A Beautiful Mess (25 page)

“How so?” Kiera asked. “I see the way he looks at you and I’d give anything to have a guy look at me that way. Even last night. The heat between you guys was palpable.” She fanned herself, making Olivia smile before her serious expression returned.

“Well, I didn’t want to tell you,” Olivia said, glancing over at her friend. “But I’ve been having those nightmares again. They’re more clear now than they’ve ever been. And I see the person who pulled me out of the car. It’s a boy who probably wasn’t that much older than I was at the time, and he has those same green eyes as Alexander.”

“Have you spoken to Dr. Greenstein about these dreams?” Kiera asked.

“Not yet. I mean, it’s on my list of things to bring up with her, but we’re still kind of playing catch up.” Olivia fidgeted in her seat, hating to talk about her ongoing need to see a therapist with anyone, including Kiera.

“Did you have that dream when Alexander stayed over?”

“I did. And that night it changed again. The boy with the green eyes pulled me from the car, just like he had been doing. And he placed me in another car and then I saw someone come up behind him and hit him on the back of his head with a gun, knocking him out. I woke up screaming. And Alexander was so sweet during the whole thing. He jumped out of bed and turned on the lights and just held me for like hours it seems like.”

“Aww. I mean, he wouldn’t do that if he didn’t care about you.”

“I know. And that’s the part I’m struggling with. It’s like he was a totally different person this past week than the person I saw at the bar last night. It’s almost as if he’s hiding something from me. I don’t for a second believe that he and Adele are in a relationship. I mean, there are photos online of the two of them, but the dates are so random. If they were dating, there would be a lot more photos, ya know?”

“Exactly. So why are you ignoring his calls?”

“I want him to be honest with me,” Olivia exhaled. “I don’t want him to keep things from me. There was some reason that he wanted to get as far away from me as possible last night at the bar. And I want to know what it is. And until he comes clean, he can fuck off for all I care.” Olivia crossed her arms in front of her body and looked out the window to see the Boston skyline appear in the distance. She was happy to be getting closer to home.

“Are you sure you’re not just using this as an excuse to push him away?” Kiera asked quietly.

