Olivia

Standing on the balcony, I stared out into the night.

It was late summer, and the sweltering, muggy heat was giving way to the promise of the coming fall. At least it was at one in the morning.

I couldn’t sleep.

I’d had a lot of trouble with that lately.

Although maybe lately wasn’t entirely accurate. It wasn’t like it had just started in the past week, or even the past two or three.

No, it had started almost two months ago, ever since a highly decorated Navy officer had emerged to escort Adam Dedman away from the cemetery.

From his mother’s funeral.

If I wanted, I could still work up a temper over that.

James, of course, told me there was no point in getting angry. Things had to work themselves out. I wasn’t so good at being calm these days.

My phone chirped, and I picked it up to check the message, putting it down just as quick. I used to set it to do not disturb at night, but for the past few weeks, it hadn’t been an option.

Elise wasn’t doing so well.

She was running out of time, and soon, James would be forced to bring hospice in. When they came, I’d move back into my bedroom out at the estate. He’d assured me it was my home, and I was welcome whenever I wanted to be there.

I’d almost asked him about after.

But things were hard enough on him now, hard enough on all of us. I didn’t need to make anything more difficult.

The message was from Tom, a lawyer at a firm that had consulted with the boss recently. We didn’t use their firm, of course. I made it a policy not to have personal relationships with anyone I might have to interact with on a professional level. It got too messy. But Tom worked within a different department, and we probably wouldn’t work together even if we did hire his firm in the future.

He was attractive, he’d been interested, and I’d been…lonely.

When we bumped into each other at a benefit a week ago, I’d been stupid when he asked me out for drinks. Stupid and lonely, and I’d said yes.

Two hours ago, we were sitting at a beautiful, elegant restaurant perched high on a hill overlooking the Ohio.

One hour ago, he left me at my front door.

Now, he was texting me, asking if I was sure everything was alright.

You seemed a million miles away. I just want to make sure there’s nothing I can do to help with whatever is bothering you.

He was wrong. I wasn’t a million miles away.

I hadn’t checked the mileage to Coronado, California – I wasn’t that desperate. Yet. But that was where my problem was. Or at least, that’s where he was the last time he bothered to call.

When he told me not to bother calling again.

“My life is fucked up enough as it is, O,” he’d told me, his voice rough, the words barely audible over the line. “I’m sorry, but whatever James Clarion wants from me, he’s just shit out of luck. I can barely handle myself right now, much less anything else.”

I texted Tom.

I’m not a million miles away exactly, but I do have a lot going on. Too much, and I’m afraid now isn’t a good time to get involved in any new personal relationships. I’m sorry.

I doubted I’d hear back.

He surprised me though.

I understand. If you ever want to get together just to talk or have a drink, let me know.

I almost deleted his number from my phone. He was blond, blue-eyed, and about as far from Adam as he could be.

But I didn’t.

Sooner or later, I’d get it through my head that Adam wasn’t coming back and then maybe I’d do just that, give him a call.

Maybe.

But I doubted it.

* * * * *

“What will you do if he doesn’t come back by the time…” My heart squeezed, and I let the rest of the words trail off because I simply didn’t want to contemplate it.

James looked up from the grapefruit he’d been eating with great reluctance. I didn’t see why he hated it. I loved grapefruit. But I’d spent too much of my life eating stale cereal or plain oatmeal, and before that, it had been whatever I could get my hands on. Fresh fruit to me was just as good as candy.

“I’ve got everything planned out, Olivia. You’ll be taken care of regardless, so don’t worry.”

Annoyed, I snapped a napkin into my lap and took the untouched other half, adding it to the bacon and eggs on my plate. “I’m not worried,” I said. Frowning, I pointed out, “You realize you’ve already given me more than enough. You’re not obligated to do anything more.”

“No, but I want to.” The smile he gave me was full of love, and it made my heart hurt. Then he waved a fork around. “Besides, I hate loose ends. You know that. You’re meeting the board today, don’t forget.”

“How could I?” I muttered at my plate, but he heard me nonetheless. “It’s like forgetting a meeting with the board of the directors of hell.”

“Well, I am the CEO of one of the top defense contractors in the country. It wouldn’t do for the board to be made of a bunch of puppies and kittens, would it?” He finished off his grapefruit with a wrinkled nose.

“Does that mean you have to have hellhounds and wild hyenas?” I took a sip of my coffee and watched as he tried not to laugh.

“It’s a good thing I selected a mean bitch to take over for me then, isn’t it?”

I looked away. “He might still change his mind.”

“And they won’t accept him right away. You’re still the majority stockholder as of now. If things change…” He waved a hand and then glanced at the clock on the wall. “I believe I’ll take the rest of my breakfast and sit with the queen for a few minutes.”

“Don’t let her hear you calling her that,” I advised him. I was the only one who got away with it without getting her death glare, a fact that pleased me to no end.

