“What?”
“Have you ever played chess?”
“Not for a long time, why?”
“In the game of chess, the Queen protects her King.”
“I notice the Queen isn’t wearing her wedding ring. Could that mean there’s trouble in the palace?”
Olivia leans down and establishes eye contact. “Let me make this perfectly clear. I know you’re up to something, and I’m going to prove it. You’re messing with the wrong girl.”
A very nervous Jessica immediately gets on the phone the moment Olivia turns to leave.
Olivia gets in the car and sits a moment, letting the adrenaline settle. “Shannon, tell me that you found something on that video.”
“I wish I could. I’ve been through it twice and nothing.”
“I don’t believe it. I’ll be there in about an hour.”
“Oh, okay. I’m working from home today.”
“Why?”
“I just am.”
“Are you feeling okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“Okay, if you’re sure. Rachel is trying to call. I’ll see you later.” Olivia pulls out on to the road and switches to the next call. “Hey, what’s up? Isn’t it kind of early for you to be calling?”
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“What’s going on?”
“I went by your house, just to check on things.” She pauses.
“And?” Olivia asks, starting to feel anxious.
“I know you’re going to be upset.”
“Rachel? What’s going on?”
“Your crazy little bird.”
“What about it?”
“Looks like the neighbor’s cat finally got it.”
“What? How bad is it?”
“Really bad. Like DEAD bad.”
Olivia takes a small breath and tears start to fall.
“I’m sorry, Liv.”
“It’s okay. Fucking hormones.”
“I know you had some kind of special connection with that crazy little bird. I just thought you should know.”
“Thank you, Rachel.”
“I buried it in the back garden.”
“I have to go,” she says sadly.
“Noah says, he loves you, and he’s going to kill O’Connell if he ever sees him again.”
Olivia laughs once and wipes at her tears.
“How’s he doing?”
“He’s a mess. You know Ethan; he won’t let anybody see how much he’s hurting. He’s decided the only way to fix me is to leave me. He won’t give in and admit that he’s wrong.”
“Scott says that Aurora Tech has become a shitshow since the French guy took over. Nobody is happy about it. Scott’s afraid there could be an angry uprising or a mutiny soon. If my husband gets fired; you’ll find him a job with OCI right?”
“Absolutely, Rachel. You know that means you’ll have to move to Ireland?”
“Yeah, I know.”
“I wouldn’t mind having my two best friends closer to me.”
“So you’ve decided then? You’re staying there, regardless?”
“I haven’t quit Dunn and McClellan yet. I’ve taken a leave of absence. I’m not ready to sell everything there and put it behind me. I’ll always love Canada. At the moment, this is where my heart belongs. I have unfinished business here.”
“You could always convince your father-in-law to open a Canadian operations center. Then my husband can run it, and you can come here on all the time on business trips.”
“I like that idea.”
“Scott said that the last time he talked to Ethan, he was considering giving it all up and selling his shares of O’Connell Industries.”
“I know. Aiden isn’t helping any. I don’t know why he’s always so tough on him.”
“It’s a father and son thing. Scott’s dad is really tough on him, too.”
“I really have to go now, I’m almost at the hospital.”
“Hospital? Are you okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. I’m doing my first dedication of Artemis at Dave Cameron’s hospital this morning. The press is going to be there. I’m hoping that if we start putting a positive spin on things, Ethan’s depression might start to fade a bit.”
“Get him working on an international office of OCI to keep him busy. I’m afraid my husband is going to stab someone soon.”
An idea flashes through her mind. “Rachel, I love you.”
Ethan spends the day working at his office in OCI, for the first time in weeks. He manages to review and approve several proposals with few interruptions, since most of the employees are still feeling the tension and are afraid to talk to him. John works at his side, doing his best to keep him engaged. Ethan drops his pen and leans back in his chair, frustrated. He scratches at the coarse growth of beard on his chin.
“What’s wrong?” John asks
“Why am I doing this?”
“Because it’s what you do. You love it.”
Ethan shakes his head. “Not anymore. I can’t stand it. I don’t want to be here. Same old shit, different pile.”
“A few years ago, the company Reese is working for made my dad an offer to buy OCI. Call Reese and find out if they are interested in buying my shares.”
“Ethan, you don’t want to do that.”
“Yes, I really do.”
“It will kill your father.”
“It would probably make him happy. Nothing I do ever does.”
“Are you talking about the same man, who was so full of pride that he looked like he was going to burst, the day you asked Olivia to marry you?”
“That was likely the booze.”
“Listen, don’t do anything brash. Shannon has a few leads and just received some video surveillance from the bar. She’s close to clearing your name.”
Ethan gets to his feet and John follows him down the hall. “I’m not sure what difference that will make.”
“Congratulations, Mr. O’Connell,” a young secretary says as she passes, smiling.
“Thank you,” he answers politely then looks at John confused.
“Your wife looks beautiful,” a second woman says on her way by.
