Chapter 42: Don’t Get Directions from a Model/Heiress

Octavia spent the night after the party dreading meeting with her boss the next day. Luckily, she found there was no reason to worry.

Raemon didn’t seem to feel the need to repeat his behavior after her last run-in with Lucas.

Though, to be perfectly honest, he didn’t really get a chance. Lila repeatedly hijacked Raemon to accompany her in a string of activities that never seemed to end.

Octavia would usually end up tagging along since Raemon would continually insist that at some point he’d have to break away from the group and “get some work done.” But that time rarely came.

To make matters worse, Lila kept finding sneaky ways to get Octavia out of the picture as if her presence was the only thing in the way of Raemon realizing his true feelings for her.

So Octavia would be the one to walk across the entire length of the private golf course to get the designer hat Lila had left in the car.

The one she absolutely had to have with the sun being as bright as it was. She couldn’t risk getting sunburned.

And it was Octavia who had to wander the halls of the Parthenon searching the floors for the earring Lila must have dropped somewhere on the way from the dining room to the outdoor swimming pool.

It was Octavia who had to repeatedly trot down the stairs of the yacht to tell the captain to slow down—the winds were messing up Lila’s hair.

Then minutes later, Octavia would have to make the same trip to tell the captain he was going too slow—they’d never get to the snorkeling reef before sunset.

Lila would phrase her commands to Octavia as suggestions, always with the sweetest of her smiles.

Before Raemon could inform Lila that she could not make requests of his employees, Octavia would jump up to do her bidding.

Anything to get her away from the group. She didn’t actually do anything Lila asked. She’d usually just wander off, find a place to sit by herself, and play games on her phone while the time passed by.

But it wouldn’t be too long before her phone would ring with Raemon’s number blinking on its screen, and she’d be summoned back to suffer along with him in the presence of the Bridlington-Scotts.

Lila would regard her return with a forced smile, Raemon would give her a pointed frowning look.

And if Mr. Scott was there, he would cheerfully smile upon his daughter and Raemon, oblivious to anything that was going on.

The mysterious Mrs. Bridlington-Scott had yet to make an appearance, but there’d been some vague explanation about her traveling to Switzerland for a wellness retreat.

This was how the days passed as Octavia counted them down till the end of the week.

“I can’t take any more of this!” she wailed. She had just slid out of the car that had dropped both her and Raemon at the entrance of one of the fancy restaurants in the upscale part of town.

Mr. Scott had set up a lunch to introduce Raemon to some of the other CEOs and business moguls around. The place was called the Golden Bay.

“This will hardly require any effort on your part,” Raemon said, straightening his tie. “It should be a rather informal gathering.”

“Then why do I have to be here?” Octavia asked.

Raemon paused. “You know, I don’t think you have to.”

She sighed. “But you’re going to make me go anyway,” she finished for him.

“No,” Raemon said, “if you’d let me finish my own sentences, you’d know that.”

Octavia’s eyes shot to his. “Really?”

Raemon smirked at the excited hopefulness that was plain in her eyes. “Really. If you don’t want to attend this lunch, you don’t have to. Do what you want for the afternoon.”

Octavia couldn’t help herself. She did a little dance. “Hell yeah!” she exclaimed. “I’m freeeeee!”

“It’s not as if you’ve been held captive,” Raemon said dryly.

“If you’d let me escape the Bridlington-Scotts company whenever I tried, then I wouldn’t have been,” Octavia said.

“I never told you to take orders from Lila,” Raemon said.

“Oh hell, I didn’t,” Octavia said. “I just pretended so I could get away from her.”

“I know,” Raemon said, “but that’s not why I brought you here. You were supposed to stay with me.”

Octavia waved his words away. “Yeah, okay, whatever. At least I get to take a break now.”

Raemon glanced around. Across the street were lines of stores with large windows displaying a variety of merchandise.

“I trust you’ll find some way to occupy yourself without getting into any trouble,” he said.

