When Olivia left Matthew's pad, she had a smile on her lips as she drove to work. But she did not go directly to her office since it will be open not for another two hours. She went directly to the police station where Inspector Li was assigned.
As she walked inside the station, she saw some familiar faces and greeted them while intentionally ignoring those who were blatantly trying to hit on her. She had gotten used to men hitting on her. Ever since she was in college she had learned to ignore them and pretend that they do not exist.
That is for their own sake. Because if Matthew found out that they were trying to hit on her, she doesn't know what unmentionable bad things that could happen to them. The only thing she knows is that it would be bad.
She could not count how many times men tried to hit on her and then went missing for a few days only to return and act as if she didn't exist. It started when she was in college. She knew that she was popular in school but she was humble about it. She became even more popular when she started working as a part-time model.
Posing in magazines and walking on runaways almost naked happens to attract more men.
Well, except for Matthew Brown.
When they were in college, she was very aware of Matthew's dislike towards her especially when she started modeling. But she doesn't care at all. She doesn't care that he doesn't like her because she doesn't like him as well.
All the women in the school were going crazy about Matthew and his friends but she always thought that they were blind or something because, at that time, she cannot see anything special about Matthew that would make a girl swoon. At least to her.
Though she found his friend, Daxon, handsome to the point that she thought that she had a crush on Daxon. She likes his eccentricity and mysteriousness. But that was not enough for her to throw herself at him just like other women in school did.
Having a crush on someone is normal when you are in school but taking it seriously is a big no to her. Her priority has always been her study. Or else, she will lose her scholarship which is the only reason why she was able to go to college.
All her time and focus in college was on her study and a part-time job. She had learned to ignore those men who had been trying to catch her attention and invite her for a date. That was until Matthew suddenly kissed her in front of the whole school after she had delivered a speech on the stage. He didn't even let her step down from the stage.
Matthew kissed her and announced to everyone that he was his and that everyone should back out or else he was going to kill them.
To say that she was dumbfounded was an understatement of the year. At that moment, she was stunned for a couple of seconds wondering if that really did happen. And when she realized that it did really happen, her body immediately heated up in rage and the next thing she knew, she had slapped Matthew on his face in front of everyone and declared that she would never like him.
But it looks like the future has another plan. Because five years later, they were still together and very much in love.
And yes, Matthew has been possessive of her even when he was just pursuing her and until now. No one dared to hit on her whenever Matthew was around because if that happens and Matthew caught it, the poor man will be gone for days and will return and acts as if Olivia doesn't exist.
Olivia never asked Matthew what he did as long as he did not kill the man. Because she doesn't know if her conscience could take it if Matthew killed a person just because of her. Although she doesn't doubt that Matthew is capable of that, knowing his and his friends' family background.
Olivia reached the cubicle where she found the person that she came for. "Morning, Meg," She greeted the policewoman who was busy typing on her phone with a smile on her face. Then she placed a breakfast burrito on the table along with a cup of coffee that she bought on her way from a drive-thru coffee shop.
Megan looked at the breakfast burrito and coffee first before she raised her head and was surprised to see Olivia standing by her cubicle. "Liv!" She cried and hastily stood up and embraced Olivia.
Megan or Inspector Megan Li was a police officer. She had been Olivia's source of information for over a year now about the most current and talked about criminal cases in the city because it was always her who handled those kinds of cases.
Olivia met her through Matthew. Although Megan was a few years older than Matthew and even Nic, she was friends with them. In fact, they grew up together.
Olivia had met all of Matthew's friends and was amazed by the kind of bond they have. Their bond was like that of brothers and sisters. They were like a family who took care of each other and watched each other's backs. They were so close with each other despite the age differences.
Sometimes, Olivia was envious that Matthew grew up with such kind of friends that he considered his brothers and sisters. Matthew has one biological brother who was younger than him but he grew up with a dozen of them.
But Olivia had pushed that envy to the back of her mind because through Matthew, she became friends with them as well. Although her bond with them was not the same, she knew that when she needed help, they always got her back as well.
Just like Megan got her back.
"Is that Tim?" Olivia asked as she glanced at the phone that Megan hastily put down on her desk.
"What?" Megan asked as if she didn't know what Olivia was talking about.