Ethan smiles and nods. “What the fuck is going on?” he whispers to John. When they arrive in the front foyer, there is a large crowd of employees standing and watching the television screen mounted in the corner. The broadcasts repeat themselves on a continual media loop. Ethan stands, shocked as he watches the Artemis promos. Out of the corner of his eye he spots his brother-in-law, trying to escape. “Ian!”
Ian stops dead and curses.
“Why is Olivia all over the news?” Ethan asks angrily.
“Because your wife has bigger balls than you,” McKenna answers, flanking in from the side.
Stunned, Ethan stands speechless. When he looks up, he finds Aiden standing, watching from the landing on the second floor.
“Let’s not cause a scene in front of the employees,” Ian suggests.
Ethan’s face turns red. “John, make that call to Reese. Do it now!” Turning, he storms out of the building.
“Reese Wilson?” Ian asks concerned.
John nods his head. “I’m afraid that his tolerance level is at critical mass. He’s about to implode.”
Olivia pulls to a stop in front of Shannon’s home and her phone rings. Her heart begins to pound quickly in her chest.
“Hello, Ethan.”
“How could you do something like that behind my back?”
“Behind your back? We tried to get you to do the promo’s yourself.”
“I see you’re still determined to drive me completely insane.”
“That’s not my goal at all.”
“What exactly is your goal?”
“To prove to everybody else, what I already know. That you are an amazing man.”
“I’m really pissed off with you, right now.”
“I bet,” she says bravely. “But it will totally be worth
the spanking later on.”
Ethan swallows hard, taking a moment “Jesus. Don’t keep pretending that everything is going to be okay between us.”
“I’m not pretending. I know you’re scared. For once, I’m asking you to trust me. Keep believing in us.”
“Stop it. Just stop,” he pleads in a tone that vibrates between anger and distress.
“I’m not going to stop until I prove to the world that you’re innocent. I’m going to keep going until you believe in yourself again.”
“Why? Why bother?” he says emotionally.
“Because you’re my husband, and I love you.”
“You deserve better. I’m a monster.”
“It’s you that I need. It’s only you that I want. My life is better with you in it. Why can’t you see that?”
Olivia closes her eyes and waits out a long torturous pause. He’s still there; she can hear his stuttered breathing. “I love you, Ethan. Come home.”
She disconnects the call and looks up to find Shannon waiting for her at the door.
“John just called. He said Ethan pitched a fit.” She stands aside and lets Olivia into the hall.
“Did anybody expect anything less from him?” She makes her way to Shannon’s home office, turning when she hears Shannon let out a small giggle. “What’s so funny?”
“You’re waddling.”
“I am not!”
“Don’t be mad, it’s kind of cute.”
“Just wait, you’ll be pregnant one day.”
“I doubt it,” she says sadly. “John doesn’t want kids.”
Olivia looks up, feeling guilty. “I’m sure he’ll change his mind.”
“If he doesn’t, then I guess I have some serious thinking to do.”
Olivia frowns and changes the subject. “Shannon, I want to thank you.”
“For what?”
“John told me that Aurora Tech let you go.”
“Oh.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Like you need any more stress right now. Besides, I have every intention in continuing to work on this case.”
“I’ll make sure you get paid.”
Shannon shakes her head. “It’s not about the money. I have enough saved up to get me through until I figure out what I’m going to do. For now, I can concentrate all my time on proving Ethan’s innocence, from the comfort of my own home.”
“Ethan is very lucky to have you as a friend. I want to take a look at that video myself. I can’t believe that there’s nothing on it. Several witnesses say they saw her leave the bar with a guy. Why would that not be captured on the video?”
“Unless it was so well planned out, they knew where the video was and avoided it.”
Olivia sits at the computer and starts to roll the footage. “I never thought of that. Time to widen our search.” She pulls out another USB drive.
“What’s that?”
“I couldn’t sleep last night. It’s video surveillance footage from any establishment that I could hack in to, from the bar to Jessica’s apartment.”
“Wow, remind me to never get on your bad side. Lord only knows what will surface on YouTube.”
Olivia winks at her and settles in for hours of frame-by-frame review.
“Shannon!” she screams. “I found something!”
“What?”
“Look!”
“I don’t see anything. What am I looking for?”
Olivia runs the parking lot video of the bar. “Look.”
“At the car? It’s one of the Guard patrol cars. They’re always at the bar breaking up fights.”
“But look,” she says, flipping to the other screen. “I think it’s the same car, in several clips of footage. The last one, turning toward Jessica’s flat.”
“Go back to that last one. Can you focus in, get a shot of the driver?”
Olivia tries her best but the video quality is too poor. “Hang on, let me try this next footage.”
“Oh my God!” Shannon gasps. “It’s kind of grainy, but that sure looks like Jessica in the passenger seat.”
“I knew it! I knew there was something familiar about that baby!” Olivia exclaims.
“What are you talking about?”
“Doesn’t Jessica’s baby look an awful lot like a certain creepy officer of the Guard that we know and hate?”
Shannon looks at her confused.
