Chapter 1

Olivia scrolls through the website, looking at other hybrid information, before looking for their contact number.

Once she finds it, she dials the number.

"Hello, this is Julia from Adopt a Hybrid. How can I help you?" A sweet voice comes from the receiver.

"Hi, My name is Olivia Francis. I just saw that my adoption profile was published on your website today despite me having asked you to remove my profile from your adoption list, as I decided to remain unadopted."

"Would it be possible to remove the post and verify whether or not I have been labeled as an unadopted independent hybrid?" Olivia asked politely to the lady on the other end.

"I see. Our deepest apologies for the mistake Miss Olivia. We will immediately take down our announcement on our website regarding your profile as well as update your status on the database." Julia tells Olivia.

"No worries, Thank you!"

"Would you still be interested in reviewing the profile of the adopter who was interested in you?" Julia asked, which caught Olivia half guarded.

"Pardon?"

"An adopter showed interest in your profile and selected your profile," Julia clarifies.

Olivia stays silent, not knowing what to say. 

Julia continues, "I have sent his information to your registered mail id. Please go through it and let us know if you are interested in getting adopted. We are very sorry for the mistake from our end. Thank you for calling AAH, have a good day."

And the call goes silent. Olivia stares at her black screen for a few seconds and storms out of the room.

"What the f*ck?" Olivia screams when she enters her best friend’s apartment.

Mia is Olivia’s one and only best friend, who is also her sister figure, and a hybrid, too. She stays in the same building with Olivia, but both have a different apartment rented for their stay.

Whenever Olivia has some problem or an issue, she storms to Mia’s apartment to rant about it.

Mia has practically raised Olivia. She is 5 years older than Olivia, calm and thoughtful but can be brash too. She is the main reason why Olivia grew up to be a brat. They both have been friends for more than 15 years. Mia always tends to reap the mess Olivia sows.

"Everything okay?" a female voice comes from the dining room. Olivia moves toward the room.

"Nothing is okay. The AAH accidentally posted an adoption announcement for me, and when I called to ask them to remove it, I got informed that someone had picked my profile."

"Great!! Did you check out the adopter?" Mia asked excitedly. She still remembers the words Olivia said when she was young “if anyone were to love me, I wouldn’t be alone anymore, right?”

Olivia may be a cold brat, aloof at first, hot-tempered, who wants more freedom, kind of reckless, someone who is not afraid of much, someone who is often bored. But all she wishes for is someone who could love her for her.

"Why would I? It's not like I'm interested or that they will genuinely want to adopt me."

"You can know that, Olivia," Mia sighs.

Olivia snorts. "I can actually after three dozen failed adoptions…."

"Was it ever that much?" Mia says with a muffled laugh.

"I have been in the system since birth, Mia," Olivia protested.

"Come on. You could try one last time, mm," Mia says, trying to make Olivia agree to it. All she wants is happiness.

"You know, Mia. I'm kinda tired of trying," Olivia says with a sad voice.

"Don't be like that. I know you have always wanted to be with someone, didn’t you?" Mia gestures her hand for Olivia to come closer to her and sit beside her.

"Someone that isn't a prick or wants to use a hybrid as their maid or something worse," Olivia says as she flops down beside Mia.

"The AAH always makes sure to send their hybrids to good homes. You know, it’s how I found Walter," Mia said.

"I don't know… but I always found that organization is a bit suspicious. Weird things happened there sometimes."

"I have never seen anything strange but trusting your instincts is always good," Mia agreed and continued, "So, you won't check the adopter's profile then?"

Olivia contemplated for a minute before coming to a decision. "I guess it doesn't hurt to check the profile."

Mia smiled victoriously. "Keep me updated then. You can look now if you want. I’ll be with you the whole time."

After that, Olivia opened the mail sent by AAH. Mia let Olivia go through the adopter’s profile on her own. Once Olivia was done, she showed it to Mia.

“So, the adopter is 27, a male. It doesn't say anything about his job besides the fact that he ‘works in retail?’ Why would he want a hybrid?” Olivia asked Mia with confusion.

