The night sky was littered with bright stars, as if a celestial artist had turned it into his own luminescent canvas. Michael did not pay it any mind though, even though he used to enjoy star gazing with Olivia whenever their busy work schedules would allow them. But right now, thinking on such memories would only serve to worsen his mood. The frown on his face that had remained in place from the moment he had left Olivia's house, grew deeper as the man tightened his grip on the steering wheel. For the past ten minutes, Michael had been going over everything Olivia had said to him tonight, and he still could not figure out how the woman he loved could have decided to take such a risk. He knew Olivia was a smart and capable woman, otherwise she would never have been able to achieve all the things she had. But this was a different ballgame.Michael would not delude himself into thinking that his extreme distaste was based on purely altruistic reasons. There had been a very prominent se
The incessant droning sound of the air conditioning unit was barely indistinguishable from the useless drivel emanating from the mouths of the men and women who were seated around the large conference table, at least as far as Noah was concerned. The young man glanced down at his watch and resisted the urge to yawn as he realized that he had been sitting in this damn meeting for over an hour and a half. For a moment, Noah contemplated on just simply dismissing everyone here and leaving, but he was quick to toss that thought in the trash. This was after all his first official meeting as the new CEO of the Rock Enterprise with the company's management team. It would not do well for him to present a bad front as the new head of the company. The only thing was that Noah was already well versed in the intricate details required to run a company. Right from his youth, he had spent hours learning and managing businesses even bigger and more complicated than Rock Enterprise. So as far as he
Noah froze in a instant, every muscle in his body suddenly tensing up when Olivia said those words. At the back of his mind, a small feeling of gratitude crossed his thoughts at the fact that Olivia had chosen this restaurant of all places to meet. Nearly all of the lights in the main dining area had been turned off, leaving only the candles at the tables to serve as a low source of illumination. The intention behind this was probably to increase the romantic setting, but for now Noah was just glad that the minimal darkness prevented any of the immense shock he was feeling from being visible. On the surface though, the only noticeable sign that had slipped through his perpetually confident expression was a slight widening of his eyes and the pause that had followed Olivia's statement. Noah was acutely aware of the fact that the woman had been watching him the whole time and he was not about to let anything slip that night possibly give away his true intentions. "Well, this is ind
For the first time in a while, Olivia found herself drawn out of the realm of sleep by the incessant buzzing of her alarm clock. She blinked her eyes tiredly to push away the residual weakness that threatened to lull her back to sleep. With the way she was feeling right now, it almost seemed too appealing to simply lie in bed all morning and just hide away from the rest of the world. But hiding was not going to take care of her problems. There were a lot of things she still had to take care of, if she did not want her plans to blow up in her face. Taking a deep breath, Olivia drew herself up from her bed and went into the bathroom to get cleaned up. Then she checked her wardrobe to pick out something to wear, hoping that one of her numerous outfits would be just peppy enough to put more life into her today. A light ping from behind her caused Olivia to pause and she went over to her bedside table to check the device. The half smile that was already on her face when she picked up the
Michael never thought he would get to experience what it felt like to get so mad that one's vision would turn red. But right now, he was getting a first hand taste of that feeling, and there was no doubt in his mind that he was not a big fan of it. The day had started off terribly, courtesy of his deluded 'fiancee' Amelia who would not stop hounding him. He ended up being so done with her annoying prattling that he had chosen to leave his home for work way too early. But if he had thought that coming here would be a good way to distract himself from his problems, he had quickly realized that he had been very wrong. The moment he had set foot in the building, all he could think about were the precious moments he had shared with Olivia here right from the time they had met each other. That only sent his mood further down the drain, but this... this was the final straw. As he watched Noah Grant walk past him without a single glance thrown his way, Michael had no doubt that the other ma
Michael's fist lost all its momentum the second he heard the shout. His knuckles were just a few centimeters away from Noah's face, so close that Michael could feel every shuddering breath the other man took. He could tell that Noah, the coward that he was, had already become unsettled by the possibility of a physical altercation. Luckily for him though, Olivia had come to his rescue. The thought aggravated Michael more than he expected it to. Almost enough for him to reconsider reducing the face of the smug billionaire in front of him to a bloody pulp. But before he could act on his thoughts, the clicking of Olivia's heels reached his ears as she herself got to where the men were. She grabbed Michael's free arm and quickly pulled him away from Noah.Michael maintained eye contact with the billionaire until he was several meters away from him, too far for either of them to make a move on the other. He then turned to Olivia but the woman had already left him in favor of moving towards
