by KT Strange
Whatever he needs to talk to me about sounds serious. The fact a lawyer has showed up on my doormat is making me nervous, and I think of that 3k, sitting in an envelope like a scarlet letter anyone can see.
“I just need a few minutes” I say, “do you mind waiting while I get cleaned up? I've had a long week.”
He nods.
“Of course, I'll be down in the lobby.”
As I move to close the door, I pause.
“From what company did you say,” I ask, a lightbulb flickering inside my sleep-fogged, waterlogged head.
He glances down to his paperwork and then back up at me.
“Arion Investments,” he says, “you have heard of it, haven't you?”
“I’ve never worked there,” I say, but I have heard of it. And technically I haven't worked there. I've worked in the lobby of it’s HQ building, at the coffee shop. I haven't worked at the actual company. My mind races backwards.
“Is this about the fire at the coffee shop,” I ask. “Is this insurance stuff, because I wasn't there when it happened.”
His lips part in the shape of an ‘O’ before he shakes his head again.
“Miss Copper. We should talk about this properly,” he says. “Get dressed, and let me take you for lunch. I'll wait for you downstairs in the lobby. Take your time, please. But we really do need to talk.”
Seven
Olivia
I’m not ready for this. I put on my best shoes, without the worn-out soles.
I'm in business casual, not that I own much, but from when I was still in school I had a couple of skirts and a few shirts that could pass. No blazer though. I guess I should have invested when I finished up my degree, and was deciding what to do with my future. But applying for jobs and all that seemed too overwhelming. And I just ended up at the coffee shop instead. So all I have is a woolen v-neck cardigan to go over my button-down shirt.
I stare up at the tower for Arion Investments, and try to fight the shaky feeling in my stomach. Thankfully, it has two entrances. And because of that, I don't have to see the coffee shop. I'm on the far side of the building, where the big business people come and go. I approach the front door, and it swings open for me, a doorman tipping his hat to me.
“Good afternoon, Miss,” he says, “they're expecting you up on the top floor. Let me show you to the elevators.” I falter for a second. He knows who I am? My stomach shrivels in my gut. But I have to push forward. I smile, pasting it on my face, trying to be a normal human being.
Except I feel anything but normal. The world feels like it’s staring at me, seeing right through me, now more than ever. I used to be invisible.
Now I’m terrified that I’m not.
“Thank you,” I say, and he shows me into the elevator and presses the button for me.
“Don't let those three intimidate you,” he says, shaking a finger at me. The doors close before I can ask him what he means. My appointment with the lawyer had been confusing to say the least. Something about a bequest that I've been left some money or something like that. That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. Almost as crazy as people thinking I’m a girlfriend-for-hire for ‘dates’. He told me that I needed to come down to the main offices and speak with the CEO, Lansing O’Connel. And now I'm here, confused, and a little nervous. Apparently the company, which I thought was one of those big stock market companies isn't. It's privately owned and operated, and…
And the shares in it are being held in trust for four people from what the lawyer said, and I need to talk about that specifically. More details, he wasn’t at liberty to give me.
I've barely been able to sleep since he told me. And when I can't catch a glance of myself in the mirrored doors of the elevator I'm surprised that I don't look more exhausted than I do.
Holding my breath, I step out of the elevator into a quiet lobby at the far end a woman sits at a desk, and she gets to her feet as soon as she sees me.
“You must be Olivia,” she says, folding her hands in front of her as she smiles. “Go right in, the meeting is about to start.” She gestures to a pair of tall doors.
I look at them uncertainly, as if I'm not sure I should open them up.
She nods encouragingly.
“They’re waiting for you,” she says, almost gently.
“Thanks,” I say, grabbing the handle and pulling it open. Bright light washes over me from the floor to ceiling windows. Through them I can see Los Angeles. Pretty like a pearl, it shines in the early afternoon light. So beautiful it almost takes my breath away.
