[Olivia]:
I'd just climbed out of the cab, making my way towards the lobby of the company when I caught sight of someone familiar standing in front of a silver BMW. They leaned against their car with one booted foot crossed over the other, standing like the world belonged to them.

Stefan.
My heart rate picked up as soon as I saw him. Surely, he was here to do something to me for trashing my drink on him last night. I knew I didn't want him to see me so I slipped my sunglasses on, thankful that it was also covering my red eyes, a telltale sign of a hang over.
I'd just climbed the steps when I heard footsteps behind me. Freezing to a halt, I twirled towards him. "Look, if you're here to humiliate me before everyone for what I did last night, I'd suggest you desist from it. My life is already miserable enough and you have contributed a whole lot to it. So walk back to your expensive ass car and drive away."
He didn't say anything. He kept walking until he stopped before me before narrowing his gunmetal grey eyes at me. It scared me. The way he looked at me. I recoiled, wrapping my arms around my body in a form of protection. As handsome as he was, he had a way of putting so much fear in my heart. He looked like he could wrap his fingers around my neck, snap my windpipe and have me drop dead to the floor.
"Look," He lowered his head towards me, his voice gruff and dead, like he did not give a care in this world. Well, how could a man like him care when he had all he wanted at his beck and call? "I don't care what you've been through this past month, Olivia."
I blinked back in shock. "Olivia? How do you—"

He cut me short before I could continue. "I don't care about you getting cheated on or the baby in your belly or the fact that your husband is gay."
"Bisexual."
He burst into laughter. "He's gay, Olivia. He wasn't fucking your best friend. His fiancé is."
"How do you know... Did Hermes tell you any of this? He promised not to."

"Hermes told me nothing," He shrugged. "I know a lot about you and no, I am not a bloody stalker. I don't give a bloody fuck about you. You mean nothing to me. But do you know what means something to me?"
He scared me. The way his grey eyes darkened, swirling like a storm at sea, the way his perfectly chiselled jaw clenched like he wanted to break, it all messed with me and I had to take a step back before he crushed me under his gaze.
"No."
"Good. Your ex husband is a conniving bastard. It's not new. Hermes knows that, I know that even more than you do. And that is why I am here."
"You're here because you want to help me?"
He chuckled. "It was never the original plan, I tell you. And I honestly hate that I have to drag you into this and hell, you're very important right now and I need you."
"You need me?"
"Fuck, yes. I need you. I know you hate him so much. You have lived a lie for the past seven years and you hate him for all he has done to you. Now tell me, do you want to make him pay back for what he did to you, Olivia?"
I shook my head immediately and a wave of sudden tiredness washed over me. I backed away from him but he snatched me roughly by the arm, pulling me behind one of the pillars and glaring down at me. "No! Stefan, no. I can't. I am tired already. I need to focus on my child. Jason is a bastard and as much as I hate him, I don't want to have anything to do with him again. I wish him a good life ahead."
"You're so weak it disgusts me," Stefan snarled, his voice dripping with disdain. "You walk into your husband fucking two of your friends and you wish him a good life ahead?! How pathetic! Jason is out there, spending money that doesn't belong to him, money he stole from people! He's about to throw a wedding, a big ass wedding with the money he stole from me and you wish him a good life?!"
"He stole your money?"
"Hundred million dollars feels like what to you?"
My eyes bulged out of its sockets and I swallowed hard, going back to the times Jason was broke and how he suddenly had a lot of money and took me out to dinner. He had lied about a promotion. My head swam and I almost fell to the ground before Stefan took a hold of me.
"Get a bloody grip, Olivia. You need to make him pay back for his evil. You're the only one who can get him where it hurts. That's why I need you."
"You need me?" I whispered through the tears.
“I do! Look at you. You're miserable because of him! You live in a terrible apartment because he threw you out. Doesn't it hurt that you have to raise your child in abject poverty?"
I sobbed heavily, hitting my hand against my chest. "It hurts! Yes, it does hurt."
He grabbed me by the chin and tipped my head towards him. "Then let's make him pay, Olivia. Let's make him suffer."
"I want to! I hate him! I hate him for all he did to me! He told me to kill myself! He said I deserved to be sexually abused by my father! I want him dead! I want his best friend dead! They are all dead to me!"
He pulled me into a bone crushing hug, surprising me as he engulfed me with his warmth. "Then let's make them pay. Let's make them suffer."
"Yes."
He suddenly pulled away from me and pushed a handkerchief in my hand. "We need to meet this evening. I want to show you something and also talk to you. I'll give you a call."
He turned and immediately walked away and I stood there, wondering what the heck just happened.
*****
The cab stopped in front of a bar. On the outside, it looked dead but on the inside, it was really bright. I was just about to slip through the door when someone caught me by the arm and pulled me out.
I turned to see Stefan standing before me, all dressed in black. He looked taller and better tonight. Utterly breathtaking.
"You're late. You kept me waiting. Follow me."
He pulled me to the corner of the bar, stopping in the dark and turning to me. "I know this might come as a surprise to you but we are about to seal a deal. We need to make your ex husband pay. Are you ready to do anything?"
"Yes."
Suddenly, a flashlight was turned on and kneeling on the floor and shaking profusely before me was Trenton. He was tied up, his face red and swollen from obvious beatings. One of his eyes had swollen so bad it was closed and watering terribly.
My heart sank to the floor and I turned to Stefan in horror. "What is going on? This isn't what we talked about."
"You said you wanted them all dead."
"No!" I screamed, my voice echoing in the shadows. "I didn't mean that. I was angry and grieving, Stefan! Are you crazy?"
He smiled devilishly and nodded. "I am definitely crazy."
He pulled out a gun, cocked it and pointed it at Trenton who fell back on the floor, screaming as he pleaded to be spared.
"Don't do this to me, Olivia! Beg him, please! I am sorry for hurting you! I didn't mean to!"
"Stefan, please!" I rushed towards him but two men materialised out of the dark and grabbed me, holding me away from him. I struggled to no avail. "Please! We can do this another way!"
"There is no other way, Olivia."
Boom!
Trenton dropped to the floor. Dead.
I gasped, feeling a sense of dread wash over me. I crumpled to the ground, screaming and crying as I watched Trenton convulse to death as Stefan pressed his fingers into his bloodied wound.
"Stefan! You son of the devil! I'll have you reported to the police! You murderer!" I screamed, feeling my throat burn as agony rocked through me.
I was immediately pulled off the ground and staring right at me was Stefan, his expression dead. He took the gun and pressed it into my hand, grinning wickedly.
He wiped the blood from his hand on my dress and pressed a kiss to my cheek. "A deal has been made, honey. You said the word and I am doing it. We will make him pay and this is just the beginning. Say a word and I'll turn you in to the police. There's blood on your dress and I have enough money to steer the police to support me."
"What do you want, Stefan? What do you want from me?" I asked in a weak voice.
Pulling close, he whispered into my ears. "Marry me and let us ruin Jason together. You have no option in this. Choose to walk away and you are sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. Choose to marry me and I'll protect you and your child."
"You're a pathetic son of the devil, Stefan!"
He patted me on the cheek, his smile not even faltering. "I am the devil himself.”