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“Give her time.”
“Well, we’ve got plenty of time, haven’t we?” Colin kept his tone short and to the point.
His friend nodded, glancing at the various pans he’d put on low in the warmer, lost in thought for a moment. Colin could see the painful flicker that graced his face. His eyes softened towards his friend, his anxious mood receding slightly.
“Speaking of time, it’s nice to see you moving on after…you know. I’m proud of you too,” Colin shot his way, referencing Johnathan’s deceased wife Ezra. Who’d died of a freak heart attack eight years ago. His dark eyes holding his friend’s eyes as he watched Johnathan relax visibly.
“Thanks man,” Johnathan said to Colin rather hoarsely.
They threw away the empty Chinese cartoons in the hidden trash bin and went to the pool, setting up the hot tub, checking the temperature.
Turns out, switching the food wasn’t as hard as he’d expected. And he’d enjoyed laying his dining room table with the china he entrusted Mary to buy just for this occasion.
Olivia, in fact, didn’t realize they switched everything, and she ate with gusto, as did everyone else. He watched her eat for a few minutes when it clicked that he hadn’t seen her taste anything she cooked all day. He bit back a smile, realizing she didn’t taste her food and that was the problem. She’d grown up thinking this was normal.
Allison, who was not privy to their plans, ignorantly announced that this was the best Thanksgiving meal she’d ever cooked. And right then and there, Colin knew that he’d made the right choice spending an exorbitant amount of money commissioning a private Michelin starred chef to create this meal.
He shared a secret toast with Vanessa in his office as he snuck her in to congratulate her and show her Olivia’s Christmas gift. He bought an investment property nearby and was going to have a prestigious architect company build another office, one he planned on giving to Olivia. So she could start her own firm when she was ready.
The Christmas gift wasn’t necessarily the building itself, but he pulled some strings to get a meeting with the Architects head CEO. He’d shown him the blueprints and renderings of the house that Olivia had designed, and he bought, as well as some other blueprints of buildings she’d been working on in his office. He had those carefully copyrighted first, just in case.
Recognizing raw talent and potential, the CEO was so impressed that he offered a paid internship to Olivia when she was out of college. And then he turned around and asked to buy the blueprints to the house at a premium price of fifty million dollars so he could add it to their development plan, which he declined politely.
Colin wanted to be the only one in the world with Olivia’s original design. So, he quietly funneled his own money into the property, choosing to invest in Olivia so there’d be no loss.
They agreed to a dinner right after Christmas, in between the holidays, right before the New Years. He accepted graciously.
Vanessa was stunned, trying to keep up with what he was explaining to her. Having no comprehension of business, but instinctively knew that what he was proposing was well outside of the agreed time frame for Colin’s and Olivia’s agreement. She’d told him so.
He dismissed her, not worrying about it. She gave him a slow look that he couldn’t decipher before they left out of the office and rejoined the rest of them out in the lounge. That look ate at him. It was the proverbial cherry on top of the cake.
And Colin decided he was over it. All the fucking looks.
His brain was straining all the time, trying to keep his sadistic tendencies at a minimum while he worked through whatever he was feeling for Olivia. He felt like he was being strangled, his heart swollen too big for his chest. His skin pebbled with goosebumps.
Gritting his teeth as he saw Olivia playing on the floor with Allison, he suddenly snapped. The lack of sleep, the nightmares, and Olivia’s rejection all accumulated in one fucked up tornado inside of him and he turned his eyes. Now hard, onto Vanessa, who was sharing a smile with Johnathan who’d placed a hand on her tummy and was rubbing gentle circles under her shirt.
He walked back up to where Vanessa was sitting and jerked his head back the way they’d just come.
Something in Colin’s eyes made Johnathan jump up and follow him and Vanessa, slapping his hand against the elevator door that had started to close. His friend squeezed his broad body into the elevator with them, giving him a slow once over. And Colin couldn’t stand it, feeling laid bare while everyone got to know everything.
The tension sharpened in the small space as his jaw ticked.
Vanessa’s eyes were wide, confused at his sudden change of behavior after the pleasant conversation they had just had in Colin’s study. Her fear sharpened in the room, and she recoiled back into the corner of the elevator, her teeth biting her lip. He took a small step and narrowed his eyes as Johnathan suddenly stepped over, half covering Vanessa with his body.
“What’s up, man?” Johnathan asked quietly. But Colin heard the veiled threat under the question.
Colin struggled, his chest tightening further. “I need you to tell me what you know,” Colin said to Vanessa, threateningly.
“Colin, I don’t know what she did, I promise! I swear it!” she cried out, her hand wrapping around Johnathan’s big arm, trembling. Clearly misunderstanding him.
“No, there’s something else. I can’t put my finger on it, but you know. Don’t you? It’s fucking big, and it’s in the way,” he said, the scent of her fear feeding that side of him that wanted to hurt whatever got in his way. “I need it gone, Vanessa. Tell me!”
Something flashed in his face that caused Johnathan to fully step in front of Vanessa and press his back into her, pressing her against the wall.
“Mother fucker, keep whatever you got going on with Olivia to yourself and leave Vanessa out of it. She’s not in that lifestyle,” Johnathan spoke harshly, his eyes flashing at him. Johnathan was not a sadist himself but had no problem going toe to toe with one.
Colin’s eyes hardened further. “I won’t be taken for a fool. She knows, Johnathan. Do YOU know?” he narrowed his eyes at his friend, stepping into his space. “You used to fuck with people for a living. Did you manage to get her to tell you and you’re hiding it from me, too? Does everyone know but me?” he whispered harshly, seething.
