A Close Call with the CEO
Odetta Lawrence has a secret, she is posing as Olivia Reyes, a renowned breakout fashion designer. The world was finally recognizing her for her talents but not as her true self. She falls in love with the distrustful bigshot CEO of Luxe Textiles, Edward Cummings and Edward is falling for Olivia, but what happens if she lets her heart lead? Will she give up her career for love or love for her career? *** I hear she assaulted a local in Delhi, what a racist. _Exes15 Olivia scoffed tossing her phone into her purse and zipped it up clapping her hands together. "If you'd like, I'd put up that outfit," He leaned on the wall. "Maybe buy it off your hands," She spread her arms to keep them apart, Edward just had the best way of endearing her and she stood her ground. "You...you will?" She nearly forgot about the headlines. They walked together on the beach, she held her hands together. "I appreciate that," She bit her lip. He stepped in front of her and she stopped "I could grab my boat_" "Yes, I'd love to sail," Tasha stepped in wearing a green wrap up bikini and fabric around her waist, she rolled her eyes when Dante nudged her and she blushed. "Quit bugging me alright?" She said and bit down a laugh then blinked at Olivia. "Poor dear, I'm so sorry about that guy...," Olivia fidgeted locking her fingers, "Nevermind," Edward held her shoulder and she disliked his advances. "I know, he was really good looking, I guess you never can tell," She ranted holding on to a bunch of keys and sighed. "The boat," "Right," She said and they roamed to the docks. Olivia watched a crab wrestle with a broken shell and she saw another empty one. "Are you gonna give it or live in it?" He cackled unknotting a rope, he had help with the sails and she tossed it in the water. "No thanks, I'm fine, it's a really nice boat," "Thanks, it's just a rental," He said and he stepped inside stretching his hand. "No, thanks I got it," She stepped up and her other leg was stuck in-between. "Help," She crossed over. "It's slippery," He said and made it to the controls after he released the sails. "Are you sure you know how to sail? Because I'm concerned_" "You had to stand and watch me do a safety check. Olivia, there's a lotta things I had to learn," He said and twisted the keys and the jets rumbled spewing a stream of water. "Hang on," He said and she reached around his side. "This is not funny," She said leaning on his shoulder and he was the least ridiculous at the moment. "Here we go," Edward stirred the boat and he was aware of the direction of the wind and set sail across the shores till he was sure they hit the water. The smell of salt lingered in the air and he set his hand above his eyes at the distance. Olivia was wistful and held on, she couldn't think of the last thing to worry her, maybe a sail was what she needed the whole time. The water wobbled and the sky was getting grey and he picked up speed warranting another grip from Olivia. He felt a drip on his skin and she yawned. In a moment, the turbines gradually stopped spinning and her head rose stepping away from him. A smile returned to his face when he was sure they were safe, the island was just a few metres away, he would drive there in a moment but still, they had to enjoy the view. She sat down on a chair wistful about her dad's trips. "It's been a while since I've been on a sail," "Not long enough," He went to retrieve two glasses and handed her one. "Been a while since I've had a drink," She swivelled. She sipped and her eyes popped at the sweetness. "Apple juice?" He laughed. "I figure if we did, then none of us will be leaving this boat," She imagined careening and Edward laying on the edge, wasted and she shook her head. "Better safe than sorry," She crossed her legs
Chapter 25: Suspect
Edward frowned and eyed her skeptically. "Oh, alright then,"
"I don't want this to grow into anything more complicated, I can't deal with...this situationship," She said and her hands clenched at the smirk growing on his face, she brushed her hair aside, she shouldn't have let him take liberties even if her body ached to have him. She was still in charge.
"You have a boyfriend," He said and she winced.
"I don't want to be that person,"
"What person? We barely touched, Odetta, we just moved from courtesies and I reckoned that there's no turning back,"
She gasped "No turning back?,"
She understood that deep down he had a fondness for Olivia and he was starting to like her.
"You don't understand Odetta, you don't want to," He said.
"I want to look after you, just not like this," She said and roamed around the patients room like a caged bird.
With him inside. She couldn't handle three more hours with Edward. She grunted and hurried toward the door.
"Walk out that door and you're fired, Olivia," Edward said determined and she faced him with a racing heart. He looked darned serious.
***
At the police department, Detective Josh Collins checked the footages at his office with his partner Dom who tapped the mouse on the laptop observing carefully. The footage was put on fast-forward. They watched a man walk into the studio in the early hours of five am and he pointed.
