CLAIRE'S POV
I did not know many things about myself. However, I was certain that I was not the OLIVIA this man was looking for.
For as long as I can remember, I have lived with my best friend Eva. According to Eva, I had a major surgery that made me lose all of my memories. She was the first person I saw when I woke up in the hospital.
Stuck in a world where I could not remember anything, she was next to me and she made sure to guide me through as we even shared the same surname 'WILSON'
I worked multiple part time jobs to support Eva with the bills at home.
My first night at the bar was chaotic as I got strangled to unconsciousness by a random man who claimed that I was someone named Olivia.
The next night took an even more surprising turn.
The strange man that almost strangled me just the night before, now had his lips pressed against mine. The more I tried to break the kiss and leave his grip, the more he tightened his grip around me.
When he finally released me, I gave him a slap across his face. He looked at me in disbelief and said "You can fight all you want but just know that you are coming home with me. I'm calling your sister to let her know."
"Eva? Do you know her?" I asked. Even though Eva and I were best friends, we were basically soul sisters. Knowing her personality, she would never befriend anyone like this man.
"Who is Eva? Your sister is Patricia." He said angrily before calling someone on his phone and putting it on loud speaker.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" The voice shrieked from over the phone.
"Listen, I just wanted to let you know that I found Olivia. She is still alive." He responded with a psychotic grin on his face.
The voice behind the phone sighed in frustration "What is it? Have you not had enough of torturing her? I hate to say this but Olivia is dead. I saw her dead body. You would have known this if you had come for the burial ceremony."
At the end of her statement, he looked alternatively between me and his phone like he was still not convinced. I forcefully grabbed his phone from him and said to the person he called "This man is a mad man. How do I get rid of him? He keeps mistaking me for Olivia. I am not her"
She responded "You can't get rid of him. At least not while you're in Wrightsville. He is Logan Reynolds." And with that, the line went dead.
I heard about Logan Reynolds before. He was the psychotic heir to the Reynolds family business. The Reynolds family was into Real Estate and they owned Wrightsville city. This explained why the manager at my workplace was always at his feet.
"So you're Logan Reynolds?" I asked him.
Reluctantly he responded "Yes, and?"
"I do not care what you think you are, but you are not allowed to give around accusing a random person of being Olivia and then....kissing them". I did not add the fact that it was most likely my first kiss.
"You are not allowed tell me what I can and can not do" He said as he made his way to sit comfortably on the couch in the room. We had been there for roughly an hour already and no one had come to check on my wellbeing despite the initial screams. The rich definitely ruled the city.
Out of the blues he said "How much do you get paid here?"
"I'm not answering that. I know you're only asking to mock me" I said immediately. What business did he have with what I earned?
He took a deep breath "I'm still not convinced that you're not Olivia....."
Before he could complete his sentence, I cut him off "Who on earth is Olivia? Isn't she dead already? Why are you still hung up on her?"
He looked straight at me in retaliation and as if trying to contain his anger. "She was...I mean, she is my wife."
As I heard those words, the piled up grudge and frustration that I harboured against him for assaulting me had suddenly melted away. Maybe, just maybe, all along he had just been an aggrieved man. He must have been so sad at the loss of his wife. They must have shared a special relationship.
However, she must have not felt the same way towards him, judging by the fact that he strangled me just because I shared a resemblance with her.
Was it love or obsession that he had for her? And most importantly, what led to her death? Why had her sister accused him of killing her?
So many questions lingered in my mind.
He snapped me out of my thoughts "As I was saying, I am still not convinced that you are not Olivia. So, I need you next to me at all times —"
Once again, I cut him off "I'm uninterested"
I made my way to the door and before I could open it fully, Logan forcefully closed it back and whispered "You will do just as I say"
I faced him head on "And if I don't?"
"Don't test me" He scowled
I scoffed at the ridiculousness of his superiority complex. "I want to test you though"
He chuckled "I know people like you! I have dealt with your kind so many times."
"What do you mean by that? People like me? My kind?"
"You know what I'm talking about. Don't you people always pretend to be high and mighty at first, and then you easily go on your knees for the slightest amount of money?" He said in an arrogant tone.
"I'm not going to wait here and listen to you disrespect me, Logan!" I said as I immediately turned in an attempt to get away from him.
This was the first time I had come across someone that could be so insane and arrogant at the same time. I was not having it any longer.
"Two hundred thousand dollars" He blurted out.
I stopped my struggle to open the door. "You want to buy me off? With two hundred thousand dollars? You are sick."
"Listen Oli...Claire. I'm not buying you off. I'm only paying you two hundred thousand dollars monthly to stay next to me" He said in a more calm and collected manner. Like he had dropped all of his ego. He confused me. Was he bipolar?
"Monthly? So let me get this straight. You want to pay me two hundred thousand dollars monthly just so I can stay next to you because I share a resemblance with your late wife?" I inquired, just to be sure I was not making things up.
Two hundred thousand dollars monthly was a LOT of money to me.
He looked at me expectantly as he nodded in agreement "So, will you be by my side?"
I didn't want to accept his offer easily because it would only prove his point about people 'like me' kneeling at the feet of money.
So I decided to bring the bid up a bit.
"Make it three hundred thousand dollars and we have a deal" I said. It was one risky deal but his response left me in awe.
"We have a DEAL!"