Olivia opened her mouth, surprised at her friend. She closed it quickly, knowing Kiera was probably right. Olivia was looking for a reason to push Alexander away. She was scared at how close they had gotten over the past week. And pushing him away seemed like a good idea, if only to save her the heartache.

~~~~~~~~~~

Alexander hung up his cell phone, swearing. He had called her countless times, left dozens of voicemails and texts, and still had yet to hear from Olivia. He was getting worried. What if something had happened to her?

“Hey, bro,” Tyler said as Alexander walked downstairs into the kitchen in the early afternoon on Sunday. “Heading out?”

“Yeah. I need to try to smooth things over with Olivia. She’s not answering my calls. I may have fucked things up.”

“What happened last night?” he asked, leaning against the breakfast bar and drinking a coffee.

“I don’t know,” Alexander replied, running his hands through his hair. “One minute I was at the bar and then the next minute, I looked across the dance floor. She was dancing in the corner and some asshole had his hands all over her so I fucking snapped.” His face flamed just thinking about anyone else touching Olivia. “And then,” he continued, “Adele had planted photographers at the function Friday so there were photos of the two of us all over those gossip websites, and Olivia saw them. I never called or texted her all weekend, so she just thought the reason was Adele and that we’re in some sort of relationship. This is one big fuck-up and I have no idea what I’m going to do.” He opened the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of water for the drive back to Boston.

“Well, good luck with that. I’ve been dying to meet the girl who stole your heart all those years ago. Drinks this weekend?”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll be in touch.” He gave his brother a hug, walked out the door, and within minutes was on his way back to Boston. During the two-hour drive back into the city, he thought about what he could possibly say to Olivia. He was new to this whole relationship thing, but he knew he fucked up. He dug himself into such a hole.

The weekend had started out perfect. Visiting Olivia’s gravestone at the cemetery. Telling her all about the woman she had become. And then Adele happened. And, as usual, she clung onto him, wanting the entire world to see her name next to his to up her social status. Alexander knew he should have ignored her from the start, but he had a tendency to want to make everyone happy.

But, at that moment, the only person he wanted to make happy was Olivia and he would do anything to get her back. He would grovel. He would beg. He would do everything, except the one thing she wanted. He just didn’t think he could tell her the truth yet.

Alexander pulled off the Mass Pike and drove straight to his office, needing to review the report Simpson had prepared before deciding what to do about Olivia. Sitting behind his desk, the sun shining through the large glass windows, he opened the file.

According to her birth certificate, Sarah Olivia Adler was born almost twenty-eight years ago on October sixteenth. The same day as Olivia DeLuca. Her medical records were fairly normal until twenty-one years ago. That year, according to a hospital report, she received a head injury and suffered from several cracked ribs as well as internal bleeding.

He compared the information on the medical records in front of him to the records of his other Olivia. Her death certificate listed the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head causing severe cerebral bleeding. Then something struck Alexander. He looked at the signature of the medical examiner on the death certificate. He held it up next to the other hospital records from the same year belonging to one Sarah Olivia Adler. They were identical.

He pulled the financials of the doctor that had signed Olivia’s death certificate all those years ago. He dug and eventually found records from the year of the accident. In August of that year, he noticed a transfer of over one million dollars into the doctor’s account from an off-shore bank.

Whoever wanted to help cover up Olivia’s death, or lack thereof, had big pockets. He reviewed his family’s financials at that time and it couldn’t have been his father or mother. They didn’t have that kind of money just yet. His father’s success didn’t come until a few years after that. The only person Alexander could think of who would have had access to that amount of money was Olivia’s mother.

Alexander looked at a copy of the trust Olivia’s mom had set up several years before her death. Just a few days before the accident, the trust was liquidated and all the money was placed into several bank accounts in the name of Charles Wright. A few days after the accident, a beneficiary was named to the account - Sarah Olivia Adler. Alexander wondered if there was more to the cover-up than just protecting Olivia.

Charles Wright had made periodic withdrawals from Olivia’s substantial bank accounts to pay for her private school and other various living expenses. She attended Charleston Preparatory School for Ladies throughout elementary and high school and was involved in a wide variety of extracurricular activities ranging from lacrosse and field hockey to orchestra and drama club.

Olivia moved to Boston ten years ago and started at Boston College that September. She graduated five years later with a degree in exercise physiology and a minor in finance. She was named to the dean’s list every semester and was the recipient of a wide variety of awards. Even though on her eighteenth birthday, Charles’ name was taken off the bank accounts and she had millions at her disposal, she still worked. Throughout her time in Boston, she was employed at a bar called Scotch. Alexander knew the exact bar and had probably seen her there on a few occasions. That thought consumed him.