Movement to my left, makes me look at my jaw almost drops open at the sight of one of the most attractive men I've ever seen in my life.
He has a thick crop of curly brown hair, set off by bright green eyes. His teeth are white, and he smiles. Not in a nice way. Not like the door-man or the secretary outside.
He's smiling like he wants to eat me alive.
“Olivia Copper,” he says, and steps towards me. He holds out his hand and attached to that hand is an arm encased in an expensive Armani suit. I know it on sight. I've seen those kind of suits walk into my coffee shop. They're always accompanied by either an attractive woman on their shoulder hanging there, like an accessory, or by a cohort of other men similarly dressed. His eyes are greener up close, but they're icy as he gets near. I let him shake my hand and his fingers are warm as they rasp over mine.
“I’m sorry. I don't know who you-“ I say, but he holds up his hand to stop me.
“Everett Leighton,” he says, and then gestures around the boardroom. “This is all mine.” He leans in, and his smile goes from irritated to menacing. “And you are not going to fucking take it away from me,” he swears. I freeze, not sure where this anger is coming from, or why it’s directed at me.
The door kicks open, and we both look up, the moment broken. And my chin nearly hits the floor for a second time in as many minutes.
Because standing there in the doorway is Kai Brooks. He's got a coffee in one hand, his sunglasses clenched in his other fist. And he looks at Everett, with a frown, before his gaze slides over to me. His eyes widen just a fraction.
The feeling of panic starts fluttering in my chest. I take a step back, bumping into the boardroom desk, making a chair rattle over the polished hardwood floors.
Oh god.
Why is he here?
Everett sneers at me and I realize I've spoken out loud.
“Ask him,” he says, “not by choice, not his or mine.” He stalks across the room, and in a lesser man, as in a lesser attractive man, it would be called a temper tantrum stomp.
Kai is still staring at me. For a split second I had hoped that he wouldn't recognize me.
But he does, it's obvious. It's written all over his face that he can remember what he did to me in that green room at his meet and greet. And as much as my heart is panicking in my chest, my body remembers it instantly, feels flushed all over, the warmth spreading through me as my pulse picks up and my heart kicks furiously beneath my breastbone.
I find myself pressing my thighs together to stop the sensations from creeping up inside me. It was wrong. What happened to me, what he did to me was wrong. And why am I short on breath? I reach out and grab the edge of the boardroom table. I need something to steady myself against, to provide ballast.
“Wait,” Everett says. He's looking between me and Kai suspiciously. Then he grins. “Oh, you two have fucked.”
My fingers slide to my mouth, covering it in shock. How does he know? Can you see it on my face? It must be obvious. I'm wearing Kai's mark, like that scarlet letter. The room has good air conditioning, the cool air blowing over my skin, but my face is hot as a baking stone in the sun. I can feel my eyes start to tear up, my emotions are out of whack and I've only been here for less than five minutes.
The overwhelming urge to run out of the room, blow past Kai and leave is starting to grab it me. I never should have come here. What was I thinking? This was a huge mistake. They proba
bly even have the wrong Olivia Copper, nobody in my family ever invested in companies. We were never rich.
It's all completely wrong.
“Still classy as ever, I see,” Kai says. “Didn't they teach you better at finishing school?” He's not talking to me, the words going right over my head. His venom is aimed right at Everett and it's then I realized he's got as much poison in his voice for him, as he had affection and passion in his voice for me when we fucked up against that door. Everett’s returning it with an evil stare.
They hate each other.
I can feel it in the air. It crackles through the atmosphere. I might as well be wallpaper, as the two of them stare each other down.
“Well that's just not fair. What did you do, hire a PI to get to her first?” Everett takes a step towards Kai, who for his part, stands his ground. They're almost the same height and Kai has that rock-star build, rough and rugged, where-as Everett looks like he could be gracing the cover of a GQ magazine. But still, he's not shredding on guitar every night on stage. Although I'm not sure what it's like under that Armani suit. I gasp and both of them look at me. I don't know why I'm even thinking about this.
