A Beautiful Mess (29 page)

Olivia took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she began playing a beautiful melody. Alexander had heard the song before when he accompanied his brother to a Zac Brown Band concert. Her voice filled the room, the acoustics perfect, mesmerizing Alexander as she played the guitar, focusing solely on the music as if nothing else mattered. She sang an ode to the guitar she held against her body. As he listened to the lyrics, Alexander thought how appropriate the song was. Almost as if she could be talking about herself or the guitar she so lovingly played. Almost as if telling him how much she needed music in her life.

Halfway through the song, Alexander stood up and grabbed one of his other guitars. He watched Olivia’s hands, getting the chords he needed to join her. Sitting in the chair next to her, he played with her, singing along to the chorus as she continued belting out the lyrics. Olivia opened her eyes, smiling at the sound of his soft, sultry voice next to her.

She finished the song and Alexander leaned over, placing a gentle kiss on her lips. “That was fantastic, Olivia. Did you study music in college?” He knew the answer, but she didn’t know that.

“No, actually.”

He looked at her, feigning surprise.

“I know. Everyone thought I would. I mean, I was constantly involved in music groups all through middle school and high school. Everyone thought it was what I would study. But I actually have a degree in exercise physiology.”

“Ah,” Alexander said. “Hence the health club.”

She smiled. “Yeah. I don’t know why I chose that. I mean, I was worried if I studied music, I’d start to hate it. And I didn’t want to hate music. Anyway, music isn’t something you study. It’s something you feel.”

Alexander flashed back. He remembered Olivia’s mother saying those exact words to him as he learned to play guitar and piano all those years ago. And those words had stayed with him ever since.

~~~~~~~~~~

That night, Alexander had trouble sleeping, thinking of the beautiful woman next to him and the letter from his dad. He knew the longer he waited, the worse it would be when he told her the truth.

He quietly got out of bed and walked downstairs to his office. He punched the code into the door, unlocking it, before he turned to close it, making sure it was secure. He hated keeping secrets from Olivia, but it was necessary at the moment.

He sat at his desk and looked down at one of the photos in front of him. It was of him and a beautiful six-year old Olivia. His parents stood behind them next to Olivia’s mom and dad.
God, she looks just like her mother.
He sighed, still torn about what to do.

He recalled that he had a message from his sister to phone her immediately. Even though it was after three in the morning, he picked up the phone and dialed her cell.

“Alex,” Carol answered, sounding wide awake.

“God, sis. Do you ever sleep?”

“Yeah. Sorry. I’m working the night shift tonight.”

“They work you too hard. You know you’d make more money if you came to work for me full-time.”

“Alex, I already make money off the company. And I just don’t feel like taking orders from my baby brother round-the-clock.” She laughed. “Plus, if I didn’t work here, I’d never see David.”

“So, what’s up?”

“Well, I’ve been running the photos you took last week of the guys at the bar who you think were following Olivia.”

“Oh yeah? Get any hits?”

“Well, at first I just thought you were being paranoid. But I got a hit. The taller one matched with a Mark Kiddish. And here’s the weird thing. I’ve been looking into Simon a bit. Apparently, there was a wire transfer our guys had missed of $100,000 into Simon’s bank account about two months ago from an off-shore untraceable account. According to Olivia’s timeline, it was right around the same time Simon showed up to work the construction job on her gym.

“Now, this Mark Kiddish is the son of Jacob Kiddish.” She paused for a minute. Alexander knew that name. Jacob Kiddish was a professional “fixer” or “cleaner” working mostly for politicians and other government officials. He had been suspected of a variety of crimes over the years, but he was so good at what he did that nothing ever led back to him or the people that hired him.

Alexander remained speechless as his heart raced, wishing his sister had said any name other than Mark or Jacob Kiddish.

“Apparently, Mark had taken over the family business after his dad disappeared all those years ago,” Carol explained. “Just like his dad, they’ve never been able to link him to any crimes. Well, I cross-referenced who posted Simon’s bail and the photo on the ID used matched Kiddish. But now he’s going by a Donovan O’Laughlin.”

“Sis, that’s what Kiera said his name was.”

“Well, we still can’t connect him with any crime. But the money transfer worries me. Look, I don’t want to go on about this, but you may want to think about reading that letter finally. Obviously, Dad was protecting Olivia and her identity. Maybe this has something to do with that. Maybe someone has realized it’s her. If you were able to figure it out, I’m sure other people have, too.”

Alexander sighed heavily. He knew his sister was right. “I know, sis. I’ll tell her soon. I promise.”

“Okay. Love you baby brother.”

“I’m not the baby anymore.”

“You’ll always be the baby to me.”

