CHAPTER 196: CHAPTER 196

Olivia’s POV

I felt someone shaking me. Gently at first, then more insistently, accompanied by a distant voice that sounded desperate.

"Liv. Olivia. Please wake up. Come on, wake up!"

The voice pulled me slowly from the darkness, dragging me back toward consciousness even though my body wanted to stay in that peaceful oblivion.

"Olivia, please!"

My eyelids felt like they were made of lead, but I forced them open. The room came into focus - my bedroom at Maxwell’s mansion, and Kira’s face, hovering above me, her eyes wide with worry.

"Thank God," she breathed, immediately pulling me into a crushing hug. "Thank God, thank God, thank God. What happened? Are you okay?"

"I’m fine." My voice came out rough, disoriented. "Just fell asleep. But what... what are you doing here?"

She pulled back, her hands gripping my shoulders. "I was waiting for you outside the gate! When you didn’t show up, I had to find a way in. I was so worried..."

"Security just let you in?" I interrupted, my foggy brain trying to make sense of this.

Kira sighed heavily. "That’s a story for another day. Right now, I need to know two things: Why do you need emergency contraception, and why the hell is your brother downstairs?"

The words hit me like ice water, jolting me fully awake.

Kennedy. Right. Kennedy is here.

I groaned, pressing the heels of my hands against my eyes. "I don’t get it too. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it."

"You saw him too?" Kira asked urgently. "Kennedy?"

I nodded slowly, my head still pounding. "Yeah. I saw him, but he didn’t see me."

"Okay, but first..." Kira dug into her pocket and pulled out a small box. "Take these. We can talk after."

I grabbed the Plan B package gratefully, reading the instructions with shaking hands. Kira handed me a bottle of water from my nightstand, and I swallowed the pill quickly, praying it wasn’t too late.

For a long moment, we just sat there in silence - me on the bed, Kira sitting beside me, both of us processing the whole situation.

Finally, Kira spoke. "Is it really true? Kennedy is friends with Maxwell?"

"Apparently." I rubbed my forehead, trying to ease the tension headache that was building. "I had no idea. I didn’t even know they knew each other until I saw Kennedy walk through the front door like he owned the place."

"How long have they been friends?"

"I don’t know. Maxwell said Kennedy was a ’long-time friend,’ but..." I shook my head. "I’ll have to find out from Kennedy how it all happened. I’m so confused, Kira. Nothing makes sense."

Kira took a deep breath. "Liv, I don’t know how to say this, but... I think you need to come clean. To Maxwell. About everything."

"What?" I stared at her like she’d lost her mind. "No. Absolutely not. I can’t do that. I can’t."

"Olivia, listen to me..."

"No!" I cut her off, panic rising in my chest. "I can’t tell him. Not now. Not like this."

"Kennedy is downstairs," Kira said urgently. "If he sees you like this, if he figures out what’s going on... Liv, he’s going to be furious. You know how protective he is. It’s better if you control the narrative before..."

"I can’t!" The words burst out of me. "Kira, I can’t tell Maxwell. Not after..."

I trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

Kira’s eyes narrowed. "Not after what?"

I closed my eyes, took a breath, and whispered: "I slept with him."

Kira stilled, a loud silence enveloping us.

"WHAT?!"

"Keep your voice down!" I hissed, glancing at the connecting door in horror.

"You WHAT?" Kira’s jaw was on the floor. "Olivia, what do you mean you slept with him? How? When? HOW? Is that why you needed the pills."

"It just... it just happened," I said weakly. "Last night. He was drunk, and I went into his room to help him, and things got... out of hand. I... I couldn’t resist him."

Kira shook her head, trying to process. "Wait. Wait, wait, wait. How did Maxwell sleep with you as a man? Does he know? Did he figure it out?"

"No!" I said quickly. "He doesn’t know. He was really drunk. He kept calling me Olivia - his Olivia, the one he’s been searching for - and he thought... he thought I was her. And then we..." I gestured vaguely. "And the next morning, he didn’t remember. He’s been investigating, trying to figure out who was in his bed, but he doesn’t know it was me."

"How could he not remember?" Kira looked skeptical. "Liv, that doesn’t make sense. You can’t just sleep with someone and forget..."

"He was really drunk," I insisted, trying to convince her. Trying to convince myself. Because I desperately needed it to be true. "He doesn’t remember. I’m sure of it."

