**Olivia POVWhen I arrived back at home and was safely in my bedroom, my phone began to ring in my purse. I shoved it onto my desk and reached inside to dig around for my phone. It took me a moment to find it, but eventually I had it pressed to my ear."Hi, Carl," I was surprised that he had called me so soon after being there."Hey! Sorry, I didn't speak with you much when you were over." He sounded apologetic, and I didn't understand why."It's okay. You don't need to apologize to me. You've been really busy lately with work." I played with a perfume bottle on my vanity, while I talked to him."I have been. I wanted to tell you how grateful I am that your parents decided to invest in my company." Carl really was the sweetest man I had ever met. He continued, "I wanted to ask you if you would like to come to our vacation home in Long Island to spend the upcoming holiday together?"My heart began to speed up as I worried about being alone in a massive house with my fia
Since Carl wasn't around, I got myself settled down in the room and checked my school emails to catch up. It took a bit longer than I anticipated and I didn't realize it was getting dark. I was trying to fill out some paperwork when I noticed my driver's license was missing. Where had I left it? Did I lose it on the way here? Had I left it at home? No, because I had it at one point after we had taken off to come here.I went on a wild search for it through my bags, hoping that I had just placed it in a weird pocket or something, but to no avail. I took a moment to sit and think about where I could have misplaced it. Maybe it had fallen out when my bags were taken for me? Maybe Bethany had seen it?I decided to check with my sister, but the house was too big and I certainly didn't want to walk into a wrong room again. "Excuse me," I grabbed one of the house staff's attention with a smile.He smiled politely at me in return with a cream towel draped over his forearm, "Y
The warm water rushed up around me, causing the sounds outside of the water to blur and become a mumble. Ringing echoed in my ears, making me cringe from the sharp sound.Time felt like it had slowed down before I suddenly realized I was sinking. I began to panic, flailing my arms around beneath the water and hoping to rise up. I foolishly gasped for air beneath the waves, thinking that would save me.Water filled my nose and lungs, causing my heart to race harder and me to panic more. I kicked and choked on the intrusive chlorinated water when I heard a loud splash beside me.I tried to swim to the surface, but I was disoriented and scared. It wasn't long before a pair of strong arms wrapped around me and pulled me up to the surface while I was kicking and gasping for air, unable to make a sound.I clawed at muscular pecs, panicking, coughing up water, and gasping for air."You're alright," a low voice spoke as if to console me. It was then I realized who had jumped in to sa
**Olivia POVCarl finally came back with my sister the next day, making me super excited to see him. I ran towards him with a giggle, jumping into his arms. He wrapped his arms around me and pressed a kiss to my lips. However, the sparks still didn't quite fly despite the fact that I was so thrilled to see him."Hey, honey. You look beautiful today." He pushed me away and took my hand to spin me around, causing my pink dress to flair out around my thighs. He pulled me in and touched my cheek with his hand, "I missed you.""I missed you too! How was your business meeting?" I was excited to hear how it had gone."It was great! We talked over a few drinks at a local bar. Bethany really knows how to capture a room and reel them in. She has great assets to bring to the table." Carl went on about how amazing my sister was. "I'm glad she helped you," I commented, even though I was still a bit upset that he didn't come check with me before he took my sister on the trip. But, I
It was almost evening. I understood Carl was tired, but he had an entire day to rest. It was dinner time and I figured that he would need to eat something. Maybe we could catch up during dinner.I raised my hand to knock on his door when I seemed to hear some strange sound from behind it. Somehow it sounded like a female moaning followed by some low voice. What was going on with Carl? There couldn't be some other woman in his room, right? I must have misheard it. It must be just me imagining things....However, what Jenny told me as well as Ellis' warning invaded my thoughts and took over. Their words danced in my head like a haunting macabre echo. I knew I had to do something, or I'd be driven mad. "Carl?" I knocked on the door. The lock clicked and the door opened to reveal Carl's face. His hair was a little messy, but I figured that was just because he had laid down for a nap earlier."I was wondering whether you want to have dinner together?" He seemed normal.
I suddenly realized that it was a bad decision to come here tonight. I watched him continue to lean in, and my heart raced. For a moment, I panicked and didn't know what to do. I couldn't be unfaithful to Carl! I tried to shove him away by his chest, but he was too strong for me. However, he didn't kiss me. His lips were next to my ears, and his breaths were warm. "Now, you may ask your question," he said in his deep, low voice.I felt as if electricity ran down my spine. I was stunned for a moment. Ellis chuckled in my ear, stopped and pulled away from me with a playful expression, "Or did you just want to have another dance?""No, of course not." I shook my head, "Let's… let's talk about Carl." "Alright then, please take a seat," Ellis led me to the couch and poured himself a drink. "Why were you so negative about him?"He sat down next to me and replied, "Carl is... a womanizer. He often has more than one girlfriend at a time."My eyes widened. I gripped my
He stood there staring at me, eyes narrowed. I could smell a faint scent of alcohol. It wasn't too strong, and mixed with his cologne, it was actually…intoxicating."Mr. Peterson?" I gently called him. But he didn't answer, and shoved me away. "Mr. Peterson!"I stood by the door, and was stunned watching him find his way directly to my bed and collapsed on it.My eyes widened. Now what?Then I realized that I was in my pajamas. It was a lavender button down silk top, and a pair of matching silk bottoms with my initials hand-stitched into them–a gift from Bethany. I didn't want him to see me in my eveningwear, nor did I want him inebriated in my bed.He could have chosen to sit or lay anywhere. The Peterson vacation home had so many rooms, yet he chose mine to take over and claim.My guest room wasn't too far away from his. Did he think this was his room, somehow? Well, I meant, technically, every room in this mansion was his…I figured I should call for some help
Hearing Carl's name from Ellis' lips and tongue brought me back to reality and I realized this wasn't okay. This was wrong and against everything that I believed in. This wasn't faithful to Carl, despite what he might or might not have done to me. My parents would be disappointed at me, but even more so, I was disappointed in myself.Tears fell down my cheeks as I began to struggle beneath him, "Mr. Peterson… please stop!" I grabbed at any part of him to stop him from going further. I didn't want this. I couldn't want this. Ellis quickly came to his senses and moved away from me with a fast movement, sitting beside me on the bed and raising his hands in the air to show he was listening to me. "I'm sorry."His apology shot from his mouth like I had stung him. I stared at him and my brain was in a haze. How could this have happened?How could he have kissed me knowing I was his son's fiancee?! I grabbed the pillow from behind me and in anger, smacking him on the side