~~~~~~~~~~

It was the same dream again. The car crash. Her parents dying. The boy saving her. This time, when the boy was hit with the gun handle, Olivia saw him stare back at her and he morphed into Alexander
.

“AAAAAGGGGHHHHHH!!!!”

Alexander sat in his office, contemplating the letter, when he heard a scream.
Shit
. “Olivia!” He ran out of his study. After the conversation he just had with his sister, he was on edge. He leapt up the stairs, taking them two at a time, before sprinting down the hallway and crashing through the bedroom door. Turning on the lights, he saw a shaking Olivia, sitting up and clutching a pillow to her chest as if her life depended on it. Tears streamed down her face.

He ran to her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close. “Olivia, Love. What’s wrong? Was it the dream again?” He caressed her back, trying to soothe the sobs that rolled through her body.

Olivia looked up at him. At those green eyes she had just seen in her dream.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked softly.

“I don’t think I can.”

“Come on, Love. It’ll make you feel better.” He placed a gentle kiss on her head, savoring the vanilla scent of her hair.

Olivia took a deep breath, finally getting her crying under control. Something about being in Alexander’s arms had an amazing effect on her. It made everything seem okay. “Well, the dream was like normal. But when the guy smashed the boy’s head with the gun and he stared back at me in the car, the boy turned into you.” She looked at Alexander and saw the look of horror on his face. “What is it, Alexander?”

He quickly snapped out of it and pulled her body down so that she lay next to him, her head leaning on his shoulder. “It’s nothing, Love. It’s just a dream.”

Olivia relaxed into him but couldn’t help thinking that he was keeping something from her.

Something important.

“C
HERYL
, what the fuck is going on?” Donovan shouted into the phone. “I thought for sure we’d have her spooked by now. It’s October for crying out loud. We need to do something so that Burnham puts you on her protection detail. I need to get someone close to her to get more information.”

“I know, sir. But he’s been with her almost round-the-clock. I’ve had to keep my distance so that he doesn’t catch on. I’m just as frustrated as you are.”

“Well, get it done. I don’t care what it takes. Follow her. Stalk her. Maim her. I don’t care. Just get it done.” Donovan slammed down his office phone just as a knock sounded on his door.

“What?” he shouted, his anger apparent.

“Sir,” a petite blonde woman said, cracking the door open a bit. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but Paul Flinnigan is here to see you.”

“Okay. Thank you, Susan. Send him in.”

Paul Flinnigan strode into Donovan’s office and placed his briefcase on the desk. “Let’s get down to business,” he said once the door was closed.

“Nice to see you, too, Paul.”

“This isn’t a social call, Mark,” he said, sitting down. “I’ve got a deal worked out with the D.A. in Simon MacKenzie’s case. He will agree to plea out to a lower assault charge. It’s a felony, so it will stay with him for a while. In exchange for not mentioning your name or anything else, he requests a few things. First, he wants a sum of five million dollars, to be transferred into an off-shore account before he takes the plea.”

“That’s ridiculous. He may just be jerking my chain.”

“I agree, so I got him to agree to a one million transfer as a sign of good faith, with the remainder due upon his release from prison. That brings up the next point. The only way I was able to persuade the D.A. to plea this down was to guarantee some jail time. It will be about a year, but considering he has no priors, he will probably be released early. Now, if the remainder of the money isn’t transferred upon his release, he will go back to the D.A. and tell them about your involvement, so I suggest paying up.”

“Yeah. No problem. That’s doable.” Donovan made a quick note to get in touch with his client who would be paying that money.