Mia just shrugged her shoulders and continued to look at the file.

“The guy in the picture looks familiar; I'm getting a weird vibe from this.” Olivia continues.

Mia turns to Olivia with surprise. “The adopter profile has a photo of a man with it?”

Olivia nods. “Yeah, it’s at the end of the file.”

Mia looks alarmed. “Ohhh”

“What?” Olivia asks with suspicion.

“Oly, I think I know who this guy is,” Mia looks terrified.

“I’m Listening?” Olivia crooks an eyebrow. Why is she acting all suspicious?

Mia gulps. “Does the name Ash ring a bell?”

Olivia looks confused. “Ash? As in that shady guy that blackmailed some people in the government?”

“He is more than just a shady guy Olivia. He is a MOB BOSS,” Mia says loudly and slams her mouth shut with her hand. Her eyes were wide and alarmed.

“I wasn’t loud, right; nobody should hear this. F*ck”

"What the f*ck?" Olivia answers Mia with a scream.

"How do you know that? How do you know he- he is a mob boss?" Olivia asks.

Mia hesitated for a second before she told the truth to Olivia. "There is something I haven't told you about Walter because it could endanger you, and I have always done my best to avoid that."

"Just spit it out" Olivia got impatient.

"I know Ash's face because I have seen it before," Mia blurted.

"Where?" Olivia lifts an eyebrow at Mia.

"When Walter took me to Ash's house for dinner. Because Walter, he is Ash's right-hand man?" Mia finished with a question-mark tone.

"Mia, what the hell…." Olivia was speechless.

"I technically never lied to you. I just- I just omitted that detail…." Mia said silently.

"You- You must be f*king with me. This has to be some sort of twisted joke" Olivia denied the possibility of that.

"I wouldn't play games with something like that," Mia said.

"F*ck," Olivia cursed. "I have something to do. I need some time to think about this. Alone. I'll contact you when I'm okay," Olivia said.

"Okay, I'm sorry," Mia said sadly.

"Bye." Olivia left Mia’s apartment with loads of questions swirling in her head.

* * * * * * * * * *

Olivia paced in her home, contemplating what she should do now. The profile was sent by AAH. They must have done a background check on every profile they receive.

Olivia thought she must reach out to them to know more about the said mob boss. So, she dialed the AAH number.

"Hello, this is Julia from Adopt a Hybrid. How can I help you?" Julia's voice sounded.

"Hello, this is Olivia Francis. Today morning you said someone was interested in my profile, and the adopter profile was sent to my mail," Olivia asked Julia.

"Yes, Miss Olivia. I remember"

"Do you know whose profile you just sent to me?" Olivia asked.

"Asher Simon's. Why? Is there an issue with it?" Julia asked, checking the database for the information.

"Do you perhaps know who that is?" Olivia asked with caution. She doesn't want to blow the cover if they don't know who Asher Simon is.

"Well, We do a complete check on every profile we receive before the profile is verified in the database. Besides the information provided in his profile, we came to know that Asher Simon is a well-known retailer and a charitarian. Other than that, no, we don't know much about him," Julia said professionally.

"Oh, what about his job?"

"He works as a retailer," Julia clarified.

Olivia bit her lips and asked in a small voice, "Does he have my number? Did you send it to him?"

"Your phone number is automatically added to adopters having selected your profile," Julia said.

Olivia was frustrated. Ash, the mob boss, has her phone number. The thought itself brought an intense fear in Olivia's heart.

"It breaches a lot of privacy barriers, but I see. Make sure to remove my phone number as well as my profile." Olivia said, clenching her fist.

"Of course, Our apologies for our earlier mistake. However, I believe Asher Simon may contact you soon, as he mentioned to us," Julia said.

Before Olivia could say something, Julia wished her a good day and ended the call.

* * * * * * * * * *

Olivia's phone dinged with a notification. A message from an unknown number is displayed on the lock screen.

Unknown Number: Hi Olivia, this is Asher Simon. The AAH forwarded me your phone number after I selected your profile for adoption. May we speak for a bit?