by T. K. Leigh
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.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
SELF-PRESERVATION
“HE 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.
Mo’s band soon finished up their first set and took a thirty-minute break before having to start their second set. At that point, the second floor of MacFadden’s was overcrowded with people.
The girl’s conversation had gone cold after Olivia stormed off. She returned soon thereafter but was no longer in a mood to talk about anything.
“Hey, Livvy. You ready?” Mo asked, grabbing a beer from the bartender and checking his watch.
“Yeah. Let’s do this.” Olivia surveyed the audience hoping that, just maybe, Alexander would be there. Then she wondered why she even cared at all.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Tyler, hey,” Alexander said as he walked up to the bar on the first floor of MacFadden’s. The name of the bar sounded so familiar for some reason when Tyler had asked him earlier in the day to meet him there that evening. He shrugged it off, realizing that, after a while, the names of most bars in Boston seemed to run together.
“Hey, man. How’s it going?” Tyler asked, giving his brother a hug and grabbing his beer off the bar. The downstairs area had cleared out once the band had started to perform.
“Okay, I guess,” he replied.
“Listen, the band they have is wicked good, so let’s head upstairs and check them out. I’ve seen them a bunch over the summer.”
“Good. Anything to get my mind off Olivia,” Alexander said.
The brothers made their way upstairs after grabbing another round. When he got to the second floor, Alexander couldn’t believe his eyes or ears. He remembered why the name of the bar sounded so familiar. Olivia had mentioned it the previous week at Open Mic.
“Did you know about this?” Alexander shouted at his brother.
“What are you talking about?” Tyler shouted back, hoping his brother could hear him over the cheering and loud music.
“You really don’t know?”
“No! What is it?”
“That is Olivia,” Alexander said, gesturing toward the stage where a tall, dark haired girl belted out a Queen song.
“Are you shitting me?” Tyler exclaimed just as the audience erupted in cheers.
Alexander began to move through the crowd wanting to get close to the stage. And to Olivia. “I knew she sang in a band, but I had no idea she would be here tonight,” Alexander explained to his brother before returning his attention to the beautiful woman on stage that had been occupying his thoughts all week.
“Thanks everyone,” Olivia said into the microphone, her voice sad. “I’m going to do one last song and it’s a new one. My therapist always says that music helps me express myself, so I kind of feel like I need to do this one tonight. Even though I know the person it’s aimed at isn’t here, I need to sing this, if just for myself. So thank you.” Cheers and whistles sounded through the large room.
Tyler looked at his brother. “Do you think she’s talking about you, jackass?”
“Shut it, Tyler.” Alexander looked back to the stage and at Olivia.
“This is a Pink song. It’s called Misery.”
She stepped back and the band kicked in a slow, soulful melody. After the brief instrumental introduction, Olivia sauntered back to the microphone, closing her eyes and beginning the sad song. It was heartbreaking for Alexander to watch her, knowing that he was the reason she felt the need to sing that song. He could see the pain in her face as she sang about being all alone and missing something she almost had.
Her voice was strong and impassioned as she belted out the chorus with Mo singing backup. She thought about Alexander, as she usually did those days, and how she felt like a complete fool. The one time she actually let her heart get close to someone and she was met with excruciating pain.
Alexander watched Olivia interact with the guy he saw her sing with just the week before at Open Mic. They were good together. The crowd seemed to love them, too. Everyone swayed to the slow beat, cheering as Olivia belted out the melody. The hurt he caused her was clear and evident, not just with the song choice, but the expression on her face. He needed to explain himself. He wanted to give her space, but it had been almost a week. It was time to talk to her.
The crowd cheered and whistled as the band dropped out and Olivia sang the last line practically unaccompanied. Her voice rang through the bar before the entire place erupted in deafening applause. God, she’s good, Alexander thought to himself as she bowed and left the stage to allow the band to continue their set. He watched Olivia practically run through the crowd.
Alexander tried to follow her through the mass of people but couldn’t catch up. He saw her dash down the stairs, Kiera not far behind. It was more than obvious that she was upset and crying. And it was all his fault. He turned to face his brother, his mouth open, unsure of what to say.
Tyler saw the look
on his brother’s face and knew he needed to go smooth things over. “It’s okay, man. Do what you have to do. I’ll call you this weekend.”
“Okay, Ty. Thanks.” Alexander hurried after his Olivia.
~~~~~~~~~~
Olivia and Kiera made a beeline toward the downstairs restroom. Once safely behind the locked door of the one-person bathroom, Kiera faced Olivia, wrapping her arms around her, knowing she needed to have a bit of a crying session.
As Olivia’s tears fell, Kiera soothing her cries, there was a loud knock on the bathroom door.
“Fucker,” Kiera said, her voice low. “We just got in here for crying out loud.”
“Go away!” Olivia shouted.
“Olivia!” Alexander shouted through the door.
“Fuck,” she said to Kiera.
“Who is it?” Kiera asked, taking a sip of her drink.
“It’s Alexander,” Olivia whispered, motioning for her friend to come closer to the door. “What do I do?”
“Do you want to see him?”
“Hell no!” Olivia shouted before realizing how loud her voice was. She instantly covered her mouth, hoping Alexander hadn’t heard.
“Olivia! Open up! I know you’re in there. I just want to talk to you. To explain things. I’m not leaving until you give me a chance to explain.”
“Alexander,” Olivia said through the door, a quiver in her voice. “You gave me all the answers I needed last weekend. It was clear from your inability to answer one simple question who you chose. And you chose wrong, so you have nothing to explain.” Olivia sank to the ground, sitting on the cold tile of the bathroom floor.
“Olivia, please. Just come out and talk to me.”
“No. Anything you need to say to me, you can say through this door. If I see you, I know I’ll cave.”
Kiera sat on the ground across from her friend as they continued to drink.
Olivia heard a chuckle on the other side of the door. “Then please, open the door. I want you to cave. But not for the wrong reasons. For all the right reasons. Because you know we’re meant to be together, Olivia. You know it deep down in your heart. Last week was the best week of my life because of you.” Alexander sat down in the hallway as Olivia continued to berate him.
