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“I don’t?” He sounded surprised. What did he think? That she was going to beg him? “We’d agreed to the one…um…session,” she said, trying to sound as if she was talking about something else, in case anyone was eavesdropping. “That’s fine by me. It was a good arrangement.”
“Right,” he said, courteous yet distant. “Good. Yes, it was.”
“Okay then.”
“And the real reason I called was I just want you to know JoJo will be calling you soon.”
The real reason?
“He will? Is everything okay?” Panic rose in her voice.
“It’s good. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t.”
“You wouldn’t?”
“He let me know they’ve apprehended the guy who left you those text messages.”
“Oh, thank God. Who was it?”
“As we’d suspected, it was someone your ex owed money to. Unfortunately, Jack had a lot of heavy gambling debts. He owed a lot of dangerous people, but this guy was the one who’d sent the text. He’s been sending a lot of people hate mail, so to speak. He’s just been arrested for threatening someone at their house. The messages he’d sent you were found on his cell phone.”
“Oh, okay, good,” she said, swallowing hard, feeling as if her throat was going to close up. “Well, I really don’t need to have security following me around anymore. So I guess it was a good thing I told you to stop them.”
“I still wouldn’t mind having you covered.”
“Oh, I’m covered, Dane. I’m good. Really. And you’ll be happy to know I found a nice apartment on the west side close to work, so I’ll be out on my own soon.”
“You did?”
“Yes. I’ve been quite busy, you know.”
Dane said nothing.
“Anyway, thanks so much again for everything,” she said quietly, before ending the call.
Her heart collapsed in her chest. Wasn’t he going to insist she stay with him at his palace? Or move in with him? Not that she would accept it, of course. She was a grown woman who had her own life to attend to. Dane entered it at the right time but it was time for things to end.
And she’d be eternally grateful to him, truly forever. She couldn’t believe how close she’d come to being a victim of this crazy debt-collecting lunatic. Thank God for Dane and his men. Yeah, thank God. Now it was time for them to move on. She no longer needed to be in Dane’s protective care.
* * *
Well, what the hell just happened? Dane thought to himself getting off the phone with Olivia. She’s leaving the palace? She found a place? Well, he couldn’t very well hold her captive at his family’s residence against her will, now could he—especially since he’d moved back to his penthouse? Why the hell didn’t he say something to her about it? As much as he wanted to he had to let it go.
He leaned back in the office chair of his executive suite. So last night meant nothing to her? Her body’s response to him sure told him differently. But if that’s the way she felt, then so be it. He was right then to keep his distance. Rebound love. That’s all Olivia was—on the rebound.
One night, no strings attached.
Well, if he was worried about her getting hurt, it seemed as if he had nothing to fret about. But why in God’s name did he feel as if a freight truck had just slammed into his chest?
He drew in a deep breath.
“Everything okay?” Chase checked with Dane, coming into his suite at the Belmont New York.
“Yeah, I just got off the phone with Olivia.”
“And?”
“Nothing. I let her know they caught the guy who sent her those text messages.”
“That’s all?” Chase said, putting his briefcase down on the table in the room.
“That’s all. Now you and I have to go over those notes from the meeting. What have you got?” Dane said, changing the subject.
His brother froze for a moment but recognized the look on Dane’s face that told him—proceed no further.
Chapter 18
The next day, Olivia got ready for her field assignment. She was glad to have her work to bury herself in. Helping others, forgetting about her own troubles. Thank goodness, they’d found out who the guy was who’d sent her those creepy text messages. He’d been remanded into custody. And she was going to see her new apartment after accompanying her sister, Bria, to the open house at the college. Her whole afternoon was already planned. No time for Dane. And that was fine with her. The farther she kept her distance from Mr. Belmont, the better.
Olivia prepped for her visit with the new client for intake. The woman was apparently an invalid and couldn’t leave her home.
The email message:
New client:
Ms. Lesora Johnson
431-A Pickerton Road – use back door entrance
She then scrolled to the email message sent yesterday to re-read it and her heart jolted.
