The heavens opened as I exited from the tube. A gust blew my hair wild, and the bitter rain stung a harsh patter against my cheek.

Typical. It had been bright all day, but as soon as I headed out to dinner it had to start. As if I didn’t have enough to deal with, God forbid I’d arrive looking presentable.

I flicked up the collar to my dark wool jacket, hunched my shoulders and folded my arms in against my chest. The action would do nothing to help me stay dry, but it made me feel somewhat better. Any comfort was welcome against today’s frustrations.

My sister and that arsehole, Aaron, I seethed at them both. I’d headed straight home from the club after the meeting to avoid seeing Milena at the office. There’s a good chance I would’ve laid into her; I still might.

Weaving in and out of the tourists around Oxford Circus, I dodged umbrellas and made my way towards Soho muttering under my breath. I couldn’t even begin to question what she was thinking. How could she consider working with those thugs? Did she actually think it was a good idea? She’s not that stupid, is she?

Aaron and his smug grin popped into my head making me growl out loud. Several people glanced over and sidestepped out of my way.

That fucking prick and his fucking face. If I ever had to hear one of his snide comments again, he’d be liable to get more than a drink thrown at him. At his beck and call, who did he think he was?

I cursed for letting him get to me. Storming out wasn’t my best move. I was still none the wiser to why Marcus wanted us working with him. If Milena convinced him to join the Syndicate—which might be what they wanted—I’d have no choice but to get my father involved. I didn’t want it to come to that.

I sighed as I turned down Poland Street, heading to meet Alice in a craft beer pub. The day had given me endless wonderful frustrations. Now, to top it all off, I had to play nice with Alice’s boyfriend. I’d rather push pins under my nails than watch him slobber over my best friend all evening, but at least I’d get to spend the night with her. I should be thankful for small mercies.

I took a deep breath to clear my thoughts, put on the happy face and walked into the bar. It wasn’t too busy. Most of the after work crowd had moved on. She sat alone on one of the side tables, two drinks in front of her. I strode over and caught her attention. “Oi, oi, gorgeous. Come here often?”

“Hey!”

She smiled and jumped up to meet me, giving me the obligatory hug and kiss on the cheek. The warmth radiated from her, thawing the biting irritations that plagued my mind seconds before. It was impossible to be miserable when she was around.

“Where’s Mark?” A sliver of hope sparked in my chest he might not make it.

“He had to do overtime. He’ll join us soon.”

I forced a smile. “Oh, great.” That hope was short lived.

We sat, and she gestured to the glass nearest me. “I took the liberty of ordering you an IPA.”

“You’re a star.” I picked it up and downed a quarter of a pint in a single breath.

“Something wrong?”

I lowered the glass and shook my head. “Just catching up.”

Concern riddled her sweet face. “I’m not buying it today, Olivia. No offence, but you look like shit.”

Her comment took me aback, I wasn’t used to hearing Alice swear. “Thanks for that. It’s raining. I’m a mess.”

“It’s more than that. You looked even worse yesterday. I didn’t want to push you, but I knew something serious was up. Now, I’m really getting worried.”

“It’s nothing. Everything’s tickety-boo.”

“Olivia, there’s only so long I’ll let you get away with fobbing me off. I know something’s up, just tell me for fuck’s sake.”

I knew she meant business now, twice in the space of a minute. She wouldn’t let this slide. “It’s just work.”

She raised her eyebrows and nodded her head for me to continue.

“When did you become such a hard arse?”

Her brows furrowed. “Olivia.”

I flicked my hands at her. “Okay.” I took another drink and thought about how I could phrase it to her giving nothing away. “A delivery got screwed up and my sister’s on my case about it.”

“That’s it?” She wasn’t convinced.

I sighed. “We’re having trouble with the competition. My sister is making stupid decisions, and there’s this… client who’s giving me grief.”

“What kind?”

“He’s just an arrogant arsehole, the whole alpha bullshit thing. I can’t fucking stand him. He irritates my last nerve.” I growled as his face came to mind. “I want to leave, Alice. Working for my father is driving me insane. I want to be free, I want a normal life like you.” Fuck. I knew I’d slip up.

“We all have issues at work. Just leave if it’s that bad.”

She didn’t pick up on it. “I can’t. My father has this obsession about me working in the family business. He won’t let me go.”

“You’re a grown woman, he can’t stop you.”

I scoffed. “He can. Besides, I don’t know how to do anything else.”

“There are other logistics companies.”

I laughed too hard at that one and she screwed her face in confusion. “Not like ours.” I had to think quick. “We’re specialists in chemical distribution.” I held my forehead in my hand as I realised. I really said that.

“Well, maybe you can do something else. Retrain? Study? You’ve always talked about getting away from the city and starting your own business somewhere. Why don’t you look in to that?”

“Yeah, maybe.” I wanted to tell her it’s not that easy, but I needed to get off the topic. I’d already come too close to slipping up to shatter my nerves any further.

“Listen, why don’t we sit and…”

“Hey, princess.”

I glanced up and saw Mark approaching the table. His dark eyes fixed on Alice. He didn’t acknowledge me. It was the first time I could say I was pleased to see him. His short, brown hair glistened with dew under the artificial lights and the long trench coat draped over his lanky frame made him appear taller than he was.

“Hey, sweet prince.” Alice’s face lit up and she smiled all coy.

I shuddered at the pet names. He bent to kiss her, and I had to turn away.

