5. Olivia
5
OLIVIA
“Come on, Liam, pick up,” I muttered.
As I navigated the bustling sidewalk, I held the phone to my ear. The crowd seemed unforgiving today, but maybe that was because my anxiety level was through the roof. It had been four days since my disastrous reunion with my ex.
My brother's voicemail greeted me once again, and I huffed my frustration. I was extremely worried, to the point of calling the freaking police to do a wellness check on him. Liam was twenty-seven, however, he wasn’t a normally functioning adult. He was troubled beyond belief, and I honestly didn’t know how he got to that point.
I knew he’d likely ignore my message, but I left one anyway. “Hey, Liam. Please give me a call when you get this. I haven’t heard from you in a week and I’m… I just want to know you’re okay…” I paused awkwardly, not sure what else to say. We weren’t on the best of terms because he hated me. The problem was, I didn’t understand why my brother despised me. It hurt. “Um… call me, okay? I’d really love to hear from you. ”
Hanging up, I let out a heavy sigh. I had to call Mom, and I didn’t want to. Not that I didn’t love her to death, but I hated lying to her about the status of BioTech. I always gave the impression that all was peachy when, in reality, my entire world was crumbling by the day. I had to keep up the facade of sunshine and rainbows because Mom wasn’t doing too well, and she didn’t need to be bombarded with the gory details of my failure to our family.
The restaurant where I was meeting up with my friend came into view, and I slowed down as I waited for Mom to answer.
“Olivia, honey,” came the feeble greeting that made my heart constrict. On the bright side, there was an undertone of happiness.
“Hi, Mom. How are you?”
“Much better… now that I have a hunky nurse helping me out.”
Her little chuckle made me smile, and for a moment, the despair that I’d been swept up in for a while dissipated. “Yeah, I thought you’d appreciate the new hire.” Her last nurse had to go on maternity leave. I knew she’d appreciate a handsome male nurse because she’d never been shy about her love for the opposite sex.
“Bless you, honey.”
I chuckled. “You sound a little stronger today. That’s good.”
“I’ll be back on my feet in no time. How are you?”
“Great…” Hopefully, the cheer in my tone didn’t sound too forced. “Have you heard from Liam?”
“I spoke to him yesterday,” Mom said.
“Oh…” So it was only me he was avoiding. Awesome .
“I doubt he’s okay though.” Mom sighed. “He sounded off…”
I lifted my eyebrows. “You’ll have to be more specific. ”
Liam had sounded off since he was a teenager.
“I don’t know… I think he’s in trouble again, Livy.”
The sigh that passed my lips resonated with weariness. “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll find out what’s going on with him and fix things.” As I always did… as I’d always been forced to do since I assumed Dad’s role as head and breadwinner of the family. I was tired…
“Okay. You’ll stop by to see me soon?”
“Of course, Mom.”
“Good girl. Anthony is here with my medication. Later, honey.”
“Bye, Mom.”
I heard her mutter something about her nurse being the hottest eye candy, and I rolled my eyes and sniggered. No massive stroke could stop Vivian Brentwood from flirting.
As soon as I hung up, I saw a woman waving to me from the window of the restaurant ahead. Her black curls bobbed with the enthusiasm that she waved me over with. Elena Martinez’s energy was unmatched. That’s why we were best friends. She steamrolled over my prudish attitude with her craziness and had been counteracting my tight-ass ways for years. I grinned as I made my way across the street.
Thankfully, the restaurant wasn’t so crowded. I made a beeline for the table where Elena sat beaming at me.
“Hi, gorgeous!” She greeted me as she stood up to give me air kisses.
I smiled. Look up “dramatic” in the dictionary and Elena’s picture would be next to the definition. The fact that she was a no-nonsense journalist with a cut-throat reputation was a bit of a contradiction to her wacky personality. However, I think I was one of the few who got to see whacky Elena .
“Hey, Elena.” I dropped into a chair and sighed. “Alright, bring out the wine pronto. I made sure to walk here.”
“You came ready to get shitfaced, and it's barely noon. What’s going on?” Elena watched me with dark brown eyes filled with curiosity.
“Too damn much.” I grabbed the pitcher of water in the middle of the table and poured some into a glass.
Elena gave me a raised eyebrow stare as she signaled the nearest waitress.
“It isn’t Vivian, is it?” she asked.
“No, Mom is doing much better.”
“So it’s Liam, then?” Elena shook her head and harrumphed. “That little shit…”
“It isn’t just Liam.”
“Work?”
“And something else…”
She blinked. “There’s something else?”
I tilted my head. “Why so surprised?”
Elena smiled softly. “Honestly, Livy, that’s pretty much all that goes on in your life. Your mom, brother, and work.”
I stared at Elena as the waitress appeared.
She ordered a cabernet Sauvignon, our favorite red.
“Wow… I really am pathetic, huh?” I breathed as the waitress disappeared.
“No.” Elena scoffed. “You know damn well that’s not what I meant. You’re Olivia fucking Brentwood, queen of these flipping United States.”
I rolled my eyes hard. Did I mention that she was dramatic?
“You couldn’t be pathetic if you tried. I meant that for the longest your world has been consumed by those things. Frankly, you barely have a life of your own to enjoy, Livy, and I hate that for you. You’re not happy. ”
Elena’s words hit closer to home than I would have liked to admit. She was right. I wasn’t happy, a sad truth I’d been dodging. For as long as I could remember, my life had been orbiting everything but my happiness.
