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Oliver clenched his hands into fists, staring at the door which Claire had banged on her way out. Frustration was evident on his face as he pulled at his tie, hating the way Claire defended Wesley. He didn't know why but he had this bad feeling about Wesley. The fact that he even came to propose a partnership made him more suspicious. Having not worked with the Crawford automotive group before, Oliver wondered if Wesley was up to something. Besides, his father, Henry Ford, always rejected working with the said group when he was the CEO and Oliver thought it was strange. 'Could it be a shady company?' He mused. There was something fishy. He could find information about anyone or anything easily, however, Wesley's information was locked away. Heck, Oliver didn't even know he was the managing director of the Crawford Automotive Group. Finding information about him was proving to be hard, however, this was similar to what had happened for the past six years. Oliver couldn't find
Oliver Ford had just returned to the company from an outside meeting. He was passing through the lobby when he froze after hearing the receptionist's words as she spoke on the phone. "I'm afraid you're calling the wrong number. Our CEO doesn't have a child. Yes, I did hear you but we've never heard of a child named Thalia Hamilton. She doesn't even have the Ford's last name-" "What is it?" Oliver asked as he approached the receptionist's desk. She removed the phone from her ear and reported hesitantly, "It's the Principal from the Baobab International School. She's saying your daughter has been bullied at school." Oliver held out his hand, asking for the phone. When he grabbed it, he put it to his ear and asked, "What happened?" "Thalia Hamilton was bullied by one of her classmates, sir. The father of the boy is being unreasonable. Thalia asked me to call her father and said it was you," the principal answered on the phone. A sudden surge of protectiveness washed over Oliver.
"M-Mr F-Ford! It's really you!" Arnold's eyes widened and his forehead was coated with beads of sweat. He might have had a position in the government but it wasn't big enough for him to go against a powerful man like Oliver Ford. When Thalia mentioned Oliver as the father, Arnold thought she was just trying to scare them into thinking she had a powerful father. Seeing Oliver in the flesh made him want to pee his pants from fear. Oliver was oozing a powerful and dominant aura that he couldn't even look into his cold eyes. "I didn't know she was your daughter-" "So, you let your son bully other kids just because their parents are not as powerful as you?" Oliver questioned in a dangerously low voice. "Who gave you and your son that right? Shouldn't you have disciplined him well?" "I...I-" "And you, Miss Thompson, why do we have such a bad kid in our school? Is this how you run the institution?" Oliver directed his question at the principal. His words sounded calm, however, there
Claire sighed, her eyes falling on the man seated next to her in the backseat of the car, cradling her daughter who was sleeping. She had no choice but to let Oliver take them home since Thalia had dozed off while in his office. The car's interior was quiet and it was moving slowly despite there not being any traffic due to Oliver asking the driver to drive carefully and not make any noise. He didn't want to wake Thalia up. Claire's heart was filled with warmth at the scene. Despite her hatred and anger towards Oliver, she loved how he treated Thalia well. Suddenly, the weight of what she had discovered in the files she was going through made her heart thump with guilt- guilt of keeping the information to herself instead of reporting it. Guilt of being glad that the Fords were being betrayed by someone they trusted. Her father had trusted them too, but they stabbed him in the back when he was least expecting... After hours of investigating, Claire discovered a discrepancy
Claire's eyes rounded at the man who was standing dangerously close to her. His masculine scent wafted into her nostrils, tempting her to draw in a deep breath. He smelt so good. His words registered in her head and her face flushed. Oliver didn't miss the tinge of colour that had coloured her cheeks. He smirked, leaning over and asking in a low voice, "Do you still care about me, angel?" Claire's heart did an involuntary flip. She pulled back, her heart racing. "No, I don't! I'm just doing my job as your legal director!" She denied it. Oliver arched an eyebrow. He looked into her eyes and said, "You seem concerned that my reputation will be ruined because of this." "That's because you're the CEO and it might affect the company. The company has so many employees who would get hurt if something bad happened to it," Claire answered, trying to mask her emotions. Oliver's proximity was messing with her senses. She moved her seat back and suggested, "You need to investigate thi
“Are you hungry?” Oliver asked Claire the moment he keyed in his pincode at the door to his penthouse. Claire frowned, still trying to recover from having spent a good thirty minutes in the backseat of the car with Oliver as his driver and assistant drove them to the Ford complex apartment building. She was forced to sit next to him since Thomas decided to be in the passenger's seat. The ride was uncomfortable for her and the space felt too small. Oliver’s musky cologne overwhelmed her senses, and she was very aware of his eyes that never left her frame from the time they started off from the company. A spark of confusion coursed through her, she couldn't understand why she was affected by Oliver's presence. She had moved on, right? Hearing his question, Claire thought it was a bad idea to sit and eat with him in his house as if they were on a dinner date. She shook her head and replied, “No, I’m not hungry. I’m here to work, not eat.” “Well, I’m hungry and I can’t focus on
“Shouldn’t it be the way to a man’s heart?” Claire frowned, ignoring the rest of Oliver’s words and said, “Don’t call me sweetheart.” “Why? Do you like it?” Oliver smirked, referring to the endearment. He nodded and uttered, “Ok, I’ll call you baby then.” “I’m not your baby or your anything and no, I don’t like it,” Claire objected, heat creeping to her face. She averted her gaze and took a swig of water to cool herself down. Was it hot or it was just her? Oliver arched an eyebrow, his eyes glinting with amusement when Claire’s face turned a darker shade of red. He cleared the plates and suggested, “I’m glad you enjoyed the food. Let’s go through the files now.” They moved from the breakfast nook and sat in the living area. From there, they spent an hour going through the files and discussing what clues they found in the documents. Claire looked around, wondering how she could go to Oliver’s study without raising his suspicions. Oliver wasn’t moving from his position, at least
Silence fell upon them after Thalia’s question. After a few seconds, Claire cleared her throat and scolded, “Thalia, don’t ask Mr Ford such things.” “I don’t mind… if Thalia wants me to be her father, it means she’s seen something likeable about me,” Oliver smirked. “Didn’t you sleep at Uncle Oliver’s house, Mommy?” Thalia asked, looking at her mother. “My friend's parents sleep together, so Uncle Oliver is now my Daddy if you slept together.” Thomas who was listening to the conversation choked on his saliva and coughed really hard, drawing the attention of the little girl. “Do you have a cold? Too bad, you should go to the clinic,” Thalia said, forgetting about what she had been saying. “Thank you for your concern, Young miss…” Thomas replied and then trailed when he felt a cold chill run down his spine. He could feel his boss’ glare on the back of his head. ‘Oh no… did I mess up?’ He mused. Meanwhile, Oliver glared at his assistant coldly because he interrupted Thalia’