Olivia had spent the next 3 weeks living her life in peace. She didn't know what caused the change in Agni but she decided to keep her guard up. She tried to find clues in her father's old office when she was cleaning but she could never do too much snooping without tipping someone off.
It had been completely renovated to Agni's tasted. Gaudy, expensive and tacky. She had hung up impression art all along the walls with golden, wavy frames. She replaced his library with silhouettes of her body done in white marble slabs, all in different poses. She added a purple, plush lounge sofa that had a polar bear skin throw on it. He father's desk was replaced with a Ast*ria Gr*nd executive desk with leaf accents, all done in mahogany and a grey and white granite countertop. A white, plush swivel chair was neatly tucked into the desk while a silver, Infinity lamp was placed on the corner of the desk. She finished off the room by painting two walls lapis blue, the wall with the lounge sofa, salmon pink and the last wall that face the door a medium garnet colour.
Over all, it hurt Olivia's eyes when she walked in. At one point she even thought that Agni did the art herself but shook the idea out of her head. She was too full of herself to waste her time but the fact she had been so quiet made her feel easy. She couldn't even snoop around the other rooms as the cameras were always watching her. So she had to endure.
On the plus side things in the house had changed. She was ordered to stop wearing the maid uniform and was instead given more punk clothes that were more on the baggie side. She was no longer excluded from meals and was given bathing privileges. Ever since Officer Reenie made his report about the cameras, Agni had reluctantly given the police access to the feed. The only down side was they had to spend time together as a family.
She was happy that there was no audio, she was pretty sure that Agni would have lost her mind if she couldn't regularly regurgitate words into Olivia's while have an angelic smile on.
Eli and her friends had been quite since the funeral and she had received any hints from the twins regarding the outside world it was making her feel anxious. She knew she had to trust everyone on the outside but the solitary confinement was really getting on her nerves.
It was finally the day that Officer Reenie was coming to visit and Olivia was practically bouncing on the balls of her heels. She had finally trusted him and his judgment that she let her guard down which created a deep bond between them.
The moment she opened the door to greet him she saw a bitter sweet smile on his face and couldn't help but feel saddened by it. "Has the lady of the house gone into work today?" He asked nonchalantly and Olivia nodded her head as they walked towards the dinning hall. "So it seems that this will be the last time that you and I will be meeting under such circumstances." He said as he sat himself down. Olivia froze, her hand started to clutch the chair to tightly that it caused her knuckles to turn white.
Officer Reenie let out a light laugh and waved her worries away. "Silly girl this is good news! You see your house arrest is coming to an end. To be more precisely, as of this coming Monday you will be free to go anywhere you please... well anywhere within in the city really. You have a hearing date scheduled next month and no matter what you need to show up."
Olivia collapsed into the chair, tears were starting to well up in her eyes. "How it's only been a month...." She said as she choked back some tears. Officer Reenie extended his arm across the table and patted the back of her hand with his. "My dear, whether you like it or not the cameras helped back up my reports about you." He said quietly. "Also your mother gave a very emotional report about your behavior... cough...that allowed the board to appeal your sentence." He said awkwardly causing Olivia to raise her eyebrow in disbelief.
"She isn't the only one that can play dirty tricks in this house! I have some lovely conversations that can help persuade anyone to do me a favour." He said as he winked at her. Olivia giggled and gave him a side smile before she gave her thanks. "Honestly, I wish this could all be good news but there is a bit of a hiccup. It seems you will be getting some news in the next few days not all is good, keep your wits about you. We will think of a way to get you there this Saturday." Olivia cocked her head in confusion, she knew he couldn't reveal too much or else it would compromise her reaction with Agni but her curiousity was too great.
"What." She started to ask but Officer Reenie started to rummage through his bag and pulled out his pad of paper and pen. "Now Miss Olivia, what have you learned throughout this whole ordeal?" Olivia swallowed back her questions and brought forth a calm demeanor. "Patience." Was all she said.
.....
It was finally Friday evening and the family was having dinner together. The last three days were hell for Olivia as she strained her ears trying to listen for any suttle hints about tomorrow. Agni brought a small amount of her spinach, goat cheese and almond salad to her lips. She chewed slowly they wiped the excess balsamic vinaigrette from her lips with her napkin. "Laila tomorrow evening is your engagement gala, I expect you to spend your time after dinner clearing up your schedule. There should be no excuses on why you don't look your best. At noon is your dress fitting at Vincent's after that is your spa treatment, then your hair and makeup will be done. Everyone of importance will be at this gala, do not embarrass me."
The three girls all blanched from Agni's words. Olivia quickly looked at Laila and saw her lips start to tremble. Her heart strings tightened and she moved her gaze to Loreley but realized that she was blindsided by the news, she had no time to mentally prepare for it and cracked under the pressure as she allowed tears to quietly roll down her cheeks.
Olivia moved her gaze to Agni and shuddered as looked at her smile. Her lips had curled upwards wickedly, her eyes sparkled with malicious intent and her whole aura seem to scream complete victory. 'She knew!' She thought, she knew that the three had been working together to fool her but in the end she trumped them all and had the last laugh. Both coming from well known families and announcing to everyone their intentions, there was no turning back, it would mean the end of investments, the end of partnerships, the destruction of companies! No one would do business with either side if they were to ever break the relationship.
Olivia's breathing started to pick up, a pounding noise was thundering against her her ears, she needed to run, she wanted to run away and take Eli with her, the moment she tried to stand up she found the world before her starting to blur and then turn to darkness.
.....
"I have done what I can.... it's all up to you."