“So let me guess,” Everett says, “you tracked her down, got her drunk, got into her panties. And that was it. That was your plan to get control.” He looks at me. “Or wait, are you a fan girl? Oh my god, you're a fan girl,” he laughs.
The door cracks open, and we hear voices from outside. Kai doesn't even get a chance to respond. And I'm standing there awkwardly in a triangle shaped tableau between the two of them as a man in his late 50’s walks in. He looks at all three of us, and raises an eyebrow. He must be Lansing.
“Boys,” he says by way of greeting, even though the two men are in their early 30’s. I know Kai's 31. It made the papers because his party was so big that the cops had to be called.
I don't know how old Everett is. But I'm guessing around the same age. Either way, both of them react the same way to this new man's entrance, their expressions relax into one of thinly veiled hostility, as opposed to outright and open aggression.
The man gestures to the seats around the boardroom table and I pull one out, sitting in that gingerly almost as if I'm ready to run at any second. Because I am. I’m primed to bolt.
My muscles are tense. And I have to remind myself to breathe. What did the lawyer say again? Kai comes to sit across from me. and his gaze rests on me. His eyes are hard, and there’s knowing smirk on his lips. I look away, not meeting his intense look. I don't want him to think that I'm thinking about that night.
Not that it's been easy to forget the violation, and the fact that I didn't even care. I should be angry at him, feel all sorts of hateful rage inside of me… but…
As it is, I'm struggling to breathe half because I'm so nervous and half of it is because he's right here, so close. It feels like my skin is on fire.
“So it's about time that we found her, and I'm very grateful we did,” the man says as he sits at the head of the table with a low grunt, before glancing around. “King not arrived yet?” He asks. Everett rolls his eyes.
“He's not gonna be here,” he says, derision dripping from his tongue.
“I wouldn't be too sure about that,” Kai says and when I look up, he's staring at me still, his head tilted to the side. As his gaze drops down my body, my cheeks heat and I glare at him. He is not allowed to undress me with his eyes. Not after what we shared. Not after what he did to me. A little thrill of anxiety and panic rolls through me again. And I stare back up the long boardroom table at the dark haired man. Silver threads, at his temples, glint in the light. He sighs.
“Well, that's frustrating, we'll have to start without him,” he says. He slaps both open hands on the tabletop, making me jump in my seat. He leans forward. “Olivia Jane Copper,” he says, “welcome to the family.” Everett scoffs under his breath, rolling his eyes and Kai breaks out into a wicked large grin.
“I trust the lawyer went over everything with you,” he gives me a brief smile and then taps on the desk surface. I realize there's a remote or touchpad built right into it because behind him a screen kicks on, projecting on the wall.
“This organization has been run by me for the last 30 years-“
“30 years,” I whisper, under my breath. There's no way that he's only 50 years old. He'd have to have been in his 20’s when he started. I look closer and notice the faint hint of crows feet at the corners of his eyes. And now that I’m looking, his hair is obviously dyed. It's been dyed so that he doesn't look his age.
“I am going to be moving on to a new phase in my life,” he continues, “and for that reason we sought you out, Olivia, because it's time for you to take your place, as one of the controlling owners of this company.”
I stare at him, shock hitting me like an electric current.
“Me?”
Eight
Olivia
My fingers tremble around the glass of water as I stand by the water cooler. It makes a blubbering noise as air bubbles rise to the top of the bottle.
I'd asked for a minute. And Lansing said that was fine. I could tell he knew I was shocked. And he looks a little irritated that the lawyer hadn't fully explained things to me.
I don't know how to tell him that it's actually me, that despite my degree (in art history) I have a bit of a listening problem. As in, I don't listen, that is. I scooted outside and the secretary told me where to go to get a glass of water. And so here I am, standing and trying not to hyperventilate. This day is going from bad to crazy.
