"Let me get something straight here, Livy." Collins spoke gently, as he tried to collect himself and act composed. "So, this lady you are talking about, how did she look? Physically?"
"Uhm, she had short black hair, this tall and white as porcelain. She looked dreadful alright, pretty but dreadful." Olivia explained expressively. Collins gulped as he proceeded to ask.
"Did you by any chance gather if she was the CEO of LaFlaire fashion house?"
"LaFlaire? Wait, I know that fashion house! No way, is she the CEO?" Olivia retorted.
"I'm asking you." Collins said.
"Uhm, ma'am Alma did mention something about her being a fashion icon or something like that, but she definitely didn't mention that it was LaFlaire!" Olivia cried. She still couldn't believe it. LaFlaire was like one of her favorite designs. She hoped that the haughty lady wasn't really the CEO. It would break her heart.
"Was she in company of some other people? Say, a group of four young men?" Collins asked again.
"There were a number of young men in the room, over ten or twenty of them. She was the only lady among them. But yes, four of the young men seemed to stand out among them. They seemed like masters and on per with the nasty young lady, while the rest looked like hired guards. But why?" Olivia asked, still confused as to why Collins was acting so terrified.
"Fuck!" Collins cried as he quickly rose to his feet and began to pace up and down the corridor. Olivia got on her feet too and followed him around, even more curious now.
"What is it?" She asked. "What is it, Collins. Tell me already, you are making me nervous. Why are you acting so agitated."
"That's them!" Collins said, still in shock.
"Who are they?" Olivia asked.
"DeAngelos! The actual fucking DeAngelos! You messed with the wrong guys Livy! The wrong guys!" Collins cried.
"What about them?" Olivia asked. She still couldn't see the big deal about anything. She thought Collins was just being overly dramatic.
"Have you never heard of them?" Collins asked.
"Nope, why?" Olivia replied nonchalantly. Collins glared at her in disbelief.
"You're shitting, right?" He said.
"Nope, I'm serious. I've never heard about those guys. What about them?" Olivia insisted. Collins still couldn't believe her, but then he proceeded to explain to her anyway.
"The DeAngelos literally own this city! They have a major holding in most of the big businesses around the city and even across the country! They are like the CEO of CEOs! Great men and women answer to them!" Collins paused to see if Olivia was catching on, but the latter still looked hopelessly clueless. Collins groaned in genuine disbelief and continued. "The siblings are as mysterious as they are dangerous! There is a rumor that nobody who ever crossed their path in the wrong way, has ever lived to regret it. People have vanished when they stand against the DeAngelo siblings, and no one has been able to do anything about it. Anyone who dares look into them vanishes too. They are nicknamed 'The Angels of Hell!', because of how they are. People tremble in their presence! Strong and weak, rich and poor, all alike. They are not people you should be messing with Livy!" Collins paused again and paced frantically about, leaving Olivia standing in one place as she processed all the information she had just been hit with. Collins returned back to her again. "And you see the lady you keep calling nasty, the one you poured wine on? Well, if her brothers are the angels of hell, that woman is the queen of hell herself! Lucifer's own bride!" Collins cried.
"Wait. So you are telling me that these powerful siblings are offended with me because I taught their sister an honest lesson? They were all sitting there and gargoyles on a roof when she was acting out like a three year old, throwing childish tantrums, and they didn't do anything about it! Now you are telling me that they are coming for me because I did what they should have done?" Olivia asked. She wasn't by the least phased by all the glorifying tales of horror Collins was selling to her about the siblings being so evil. No, not by the slightest. What Olivia felt within her was not fear, but rage and a strong sense of injustice.
Collins walked back to her where she was standing, and leaning very close to her so that she could feel how serious he was, he said.
"Olivia! What I am telling you is that you've fucked up, real time!" He said, cutting his hands across his neck for emphasis. "The reason why you can't find a job? It's them. The reason why I will never find you a job again? It's them. The reason why you've been feeling so helpless and frustrated? It's them! Fuck, if you've been feeling like everything about your life has been going wrong lately, it's definitely their doing, and it will continue that way. There's nothing you can do about it! It's actually a miracle that you are still alive. But then again, I guess they are keeping you alive so that they can mess with you all they want, like roasting pork slowly on low heat so that it melts from the inside and all the fat sips out." Collins said. He looked at Olivia pitifully, then he leaned away and put his hands up in surrender. "Girl, you know I love you. You know I do, right? But I don't think I'm gonna be talking to you again after this. Please, don't come around here no more, until you have figured out what you got going with those dangerous people. Until then, please stay away from my office. I don't want no part in all that drama." Collins said. But Olivia wasn't listening to him. She was thinking fast, and her brows creased as a thought crossed her mind.
"Wait, Collins. These dangerous people, do you think they would be so petty as messing with my friends if they had a grudge against me? Like, would they do something as low as trying to put a sick girl out of the hospital just to get to me?" Olivia asked.
"Livy, I don't know how far those guys can go. But I guess if they know it could mess with your head, then yeah, they would probably do that." Collins replied, nodding his head as he began to back away from Olivia. "Which is why you should get going Livy. I don't want them thinking that we are so close, and my death would make you devastated! Sorry girl, but bye. Please, seriously. Don't come around here again!" Collins pleaded again as he hurriedly began to open his office, looking about nervously. And when he got in, he slammed the door shut behind him without looking back.
Olivia stood there in the hallway, staring at the closed door. But it wasn't the door that bothered her, nor was it the sudden change in Collins' attitude. What bothered her the most was that these so called dangerous people had messed with her best friends. They had dared to mess with Sally's life! If they had been successful and Sally had died, Olivia knew she would have lost Ellie too, because the girl literally lived for her twin sister. Those guys would have taken out both her best friends just because of a petty grudge!
Olivia could not believe it. She was so angry, she felt her blood running cold in her veins. She turned around and slowly began to walk away, seething in anger while her steps followed in the direction her mind was set on.