Intractable Souls : Book 1 of the Bound for Ireland Series (51 page)

“I’d like you to go in and see this client
today. They called me at home last night with some concerns. My
notes are in the file.”

Olivia nods as she reads through the papers.
“Yes, sir. I’ll look after it.”

“Thank you, Olivia.” He steps away from the
door and stops, turning back to look at her. “There is something
different about you today.” He says with a smile. “You’re
absolutely glowing.”

Shoving his hands in his pockets, he
scurries back up the hallway to his office in the south end of the
building. Olivia’s face turns beat red as she glances over at
Rachel, absolutely horrified by his observation. Rachel shrugs.
“Well, he’s not wrong. You are glowing.”

She frowns. “Now I feel like saying the ‘F’
word.”

Rachel laughs and rolls her eyes. She holds
her hand out gesturing towards the file Olivia is holding. “What’s
going on?”

Olivia releases it to her and sits while she
quickly flips through the notes. She laughs once and glances up
quickly. “Good luck with this one.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I already know how to fix
it.” She says in a confident tone.

Rachel shakes her head. “Girlfriend your
brains are seriously wasted here.” She says handing the file back
to her. “So, since you’re going to be right downtown anyways are
you going to drop in to see Ethan and have a nooner? I bet you’re
dying for him to spread you out across that huge mahogany
desk.”

“No! Oh my God, you can be crass sometimes.”
She gives her a look of disgust to hide the real truth. She has
fantasized many times about climbing up on that desk and spreading
her legs in front of him while he sits in his chair, wearing a
power suit and ruling over his empire.

Rachel glares at her, making a face that
makes her feel that she’s under close scrutiny. “This from someone
who has sex with her boyfriend anywhere but in a bed?”

Olivia grunts her annoyance. “First... he is
NOT my boyfriend.” She ignores Rachel’s eye roll. “And second, I’m
fairly certain that you would never walk into Scott’s office during
the work day and let him lay you out on his desk.”

Rachel stands in silence and then a slow
wicked grin starts to curl at the edge of her lips. Olivia’s mouth
drops. “Shut up! You did not.”

A full-blown grin now rests on Rachel’s face
and she snickers. “Laid out on it, bent over it…”

Olivia holds her hand up in the air halting
any further information from being shared. “Ew, I’m going to think
about that every time I look at Scott now. Thanks for the visual.“
She walks away, afraid to hear any more. “Oh, by the way I can’t
find my phone again. I think I might have left it at Ethan’s house,
but I think I should stop by and see if it’s in his car while I’m
downtown. I just wanted to let you know in case you are trying to
reach me.”

When she glances back over her shoulder
Rachel is smiling and shaking her head. “Drive safely downtown in
that car of yours. Especially if you have no way to call for help
if it breaks down again. As soon as you find your cell, please text
me and let me know you’re ok.”

“Will do.”

Getting back to her desk, she calls her
client and arranges to take them out to lunch so she can explain
the plan she has to fix their software problem. Then she dials
Ethan’s cell number to find out if he’ll be available to see her
afterwards. He doesn’t answer and she finds it odd that the call
seems to get dropped without going to voicemail. She dials the
number two more times with the same results and scowls.

In the large empty foyer of Aurora
technologies, Ethan’s phone buzzes to life on the corner of
Hannah’s desk. Curious, she peeks at the screen to see Olivia’s
name. Feeling jealous, she reaches over and hits the button,
disconnecting it before the call can be directed to voicemail. She
does the same thing the next two times, proud of her
interception.

It’s almost time to leave and Olivia wonders
if Ethan is in an important meeting and has turned off the ringer
or ignored her calls because he can’t be disturbed. Rachel sticks
her head in Olivia’s office door. “Scott’s not there.” Rachel
informs her. “He’s out with a client so he’s not sure if Ethan is
even in the office today.”

“Oh, ok. Can I borrow your cell phone for a
minute?” She uses Rachel’s phone to send him a text. Surely he’ll
check them when he’s done whatever it is that he’s doing. She tries
not to have negative thoughts, reassuring herself several times
that he’s at work and a very busy man.

