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When Oliver left Claire at her apartment, he called Jake and Liam and asked them to meet him at the shooting range. He spent hours at the range, pretending the target was the younger version of him as he shot at it over and over again. Several thoughts reeled in his mind. If only things had happened differently six years ago, he wouldn't have been forced to let go of Claire and they wouldn't be in this position where she acted like he was her enemy. 'It's my fault! I hurt her and now, she won't even look at me,' he thought in his mind, pain eating at his heart like a festering wound. Oliver went at it aggressively, he didn't even notice the pain in his arms from shooting for too long. His friends found him about to finish the bullets as he repeatedly shot at his target. "Whoa, someone's in a bad mood," Liam Kent remarked as they approached their friend. "I guess he didn't get lucky last night," Jake Norton added and they both laughed. Oliver threw them a cold glare as he
"I only need you," Oliver declared, his face serious as he glanced into Claire's hazel-green eyes. Claire's breath caught in her throat. For a moment, she felt like there was a deeper meaning to those words. It was the way Oliver said them with so much emotion in his eyes that she felt like he wasn't talking about the crisis. "It's confidential so it's just me and you," Oliver added in his deep velvety voice. "One of our employees seems to be involved in a case of corruption. I want you to go through those transactions and contracts on the table and see if you can find any discrepancies." Claire snapped back to her senses when she heard Oliver's voice. She nodded and went around to sit at her desk. However, Oliver stayed put on the chair opposite her and she was very aware of his heated gaze on her, making goosebumps rise on her skin. She glanced up at him and arched an eyebrow, asking, "Are you just going to sit there and watch me all day?" "I love watching you," Oliver rem
"Let's go shopping!" Roxanne Smith-Ford exclaimed the moment she opened the door to Claire's office. Claire's eyes widened at the unexpected visitor. She got to her feet and smiled, saying, "Aunt Roxanne, good morning." "Good morning, Honey," Roxanne replied and approached Claire before pulling her in for a hug. "I came to ask you to accompany me to go shopping. I want to get a few things from the mall." "Um..." Claire didn't know what to say. "Come on, who do you want me to go with? Henry and Oliver are not patient enough. They can't even help me with what nice things to get. It's so boring to go with them," Roxanne complained and Claire chuckled. "What about the twins or Evelyn?" Claire asked, referring to her daughters and Roxanne dramatically rolled her eyes. "Don't even get me started on those. They think I'm too old to hang out with them. Can you imagine, they think it's not cool to go shopping with their old mother. Now I'm left alone with no one to go shopping with,
Jessica Hart received a call from her spy that Roxanne had gone to the company and left with Claire. She then asked the spy to follow them to see where they were going. To her horror, she received pictures of Roxanne and Claire happily shopping together. Jessica's heart twisted with jealousy. She had tried so hard to make Roxanne like her. However, the latter didn't even spare her a glance. At some point, Jessica accepted that Roxanne wasn't a social person. The pictures she saw said otherwise, though. Roxanne smiled gently at Claire. There was a doting look in her eyes as though she took Claire like one of her daughters. Afraid that Claire would steal her position, Jessica went to the shopping mall and asked to join them. She glanced at Roxanne and proposed, "Aunt Roxanne, I have a very expensive taste and a keen eye for fashion, unlike some people. I'll help you choose the best brands." Jessica inwardly sneered, throwing Claire a secret mocking look. Claire was in plain gr
[These are better.] A small smile curled on Claire's lips as she read the note. She ran a hand through the soft roses and her heart raced erratically, knowing who they came from. 'Did he send these because he wants to outdo Wesley?' "So childish," she muttered under her breath but she couldn't hold back the smile that crossed her lips. Deep down, she kind of liked Oliver's childish antics. This side of him reminded her of years ago when they were innocent and so crazy in love. Holding the vase in her hands, she raised it to her nose and took a big whiff, loving the way the floral scent filled her office space. A giggle left her lips when she recalled the first time Oliver gave her flowers. He was shy when his mother exposed how he had planted flowers in the garden to give to Claire. Roxanne urged Oliver to give Claire the flowers he painstakingly grew for her. Oliver's ears turned red. He disappeared and came back with a bunch of daisies in his hands, saying, "I grew these fo
Oliver clenched his hands into fists, staring at the door which Claire had banged on her way out. Frustration was evident on his face as he pulled at his tie, hating the way Claire defended Wesley. He didn't know why but he had this bad feeling about Wesley. The fact that he even came to propose a partnership made him more suspicious. Having not worked with the Crawford automotive group before, Oliver wondered if Wesley was up to something. Besides, his father, Henry Ford, always rejected working with the said group when he was the CEO and Oliver thought it was strange. 'Could it be a shady company?' He mused. There was something fishy. He could find information about anyone or anything easily, however, Wesley's information was locked away. Heck, Oliver didn't even know he was the managing director of the Crawford Automotive Group. Finding information about him was proving to be hard, however, this was similar to what had happened for the past six years. Oliver couldn't find
Oliver Ford had just returned to the company from an outside meeting. He was passing through the lobby when he froze after hearing the receptionist's words as she spoke on the phone. "I'm afraid you're calling the wrong number. Our CEO doesn't have a child. Yes, I did hear you but we've never heard of a child named Thalia Hamilton. She doesn't even have the Ford's last name-" "What is it?" Oliver asked as he approached the receptionist's desk. She removed the phone from her ear and reported hesitantly, "It's the Principal from the Baobab International School. She's saying your daughter has been bullied at school." Oliver held out his hand, asking for the phone. When he grabbed it, he put it to his ear and asked, "What happened?" "Thalia Hamilton was bullied by one of her classmates, sir. The father of the boy is being unreasonable. Thalia asked me to call her father and said it was you," the principal answered on the phone. A sudden surge of protectiveness washed over Oliver.
"M-Mr F-Ford! It's really you!" Arnold's eyes widened and his forehead was coated with beads of sweat. He might have had a position in the government but it wasn't big enough for him to go against a powerful man like Oliver Ford. When Thalia mentioned Oliver as the father, Arnold thought she was just trying to scare them into thinking she had a powerful father. Seeing Oliver in the flesh made him want to pee his pants from fear. Oliver was oozing a powerful and dominant aura that he couldn't even look into his cold eyes. "I didn't know she was your daughter-" "So, you let your son bully other kids just because their parents are not as powerful as you?" Oliver questioned in a dangerously low voice. "Who gave you and your son that right? Shouldn't you have disciplined him well?" "I...I-" "And you, Miss Thompson, why do we have such a bad kid in our school? Is this how you run the institution?" Oliver directed his question at the principal. His words sounded calm, however, there