Stand By Me Darling
Chapter 99: Message?

Chapter 99: Message?

"I failed! But you hired mercenaries too, Jared?"

Olivia threw the clutch she had in her hand on the man leisurely leaning on the sofa closing his eyes with his forearms. He had left the top three of his buttons open, revealing his bronze, chiseled chest.

Jared, with a slight twitch of his eyebrows, sat up straight as the clutch landed near him and his brown eyes looked deeply at Olivia.

" I didn’t," he said smoothly with no ripples in his face. Like he was speaking the truth. "Where did you go?"

His voice was calm as he spoke and Olivia whose face was red with anger, shifted her eyes away from him out of guilt.

Everything was fine until she received a call and she just left him. The mercenaries she hired backed off and the mercenaries he hired, all died in the hands of some other group who seemed to be much more trained.

He had particularly hired an extra set of mercenaries so to reduce the chance of her survival and yet they failed.They aren’t even answering him now saying someone more powerful is involved and they won’t work with him anymore. He still couldn’t believe such a well-planned attempt on Talia Brunton ’s life, failed.

He was fuming inside.

"I’m sorry, I had to pull back the mercenaries I hired... Arthur Sinclair met my father and threatened him. Father caved in and I had to... UGH! "

Unacceptable! All her money got wasted. And her father is talking about disowning her.

Really? Disowning? Where will I go for money then?

She fisted her hand hard, gritting her teeth and stomped her feet. She got her clutch from the sofa and searched for cigarettes but threw the clutch away as she remembered she got rid of her cigarettes.

" Come here," Jared held out his hand and pulled Olivia closer to him and as he yanked, she ended up sitting on his lap.

"I’m sorry," she hung her head low. She assured him she’d get Talia today but in the end, she herself had to pull back.

And the men she hired got angry at her for hiring other mercenary group when she clearly didn’t. She believed when Jared said he didn’t hire them. That Talia sure has a lot of enemies.

But the possibility of the other group attacking the same day and time she arranged for....? Hmm... Suspicious!

She bit her lips and wanted to ask Jared once more, but she didn’t have the furs to look at him. In the end, she failed.

"Arthur Sinclair?" Jared gently pinched her chin and made her look him.

His magnetic voice, combined with his manly scent made Olivia go all giddy.

"Yes, CEO of Northern Star! I thought he wanted the company. Why did he save her? Does he really ’love’ her that much?" she felt like retching.

Huh! Love! Why does that Talia deserve love? First it was that Cyrus, now this Arthur!

"He even made my father lose half the contents of his ship and almost destroyed the ships too! Can you believe it? Jared..,"she smiled coquettishly and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Maybe, add Arthur to your list?"

Jared’s long boney fingers reached for her back and gently traced along her spine making her let out a small gasp, as she gazed his deep seductive eyes.

She always felt this awful stillness around him. He looked calm and spoke softly but she could see the dangerous charm in those eyes. Like a black hole - looking intriguing and unassuming, but deadly once get closer. You’ll get sucked into that vortex willingly knowing you’d get destroyed.

"Okay," he leaned closer and kissed her red painted lips.

" Go back to Esteria with Edward," he said with the same calmness while Olivia tensed up.

"Why? You’re not angry at me and pushing me away, are you?"

If he really pushed her away, she’d die.

Jared let out a short chuckle and kissed her cheek, "Edward has a place in the High Council of Esteria. Sinclair family doesn’t," his arm wrapped closely around her waist making her suffocate by his closeness.

Jared could already infer that other group of mercenaries should be hired by the Sinclair family. The Sinclair family is the government of Esteria and they have contact with various foreign dignitaries and so many allies throughout the world.

Who knows, the group that attacked his mercenaries could be the secret service of Esteria!

He was a little amused by how the feud has now resolved and the situation has now changed. The family who wanted the other family line end is now protecting the other.

A couple decades back, who’d have imagined the Sinclair family protecting a Brunton?

Ah, Talia! I will get you and anyone who alignes with you! I’ll destroy everyone!

Olivia didn’t notice the darkness swirling in his eyes. Looking at her nails, she was contemplating. She could understand what he means. He wants her to get a place beside Edward and be the little bird advising him. She was the one who wanted Arthur down and so she must work hard for it.

Edward might be an egoistic idiot, but his title does have some power. If used properly, one can do a lot in Esteria. She could bring down Arthur and also the Northern Star making Talia unable to raise her head.

Doesn’t she love Arthur? I’ll make sure, she’ll never be with him!

But why isn’t Jared at least a little reluctant to part me? Do I have so little place in his heart?

"Do you like me, Jared?" Olivia asked. She always wanted to ask him but never had the guts to.

"I’ll hire SS firms for your PR. Make yourself the trending topic in Esteria and become the ’People’s Princess’."

Jared cupped her cheek and placed a gentle kiss on her lips. "I’ll come for you," his kiss deepened and soon the two of them played the horizontal tango on the sofa.

---

Talia after ending the call with Cyril, didn’t know how long she was staring at the locket but was distracted by the doorbell.

She looked at the time and it was already dinner time and she got up from the bed and covering herself with a robe, opened the door and got her dinner from Mr. Ed who was having an odd smirk on his face.

She saw the other man getting replaced with a woman and couldn’t help but frown. Talia wanted to punch Mr. Ed in the face for his smirk. It was like he was saying that they could now break the bathroom door even, with no trouble since they have a female guard.

She showed her anger at the door by banging it close and placed the container on the kitchen counter.

She got back to her bedroom and arranged the puzzle box neatly placing the locket back.

Maybe she should give this locket to Thomas Lockhart.

As she opened the drawer where she kept her brush, she was surprised to see the black card in there.

Fred left it here?

She didn’t know what to think anymore. What kind of plans does he has that he cannot even tell anyone?

With a sigh, she kept the card near the mirror. She thought of using it in the future.

It’s her grandfather’s money after all and she is entitled to it!

As she placed the card, she saw the clutch she brought last night for her meeting with Prince Edward still on the vanity and picked it up to replace it. She remembered the SD card she placed inside and decided to keep it safe.

But she felt something odd as she looked in. Last night, she had the SD card safely inside a case, but now the SD card was out and the case is missing?

She hurriedly picked the card and it seemed like it was not the card she received.

What could have happened?

Talia’s heart slipped a beat and she ran to her laptop to check the contents of this card.

There was a big video file along with an image and a small video file.

Talia clicked the big video file and was relieved to see the entire video of her interaction with Prince Edward in the file.

But what are the other two files?

Talia clicked the image file fearing it might be some corrupt file or some virus. She couldn’t help but click it.

Thankfully it was not a virus but an image. Seeing the image, her eyes widened with shock and she even yelped as she closed her mouth with her hands.

It was the same picture Arthur had as the background of his phone.

The image of him holding her hand wearing the eternity ring.

There was a little text on the top part of the image.

[I KNOW YOU WANT THIS, SWEET IRIS!]

I thought he didn’t notice me eyeing this picture!

Talia laughed softly but her eyes watered.

"I do want this, Fred" she said softly as her hands caressed over his hand on the monitor, "I want this picture, I want this ring, I want my hand in your hand... I really really want all of these!"

Talia could not describe the overwhelming feeling in her chest. She leaned closer to the monitor and kissed his hand. She knew she was getting weird and weirder, but she couldn’t help it.

Now that she saw the image, she got more intrigued and opened the video image with great expectations.