When Olivia’s text message comes through
Hannah peeks around the corner to make sure no one is coming and
then picks up the phone and deletes it. Then she quickly scrolls to
the incoming calls and deletes the three calls from the call log.
Grinning mischievously, she puts it back down beside her. Just a
few moments later the hall way fills with people leaving the
conference room and John stops by to collect Ethan’s phone. She
frowns when Ethan walks straight past her, talking to one of the
engineers without even acknowledging her.

“We’re going to be out of the office for a
lunch meeting. We’ll be back around 1:30.” John says. “Thanks for
charging the phone.”

She nods and sighs, her lack of eye contact
a dismissal, as she reaches for the ringing phone. “Aurora
Technologies.”

“Can I speak with Ethan O’Connell, please.”
Olivia says from a phone at her client’s office.

When Hannah recognizes the voice on the
other end of the phone, she leans forward to make sure that both
John and Ethan are out of earshot.

“I’m sorry he’s not available at the moment.
Can I take a message for him?”

Her voice echoes through Olivia’s ears like
fingernails on a blackboard. “Uh, yes please. Can you let him know
that Olivia James called? I’m trying to get a hold of him to tell
him…”

“I’ll let him know you called. Have a nice
day.” She hangs up with no intention of giving Ethan the
message.

When Olivia hears the dial tone, anger
pulses through her body making her twitch. Bitch! Digging her keys
out of her purse, she heads to the underground parking. When she
reaches the street level, she sits waiting to turn left and get
back onto the highway towards home. Hannah has really rubbed her
nerves. Annoyed and angry, she checks her rear view mirror to make
sure no one is behind her and quickly changes lanes, turning right
to head into the city.

When Ethan and John return from lunch Ethan
scoots down the hallway to his office, avoiding eye contact with
Hannah. John stops to check in and taps his fingers on his desk to
get her attention. “Are there any messages for Ethan?”

Hannah shakes her head. “No. Nobody has been
looking for him.” She says, quickly hiding the smirk starting to
form on her lips.

“Is Miss Quinn still in my office?”

“Yes. She had a conference call so I ordered
her in some lunch.”

“Thank you, Hannah. I appreciate it.”

When John opens his office door Shannon is
sitting looking through her notes. “Hey.”

Her face lights up when she sees him.
“Hey!”

His eyes look apologetic as he presses his
lips together in a hard line. “I’m afraid it’s time.”

Shannon frowns and takes a deep breath. “Ok,
let’s get it over with.” Twisting her blonde hair, she clips it up
on the top of her head, gathers her stuff, and follows him into
Ethan’s office.

Ethan stands when they enter and makes his
way around the desk with his hand outreached. Shannon smiles as she
shakes it. “It’s really nice to finally meet you in person, Mr.
O’Connell.”

“Please, no need to be so formal today. Call
me Ethan. I trust that you had a pleasant weekend?”

Her face turns pink as she glances quickly
at John. “Yes, thank you.”

He gestures towards the chairs. “Please,
sit.”

John pulls one of the chairs out for her and
winks, trying to break her tension and reassure her.

When Ethan settles in his chair, he leans
back and waits for Shannon to speak.

“We’re making some headway with the
investigation.” She begins. “We’ve been able to find out that later
in the evening Miss Keane showed up at Reese Wilson’s apartment
expecting that he would take her in but left angry when he
refused.”

Ethan is confused. “He refused?”

“Yes. She eventually ended up staying with
her sister but later on that night... this is where it gets a
little foggier... witnesses say that she was at McGuire’s bar at
around 12am.”

Ethan scowls. “I was still there at the
time. I would have seen her.”

“Apparently she wasn’t there for long. We
think that she arrived, saw you and then left. The interesting
thing is that her car stayed on the property until the next
morning. We have a copy of the parking ticket that was issued.”

“So, if she left… who did she leave with?”
Ethan asks.

“We know that it was NOT Reese Wilson. We
have video evidence that he was at the gym on Park Street. Several
of the regulars at the bar confirmed they saw her there, but nobody
remembers seeing her leave with anyone. We’re trying to get
permission to view any of the traffic videos and security footage
from outside the bar.”

