Chapter 60
DEMI
I don’t think I heard her right. "I’m sorry, what was that? You are friends with who?"
"Olivia Dunn." The lady called Eliana repeats. "She’s an old friend of mine. Look, it’s a bit of a long story. Can we maybe grab a seat inside and talk?"
I flick my wrist to check my time. I am late from lunch by ten minutes. It’ll take me another five to seven minutes to get back to the office assuming there’s no traffic. I glance back at the restaurant. It’s so tempting to hear everything this woman has to say but I already got on father’s bad side this morning. If I disappear from work, mother won’t be able to cover for me on that front.
"Hey, look, I am rushing back to work but I’d love to speak with you about Olivia. Do you think we can reschedule?"
"This will only take ten minutes." She insists with big eyes.
Fuck it. "Okay, let’s grab a seat then." We park our cars properly but instead of going back into the restaurant, I insist we sit inside my car and talk. Maybe that way I won’t get too carried away and hurry back to work as soon as I can.
"So, why were you trying to reach me?"
"My friend Olivia, I haven’t been able to contact her for some months now. We used to be very close until she started seeing some guy. He seemed to be very rich. I could tell because he would rent out an entire restaurant whenever Liv and I had dinner dates. However, he also struck me as abusive and controlling. Liv always had bodyguards around her during our dates. They even followed us whenever we needed to use the ladies’ room and timed us. It was very weird. Aside from that, I noticed some bruises on Liv’s body but she often made excuses about hurting herself in the kitchen or falling down the stairs."
"Do you know who she was seeing?"
"No. She never let me see a single pic of him. She talked about him though, babbled his praises like he was an answer to her family’s prayers. Apparently, he’s the one funding her family and sponsoring her sister’s education. However, there was always a sad glint in her eyes like she was afraid of him and felt trapped in the relationship. I am certain she wasn’t in love with him. I think she had no choice but to be with him."