The throbbing pain in her head was what served as Olivia's wake-up call, forcing her out of unconsciousness and back to reality. The bright rays of the sun slipped in between her eyelids, causing her to flinch a little. The sharp movement caused her to hiss lightly as sharp pain lanced through her limbs and her back. She opened her eyes and had to blink away the bleariness to properly get a look around her surroundings. The first thing she noticed was the lack of the acrid smell she had come to associate with the warehouse she had been kept in after she had gotten captured. The clean scented air around her was a very welcome change in her opinion, at least until her brain realized why the scent was so familiar. This was definitely Noah's house. Her eyes opened up fully and as she slowly made to sit up, her gaze shifted to the side and she finally noticed the person who had been seated by her bed, with his head resting beside her leg. Her movements ended up waking Noah from his sleep
Even though Olivia felt she was good enough to get back on her feet the next day, Noah insisted that she remained inside for another entire day. And as much as Olivia had wanted to protest, she had held herself back for the sake of the sense of gratitude she owed him for saving her. Not that it meant much in the long run, but she simply decided to humor him for now. Although with what she was seeing now, she was seriously starting to reconsider her decision. A couple of days after her rescue, Olivia woke up in the room she had been occupying during her stay at Noah's house and realized very quickly that something was wrong. Or right, in a bizarre twisted manner. For starters, she was woken up by her alarm clock, which made no sense since the device was supposed to be miles away at her own house. Then she sat up on the bed and her eyebrows were summarily introduced to her hairline as she stared bewildered at the state of the room. When she had first arrived here, the room had been ta
Noah stared at Olivia for a good minute, unsure if he should tell her the truth or not. She definitely deserved to know the people after her for security reasons, but at the same time, Noah couldn't see the use in answering that question. What good would it do her? She was already secure enough with him, and it wasn't as if she would be able to stand a chance against Damian on her own. On second thought, he decided it was probably best to let her know that it was Damian who wanted her out of the way. Even though Noah knew exactly what Damian's plans were, he was yet to discover his deal with Olivia. He knew from the information that Lisa had gathered for him that Olivia and Damian had some sort of deal going on. He hadn't been able to find what their relationship was based on, and he knew asking Olivia would be a waste of time, she wouldn't tell him the truth. After rescuing her, he had begun to wonder if all of this was a part of their plan. Had she intentionally gotten herself k
Hearing that Olivia had been found had Lisa spiraling with emotions, and not the happy kind. Although she had no idea who had kidnapped Olivia, she had wished that they had gotten rid of her for good. As long as Olivia was around, her chances with Noah were as good as zero. She had broken them apart once, and she planned on doing that again one way or another. Slipping into one of her gowns, she did a light make up before hurrying down to flag down a taxi. Even though she didn't want to do this, it was crucial that she still acted like Olivia's friend, at least until she was able to snatch Noah from her. And what type of friend would hear about their friend getting kidnapped, and not pay them a visit? At first, Lisa had thought about going over to Noah's place during the weekend to pay Olivia a visit and sympathize with her, but had decided against it. She wouldn't be able to deal with seeing Noah and Olivia act like a couple in front of her, and she definitely couldn't risk losin
When the elevator doors slid open, Michael glanced around the hallway quickly and exhaled a sigh of relief when he realized that Amelia had finally left. He supposed that it might have been the state of his mental and emotional situation at the time, but Michael still admonished himself for even entertaining the thought of accepting Amelia. Of course she had played a part in that as well, with her whole sincere and caring act that she had playing this whole time to get him to fall back into her arms again. But now that Michael was less troubled by the state of things between him and Olivia, he could see through her entire act. That woman had some serious problems when it came to her interpersonal relationships. That was part of the reasons why Michael had been glad when the engagement between them had taken a downturn. And yet here she was now trying to pull the same trick all over again. He would have to do something about her at some point before she got out of control. Michael re
