Olivia grabbed her purse and left the station. I watched as her husband's eyes followed her, he had an angry glare which made me feel uncomfortable.
I turned to face the police officer. "I'll take the boy home for now pending when things can get settled."
Ava unfolded her arms and then scoffed. "What? The last time we brought him home, he escaped, he ran away. He doesn't want to be with us."
I narrowed my eyes on her. "Are you sure that he's the one that doesn't want to be with us, or are you the one that doesn't want him around?"
She seemed taken aback by my response and didn't have much to say in return. I extended my arms to Andrew, "come on, let's go," I offered.
After a lot of deliberation, he took my arm and we started to make our way out of the station.
"You know, sometimes I feel like you're not even listening to me anymore."
"We can have this conversation when we get home, I don't want you saying anything that can put this boy in any more stress. He's been through enough already."
We were standing in front of my car, I opened the back seat and Andrew climbed in. Ava was about to enter the front seat when I turned and saw Liam and Olivia in the distance.
He grabbed her arms and jerked her forcefully. My body tensed up as I watched him press her against the car.
Even though she wasn't nearby, I knew she said something along the lines of 'let me go.'
Without thinking twice, I trudged forward. "Hey, what are you doing?" I challenged him, my voice sharp and commanding.
She was breathing heavily, looking like she had just seen a ghost. She snatched her arm away from his grip and then looked away.
Completely ignoring my presence, Liam turned to face her. "I- I'm so sorry Bianca, I overreacted I-"
She opened the door and entered, shutting it without allowing him to complete his sentence. He ran his fingers through his hair and let out the frustrated sigh.
"I never thought you were the kind of man that would try to hurt her."
He quickly closed the gap between us and then pointed directly at my face. "Stay out of this, you don't know anything," he said in a low voice, almost as if it was a warning.
My eyes shifted from him to Olivia who was seated in the car, she was staring at us but I could tell that she probably wouldn't be able to hear our conversation since the car doors were all locked.
"I'm not interfering, but if I see you hurting Olivia, even at the slightest. I'll-"
"You'll what?" He challenged.
"I will take her away from you, even if it's the last thing I do. She deserves so much better and if you're going to hurt her, I cannot allow that."
My statement came as a shock to the both of us, because even I didn't think I would vocalize that. At this point Liam's eyes are practically on fire.
He intentionally and roughly brushed past my shoulder. A sharp pain jolted through me and I grunted.
"Son of a bitch!" I muttered as I watched him get into his car and ignored the engines. He stepped on the gas and I had to jump out of his way.
My eyes were glued on the car until he drove far away. Then I turned to face my own car, Ava was still standing there watching everything unfold from the distance.
When I got closer, I entered the car and started the engines. She also wore a distasteful look on her face, and I could tell that the only reason why she didn't speak was probably because of the little boy in the backseat.
We drove in awkward silence until I finally broke it. I adjusted the rear view mirror and looked at Andrew's reflection. "Hey kid, you good back there?"
He nodded. "Would you like some ice cream?"
I saw his face brighten up slightly. "Yes, ice cream would be nice."
We took a detour to a nearby eatery and I parked in the almost empty parking lot. "Just stay here okay?" I said to him and then got down from the car.
Luckily, they still had their ice cream section full. Since I didn't know what he liked, I ordered one scoop each of three different flavors that were common among children his age.
I was still at the counter, waiting for my order to be packaged. Then from the corner of my eyes, I spotted Ava in the car. It seemed like she turned around and was talking to Andrew.
After collecting the ice cream, I made my way towards the car. I felt a little on edge because something was telling me that she had said something to him.
The expression on his face confirmed my suspicion. "Ava, what did you say to him?" I asked, going straight to the point.
She pretended to find my question offensive. "W-what? It didn't say anything to him, I was just asking him what his favorite flavor of ice cream was and if you would get it for him, isn't that right Andrew?"
The boy nodded. "Oh, look you got vanilla, thankfully because he said he likes vanilla."
I handed him the ice-cream and the drive home was silent.
I instructed Claire to take him to the room and keep an eye on him the moment we got home.
When I will show that he was no longer within earshot range, I faced Ava. "What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you antagonising that kid?"
"What is it with you on that kid anyway? Or is he your child that you had with another woman outside?!"
My face twisted in disgust. "Another woman? You know my condition, you know I can't even have kids naturally so stop all this nonsense."
I stormed away from her and made my way to the master bedroom. I grabbed my pillow and a few of my things. She was standing by the door. "So what you're leaving? You're going to sleep in another room?"
"What does it look like I'm doing?" I snapped back and then brushed past her, heading to the spare bedroom and banging the door shut.
*****
The next morning I was at work, not in the field. Between my broken arm and the failing company, I think I needed to take my dad's advice and spend more time in the office than I did out there on site, at least for now.
Tiffany walked in with my mug of warm coffee, my caffeine boost to start today. She gently dropped it on my table along with a file which she printed.
"I drafted out the proposal you could make to Mr Antonio, check it out."
I mumbled something along the lines of "Thank you" and then took a quick sip of the coffee whilst coming through the proposal with my eyes.
In less than 10 seconds I had gone through it and I tossed it aside. "It's not good enough, Antonio is a very selective man, he would have been bored before I even got to the middle of this."
She comes here head to the side. "Fair enough."
I inched forward on my chair, rooting my fingers on the table. "What if I'm more direct, what if I just hit the nail on the head. Hey Mr Antonio give us your money and we will give you profit."
She grabbed the tree, practically pressing it against her torso as she moved backwards slowly. "Not to be the kill joy, but I'm sure his head things like that multiple times. You have to come up with something more creative than that to get his attention."
With that, she spun around and left office. I practically neglected work for the rest of the day and I had her counsel all my appointments for today.
A part of me was nagging and itching to call my father, undoubtedly he had more experience than me and he would probably be able to offer some advice.
My pride got the better of me, stopping me as I was extending my hands to grab my phone. If I called him, I would be accepting defeat.
He would never look at me with respect again, ever. A tired sigh escaped from my lips. I took a glance at the wall clock, it was almost 8:00.
This morning I promised Andrew that I will get him some ice cream when I was coming back so I better be on my way.
I was packing my things and preparing to leave when my phone suddenly started ringing. I checked to see who it was but it was an unknown caller, the number wasn't saved.
Reluctantly, I picked up the phone. "Hello who is this?" I asked, my phone pressed against my ears.
The voice from the other line kept coming in distorted bits, I couldn't hear anything. It sounded cracked.
I was still in the process of straining my ears when I finally heard a feminine voice.
"Aiden… please…. Help… I don't know what to do… danger."
My eyes grew wide when I recognized the voice. "Olivia?" I muttered, my heart racing in my chest.