Getting nervous, Shannon pulls out a folder
from underneath her paperwork and glances over at John. “Ethan,
there has been a new development that complicates things.”
Standing, she walks to Ethan’s side of the desk, places a folder
down in front of him, takes a deep breath and looks over at John.
When she returns to her chair she’s too nervous to sit so she
stands holding the chair back for support. Ethan senses her anxiety
and looks over at John, noting that he too looks like he’d rather
be anywhere but there. Picking up the folder, he reluctantly flips
it open to read the documents inside.

All the way up in the elevator Olivia is a
bundle of nerves. She’s not sure how she’s going to manage keeping
a civil tongue when she really just wants to poke Hannah in the eye
when she sees her. When the doors open, Olivia takes a deep breath
and peeks out. There are plenty of people moving around in the
foyer and one of them distracts Hannah. Chasing them down the
hallway, she leaves the reception desk empty.

Olivia quickly exits the elevator, blends in
with the crowd and then darts down the hallway to the left
unnoticed, heading towards Ethan’s office. Most of the offices down
this corridor are in darkness so she doesn’t encounter anyone on
the way. As she passes Scott’s office, she notices that he’s still
not back yet and she shudders as she recalls her earlier
conversation with Rachel.

She can hear voices as she nears Ethan’s
office and slows down as she approaches the door, wondering if she
should interrupt or just wait until they’re done. When she’s almost
at the door, she stops frozen when she hears the intense tone of
the conversation. Ethan’s voice erupts loud and angry and she
decides to stay out of sight but close enough so she can hear what
he’s saying.

“PREGNANT? What the fuck do you mean
PREGNANT?” His voice echoes through the hall. Olivia hears a
woman’s voice answer but she’s so calm and quiet that she’s barely
audible.

A strange unidentifiable feeling pulses
through her body. This is definitely not a conversation she wants
to interrupt. Doing a U-Turn, she heads back down the way she came.
She only gets a few steps away when she stops, remembering that she
needs her phone. Shit Shit Shit

Turning back to the office, she stands at
the edge of the doorway, hidden from view. She cringes as she hears
the continuation of the conversation.

“I’m telling you, there is absolutely no way
that it’s mine.” Ethan insists. The woman says something else that
Olivia can’t make out and Ethan screams at her.

“Well then have it terminated. I’ll get a
court order if I have to.”

Shocked at his suggestion, Olivia clasps her
hand over her mouth.

The unfamiliar female voice grows a little
stronger. “I’m afraid the pregnancy is too far along for that
option, Ethan.”

Ethan responds with a barrage of curse
words. John’s muscles tense as he weighs his loyalties; torn
between his friend, who also happens to be his employer and the
woman he loves. Ethan’s words spew from his mouth like poison and
having had just about enough of the way he’s speaking to Shannon,
John gets up to close the office door before he confronts him. As
he reaches for the handle and proceeds to swing it shut he catches
Olivia’s reflection in the office door adjacent to them. He stops
and leans his head out around the corner. He can tell from the look
on her face that she’s overheard the conversation. Hesitating for a
moment, not sure how to react, she gives him an embarrassed look as
she steps into the doorway in front of him.

Standing there, her attendance is still
hidden from the others in the office. “Ethan.” John says trying to
get his attention. When he doesn’t stop his loud ranting John yells
at him angrily. “ETHAN!”

Stunned at John’s tone, Ethan turns his
attention to where he’s standing at the door.

“I’m sorry.” John whispers to Olivia as he
stands to the side revealing her in the doorway.

The red angry flush on Ethan’s cheeks slowly
drains leaving him looking pale. “Olivia? What are you doing here?
Is everything ok?” Olivia looks between Ethan and Shannon, her legs
feeling weak and her stomach churning, making her feel nauseous.
Her heart is pounding so fast that she can’t process what she’s
just heard, over the sound of the blood pumping through her ears.
“Yes Everything is fine. I… I think I dropped my phone in your car
again.” Olivia can’t breathe and starts to back up, nervously
apologizing for interrupting. “I’m sorry. I’ll just get it another
time.” Turning, she takes off down the hallway at an extremely
quick pace, hoping that she doesn’t pass out from lack of oxygen
before she reaches the elevators. Breathe…just breathe.