She graduated five years ago, the month Alexander’s own father died. The man Olivia knew as her uncle. After that, Olivia seemed to have gone off the grid. She quit her job and never renewed the lease on her apartment in Boston. Bank records indicated that she bounced around from city to city all over the country. One month she was in Atlanta and the next in New Orleans. She even spent some time in Alaska. Olivia was clearly running from her past.

A year ago, there was a record of a sale of property to Olivia – the house on Commonwealth Avenue. A few months later, there was a transfer of money to a startup she was financing, which turned out to be the wellness center where she currently worked.

Simpson had done a rather thorough job of outlining Olivia’s life from the beginning to that week. It was the early lack of medical records that caught his eye. And lack of any records, really. Something suspicious happened and Alexander wanted to know what kind of agreement his father had made. But digging any more may uncover information that could put Olivia in danger. He just didn’t know if he was willing to do that. She had been safe those past twenty-one years and he wanted to keep it that way.

Closing the file, he knew he needed to speak with Olivia. He didn’t know whether he would tell her everything or just some half truth. Regardless, he knew he needed her back in his life and would stop at nothing to win her back, even if it meant telling her who she was. He knew he would only get one chance to persuade her to forgive him. He wanted to make sure he did it right.

“H
E
can spend as much fucking money as he wants to, but it means nothing without a mother fucking I’m sorry!” Olivia shouted at Kiera Friday evening as she picked Olivia up to head to MacFadden’s.

“Oh, come on, Libs. Look at these earrings!” she said, holding up a pair of beautiful pink pearl tear-drop earrings. “They’re gorgeous. If this doesn’t say I’m sorry, I don’t know what does!”

“Kiera, he has more money than he knows what to do with. All these gifts barely put a dent in his bank account. I want an explanation and an apology, and then, and only maybe, will I reconsider my position on Alexander.”

Kiera giggled. “Ooh, Libby. Kinky.”

Olivia couldn’t help but laugh. “He is a little. Kind of dominating, but in a good way.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, her eyebrows raised.

“Well, he has this way of just telling you what to do, and you can’t help but obey. It’s weird. And I kind of like it.” Olivia blushed.

“Okay,” Kiera said. “You need to get laid and Alexander needs to be the one doing it.”

“Don’t worry about me, Kiera. You need some ass just as much as I do.”

The two girls laughed as they left Olivia’s house and hopped in Kiera’s car.

It was a busy night at MacFadden’s. Word had apparently gotten out that Olivia was a regular with Mo’s band. She was slated to do a few numbers with the guys in the second set that evening. The band had just started their first set as Olivia, Kiera, Melanie and Bridget sat by the bar on the second floor, ordering some drinks.

“So, whatcha got planned for tonight?” Melanie asked, excited to hear what her co-worker would be performing that evening.

“A few new ones and a few old ones,” Olivia replied dryly.

“Hey, what’s wrong with you?” Bridget asked. “You haven’t been yourself this week. And then you blew off work today. Linda had to fill in and teach your classes. Don’t tell her I said anything, but I think our clients prefer you leading the classes.”

“Thanks, Bridget. I know. I’ve just been dealing with some personal shit, that’s all. And I don’t really want to talk about it right now.” Olivia took a long drink of her beer. She secretly wanted to get her set over so she could continue to numb the pain the only way she knew how. With alcohol.

“It’s boy problems,” Kiera interrupted.

Olivia shot daggers in her direction.

“What kind of boy problems?” Melanie asked, her interest piqued. “With that hottie from the penthouse that came to visit you last week? Because OH. MY. GOD. I think I came just looking at him.”

Olivia slapped Melanie playfully, not wanting to talk about her personal life with people she worked with. But she was barely ever at the office. Maybe their perspective would be helpful. So Olivia told them the whole story. How Alexander had been incredibly sweet the entire week before. How on the weekend things changed and he was seen with another woman. And how he shrugged off Olivia at the bar Saturday night.

“Maybe you’re just overreacting, Libby,” Melanie said as she took a sip of her drink.

“I don’t think I am. He ignored me all weekend. I texted him a few times and didn’t hear back and then I see photos of him on the internet with Bimbo Barbie at all those events. Then Kiera drags me to the casino Saturday night for some fun and, just my luck, he’s there as well. With
her
.
He didn’t even acknowledge that I was alive until he got caught. When he tried to explain it, he couldn’t.”

“But tell them what he’s been doing all this week,” Kiera interjected.

“Oh, yes. What’s going on?” Bridget asked excitedly.

“Nothing. Let’s just say my apartment has enough flowers to last a lifetime.”

“And don’t forget about all the little blue boxes.”

“Yeah. And he’s sent me jewelry. But I don’t need to be showered with gifts. I just want an explanation.”

“I think she’s trying to find a reason to not get close to him,” Kiera said.

“You guys have no idea what it’s like to lose someone so close to you. When that happens, it stays with you always, forever reminding you what it feels like to get hurt and be let down. So maybe pushing Alexander away is exactly what I need to do as my own act of self-preservation.” Olivia turned to walk toward the bathroom, leaving her friends speechless.