"Aha, play back," He leaned over.
"Where?" Dom's eyes roved the screen.
"Gah, you rewinded too far, April 3rd,"
He scoffed scrolling "Seems blurry,"
Josh leaned over. "Look at those glasses, she swiped it right off his pocket,"
"Our sketch artist got his profile up online,"
Dom laughed in disbelief, of all the schemes he had seen, this was outstanding. "He's an amateur but he knows where the cameras are," Dom laughed and Josh glared at the perp on the screen for a long time.
"Someone had to be really acquainted to introduce him, to them,"
"Lemme go!" He said jumping and struggling as the cops brought him inside.
"This is him?" Dom asked.
"This is a suspect," Josh said. "Witness says he was yay tall, she was really specific,"
"You reckon we should have put her under witness protection?" They exchanged looks.
"Oh Christ, gather more suspects, we're going to have to contact Lawrence,"
***
Tasha smirked riding on her Porsche around the city by twilight, she held down her shades going into her apartment. She was far from clear-headed and Jordan was demanding over a $100,000,000. She held up her phone waiting for the outcomes.
"Hello,"
"Tasha,"
She swivelled "I'm dying to get a clue you imbeciles,"
"Jordan is dead, Miss Limelight,"
She felt a burst of joy after that "I'm glad you three handled that lowlife, now for your next assignment,"
***
Odetta's hand clenched on the door handle, she swivelled her hair out of her face and she turned gingerly to Edward. "I'm sorry, you already trust me enough to tell me what you're going through but I can't,"
"I do trust you,"
She paused after that, thinking about what Caroline said, it was for her own good, she walked outside the patient's room and gasped in a bit of relief and remorse. She walked through the cold white hallway with an array of locked doors around. She tapped her phone and held her arm under her elbow waiting.
Jake wasn't answering her calls, he left her on voice mail and she paced around.
***
Caroline stared coldly at the screen, she hadn't had a break offline since her lengthy study sessions.
'Who is this Exes15 anyway? Seems like he or she pops up everytime we make a post about her clothesline,' She thought to herself.
Exes15
[ Having tasted a few weeks of fame and glory and she's already Miss-behaving! ]
It got loads of replies and over three thousand likes. Her eyes narrowed on the comments.
PatriceYame [ What are you talking about? Olivia's social, very polite and Eddie seems to like her. ]
Macy [ Leave her alone you clout. ]
Fun-Guy [ I just might die of laughter at the pun, Miss-behaving. ]
How was it that she had thousands of likes and virtually all the comments were aggressive and in favour of Olivia? She sipped her water after having been off caffeine for days after the bar exams.
"I'm gonna break this baby," She typed and checked her profile,
She even invited her boyfriend Jean who knew a lot about decrypting strange messages and secret codes.
Roy had shaggy brown hair and beard that was just a few hairs, his golden brown eyes narrowed on the screen and he clicked scanning the profile.
"I love it when you get serious,"
His grey eyes widened "You mean I'm never serious? That's a bummer,"
She bit her lip and brushed his hair.
"You know I know something right?"
"Just keep typing," She said with her hand on his.
"Exes keeps insisting it's an assault when frankly, this video shows her stance, she feels threatened and then she moves backwards and decides intermittently to take a blow, ouch," He hissed.
"Why are you suddenly interested in taking down this profile?"
"It's a course, for legal psychology and forensics, it surrounds the issue of misinterpretation of uncanny behaviour in an uncontrolled environment_fake news, attention seeking_"
"Okay fine, we studied together, it's definitely not for the trends," He chuckled "I get it. But why do you need me anyway?" He had a winning and teasing smile.
Caroline cupped his face with her manicured hand. Her blue eyes widened. "I need you, okay?"
He chuckled and she tapped his face getting up to leave.
He lurched on his seat groaning when she took her stuff.
***
Roy brushed his eyes and scrolled on his computer on his bed while Caroline slept on his thigh snuggled up. She fidgeted and he stroked her chin and hair.
Then he clicked on her page and having seen it all, her posts were directed toward hate speeches and attacks on Olivia. He noticed every now and then, there were pop-ups from supporters and Exes attacking them. It was a single string of data that connected the two of them and it happened to be that she actually replied to a comment and liked Exes' post.
"Babe, I found out who Exes15 is,"