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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’
The following day, Claire avoided Oliver at all costs. During the meeting, she didn’t spare him a glance despite feeling his eyes on her the whole time. Her treacherous feelings kept getting in the way of her plans for revenge and if she didn’t distance herself from him, she was afraid she might end up disappointing her parents. ‘It’s better this way… If Oliver finds out why I really came to work for him and the lies I’ve told… He would hate me,’ she mused, entering her office after telling the receptionist she wasn’t accepting visitors. She spent hours going through the files she took from Oliver’s house, trying to gather the evidence quickly so that she could speed up the process to avoid spending late nights with him. It was time to knock off and she was looking out the window at the setting sun when her phone rang. When she glanced at the screen, a sigh escaped her lips when she saw Wesley’s name. “Hey Claire…” Wesley said when she answered. “I’m calling to ask you out to
"Do you hate me that much?" Oliver asked in a low voice, looking at her with so many emotions swirling in his eyes. Her words cut him, the pain making the lump in his throat painful to swallow. It was always one step ahead and two steps back with her... he thought she was finally warming up to him and ready to give him a second chance. "Isn't it obvious, Mr Ford? I can't stand being close to you... your presence reminds me of the pain you made me go through, so yes, I hate you," Claire replied, her words cutting through Oliver like a knife cuts through better. Oliver ignored Claire's harsh words. He took in a deep breath and asked gently, "Will you give me a second chance, Claire? I'll prove to you that I'm the man you need. Someone you can rely on... I'll protect you with my life. I promise I'll never hurt you again... Claire, I lo-" "Please stop... I'm not in the mood to hear your speech right now. Leave my office, Mr Ford," Claire hissed, her heart pounding at the words Olive
Oliver groaned, losing his appetite. "Mom, please, can we not talk about that?" He muttered, his eyebrows furrowing. "Why can't we talk about it?" Roxanne questioned her son. "You've always dodged the question. Six years ago, I asked you why you treated Claire like that, you refused to tell me... how can we help if we don't know what the problem is? You clearly love her so much, otherwise, you would have gotten together with Jessica Hart." After seeing Oliver so drunk that he couldn't even recognise his surroundings, Roxanne decided to have a chat with him before he destroyed himself further. "Mom, Oliver can never share his problems with you, he's always been like that," Zara Ford said as she grabbed a tray of pancakes. She was a young woman with dark hair and blue eyes. At twenty-four, she was already working on starting her own company independent from her father and brother. Her twin sister, Clare Ford, was into computer science and a low-key skilled hacker. She worked in