Olivia rubbed her eyes, as a horrid disinfectant smell assualted her nose. "Sakura?" She said as she tried to focus her vision. She heard a moan to the left of her and was instantly on alert. She tried to sit up but found the two arms were pinning her down. "It's hard to breath." She shouted making both arms pull back instantly. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Loreley started to cry as she hugged herself while Laila jumped onto Olivia's neck and just cried. "Nurse! She's awake! We need to call the nurse!" Loreley shouted in a trembling voice as she let go of herself and reached out for the call button.
"Where am I?" She said as she hugged Laila, trying to comfort her. "At my uncle's hospital." A husky voice said from the side of the room. Olivia quickly looked around and on the window ledge sat Eli, grinning as he watched her. "What happened?" She asked Eli. He stood up and stretched out his back. "You collapsed, anemia from pregnancy, you should be fine after some rest.... Well that's what Nana Pam said but I guess we should wait for the official report." He said with a wicked grin.
A nurse came rushing in and grinned at Eli before shooing the twins to Eli's side. The nurse quietly checked over her vitals and finally looked at her with a wide smile. She turned to Eli. "The young miss is doing fine. Dr. Foster should be here any minute to give you the finally diagnosis." Then the nurse turned to her and patted the back of her hand. "You are so lucky to have a loving family... especially your ... cough... husband, can't wait for the little bundles of joy." She giggled before handing a bag to Olivia. With a quick wink to Olivia and a blow kiss to Eli, she left the room. Olivia looked at Eli and saw him roll his eyes. "My sister's friend, Jessica, they've been together since kindergarten."
Olivia looked in the bag and saw pastries, her mouth salivated as she pulled out a croissant. She looked at her sisters and gestured for them to take a pastry. They hesitated for a bit but she looked at them with puppy eyes. "I don't want to be the only one eating." Loreley grabbed a croissant and lobster tail pastry from Olivia and handed the croissant to Laila. "Eli?" She said as she opened the bag wider. "No thanks I'll grab some drinks. Strawberry milk?" He asked as he looked Olivia. "Yes please." She answered. He looked at the twins. "Anything." They answered, he nodded his head and left the room.
Olivia looked at the clock, her chest tightened, it showed 10:45. She didn't know what to think but she waited until a full minute went by. "What day is it and does Eli know?" She asked Loreley. "It's Friday night, you were only out for a few hours, so don't worry we have time and yes." She answered with a shaky smile. "It seems so caught us off guard and invited all the prestigious people through their secretaries and assistants. Telling them to keep the information to themselves so she could plan in peace."
Olivia turned her gaze to the window and clutched the bag. It seemed Laila couldn't keep still she fiddled with her croissant and thought she could try to comfort Olivia. "Don't worry that monster can't do anything to you right now, she told the doctors that you hadn't been taking you prenatals but had been eating properly so she wasn't sure what caused you to faint. They took some blood and... oh um... they said they were going to keep you here for 48 hours for observation."
Olivia just let a small "Okay." While she kept her gaze locked on whatever was outside. Loreley gave Laila a stern look and Laila blushed a little before stuffing her face with the croissant. Olivia sighed and pulled out a lobster tail. She looked at it for a bit before taking a small bite. The pastry was soft and the filling was delightful and refreshing. She heard the twins sigh and looked up at them in confusion.
"Oh sorry." Laila started but Loreley quickly picked up the conversation. "You haven't smiled since you woke up, so we were kinda worried." Olivia looked at her sisters remorsefully causing them instantly to regret speaking. "I haven't thought of a plan yet about tomorrow..." Laila and Loreley dropped their gazes and couldn't help but feel pitiful. They hadn't thought of anything either.
"That's because you don't have to think about anything." Eli said as he walked through the door, he gave the twins some regular milk cartons then went up to Olivia. He gave her the strawberry milk carton, sat down on the bed and wrapped his arms around her. He placed a small kiss on her head before he continued to speak. "Just trust in your friends we have been working hard and we got a plan started for this little bump on the road."
"Really?" She asked Eli hopefully. "Really, so relax for a bit and just wait for the show to start." Eli said as he tightened his embrace. Olivia took another bit of the pastry before snuggling up against Eli's chest. "Aww so loving in any situation aren't you?" A familiar voice was heard from the doorway. Eli refused to let go so Olivia had to struggle to see the person's face.
"Porter?!" She said and quickly looked at Loreley's face. She saw her subconsciously try to brush back her hair behind her ear as she turned a slight pink.
"Hey! Not just him you know!" Another voice shouted. Olivia's face started to brighten up when she saw a group of people walk in. Blair, Marek, Rodan, Samantha and "Autumn!!! Autumn, Autumn!!! I'm ..." She started to shout but couldn't hold back her tears. Autumn small face started to scrunch up and big, round tears started to run down her slightly, blushed face.
Eli finally let Olivia go as Autumn came stomping up to her. She looked at her in silence before she started crying harder. She brought her small fists up to her face, trying to push back her tears. Olivia reached out and grabbed her waist, guiding her onto the bed. She instantly wrapped her arms around Olivia's head. "No I'm sorry! You were in pain and locked away and all I thought of was myself! You needed me and... sob...I'm so sorry! He was my other dad, we have been together for so long and that witch didn't even let you say goodbye!" She cried.
Olivia wrapped her arms around Autumn and started to cry with her. "No, she did but it was too cruel!" Everyone in the room was silent and waited for the girls to calm down. Once they started to sniffle, did they break their embrace. Both their faces were now streaked with tear tracks and their eyes were red and puffy. Blair clapped her hands and grabbed everyone's attention. "You guys are a giant mess now, so into the bathroom to get cleaned up." She ordered as she walked towards them. "Come on now Autumn move away so I can help Olivia up."
Olivia tried to protest but Blair wouldn't have it. "Did Eli not tell you anything! A show is going to start and we need you presentable!"