Hi, Olivia,
I hope you have a good day at work. I’m sorry I had to leave the house like that. I will call you later. BTW, please keep the brooch with you. It’s a yellow daisy from my grandmother. It means a lot for you to have it. One special lady to another.
Dane
That’s it? No, Love, Dane? Or Best Wishes, Dane? But then he did call her a special lady. And she did pretty much tell him that their night together didn’t mean much to her—but it did. It meant everything to her. But she just didn’t want to make a fool of herself by telling him that.
And it was his grandmother’s brooch that he’d given her as a gift. Something that must have meant the world to him as it was passed down to him. Dane never let go of the fact that, like his grandmother, Olivia, too, loved daisies. He knew Olivia was as sentimental as he was. And so he’d mentioned where he got the lovely brooch. Why on earth would he want her to have it? Well, she kept it pinned to her blazer. It was a beautiful accessory.
Olivia grabbed her coat from the coat hook and pulled it on. She then picked up her handbag and her notepad to go to her client.
“Hey, girl, you okay?” Vanessa called out, passing by with a cup of Starbucks coffee in her hand.
“Yeah, why?” she said, logging off her computer and pushing her chair into the desk. This would be her last appointment for the day. It was pretty much half day for her since she only worked 2.5 days part- time right now.
“Oh, nothing, it’s just that you’ve been so quiet today.”
Vanessa knew her well. “Just got a lot on my mind, that’s all.”
“I’ll bet you do,” Vanessa whispered so that only Olivia could hear. “Does it have anything to do with Mr. Hot, Sexy and Bad?” She winked.
“No. And he’s not hot, sexy and…bad.” Well, he sort of was, wasn’t he? But Olivia was not about to admit that to her co-worker.
“I have a new apartment I’m looking at this evening, after I follow Bria to her open house at the college.”
“Oh, right. I forgot about that. How’s she doing?”
“Good. She’s good, thanks for asking.” And thank God, someone in her family was doing all right. It was back to old times, making sure her family was okay. Olivia wasn’t going to waste time moping about her own pitiful life anymore. She would switch the focus on others.
“That’s good to hear,” Vanessa said, sitting down at her desk. “Just take care of yourself, girl. You’re all you’ve got.”
“I hear you,” Olivia said, then made her way out of the office.
Olivia pulled up at the driveway at her client’s address on Pickerton Road.
“That’s odd,” she said to herself.
It looked as if the rundown housing project was almost vacant. She glanced back at the email printout.
“Yep, that’s the address.” Olivia switched off the ignition and got out of her car. Then, her jaw fell open, and her heartbeat pounded in her throat. She could sense something was off. Way off. She turned to get back into her car and pulled out her cell phone to make a call, but it was too late.
She was grabbed from behind, her mouth and nose covered with a dark cloth that had a toxic chemical on it. She felt herself pass out, and everything became a blur…
Chapter 19
Olivia coughed and started choking. “What’s going on?” she asked, seeing a man sitting in the corner of the room.
Her defenses shot up when she thought of what she’d told Dane the other day. She’d asked him to call off his security team following her. God, why had she been so stupid? Now that her life was in danger, of all times! She thought authorities caught the guy sending her those threatening texts. So what the heck was going on?
It appeared she was in a dark motel room, sitting up on a bed, fighting off a massive headache. Her bag was turned over on the floor and the contents scattered about. She looked at the clock on the tableside. It read 2:45 P.M. Olivia was supposed to have met with Bria at her open house forty-five minutes ago. She wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Would Bria think something was wrong and call for help? Why didn’t she give Bria Dane’s number just in case? Oh, God. So many whys right now. People don’t think they’re ever going to be in need of help like this, do they?
Rule number one: always let someone know where you’re going to be if you’re going anywhere alone. Well, she’d emailed herself the client’s address and the office knows but then she was supposed to head home after that. It was her last appointment of the day. No one would miss her—for quite a while.