The waitress appeared with our bottle of wine and menus. I waited until she was out of earshot before I responded to Elena’s observation.
“You’re right,” I said. “It’s been so long since I’ve felt truly happy that I’ve forgotten what it feels like.”
Elena’s eyes filled with sympathy. “I’ve never walked in your shoes, but I imagine there must be a lot of pressure to sit at the head of the Brentwood family empire.”
I swallowed hard. An empire that was on the verge of collapse…
“Maybe soon I won’t have to worry about so many responsibilities…” I mused as I poured wine into a glass. “Olivia Brentwood, the queen of these flipping United States…” I smiled slightly as I repeated Elena’s words. “...is about to be dethroned.”
She let out a long-winded sigh. “ Stop . You’ve got time. You’re one of the smartest and most business-savvy people I know. You’ll turn things around.”
While I was skeptical, I appreciated my friend’s vote of confidence. “My ex-boyfriend is the one buying out BioTech,” I blurted. “When you ask what was going on earlier, that’s it… My ex has resurfaced to ruin me.”
Elena gawked with her wine glass held midair. “Wait… You never told me you were involved with James Winchester.”
My eyebrows puckered. “No, he isn’t the buyer as we assumed.”
Elena and I had spent some time speculating about the anonymous billionaire coming after BioTech. She’d even done some of her top-notch journalistic investigations and came up with nothing. In the end, we’d settled on James Winchester being the likely candidate. We were so wrong…
“It’s Alexander Knight…”
That’s why we couldn’t find anything. He was a master at covering his tracks.
For a moment, Elena’s expression was blank, and then her eyes widened. “You don’t mean the White Knight, do you?”
I rolled my eyes with dramatic force. However, I couldn’t deny that the moniker was fitting. Yes, Alex was now hellbent on destroying my life, but the man I knew nine years ago… he really was the type to step in to save the day, especially when he cared about you.
The public, however, called the founder and CEO of KnightGuard the White Knight because he developed a cybersecurity program to rival all programs that protected organizations and individuals from all sorts of cyber threats. There were also rumblings about the White Knight stepping in to help the government on a few classified cases, but those were rumors that came from a conspiracy theorist a while back. From my experience, Alex, the maverick, was an expert hacker who sometimes scaled the line between legal and illegal activities, so anything was possible…
“Yes, the so-called White Knight is who I’m talking about.”
“Girl.” Elena took a gulp of wine and slammed her glass down. “We’ve been friends for six years, and I didn’t know you dated Alexander Knight. Why? ” She pressed a hand to her chest. “I should know these things!”
I sucked my teeth and glared at her. “You’re only excited because he’s hot.” I loathed admitting that he was still damn attractive because he was out to get me. Plus, saying my ex was hot made me sound like a high schooler.
“Well… Yeah! My prudish best friend dated the most my sterious, incredibly charming, billionaire playboy on this side of the country. I know the journalist who did that piece on him last year for Forbes 30 Under 30. One interview with him and the woman was in love. The entire female—and most of the male—population is in love with that man.”
I huffed. I didn’t blame them.
“I’m excited and stunned ,” Elena added. “No offense, Livy, but you are the exact opposite of the string of women I see on the White Knight’s arm.”
“We dated when we were in college, so I guess he’s changed…” Disappointment surged through me as I reminisced about the sweet guy that Alex was. He was sweet to me, anyway, because he loved me. I knew it. I felt and saw it. Then I went and ruined everything…
“I was happy with him, Elena,” I said sadly as I swirled my finger around the rim of my glass. “I met him when I was eighteen, and we broke up when I was twenty-one. Those were the best three years of my life. After him…” I sighed. “That happiness has eluded me ever since.” It was like he’d taken my heart with him when we parted ways.
“Why did you two break up?” Elena asked.
Swallowing the bad taste of horrible memories and regret, I lifted a shoulder. “We just weren’t meant to be.” That was a lie. Alex was my soul mate, but I’d had no choice but to break things off. I knew he’d hate me forever when I did. “Our college romance was pretty intense though. He was my first lover and my first love .” I paused and then admitted, “He’s the only man I’ve ever loved.”
“Wow…” Elena breathed. “I’ve never heard you sound like this…”
My teeth sank into my lower lip as I fought back the wave of emotion that wanted to rise and sweep me away. “I betrayed Alex, and now karma has come back to make me pay. He’s my karma.”
“Your ex-boyfriend taking over your beloved company… Yup, that’s messed up.” Elena sat back and studied me through narrowed eyes. “Livy, I can’t imagine you betraying anyone. You’re the most loyal person I know. You’re loyal to a fault.” She gave me a pointed look, which meant she was reprimanding me for rescuing my brother time and time again, even when he hurt me. “What exactly are you calling betrayal?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It doesn’t or you don’t want to talk about it? Which one is it?”
“We didn’t part on good terms, that’s all I can say right now.” Talking about what happened would dredge up too much pain.
Elena studied me for a moment and then her eyes softened with understanding. She simply nodded and refilled my glass.
I tipped it to her as I lifted it.
“So, do you have any idea what you’re going to do to keep your hands on BioTech?”
I blew out a breath. “Not a clue. I just know that I can’t let Alex win. It will be too humiliating.”
Elena quirked an eyebrow and drank. I followed suit. We’d need a few more bottles of wine before we got through lunch because I was stressed to the extreme.