An unsettled heart really did no wonders for the working mind, something that Michael was quickly beginning to find very relatable. He blinked subconsciously, the light sting behind his eyelids reminding him that he had been staring at the screen of his computer for the past couple of hours. The doc file opened on the screen was still blank as he had not been able to focus long enough to actually get any work done the whole time. No matter how hard he tried, he could not get his mind off the situation with Olivia and Noah. Michael was not so self righteous that he would delude himself into thinking that he did not have his own selfish reasons for not going along with Olivia's plan. He knew that Olivia was truly one of a kind, and she was someone that he would very much like to keep by his side. But he was also genuinely concerned about the risks in her plan. There was no telling the kind of cards Noah had up his sleeve, nor how many he had either. Any mistake on Olivia's part could
Looking at the beautiful woman sitting beside him, Noah could not help but wonder how exactly he had let her slip out of his grasp in the first place. In the dim lighting of the opera house, Olivia's pale skin made her all the more noticeable and the light makeup she had on practically turned her into a vision of beauty. Her dress was a deep maroon red and only came halfway down her thigh, leaving her perfect long legs free for his viewing pleasure. The show that was being put on obviously held her attention, her eyes following the performance with interest. Noah's eyes were full of interest too, although he had a different subject in mind. Besides, he had already seen this show half a dozen times already, though he was almost certain she had not. Which was exactly why he had brought her here on this date. If Olivia was pleased with the performance, Noah would be furthering their renewed relationship successfully. It had not been easy getting her to agree to come out for this. For d
From the corner of her eyes Lisa could see that it was Michael who Olivia had just finished speaking with. Though she still planned to ask her friend who the person was, it was nice to make quick observations. With Michael here, their plan was certain to fail. Olivia had probably told him about everything, and Lisa feared that she would not be able to fully convince anybody that Olivia's kidnapping and death would be an accident. Why would only Olivia be taken anyway?With a sigh she rolled her eyes and waited patiently for her friend to come back. "Who was that?" Lisa asked the moment Olivia was within earshot. She raised a curious brow, feigning ignorance to the fact that she already knew it was Michael."Michael, it seems he's not a fan of the restaurant." Olivia lied, a perfect excuse for her to completely avoid entering the place."I'm not feeling it anymore, I think I might have lost my appetite." Lisa replied with a nervous chuckle. "We should just go home."Olivia’s brow furr
"I know a perfect spot just around the corner, they're good, I'm sure you'll love it!" Lisa cried out just before Olivia had the chance to drive towards the route that led to one of her favorite restaurants. She had been here a couple of times before, and she hadn't heard of another restaurants around the corner."Another restaurant? I haven't heard about it—""They're new, so you wouldn't know about them. They're literally perfect, I swear." Lisa urged without letting Olivia finish with her words. Olivia let a weary smile light up her face before turning the car around. She doubted that there was any new restaurants around the area, but then again she had no reason not to believe her best friend. Lisa had no reason to lie to her, especially not about something as silly as a restaurant. "They better live up to your hype, because now I've gotten excited." Olivia remarked as she pressed down on the acceleration pedal. Lisa on the other hand kept a very convincing smile on her face, o
"You did not just ask me that question Olivia," Michael said with a shake of his head, as he pushed his way into his office.The woman followed right behind him, closing the door behind her as her smile fell a little. She knew that Michael only used her full name when he was very serious about something. "Talk to me Michael," she pleaded as she stepped closer to him. "What's wrong?""I told you before that I did not trust Lisa," Michael reminded her."She's my best friend.""And she might also be working with Noah," he countered with a voice that was deceptively calm, a sharp contrast to the turmoil present within him at the moment. "I know it sounds absurd, but remember that we can't exactly trust anyone at this point. You remember what happened with Damian, don't you?"Olivia's body slowly went still as flashes of memories streaked through her mind of the time she had been held captive all those weeks ago. Those memories were ones that she had subconsciously tried to repress, so th