“Here, let me help you.” Olivia opens a news photo of the baby on the screen. Then opens another browser window and opens Facebook. She scrolls through James Griffins photos and finds a shot of him with all the kids. She opens it beside the picture of Jessica’s baby and smiles.
“That kid is a dead ringer for him,” Shannon says shocked.
“He’d know where all the video was around the bar, right?”
“Absolutely.”
“And she would have the means to falsify the DNA results at the hospital, correct?”
Shannon’s eyes open wide. “Holy shit.”
“I’ll see if I can hack into the hospital records and find the actual test results.” She throws her arms around Shannon. “We did it. We’re going to prove he’s not that baby’s father.”
“Olivia, there’s one big problem.”
“Noooo. Don’t mess up my moment with problems.”
“I’m sorry, but even if we can get to the bottom of things, we can’t use any of this as evidence. We’ve obtained it illegally. And the test results will only show that Ethan is not the father. In order to prove that Griff is, we’d have to have new tests. I’m guessing he’s not going to willing agree to that.”
Olivia growls. “So what’s the solution?”
“We need court orders, and you know how hard that’s been for me with this case. I suspect that Griff has somehow found a way to block my requests, so unless you’ve got a judge in your back pocket, I’m not very confident we’ll get them.”
Olivia sits back, feeling defeated. Then she jolts upright. “Shannon! Pass me my purse!” She digs through the side pockets, pulls out the card, and punches the number into her phone.
“Hi, Judge O’Sullivan, this is Olivia. Do you remember me?”
A smile washes over her face. “Yes, Patrick. The baby is just fine. I won’t be planning any more flights until after she’s born. How’s your grandson?”
Shannon paces the floor, unsure about what’s going on.
“Is the laptop still working well for you? Good. I was wondering, would you be available for that dinner tonight?”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
A short walk down the heavily treed path brings him in to view. He stands on the bank of the river, shirtless. His muscles glisten with perspiration as he basks in the hot midday sun. “I brought you a sandwich.”
He turns at the sound of her voice, and a smile spreads across his face. “I’m a very lucky man.” He places his palms against her stomach and waits to feel any movement there. “How’s my baby, today?”
“She’s been tormenting me today. It’s still a few months before it’s time for her to say hello to the world, but she’s moved into a weird position and the pressure is unbearable at times.”
“Make sure you rest.”
“I’m trying, but it’s not easy, she’s making it very uncomfortable.”
“Let’s get you off your feet then.” He guides her back to the small cottage where they’ve made their home.”
“The birds love the new birdbath you made,” she notes, as they pass through the stone gateway.
“I noticed.”
Elizabeth stops. Owen is a few feet ahead before he notices. Turning he sees her fearful expression. “Liz?”
“Something’s wrong?”
“What’s going on?” he asks, concerned as he walks back to her.
“My water just broke.”
Ethan sits up in a cold sweat. He reaches for her, but she’s not there. For a few moments he’s disoriented, not sure where he is. Slowly, his heart returns t
o its normal pace and his eyes adjust to the dark. He pulls the blanket back over him and goes back to sleep in the dark cold trailer.
“What’s going on, John?” Olivia asks, walking into Ethan’s office at OCI.
“He’s over at Aurora Tech, handing in his resignation.”
“Oh, that must have been a tough decision for him.”
“It definitely was. But that’s not what I’m worried about.”
“Okay, just tell me.”
“He’s been talking to an investment bank about buying his shares of OCI. He’s been keeping me out of the loop. Attending private meetings. He’s just requested that I set up a meeting with everyone in management here.”
“You think he’s going to announce that he’s selling his shares and stepping down.”
“There’s a very good possibility that’s what he’s going to do, Yes.”
“How much time do I have?”
“Two days.”
Olivia raises a brow in concern. “Can we get everyone here by then?”
“I’ll start calling them and making arrangements.”
“Thank you, John.”
The office door swings open and Ethan storms in. He glances at Olivia and shakes his head. “Still meddling in my business, I see.” He throws the morning paper on his desk in front of John to read the headline.
Ethan O’Connell is NOT the father of her child. Is Jessica Keane telling the truth about the abuse? Police consider dropping charges.
John gets to his feet. “That’s fantastic!”
McKenna and Ian enter the room, followed by Aiden. The room erupts in chatter as they discuss the articles and surmise about her motives. Olivia gets lost in the commotion. She quietly moves to the back of the room and leaves. She’s midway down the hall when she feels eyes burning into her. His energy dances across her skin, making the hair on the back of her neck stand up. “Olivia.”
She stops and slowly turns, to find him a few steps behind her.
He hesitates. “Are you and the baby okay?”
She searches his eyes, desperately looking for hope there. She finds only sadness. She reaches up and runs her fingertips along his cheeks. Her eyes tear up with his pained expression. She presses her lips to his, feeling like she’s going to die when he doesn’t return her kiss. “I need you to come back to me.”
Indivisible Souls: Book 3 of the Bound4Ireland Series Page 29