Chapter 4 #2
“ Oh, darling, how did you get stuck with such parents? I just don’t understand how they can be like they are.
They have no reason to treat you like they have been all these years.
” She said she didn’t know either. “ I’m so sorry.
I should have knocked around your father more when he was a kid.
He was just like he is now. Forever thinking that whatever other people had should have been his.
My mother was like that as well. Father wasn’t.
He just rolled his eyes and walked away when she got into one of her fits.
I’m blaming your father’s actions on her.
Caroline is no better. The two of them are suited for one another, I believe. ”
“ You have no idea.” They finished their dinner and sat talking at the table.
There were no people around them, so they enjoyed talking about whatever they wanted.
Then her aunt brought up Zander and asked her what she was going to do about falling in love with the man.
“ We’re just having fun together. That’s all.
He got me to help him with his shopping after Thanksgiving, and we sort of hit it off.
I know better than to fall in love with him.
He’s not the kind of man who dates personal shoppers and marries them. ”
“ Oh, pee shaw. He is the perfect man for you. And I’d like to know why he wouldn’t think so too if that were the case.
But I think he’s about in love with you anyway.
And why not? You’re wonderful. And the perfect person for him.
” She said they were just friends. “ Friends first is the way it works the best. You two will, if he has any sense, have a wonderful life together. Mark my words. By Christmas, you’ll be so in love with him that you won’t remember a time when he wasn’t a part of your life.
See that I’m right. That’s the way it was with your Uncle Thomas.
I knew the first time that we saw each other, he was the man that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
Then his life was cut short, and I’ve been lonely ever since. But for you, my dear.”
When Aunt Mae cried a little, it hurt her heart too.
Her uncle had been gone since before she’d been born, and she didn’t know him but for the stories that she’d hear about him from her aunt.
She knew that she would have loved him, and she wished that she could have gotten to know him.
He must have been special because of the way that Aunt Mae still missed him after all this time.
When the time got away from them, Aunt Mae said that she needed her rest. She was normally in bed by nine-thirty, and here it was going on eleven.
Walking her to her room, she hugged and kissed her aunt and asked if they were going to get together again before she left.
Of course, she tried to talk her into going on the cruise with her, and she had to turn her down once again.
She needed to work, and that was the way it goes at times.
Driving home, she was happy to know that her apartment would be nice and warm. It had turned cold out, and there was the threat of more snow. As soon as she pulled into her parking space, she thought something had happened.
The neighbor next door to her had had a heart attack and was headed to the hospital.
They were good friends, the three of them, his wife included, and she hoped that he’d be all right.
They were a nice couple, and she thought that they would die without the other one around to bicker at.
They were cute in that they would argue about everything, but nothing could come between them.
Just as she was getting into her place, she saw the man she’d noticed at the hotel and wondered if he was following her.
Not scared at all, if he was, she confronted him on the front steps to her home.
“ Mr. Erickson had us make sure you get back and forth all right.” She said that she was capable of getting back and forth anywhere she went.
“ Yes, ma’am. I know that, but your parents know about the hotel you were at tonight, and we caught them there.
They said they were only looking for you, but we had a feeling that they were up to no good. ”
“ They were at the hotel?” He said that they were going to follow her home to find out where she lived. “ Thank goodness you were there. That might have been something from a horrific novel if you’d not been.”
She wanted to be mad at Zander, but she couldn’t be when the men were helpful.
Olivia was suddenly afraid of her parents if they were looking this hard for her place.
If she didn’t know that they were looking for her, she shuddered to think what they might have done to her had they caught her.
Suddenly afraid, she locked her door and put a chair under the handle.
It might not do much, but she wasn’t going to take any chances.
Olivia knew that she wasn’t going to sleep at all that night and blamed it on her parents. What other links would they go to in order to get to her money? She didn’t want to think about that and went to bed. She’d call Zander in the morning and thank him for having her followed.
~*~
Zander was preoccupied with what had happened last night.
He’d had bodyguards on her for a reason; he just didn’t expect there to be an actual reason for them to be used.
He was going to have to take this more seriously than before and have her move in with him.
They might know where she lived at the moment, but they were working hard to find out. Something that he should have expected.
Having to go to court in the morning wasn’t something that he wanted to do.
But David needed to be put in jail, and the only way to do that was to bring forth the evidence that he had and put it out there.
There had been some new developments since his first time before the judge.
Seven more women had come forth and were saying that he’d done the same to them.
He wanted the man in prison, not hanging out at the county jail, where he would be pampered.
“ I have a question for you.” He looked up from his work and decided that he needed to take a break once in a while. His head was killing him, and he could barely make out the person in front of him. “ Are you all right? You look like you’ve not slept in a month or so.”
“ No, I’m fine. I have a headache, that’s all.
What can I do for you, Dusty? I’m all ears for you.
” Dusty sat down, but he didn’t say anything for a few minutes.
He finally shook his head and told him what he wanted.
“ I can do that for you. But since when do you need an application to buy someone’s shares? That’s never happened before, has it?”
“ They’re looking for big hitters. And with you going over the contract for me, I want you to see if that means they’re looking to raise the prices of the shares on their own.
I think I’ve already decided not to invest. This all seems sort of shady to me, but like you said, it’s nothing that I’ve ever seen before.
” He took the contract and looked over the first page while his brother went on to explain why he wasn’t going to invest. “ I usually can take into account when some new place is selling shares, but this was a little out there. They contacted me and then sent over the contract for me to sign. They want it back by nine tomorrow morning, too. Which to me is another red flag.”
“ I’d not sign it. My pet peeve is having spelling mistakes in the first paragraph.
They have three. Also, the date is wrong.
If they want to sell you shares in the morning, then the date should be that.
It’s from five years ago. That could be another typo, but it also means that they’re going to try and get you to owe them back-dated money.
” He handed the contract to his brother.
“ Also, and this is just me looking it over quickly, there is no mention of their name. They are calling themselves the party of the first part and nothing else. You were right to bring it here, but I think you had already decided.”
“ Thanks. And yes, I had, but I wanted to make sure that I didn’t miss out on a great opportunity just because I didn’t like the way they were going about this.
It seems too quickly too for them to want money.
Like in the morning? That’s just too fast for me to want to invest.” He stood up.
“ Thank you very much. How about I buy you lunch, and we call it even. I know you said you had a headache. But it’s probably because you’ve not eaten since breakfast. It’s gone past three now. ”
“ That’s it. I believe you’re right.” He stood up too and pulled his jacket off the coat rack.
“ I’ve been getting the new stuff ready for David Sheen and his pretrial notes.
I think the judge will have a different opinion of him when I show him that seven more women have come forward about him.
That’s a total of about sixteen women that he’s worked with and abused.
One of them is still recovering from her injuries that happened just over a year ago. ”
“ Christ. And the school didn’t do a deep background check on him when he applied?” He said he didn’t think that they’d done one at all. “ Elaine should sue the school and him. That’ll make them sit up and pay attention next time they have a new candidate to apply.”
“ We can only hope. I mean, you should be furious about it more than I am. You have kids who go to the school there.” He said that he was waiting for the end result.
Then, if he didn’t like it, he was going to enroll them in private school.
“ That might be what I do if I ever have kids. Or find someone to marry.”