He chuckled. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

* * * * *

The past six weeks had brought more changes than I liked.

The first had started off when I went with James to a visit to his doctor. He’d told me it was so we could discuss business matters on the way, but I knew the real reason.

He wanted moral support.

He wanted to not be alone as we waited for the doctor to come in and tell us the results.

And I didn’t want him to be alone either.

I would have sat there in the waiting room holding his hand if he would have allowed it. But he wouldn’t, not with the ubiquitous bodyguards in the waiting room as well.

They went everywhere with him.

He’d told me I’d need to get used to having a pair with me, but I wouldn’t, not until I had to.

For the most part, they went everywhere he did, although on rare occasions, like the day of the funeral or the day he’d come to see Adam at his house, he could convince them to wait in the car.

But the doctor’s office wasn’t one of them, and it wasn’t until we were in the room with Hank and Oscar on the outside that I’d taken his hand.

I could still remember how frail he’d felt.

Frail. It wasn’t a word I associated with James.

Now, I was the one who needed it. I would have been happier if I hadn’t finally acknowledged his point when he said, “They expect to see something specific when they look at the head of the table, Olivia. You don’t have to turn yourself into a china doll.”

I had shaken my head, giving him a little smile. “I never could.”

“No.” He laughed. “You couldn’t. You’re too powerful, too…commanding. So take advantage of that.”

On his advice, I found a personal shopper – actually, I found two. The first one had annoyed me, and I’d fired her.

The second one…well, I wasn’t sure he’d work out either, but he led me into his studio, walked around me, and asked me what I wanted. I’d told him what I didn’t want instead.

“The last shopper insisted we find a way to soften my appearance,” I told him, saying the words as if they tasted bad. “A makeover, blah blah blah.”

He laughed.

“Honey, we don’t want to soften a damn thing about you. You’re an empress. The whole world should bow down.” Then he winked. “History paints Cleopatra as this famed beauty, you know that? But she probably wasn’t. She was powerful…and she knew her strengths. I bet you do too. So we’ll learn to play up those strengths. And sweetheart, you have them in spades.”

All my boring, safe clothes had been relocated to another room so I wouldn’t be tempted to drag them back out.

Today, I wore a sleeveless surplus blouse that played up my upper body and made up for the fact that my breasts weren’t all that impressive while the high-waisted, full-cut trousers made my legs endless.

No. I didn’t look soft or beautiful, but I did cut an impressive figure apparently because several heads turned as I strode across the glass breezeway to enter the boardroom. James was already there. He’d told me to arrive seven minutes late – seven minutes, no more, no less. Several board members liked to arrive a few minutes later as a power play, and he wasn’t going to have me waiting on them, not for this.

Make an entrance, O.

That’s what I planned to do.

I didn’t have any papers with me.

I didn’t have any notes.

Everything James and I had planned was already engraved in my brain.

But my throat was dry, and my heart was racing.

The doors opened with a quiet swish, and I stepped inside, my low heels clicking on the strip of marble, announcing my entrance.

A few eyes flicked my way before moving off.

Then they returned, and one by one, every board member turned to look at me.

“Well, it’s about time you grace us with your presence, O.”

I glanced over at Cherise Whitney – Elise’s sister. How I wished she’d sell her shares and move to Italy or France or some other country – she was always jetting about. She sure as hell didn’t belong on the board.

Giving her a brilliant smile, I said, “I’m so sorry, Cherise. I stopped in to check on Elise on my way out this morning.”

Her face went red.

A few others made commiserating murmurs and asked James about his wife. As the small talk circled around, I moved to the coffee service. Cherise sat there, stewing.

The gloves were coming off today – officially – and she was about to find out.

Cherise was, to put it simply, a cold, calculating bitch and there was only one reason I hadn’t already gone head to head with her.

Okay, two.

The first reason was because I knew Elise adored her, and it would hurt Elise if she found out.

The second reason was because James asked me not to – she’s the entire reason I met Elise. If I hadn’t known her, I wouldn’t have known my wife, and my life would have turned out very different.

So he was kind to her even when she didn’t deserve it.

But I didn’t owe her any loyalties, and James already knew Cherise could only push me so far. The only reason she was on the board at all was because of the shares her former husband had left her. He had been James’s partner, and when he died, half of his shares went to her, the other half went back to James. That was part of the reason she hated him so much, I expect. She thought she’d have equal say in this business, but her husband had known her too well.

She didn’t have a head for running a business the size of Clarion. She only saw dollar signs. Clarion manufactured arms and worked in the defense industry – there had to be more than money to be a success in that world.

Turning back to the table, coffee in hand, I moved to my seat at James’s right hand.

He nodded at me and then stood.

“Many of you know Olivia…”

DOWNLOAD HERE