Olivia stared pointedly at the dresses in front of her as she tried her best to decide which of the two to pack into the suitcase sitting on the bed in the room behind her. The first one was a simple black dress with beautiful white floral patterns that were designed to draw attention. She usually only wore this whenever she was being dragged by Lisa to some sort of dysfunctional family event that the latter did not really want to go to but had no choice but to attend. That way, most of the attention would be focused on Olivia herself and leaving Lisa out of her family's scrutiny. The memories made Olivia smile a little as she ran an examining hand down the second dress; a long flowing gown with long billowy sleeves that Lisa had once said made Olivia look like a ghost. This one was the one Olivia preferred on a personal level but with the way the weather was turning warm, it might be too warm to wear something like this considering where they would be going. The 'they' in her th
Just like Noah had said, an order soon arrived for Olivia, and as expected it was a full wardrobe change neatly arranged in suitcases, so that she didn't need to bother packing them anymore. Noah was definitely trying hard, and realizing that brought an uncanny smile to Olivia's lips. Now certain that all the things she needed were ready and in place, she got straight to readying herself for the journey. She genuinely had no idea how she was going to be received after all these years. The Grants never really cared for her, and she doubted she had any semblance of love for them either. They had seen her suffer abuse at Noah's hands throughout the duration of their marriage ten years ago and had done absolutely nothing. She had no idea what she had expected from them back then, it had been clear from her courtship days with Noah that the Grants didn't care for anything that didn't add more money to their pockets. Olivia chose a simple black dress from the wardrobe, the fabric soft and
For a family that was full of self righteous, snobbish rich bastards, the Grants certainly had a clear taste of opulence that could not be denied. There was a certain degree of arrogance that could be found no matter where Olivia looked in the entire compound. Whether it was one of the numerous glass fountains that looked like each of them cost as much as a house, or the pure marble statues that were positioned throughout the sectioned gardens, the wealth of the Grant family was always being shoved in one's face, without an inch of subtlety to lessen the impact. The household help were the first set of people to greet them at the gates after Noah parked the car. The group of maids, all with their professional smiles that were so polite that they could not possibly be genuine, swarmed the couple and within seconds, all their luggage had been moved into the house. Noah led Olivia with a hand at the small of her back towards the mansion. She paused for a moment when they reached the
"Olivia?!" Damian exclaimed with relief, yet there was an underlying scolding tone in his voice. He wanted to scold her, but at the same time he was grateful that she had shown up when she had. If she had been here a second later, Noah might have actually killed him. "You're a stubborn lady, aren't you?" Damian said as his heartbeat began to slow down just a little. He had been scared to death by everything that had happened. But finally it was over. Noah was down, and almost all of his henchmen were either dead or being captured by the policemen that had just arrived. "Michael!" Olivia gasped at the sight of the man she loved. She could barely recognize him. He was covered in wounds and blood, and seeing him in such a sorry state made her break down in tears. "He's alive, just unconscious. He's going to be fine, I promise." Damian assured before yelling out for the paramedics. Olivia held onto Michael's bloodied body, her tears soaking him as she cried uncontrollably. Noah was go
Noah cracked the whip for the hundredth time that night before sending it at the tied up Michael. Each stroke tore a piece of the victims flesh, but even then Michael could scream no further. He had lost his voice, and at this point all his body felt numb. He just wanted to die at this point, but Noah was smart enough to never go overboard. Michael could already tell that Noah wanted to torture him for as long as possible, so death was very far from him at that moment.He did his best to take his mind off the pain and his environment as a whole. It was difficult, but he managed to pull his thoughts away. He thought of Olivia, how happy they would have been if Noah Grant hadn't come back into her life. He wished she never picked up that plan of hers, wished that they had just continued living their simple lives. But there was no time for regrets. There was no telling when these men would decide to kill him, and he couldn't afford to spend his final moments drowning in regret. "CRACK!"
Damian was disappointed when he heard the cause of all the problems they were facing at the moment, but he didn't openly blame Olivia for it. She was pregnant and was currently going through a lot mentally and emotionally, the last thing he wanted was to make her feel worse than she was already feeling at the moment. But even then, he felt that it was really a careless move on her end. Couldn't she have waited just a few more days before going to visit Michael? And why inform Noah that you were leaving the house to a friend's house, knowing very well that he knew every single one of your friends? "Don't worry about anything, Liv, just try to get some rest. I'll handle everything from here onwards." Damian consoled before ending the call. Picking up his jacket and gun, he raced towards his car and immediately made his way to Olivia's home. He needed to make sure that she wasn't harming herself or doing something detrimental to her health before he could really focus on anything else.
