Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 86710 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86710 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 434(@200wpm)___ 347(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
I return a few calls before deciding to wrap it up for the day. A knock comes on my door and before I can invite the person in, the door swings open. It has to be one of my brothers. They're the only ones rude enough to enter without an invitation.
Alec walks in wearing a grim expression and I immediately think the worst. Something has happened to someone in the family. He comes and sits down at the visitor’s chair and stares at me.
“What’s going on?” I ask him.
“I’m not good with words, Jace so I’ll just go ahead and tell you everything as it was told to me.” He runs a hand through his hair before he continues. “Olivia is not a personal assistant. She’s a writer at Lifestyle Magazine.”
I blink at him. “What are you talking about?”
“Your Olivia. She’s been working here undercover to find dirt at the clinic, Jace.”
I shake my head. “There must be some mistake, Alec. Who told you this?” Even as denial fills my mind, a part of me is putting two and two and they are adding up to four. My skin becomes icy cold and my legs feel as if blood has stopped flowing.
“Ivy,” Alec says. “They met this week and Olivia told her everything.”
My lungs constrict, making it hard to breathe. If this is coming from Ivy, then it must be true.
“Tell me and don’t leave everything out.”
Alec tells me how the couple Ivy had agreed to surrogate contacted the magazine that Olivia writes for to tell their story. I can’t wrap my head around the fact that I’ve been fooled. Olivia’s face with different expressions floats through my mind. It takes listening to the whole story to believe that the woman I fell in love with does not exist. I keep my feelings tightly wrapped though red-hot anger consumes me. I’m smarter than this. I’m experienced when it comes to women. I can sense a woman who wants to use me from a mile off.
“I’m sorry, bro. I know you loved her and wanted a future with her,” Alec says.
My hand moves of its own accord and I raise my fist and bring it down to my desk, sending papers and files flying everywhere. Searing pain tears at my hand but it’s nothing compared to the pain ripping through my insides.
“Jace, relax!” Alec says.
I jump to my feet. “I gave her a fucking ring. I proposed to her.” I pace my office, unable to sit still while my life falls apart. My chest feels as if it’s been split in two. I turn to Alec. “Is her name really Olivia James?”
“Yes,” Alec says.
I return to my desk, open a web browser, type her name, and add writer at the end. The first image I see is Olivia’s. I scroll down. There are several links to her articles. I click on one. It’s Olivia all right. There’s a picture of her next to her byline.
I’ve been made a fool of. An ice block forms around my heart. I become numb. I can handle numbness. It’s better than the pain which is nothing like I’ve ever experienced before. A dull ache forms behind my brow.
“What are you going to do?” Alec says, jolting me back to the present.
I’d forgotten that he was here. This is not like the problems I deal with day to day. I can’t brainstorm different ideas and then decide on the best one. This is a whole different ball game. I allow the image of Olivia to come into my mind and I know what I have to do.
“I have to see her and confront her. I want her to look into my eyes as she admits that she lied to me.” I say this with a lot of courage but I’m feeling anything but. I feel shattered, like an eggshell that has just been stomped.
She looked into my eyes and told me that she loved me, dammit. I don’t bother turning off my computer, and I simply grab my phone and my keys.
Alec stands up too. “I’m really sorry, Jace,” he says as if Olivia has died and he’s offering me his condolences.
It’s not too farfetched. Except Olivia is not dead because she never existed in the first place. Alec and I leave my office and when we’re in the elevator, I ask him. “Why did she say yes to my proposal?”
Alec shakes his head, looking as sad as I feel. The elevator comes to a stop and we part ways. I head to the parking lot and my car. I step on the gas, driving faster than I usually do. My first stop is Olivia’s apartment. Her car is not in the downstairs basement. I check my phone for Lifestyle magazine, input the address in my GPS, and head that way.