Page 41 of Dr. Damaged Protector

"It's where you go into a shop and browse the items without actually paying for anything," I explained.

"That…is bizarre. People do that?' he asked with a genuinely confused expression on his face.

"Oh, I forgot you're a rich baby," I teased.

"At least add, man," he sighed, and stopped in front of a superstore. "Wait here."

"Okay," I obeyed, and he rushed inside to buy something.

I pulled out my phone and checked the time: past ten p.m. Time went by faster than I expected. But it was fun. I started looking through my schedule for the next day to see if anything needed to change.

I felt odd. My hair stood up, and I felt like I was being watched. I looked around, but I didn't see Lucas. It was someone else. Then I saw it, and right in front of me, a car was driving slowly. The driver's seat window was open, and I saw him. I was trying to remember his name, but he was a former client.

What was he doing here?

He had a frown on his face, and it turned into a wicked grin. He attempted to open the door but;

"Weirdly long line," Lucas said as he handed me the popsicle he bought. "I've always wondered what these taste like."

The man closed the door and sped off, drawing Lucas's attention.

"Is something wrong?" Lucas asked.

"Let's go," I said and held his hand, pulling him to the car.

"Olivia, what's wrong?" he inquired.

"I'm tired. We have a lot of things to do tomorrow," I explained. "it's late. Let's sleep."

"You wanted to…" he stopped talking, "Alright."

Why now?Why did it have to happen now?I thought everything was going to end when I came to Richmond.

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Chapter eleven

The Panic and the Calm

Olivia

(Past)

I decided to put that life behind me the moment I met Lucas at the bar. I wanted to prove that I could do anything I wanted through hard work. I knew the best way to change was to cut off anything that would make me return to the past.

So, I contacted my past clients, apologized to them, and returned everything they had given to me. Even those who asked me to keep the presents had their things given back to them.

Because I was sought after a lot, many clients had paid in advance for my service but returned every single dime.Some of them asked why I had changed. I explained to them that that life wasn't for me. I needed to find a new path. Most of them supported my decision, but a lot of them were annoyed.

The ones who were annoyed always seemed to find me wherever I went in Chicago.Most times, it was coincidental, and I often felt it was just them stalking me. It got too scary, and at one point, I had to stop working.

Among all of them, the one who gave me the most trouble was Liam.Liam was a recurrent client, except he showered me with more gifts than the rest.He was divorced and would often ask me to marry him, and I wasn't honestly interested.

Besides, it was apparent that he was going to make me a trophy wife, like what James is doing to Kate.When he found out that I had put that life behind me, he was the most furious out of them.

Every job I managed to get, he would always find a way to disrupt my work. I'd end up getting fired.I considered telling the police, but for some odd reason, no one was listening. So, the only thing I could do was stop entirely.

I had blocked his contacts, his socials, and any other way that would make him get access to me. I even had to convince most of my former colleagues to do the same. And in a way, they kept me protected from him because we understood how most clients tended to be.

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