Olivia chuckled. "Because you are grinning from ear to ear. It is so amazing what love can do right?" She teased. She knew Megan as not an ordinary kind of woman. She was sort of a tomboy. The fact that she was a policewoman who prefers to work on complicated and dangerous cases was proof of that.
When she first met Megan, Olivia thought that Megan is not the kind of woman that depends on men or would want to be in a relationship with a man. But just a couple of months ago, Megan surprised them all when she proved that they were all wrong.
Because just a couple of months ago, Megan announced or rather showed everyone that she is in a relationship with the man whom everyone thought she despised the most. She is in a relationship with Timothy, another one of Matthew's friends. Which is also Megan's friend. In fact, Megan and Timothy were the first in their circle and they grew up together.
But unlike the others, Megan and Timothy grew up despising each other. They were always at each other's necks as if their life would only be complete if they had killed each other. But they had proved that there has always been a thin line between love and hate.
Megan scoffed and shook her head, "It's scary," She didn't even deny that the reason why she was smiling was that she was texting her boyfriend.
"No, it's not," Olivia said because she had never felt scared throughout her relationship with Matthew. "Anyways, I heard you got leads?" She said. It was after all the reason why she was there early in the morning.
Megan sat on her chair and then she leisurely checked what Oliva brought for her. At first, she thought that Olivia was bringing her what she call a bribe every time she comes because she needs something but as time went by, she had gotten used to it and realized that it was not actually a bribe because Olivia would even bring her coffee and whatever goes with it even if she didn't need anything from her.
Satisfied with the coffee, she kept the breakfast burrito on the side of her table and started to drink the coffee. "Leads?" She asked as she opened a file that was on her table.
"Yeah, about Talon Bonneville's case," Olivia said as she searched for her pocket notebook from her bag without looking at it, and then she leaned on Megan's table. She was still one of those who prefers using the good old-fashioned pen and paper instead of any kind of gadget. To her, she remembers the things she wrote better than using a laptop or a phone.
But just when she just found her notebook and was ready to write in it, she heard Megan say, "Oh, the case is close,"
Olivia looked at Megan's face with a shocked expression on her face. "Close? B-but…I heard that he was caught in the traffic camera inside a van the day he allegedly started missing," She said because it was the very reason why she was there early in the morning. She got the message from Megan last night so she could not believe that the case was closed the next morning.
Megan looked around the station before she looked back at Olivia and replied, "Yeah, but that was before a witness appeared saying that he saw Bonneville come out of a gun shop. The shop owner confirmed that Bonneville bought a gun and ammo from him. The ballistics shows that the bullet that killed him was the same bullet that came from the ammo he bought from the shop,"
Olivia was dumbfounded. How could all of that happen overnight? She asked herself but then, it was Megan who was handling the case so it was not a surprise.
Megan looked at her apologetically. "I'm sorry I forgot to tell you. I was just so busy the whole night," She said.
Olivia doesn't mind though. But she has not lost hope that she could get a good story from the case. "It could be planted. I mean, what if someone used his own gun to kill him," She said.
Megan stared at her for a moment before she said in wonder, "I wonder how you turned out to be a journalist instead of an investigator,"
Olivia rolled her eyes. She doesn't know if she should take Megan's words as a compliment or what. "Please, you know I am not cut out for this kind of danger," She said.
Megan chuckled. "And you think you are not in danger by just digging up information about high-profile criminals and writing about them?" Megan asked, which made Olivia realize that she was right. Though she was not the one directly relaying the news, she was the one who was digging for information so that she could write a good story.
But the story she was writing was not just an ordinary story you could read on social media or in books. She was writing about cases that involved high-profile criminals mostly involved drug lords, serial killers, rapists, and organized crime groups.
By simply digging for information about those criminals, Olivia is already putting herself in grave danger.
Megan put down her coffee on the table and turned her swivel chair so that she was facing Olivia. "Listen, Liv," She started with a serious look on her face. "If you think your job is safer than mine, you better think twice. At least, I know how to protect myself. It has been years, hasn't Matthew taught you how to defend yourself?" She asked and then turned back to her table and drank her coffee.
Olivia shrugs her shoulders. "He taught me how to fire a gun," She said in a matter-of-fact tone. She was proud that she knew how to use a gun to protect herself even though fortunately, she hasn't fired a gun at someone else ever since she learned it.