Octavia looked around. “I’ll just find somewhere to sit and wait till you’re done.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Raemon said. “We’re surrounded by stores. If you sit around without buying anything, people might think you’re planning to rob one.”

“Unless these same people are going to front the cash for me to buy the very expensive things in these very expensive stores, they’d better mind their own business,” Octavia retorted.

“Just use the card I gave you,” Raemon said. “You have it, right?”

Octavia remembered that she’d stuck it in her purse at some point and forgotten about it.

“Oh shit! I do still have that, don’t I?” She smiled sheepishly. “I completely forgot.”

Raemon glanced at his watch. “The lunch shouldn’t take any more than two hours.”

Octavia frowned. “So what’s my budget? Looking around this place, I don’t think I can be very…frugal.”

Raemon shrugged. “Whatever you want. There’s no limit on the card.”

Octavia raised an eyebrow. “Whatever I want? Seriously? What if I decide to buy a…I don’t know…a whole luxury car?”

She looked up at Raemon and challenged him with her expression. “What if I spend two hundred thousand dollars on a Maserati or something?”

Raemon didn’t even blink. “Good luck fitting that into your suitcase,” he said.

Octavia was quiet. She realized he was completely serious.

Even though she knew how wealthy the man was, it still shocked her realizing that there were people in the world who could spend hundreds of thousands of dollars like five-dollar bills.

“Keep your phone with you,” Raemon said, “and I’ll see you in a short while.”

After he left, Octavia surveyed the line of stores up and down the street. She began to walk leisurely by them, pausing to see what they had put on display behind the large, crystal windows.

She passed stores boasting brands such as Dior, Chanel, and Prada…interesting names, she thought.

None of the stores had Converse on display in their windows, so she wasn’t particularly motivated to walk through their doors. Then she happened upon a gadget store.

Octavia’s eyes shot wide open when she saw what they had put on display in their window.

It was one of the latest drone models. She’d dreamed of owning one like it, but that kind of purchase was out of her budget.

Thankfully, it wasn’t out of Raemon’s. Octavia grinned evilly to herself and confidently walked into the store. An hour later, she emerged from the place with several bags in hand.

Octavia then made her way back to the restaurant where the car was waiting. She left her bags with the extremely accommodating driver and then set off again down the streets.

She wondered what she could do next. Maybe she’d keep shopping. She hadn’t yet hit the Maserati mark anyway.

“You,” a cold voice called.

Octavia cringed inside herself as she spotted a familiar person walking toward her, having just exited one of the Dior/Prada/Chanel stores.

Lila walked toward her, wearing a light-pink fitted dress and white heels. Large sunglasses shielded her eyes, but Octavia knew what expression they were concealing.

“Lila,” Octavia said with a stiff smile, “imagine running into you here.”

Lila scowled at Octavia. “It’s Miss Scott to you,” she said haughtily.

“Come on, Lila,” Octavia said, her smile now genuine, “after all we’ve been through? We’re practically besties now.”

Lila ignored Octavia’s comment. “Where’s Raemon?”

Octavia shrugged. “At lunch with your dad and some bigwigs.”

“But where?” Lila asked.

Octavia pointed across the street to the Golden Bay restaurant. “He should be done soon, I think.”

Lila looked to where Octavia pointed with her delicate jaw set in determination. A thought seemed to strike her, and she abruptly turned to Octavia.

“You’re not doing anything, right?” There was the unusually sweet smile again.

“Would it matter if I was?” Octavia said blandly.

“Would you be a doll and return something for me?” Lila continued, oblivious to Octavia’s words. She held up one of her shopping bags.

“I got this from a little store a short walk from here, but it wasn’t a great fit. I really want to return it before I forget or something.”

“Enjoy the walk,” Octavia said brightly, making a move to leave.

Lila stepped forward to block Octavia’s path. “I really want it returned today. Now, in fact.”

Octavia sighed. Now that Lila had found them, there’s was no helping it. She wouldn’t let Raemon out of her sight.