“Erm, Olivia, you’ve met Mark.” Alice gave me a nervous smile and averted her eyes.

I looked up and returned Mark’s curt nod before noticing the blonde haired guy that peered from behind him. My heart sank heavy to my stomach.

She’d done it. She’d set me up. My temples throbbed with the threat of the headache to come. I was going to kill her.

“This is Stephen,” Alice said in a quiet tone. She knew she’d pay for this later.

I smiled at him through gritted teeth. Then turned back to Alice and kicked her under the table. “You promised,” I hissed.

Her mouth was wide as she reached to rub the pain in her leg. “I thought you needed a push.”

“I’ll fucking push you.”

Mark cut into the hushed feud. “Shall we join you, or do you want to make a move?”

Alice smiled her sweet grin. “We can have another one here.”

“No,” I blurted. I wanted to get this over with as soon as possible. Sod wasting time in here with inane pleasantries. “We’ve almost finished. We may as well move on.”

She raised her eyebrows as she argued. “You’ve still got over half a pint.”

I picked up my glass and downed the entire contents before slamming it on the table, grimacing at Alice. “Not any more.”

Alice scowled back. I shrugged my shoulders and flicked my chin at her in defiance.

We left the pub and Alice rushed to Mark’s side, keen not to have another battle if I got her alone. That left me trailing behind them with Stephen. Thankfully, it was only a short walk to the restaurant.

He opened an umbrella and invited me to share it. I slid under, wanting to stay as far away as I could without giving him the impression I was a total bitch.

“So how long have you been friends with Alice?”

I glanced up and gave him a weak smile. “Since boarding school, fifteen years or so.” There’s nothing I hated more than small talk.

“Long time. She seems like a nice girl.” He flashed me a cute smile.

He was good looking in a young, clean cut way, but his boyish charms were wasted on me. “It won’t be much longer.”

“What?” His smile faded as he screwed his eyes in confusion.

I shook my head. “She’s… great.”

“So, what do you do?”

I rolled my eyes. Please, kill me now. “I work for my family’s logistics company.”

“Oh… cool.” The awkwardness between us grew by the second.

“You?” I sighed.

“I’m a software engineer for a multi-national data security house…”

He continued talking, but I zoned out after I’m… Unfortunate for him he was dragged into this. He seemed pleasant enough on the surface. I could see why Alice found him attractive, but he wasn’t my type. Too soft and meek. I’d have eaten him alive.

End of the day—despite his affable demeanour—he was just another single-minded, manipulative bastard out for all he could get. At least brutes like Aaron were honest about their deceitfulness. You knew where you stood with them; as far away as possible.

We reached the restaurant, and he was still talking, something about languages and ATMs. I learned a long time ago, if you didn’t want to talk about yourself, you get them talking about their favourite subject instead, themselves.

Alice and Mark entered first and Stephen dived to hold the door for me. As he did, I caught movement across the street. Someone stood watching us from a doorway. When I focused over, they’d slipped back. I only saw him for a fraction of a second, but I swear it looked like Aaron. “Can’t be.”

I stepped from under the umbrella and out to the curb to get a closer look. The road was dark and the street lights dim glow didn’t reach the gloomy, deep-set doorway. The rain dripped into my eyes making it difficult to see, but there was no more movement. Maybe I’d imagined it. Shadows played tricks on me. It didn’t stop the goosebumps creeping across my arms or the hairs prickling my neck.

“Olivia?” Stephen said.

“What?” I called over my shoulder, unable to take my gaze from the street.

“Are you coming?”

I lingered for a moment longer to see if there was any movement at all. When there wasn’t, I drew a long breath and turned into the restaurant.

Alice and Mark had taken their seats together on a high communal table. He had his arm over her shoulder and stroked her face as she giggled. Stephen sat opposite leaving one seat for me next to him. I wandered over, trying to ignore the unease that simmered in my gut.

It wasn’t him, it couldn’t have been. Why the hell would he be here watching me?

Alice broke away from her canoodling as I sat. “What was all that about?”

I gave her a fake smile and shook my head. “Nothing. Thought I saw something is all.”

She shrugged off Mark’s arm and leant forward over the table. Lines creased her forehead. “Are you okay? You look pale.”

I nodded and smiled wider, attempting to ease her concern. She frowned for a moment then went back to looking over the menu and giggling with Mark. I pretended to glance at the menu myself but it was too hard to focus. My mind refused to think of anything else.

Either, I’d gone nuts and imagined that creep, or he was out there following me. Neither was good, but I didn’t like the latter.

“What are you having?”

I glanced up to see Stephen smiling, he looked genuinely interested to know. “Oh, I don’t know. You?”

He listed various items, and I nodded in his direction. I wasn’t going mad, there was someone there. What if it was Aaron? What did he want? It was suspicious that I met him today, and now he was lurking around in doorways watching me. Why would he do that? How could even find me?

“Earth to Olivia?” Alice was staring. They all were. “Are you sure you’re alright? You’ve been lost in thought since you came in.”

I shook my head. There was no way I could sit and pretend all night; I had to find out. “Alice, I love you, but I’m sorry, I’ve got to go. I’ll see you at home later.”

Her face twisted with confusion. “Wait, what? Why?”

I ignored her and spotted Mark smirking at me. “Take care of her. Make sure she gets home.”

Stephen stared at me wide eyed, probably thinking he’d dodged a bullet. “Sorry.” I raised my palms at him. “I couldn’t give a flying fuck.”

Alice called after me as I spun and ran for the door.