Noah waited anxiously in his room for a phone call from José. The sun had already gone down, and he had spent all day waiting anxiously to get the call. "Those bastards! Don't tell me they couldn't even get one man?!" Noah lamented as he glanced at the face of his watch for the thousandth time that night. On the thousand and oneth time, the vibration of his phone finally distracted him. Anxiously, he picked up the cellphone and a bright smile spread across his face the moment he caught sight of the caller's ID. It was José, and he couldn't be more happier than at that particular moment."Tell me what's up! Now!" Noah demanded desperately. "We have him here, he's unconscious but he'll come around soon. We're at the abandoned cottage you bought close to the outskirts of town. Is there anything you'd want me to do, boss?" José relayed sharply. "No, just stay there, you'll see me soon enough." Noah replied before picking up everything he needed. Without wasting a single second, he mar
Noah did his best to stay calm and think everything through. But the more he thought about the entire situation, the more infuriated he became. He needed to get all the rage out of his system somehow, and Olivia was not a choice. The only person he could think of at the moment was Michael Black, and every thought of Michael ended with him torturing and beating the living shit out of that man. His hands itched for blood, Michael's blood, and it wasn't long before his yearnings got the better of him. Grabbing his phone, Noah immediately put a call to José, the leader of his henchmen. He paced around the room as the phone rang, his rage rising by the second. He was going to teach Michael to continuously mess with him, and he was going to make sure he enjoyed every bit of his time torturing the bastard!. The phone rang for a while before a deep, gravelly voice answered. "Boss?"Noah didn't waste time with pleasantries, there was far too much to be done for him to waste any time on know
Majority of the drive home was spent in silence, only broken whenever Noah decided to mumble threats under his breath. Olivia didn't reply to any of his mumblings, and that had been for the best. The last thing she wanted was to start an argument in the middle of the road. Noah was already angry enough, and she didn't want to make things any worse, and also the fact that she didn't want other people in traffic to look at them like crazy couples. After twenty long minutes, the car finally came to a halt in front of Noah's mansion, but even then neither of the two wanted to step out. The tension in the air was palpable, and Olivia couldn't help but feel that a war might actually break out anytime soon. Tired of sitting in silence, she made the first move towards the door, and instantly regretted it."Right, walk away first! It's what you always do." Noah lamented the moment Olivia's hands came in contact with the door handle. Rolling her eyes inwardly, Olivia backed away from the doo
"Please give me a chance to explain myself—""Just get in the car, we're not doing this here!" Noah interjected before Olivia had the chance to finish her sentence. Olivia wanted to decline, she wanted to settle everything here before going home with Noah, but refusing to get into the car might just escalate matters even more. She turned towards Michael, and just as she suspected he was against her leaving with Noah, it was visible from the look on his face. Olivia perfectly understood Michael's concern, he didn't trust Noah, and feared that he might harm me in a fit of rage. But I knew Noah a lot better now than ever, and I knew for certain that he wasn't going to hurt me, at least not in the way Michael was envisioning it in his head.Taking in a deep breath, Olivia picked up her purse and immediately exited the house. She walked ahead of Noah who seemed to have some unfinished discussions with Michael. Michael was definitely strong enough to defend himself, so Olivia didn't bothe
With Noah gone, Olivia found the perfect opportunity to pay Michael a visit. They hadn't seen each other since she returned from visiting the Grants, and it was slowly getting to her. However, an opportunity had presented itself, and there was no way she was going to miss it. She picked up her phone and immediately texted Noah, informing him that she would be going to a friend's place. She could have left the house without informing him if she wanted, but had decided against that. She didn't want to get herself in any sticky situations with Noah, especially not at the moment. If he returned and found the house empty, he was definitely going to panic, and she didn't have the patience or strength to answer his litany of questions afterwards. Once she was done informing Noah about her plan to leave the house, Olivia quickly got prepared and immediately set off to Michael's place. She had missed him more than anything, and needed someone to distract her from the pregnancy stress and eve
Noah felt his blood run cold at the sight before him. Surely this was false, right? Dr Gregory was clearly lying to him, right? There was simply no way that Olivia could have lied to him about that. There was no way that baby wasn't his!"Are you playing with me?! Don't fucking play games with me!" Noah bellowed, rage welling up inside of him. This was some sort of joke, and he wasn't here for jokes. "I'm sorry, but these are the real results. Damian hired me to fabricate the results after the tests. Somehow he already knew that the baby wasn't yours, and he called ahead of your visit, giving me enough time to get everything done." Dr Gregory explained. He didn't really care about the family drama that these two were in, getting his money was all that mattered, and his loyalty lied with the highest bidder.Noah didn't want to believe it, but it seemed to make sense now. Perhaps that was what Olivia and Damian had been discussing back then. All of it had been an act, the drama, the t