As entertaining as it was, Octavia didn’t want to spend another afternoon watching Lila set feminism back a couple of hundred years with Raemon around. Maybe this was her chance.

“Fine,” she grumbled, taking the bag from Lila’s hand, “where’s this place at?”

Lila’s lips curved into a smile that would remind anyone of a snake. “Just head down this street and take a left, then take the next two rights, and a final left. You can’t miss it.”

“Uhh…what?” Octavia said as Lila was ushering her off.

“Don’t worry, just look for a big, shiny store,” Lila said dismissively.

Octavia started down the street in confusion. She glanced at the bag Lila had handed her.

It was a small, dark-blue paper bag with white lettering on side spelling out a weird name she didn’t recognize. Swarovski. European, maybe?

~It’s probably something trivial like a tube of mascara,~ Octavia thought.

She plodded down the street, took a left, plodded down another street, took a right, the next right and a left, just like Lila had said.

Octavia stopped and frowned. ~This can’t be right,~ she thought. Somehow, she seemed to have escaped the bubble of upscale stores into an area that was the exact opposite.

She was no longer surrounded by fancy malls and designer stores but warehouses and decaying buildings.

The hum of machinery was nearby, coming from a construction zone on the other side of the large warehouse to her left.

A few dusty cars were sitting on the side of the road as if they had been meticulously parked and promptly forgotten.

“Well,” Octavia said to herself, “she was just trying to get rid of me. I guess it didn’t matter that her directions were accurate.”

Octavia reached into her pocket for her phone. There was nothing but the bank card her boss had given her nestled in the pocket of her jeans.

“Shit,” Octavia said. She remembered taking her phone out when she was in the store, to send a picture of the drone to Gracie.

Then she’d bought the drone and dropped her phone in shopping bag with the packaged gadget. And left her shopping bags in the car.

“Shit, shit, shit!” she said again.

She decided to retrace her steps. She hadn’t seen anyone around, but she knew better than to hang around deserted streets.

But wait! The street wasn’t deserted. Octavia saw two figures round the opposite corner of the building.

A sigh of relief escaped her, and she almost started toward the men, hoping to ask for directions. But a quick observation of them snatched that idea from her mind.

For one, the men were wearing dark, baggy clothing that likely hadn’t seen soap or water in some time. And they began walking toward Octavia, looking at her, with a clear, ominous purpose.

Octavia immediately whirled around and started walking away quickly. She ignored her quickening heartbeat as she made her way back to where she came from.

She glanced behind her only slightly and saw that the two people had quickened their pace too. There was no doubt that they were heading straight for her.

Octavia clenched her fists and broke into a run. Behind her, she could hear pounding footsteps begin. She darted down the street she thought she had come from and ran down the dusty, empty pavement.

The footsteps behind her pounded on.

Through her heavy frantic breathing, she could tell that they were getting closer. She wouldn’t make it back, she knew. She needed an escape.

A muffled shout echoed across the street, bouncing off the empty warehouses. Octavia skidded to a stop. Ahead of her, another person emerged, blocking the way out of the deserted area.

He had the same appearance as the other two, and she knew he was with them.

Octavia made a split-second decision and darted for the opening between two buildings on her right.

She ran through the narrow space with decaying walls only a few feet apart on each side and the noise of construction drowning out her panicked, heavy breathing.

Behind her, the thud of running feet thrummed in her ears as all three people chased her down.

The chilling thought that had seeped into Octavia’s mind as she ran morphed into a very real fear when she turned a corner to a dead end.

The passageway had led her down a corner but then opened up to a slightly larger enclosed space.

Towering walls stretched high above her head on all three sides, blocking out the sun on the ground below and only leaving a section of the clear blue sky visible overhead.

Octavia turned just as the pounding footsteps closed in on where she was. The three men stumbled into the enclosure and, seeing Octavia, stopped at the opening of the space. She was trapped.