flats. I imagined what she would look like wearing a bunny mask, 'my' collar, and matching white lace lingerie crawling towards me on her hands and knees before sitting back on her heels. How she would slide her fingertips along her sexy thighs, clothed in crisp, white, lace-topped, thigh highs with her back straight, and her head tilted up. I shoved the lascivious thought away and focused on her. She looked innocent, like an angel in a demon's lair. Although she acted a bit different from when we talked over the phone, she was definitely worth the price. The atmosphere around me thickened as I slowly and meticulously circled around my prey in th
"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Peterson." She curtsied in the sweetest way despite our…unusual encounter. Whoever raised her, raised her well."Please, call me Ellis," I instructed.I suddenly realized where I had heard that name before. "You wouldn't happen to be Olivia Richardson, the daughter of the Richardson empire, would you?"She shyly nodded, "Yes, Sir, that's me."I arched my brow. How did my idiot son pull such an elegant young lady like her?A shot of adrenaline coursed through my veins at hearing her call me 'Sir.' Although I preferred to be called Master, she didn't need to know that. I needed to take her to my damn, ungrateful, son."How about we go find Carl?" I placed my other hand in my pocket and strode to the door. I opened it and held it for her, "Ladies first.""Thank you," she finally seemed to calm down enough to smile, then she stepped past me with grace and poise that had obviously been drilled into her since birth.Her sweet and floral perfume swirled arou
**Olivia POVWhen I arrived back at home and was safely in my bedroom, my phone began to ring in my purse. I shoved it onto my desk and reached inside to dig around for my phone. It took me a moment to find it, but eventually I had it pressed to my ear."Hi, Carl," I was surprised that he had called me so soon after being there."Hey! Sorry, I didn't speak with you much when you were over." He sounded apologetic, and I didn't understand why."It's okay. You don't need to apologize to me. You've been really busy lately with work." I played with a perfume bottle on my vanity, while I talked to him."I have been. I wanted to tell you how grateful I am that your parents decided to invest in my company." Carl really was the sweetest man I had ever met. He continued, "I wanted to ask you if you would like to come to our vacation home in Long Island to spend the upcoming holiday together?"My heart began to speed up as I worried about being alone in a massive house with my fia
Since Carl wasn't around, I got myself settled down in the room and checked my school emails to catch up. It took a bit longer than I anticipated and I didn't realize it was getting dark. I was trying to fill out some paperwork when I noticed my driver's license was missing. Where had I left it? Did I lose it on the way here? Had I left it at home? No, because I had it at one point after we had taken off to come here.I went on a wild search for it through my bags, hoping that I had just placed it in a weird pocket or something, but to no avail. I took a moment to sit and think about where I could have misplaced it. Maybe it had fallen out when my bags were taken for me? Maybe Bethany had seen it?I decided to check with my sister, but the house was too big and I certainly didn't want to walk into a wrong room again. "Excuse me," I grabbed one of the house staff's attention with a smile.He smiled politely at me in return with a cream towel draped over his forearm, "Y
The warm water rushed up around me, causing the sounds outside of the water to blur and become a mumble. Ringing echoed in my ears, making me cringe from the sharp sound.Time felt like it had slowed down before I suddenly realized I was sinking. I began to panic, flailing my arms around beneath the water and hoping to rise up. I foolishly gasped for air beneath the waves, thinking that would save me.Water filled my nose and lungs, causing my heart to race harder and me to panic more. I kicked and choked on the intrusive chlorinated water when I heard a loud splash beside me.I tried to swim to the surface, but I was disoriented and scared. It wasn't long before a pair of strong arms wrapped around me and pulled me up to the surface while I was kicking and gasping for air, unable to make a sound.I clawed at muscular pecs, panicking, coughing up water, and gasping for air."You're alright," a low voice spoke as if to console me. It was then I realized who had jumped in to sa