“One last thing. And I’ll let you deal with this as you see fit,” Paul said, standing up and closing his briefcase.

“What’s that?” Donovan asked, his eyebrows raised.

“He wants to pull the trigger. I mean, when the time comes, and he’s sure it will, he wants to be the one to, and I quote, ‘Kill the bitch.’”

Donovan sat and thought about that for a minute. Could he trust Simon to do the job correctly this time? Then he realized that could actually work. Olivia knew Simon. She may be scared of him at first, but his previous incompetence could turn into an advantage.

After a few long moments of contemplation, Donovan finally spoke. “Okay. Agreed.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Olivia woke up on a Tuesday morning in mid-October snuggled next to Alexander in his bed. Over the past several weeks, they had gotten to know each other fairly well. They spent nearly every free moment together, and Olivia was actually enjoying being in a real relationship for once. They had even planned to get away that coming weekend. Olivia had a marathon in Newport, Rhode Island and Alexander said he wanted to go with her to cheer her on as she attempted to qualify for the Boston Marathon. His reasons for doing so were two-fold. One, he really did want to support her. Two, he was still nervous about the connection between Mark Kiddish and Simon. He didn’t want to let her go out of town unprotected, but he knew she would refuse to take any sort of protection detail with her.

“Good morning, gorgeous,” Alexander said as he looked into her big, beautiful brown eyes. “Have I told you today how much I love waking up next to you?”

“No, you haven’t,” Olivia said sleepily.

“Well, I love waking up next to you,” Alexander replied, flipping Olivia onto her back and hovering over her with a look of eagerness in his eyes. He leaned down and feathered a gentle kiss on her forehead as he placed his knee between her legs, pushing them open. “See, Love. Sleeping naked definitely does have its advantages.”

Olivia reached up, grabbing the back of his neck, and pulled him down to her lips, kissing him deeply and communicating her need for him with her mouth. He moaned into her mouth as she ran her fingers up and down his back, wrapping her legs around his waist, grinding against his erection.

“Oh, Miss Adler. You do not play fair,” Alexander smirked.

“Yes. I know,” Olivia replied, smiling.

“What am I going to do with you?” Alexander asked, kissing Olivia’s collarbone.

“I have a few ideas,” she said, throwing her head back, giving Alexander access to her neck.

He planted soft kisses on her skin and Olivia relaxed her legs around his waist. With his body freed, he slowly moved down Olivia’s body, worshiping her with his mouth.

Lowering himself to her breasts, he took one nipple in his mouth, tugging gently as Olivia arched her back, squirming under his expert tongue. She reached down and ran her hands through Alexander’s messy hair. He looked up and his eyes met hers.

“Mmmm… Your skin tastes divine, Love.”

Olivia moaned with pleasure at his words.

“I have an idea,” Alexander said, getting up from the bed. Olivia pouted from the loss of contact.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Close your eyes,” he responded. Olivia looked at him, waiting for an explanation. “I said, Close. Your. Eyes.” Alexander’s voice changed from sweet to stern. Olivia obeyed. “That’s better.” She heard some rustling from the closet and wondered what Alexander was doing.

She felt him sit back down on the bed and instinctively opened her eyes.

“What did I just say?” Alexander asked forcefully.

“Oops. Sorry.” Olivia closed her eyes again.

“Sorry, what?” he growled.

“Mr. Burnham. Sorry, Mr. Burnham.” Olivia smirked, loving the little game they were playing.

“Are you laughing at me, Olivia?” Alexander asked, leaning down, his breath hot on her neck, making her body tremble in anticipation.

“No. I would never laugh at you, Mr. Burnham,” she replied, the smirk gone from her face.

“Raise your arms over your head,” he demanded.

Olivia complied with his command and felt a soft fabric being wrapped around her wrists before he fastened whatever he was using to restrain her to the headboard of the bed. Alexander checked her restraints and was pleased with their security. He then grabbed a blindfold and placed it over her eyes.

“You can open your eyes now,” he said.

Olivia obeyed. “But I can’t see anything,” she protested.