With Kai walking in, and scaring the shit out of me, and Everett being a huge dick, and now I'm one of the managing, controlling owners of this company. My head swims and I feel like I'm going to collapse. The whole weight of this entire skyscraper is bearing down on me. All 50 or 60 or 40 floors. I didn't pay attention when I was coming up in the elevator.
And who is King, this mysterious other partner? Taking a long sip of cold water, I steady myself. I can do this. I can walk back into that room with a man that I had the best-worst sex of my life with, and the guy who’s a total asshole, who seems put together on the outside and totally crazy on the inside.
I can facedown whatever this is, even if it must be a mistake. It has to be.
My legs feel wooden, but I start to move, going back to the board room. I turn around the corner, paper cup in my hand and nearly run into Everett.
He strikes, lightning-fast. He grabs me by the shoulders and grips me tight. Holding me there, a squeak escapes my mouth as he looms over me.
“I want to get one thing straight to you,” he says, the pure angry vitriol in his voice cutting me right down to my bones. I can barely breathe. I’m staring up at him. “You will never own me. This company is mine. And I will destroy you before I see you side with either of the other two. You are going to agree with me on everything and cast your vote with me when I tell you to.” He leans in close. “You got that?”
When I don't answer him, shock numbing my tongue and making me unable to speak, he shakes me. Water sloshes over my hand and splashes down onto my feet below. That breaks the spell and I jerk backwards. Everett’s face, handsome or not, contorts and he looks furious reaching for me again.
“What the fuck do you think you're doing?” A voice stops him short, and I freeze. I know that voice. It rescued me in one of the worst moments of my life.
No way. There's no fucking way it's possible. The universe could not be this cruel. I look up. And there he is, the man from the alley who saved me from those guys. Vince.
My heart is throbbing so hard, I feel like it's going to explode in my lungs and my vision is going dark at the edges. I reach for the wall and brace myself against it.
“I need to sit down,” I mumble.
“What was that?” Everett asks, snapping at me.
“I need to sit down,” I repeat myself. And then my knees crumple. Before I can hit the floor, he grabs me, one arm scooping under my thighs and the other brac
ing against my back.
I don't want him to hold me. But it feels like my muscles have all turned to water. I’m a puppet with cut strings.
Everett mutters into my ear,
“Don't think swooning girl act changes anything. The other two have done nothing for this company and I've built it from the ground up. You're going to do as I say, or I'm going to make your life hell if I even let you live.”
His words are ice cold and I shiver in his arms as he carries me to the boardroom. I want to go home to Toby where it's safe. I should never have answered the door. Looks like mayhem and destruction came knocking again. Every time I venture out, the monsters are waiting.
“What the hell happened?” Lansing asks as we walk in, and he sees me cradled in Everett's arms. Kai gets to his feet, a frown on his face.
“Put me down,” I say weakly. I need to be on my feet so I can get out of here.
“Do I need to call an ambulance?” Lansing asks.
“No, I'm fine. I just think I'm in the wrong place,” I say as Everett sets me down. He steps away and I'm grateful for the space. I don't want him anywhere near me. “You must have the wrong person,” I say to Lansing. He looks confused for a moment and then shakes his head.
“No, we definitely have the right person… oh good, King, you're here. Finally.” The door clicks behind me and I turn. There he is again. This time with a glass of water in his hand. He offers it to me silently, putting it down on the table next to me, and then goes and takes a seat, leaning back. The other three men are dressed up, but he's in jeans and a t-shirt and unzipped hoodie loose around his shoulders. He looks like he doesn't even give a shit which is probably part of the persona he plays as a pimp. Do they even know he's a pimp? I feel ill.
“This is so much for me to take in all at once and I feel overwhelmed. My family never invested in any companies,” I say with assurance, focusing on the problem at hand. I look back at Lansing, determined to talk my way out of this.