Please let it be true. Please let him not know.

Kira was quiet for a moment, studying my face. "You really want that to be true, don’t you?"

"It is true!" I snapped, then tried to relax as I stood up. "Where are they now?" I asked her.

"Downstairs. Both of them."

"That is perfect. Really perfect. Because I need to fix the sheets."

"The sheets?"

"Maxwell kept them. The sheets from last night. He told the staff not to wash them, and he’s been in his room with them, probably trying to identify my scent." I opened my nightstand drawer and pulled out the perfume bottle I’d stolen earlier. "I need to cover my scent with his. Pour his own cologne all over the sheets so he can’t smell anything but that."

I tried to twist the cap off, but it wouldn’t budge. Pulled it. Twisted it the other way. Nothing.

"Give it here," Kira said, taking the bottle from me.

She did something with the magnetic cap - a twist and a slide that looked effortless - and it popped right off.

"How did you...?" I stared at her.

"Damien has perfumes like this," she explained with a shrug. "I may have snooped around his bedroom a few times."

"You’re a lifesaver," I breathed. "Come on. We need to do this before they come upstairs."

We went to the connecting door, pressing our ears against it to listen. Silence. Maxwell’s room was empty.

Perfect.

We slipped through the door and into his bedroom. The sheets were still there, rumpled and looking like someone had laid on it.

"Jesus," Kira muttered, looking around. "This place reeks of sin and sex."

"Kira, be serious," I hissed. "This isn’t funny."

"Little bit funny," she muttered, but she followed me as we approached the bed.

We uncapped the perfume bottle and sprinkled some on the sheets - just enough to mask any lingering scent, but not so much that it would be obvious someone had doused them in cologne.

I carefully placed the bottle back exactly where it had been on Maxwell’s dresser, making sure it was in the exact position.

"Okay," I whispered. "Let’s get out of here before..."

"Wait." Kira stopped short, turning back toward the bed. "Do you smell anything?"

I paused. "What do you mean?"

"Come here. Smell the sheets."

I walked back to the bed and put my nose close to the fabric. The smell of sex was still there - faint but present. But the perfume...

Nothing.

"I don’t smell the cologne," I said slowly. "Do you?"

Kira leaned down and sniffed. Her brow furrowed. "No. Just... sheets. And sex. But no perfume."

We looked at each other, confused.

Kira grabbed the perfume bottle again and sprayed it into the air between us.

Nothing. No scent at all.

"Is this how rich people’s perfume smells?" I asked incredulously. "Transparent?"

"That’s not a thing," Kira said flatly. She grabbed another bottle from Maxwell’s dresser and sprayed it. Nothing. A third bottle. Still nothing. "This is impossible. Perfume this expensive should smell like liquid gold or something, not... nothing."

"Maybe they’re old? Maybe the scent evaporated?"

"All of them?" Kira shook her head. "No way. This is weird. It’s like they’re all filled with water or..."

Footsteps.

Heavy footsteps in the hallway, getting closer.

Oh God.

I grabbed Kira’s arm and dove for the only hiding place I know - under Maxwell’s massive bed.

We pressed ourselves flat against the floor, barely breathing, just as the bedroom door opened.

I saw feet first. Women’s heels - red heels to be precised.

"Thank you for sneaking me into the house," a female voice said from the doorway. Young, sweet, with an edge of desperation underneath. "Once I make him fall in love with me and I become the mistress of this house, I’ll give you whatever you want."

What?

A male voice responded - one of the staff members, by the sound of it. "Everything else has been taken care of downstairs. We’ll add the substance to Mr. Wellington’s food during dinner. He’ll be high and ready for sex. You just make sure you’re naked and waiting in his bed when he comes upstairs."

My eyes went wide. Beside me, Kira’s hand found mine and squeezed hard.

Someone is trying to drug Maxwell.

"What about the assistant?" the woman asked.

"Oliver? He’ll be occupied. Mr. Hopton wanted to speak with him anyway, and the conversation might take a while. You’ll have plenty of time."

"Perfect," the woman purred. "By the time the night is over, Maxwell won’t remember anyone but me."

The door closed, and we heard her heels clicking across the floor toward Maxwell’s bathroom.

Kira and I looked at each other in the darkness under the bed, our mouths hanging open.