He sighed but still went on to tell her anyway. "It's just that ever since we got those pictures, I decided to keep a closer eye on Amelia. Even though I actually don't think she was the one who followed us and did all of that, I still had a gut feeling that there was something up with her." "And? Did you find anything?" Olivia asked. "I can't really tell..." He replied. "I mean, yesterday, she just left the house for no reason. I decided to go after her to see what she was up to. At first I thought she was headed to the airport, which was weird because she never said anything about leaving. Then she suddenly changed directions and went to the old warehouse district at the edge of town." Olivia frowned a little at that point. "What could she be looking for there? That place has been abandoned for years." "I thought the same thing," said Michael. "I lost sight of her for a bit, then I saw her walk into one of the warehouses. A few minutes later, she left the place but before I can
After their explosive fallout yesterday, Michael was not surprised in the least when he failed to find Amelia outside her room the next morning. That was her only move whenever the two of them would have an argument; to simply shut herself away from everyone and everything until she felt otherwise. Michael did not really care though. As far as he was concerned, she could do whatever she wanted as long as it did not involve him or Olivia. Besides, Amelia was still the source of the unrelenting headache that had plagued him throughout the night until he finally found solace in sleep. Michael decided to take a couple of minutes to make a quick breakfast, making sure to leave something out for Amelia. That did not mean that he had forgiven her though. It was simply a spur of the moment decision, or at least that was what he was willing to tell himself. Traffic in the city was abhorrent, as was normal for commuters trying to get around on the middle hours of the morning. But still, Micha
Throughout his drive home, Michael continued to replay the events he had witnessed just some minutes ago. And no matter how much he tried, he still could not make much sense out of it. Amelia's actions were undoubtedly suspicious, but he just could not find a connection. First it looked as if she was heading towards the airport, then suddenly she seemingly changed her mind and drove all the way to some abandoned warehouse in the middle of nowhere. To do what? Meet with a couple of nobodies? It just did not make sense. But still Michael could not shake the gut feeling he was having that these things were more than they seemed. It was giving him a hard time already, having to divide his attention between his thoughts and keeping his car on the road. Deciding to focus on the one that would not get him killed or seriously injured, Michael tried to shelf the numerous thoughts running wild in his head until he finally got to his house. The first thing he noticed was the absence of Amelia'
It did not get any easier to live in the same house as Michael while contemplating the plans on her mind, no matter what Amelia told herself. After their disastrous encounter in the kitchen the other day, Amelia had barely spoken to Michael. That was not just because she did not want to talk to him, although that was also a factor, but it was mainly because she took to spending most of her time locked away in her room. As mad and terribly pissed off at Michael as she was, Amelia also knew that once the heat of everything died down enough, Michael was bound to start asking her some difficult questions that she was sure she would have the guts to answer. She knew that Lisa had most probably sent this pictures, the same ones that Amelia herself had received from the woman, to Noah. Knowing the rich bastard, he would have definitely made a big deal out of it. If Michael and Olivia were still seeing each other, then she would have told him about it too. So there was no doubt on Amelia's m
Michael found Amelia in the kitchen when he came down from his room. It was still relatively early, the yellow rays of the morning sun filling the house with a light ambience. Unfortunately, that did not do much to relieve the tension that was still pressing down on the two cohabitants of the house. The man paused at the staircase for a moment, just a few steps above the floor as he leaned on the railing to think. After what had happened between him and Amelia a couple of days ago, his first thought had been that she was the one who had followed him and taken those pictures. But Michael had discarded that idea after a period of consideration. The reason was simple; such a thing just was not Amelia's style. Even though there was no doubt that the young woman had changed incredibly after her time overseas, Michael still knew a great deal about the way Amelia reasoned. The woman was not a person that would be willing to get down and dirty in order to get something. Amelia had never been
Olivia hadn't been able to sleep properly ever since Noah confronted her with images and a video of her cheating with Michael. Even though they had reconciled over the weekend, she was still very curious and paranoid about everything. How on earth did Noah get those pictures? She had tried asking him, but he wouldn't tell her no matter how much she begged. She tried taking his phone and searching through it while he was asleep, but still found nothing. Not knowing where those pictures and video had come from was slowly driving Olivia crazy even though she did her best to hide it. She pulled up into the driveway of her company, and even after being several miles away from Noah, she just couldn't help but feel his eyes staring over her shoulder. She turned around quickly, hoping to catch sight of any secret spy he might have hired, but found nothing. With frowned brows and a paranoid mind, Olivia walked into the building and headed straight for her office. She should be safe in her of