Chapter 95 - Daddy Dominant's Good Girl

I left Bennett in the coffee shop and went back to the Peterson Mansion. What I’d seen on Bennett’s phone made it look like Ellis and Nancy had been a lot more serious than just a few dates.

I was too shocked to form any kind of thought or opinion.

When I got to Ellis’ house, I went right in. He’d given me a key since I was living there now. I was looking down, shuffling through the halls, trying to make sense of what I’d seen.

“Hey!” an unfamiliar voice caught my attention.

“Wh-” I looked up and stopped dead, nearly colliding with someone else.

I stared at the woman in front of me. It was almost like looking into a mirror. Cocking my head to the side, my jaw dropped open.

“Y-”

“Oh, you must be Olivia,” she said, smiling warmly. She took my hands in hers.

“I… y-yes. I am Olivia,” I said, nodding.

“Ellis told me that you and I were very similar. He chose you as a girlfriend because of me,” she said, batting her eyelashes.

I pulled my hands away. “I don’t think that’s…”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. Thank you for taking care of Ellis for me. He wouldn’t have done well on his own.” Her smile widened like we were going to be the best of friends.

“I didn’t do it for you,” I said. I could hardly form a thought at the moment, let alone full sentences.

“Olivia, Nancy?” Ellis’s smooth, deep voice floated down the hall.

My heart jumped into my throat and the blood drained from my face. I looked over to see Ellis approaching with a maid by his side.

“Oh, Ellis, you’re here,” Nancy said, her smile getting even wider. “I was hoping you’d come back soon. We have so much to talk about.”

She ran toward him but Ellis held up a hand to keep her back. Was I even seeing this? Had I stumbled into some crazed nightmare? Nancy was supposed to be dead!

“Please take Nancy to one of the guest rooms so she can rest. She’s traveled a long way,” Ellis said to the maid.

Nancy pouted. “I came here to see you. I don’t want to leave your side.” She reached out for Ellis again but he sidestepped her.

“Nancy, you should rest,” he demanded. “I would like to speak to Olivia alone.”

Nancy continued to pout but she didn’t argue as the maid led her down the hall. She kept turning back, giving Ellis sultry looks.

“I… um… I…”

Ellis walked up to me and reached out toward my face.

I jerked away and blocked his hand like he was throwing a punch.

His brow creased and his eyes softened.

“Olivia,” he murmured my name.

“I’m sorry. I think I should go. I don’t want to disturb you and Nancy,” I mumbled.

“What is going on?” Ken called down the hall.

I looked over my shoulder. This place was a zoo today!

Ken ran up to us, his eyes puffy and red. He ran right up to Ellis and hugged his legs, sniffling a little.

“Do you not want to be with Mommy anymore?” he asked, sniffling again.

“Ken, what are you talking about?” I asked. I grabbed him and pulled him away from Ellis. I knelt down and pushed his hair out of his face.

“That woman wants to be with Daddy. Are we not going to be a family now?” he asked, looking up with watery eyes at me and then at Ellis.

I sighed and stood up. It was a good question, one I wanted to be answered as well.

“What is all this about?” Ellis asked. “Olivia, can’t you see that it is you that I love now?” he reached for me again.

“But what about Nancy? Now that she’s back…”

“Seven years ago, I thought Nancy died. There was an assassination attempt on me by a business rival. They failed and took Nancy with them. Since their mission was to kill, we all assumed she was killed,” he explained.

“Right, she saved you. You told me that,” I reminded him.

“I’ve been investigating her presumed death since I knew it was one of my business rivals. I discovered that the Klein family was behind the attack that claimed Nancy,” he added.

“Klein?” I muttered, still dazed to be hearing all of this. The name sounded familiar but I couldn’t place it at the moment. I was still trying to wrap my mind around Nancy being dead and now coming back to life.

“They are a very secretive and mysterious family. I couldn’t uncover any solid evidence,” Ellis said. He took my hand and I was only half aware of the contact.

“But she’s not dead,” I pointed out, looking down the hall in the direction that Nancy had disappeared.

“No. I did not expect her to be alive, or to show up back here. I wasn’t looking for her or hoping she’d return. I still don’t know all the answers to where she was and how she escaped.” He shrugged and ran his thumb over my knuckles.

“Ellis,” I whispered.

“None of it matters, Olivia, because it is you that I love,” he assured me.

I pulled my hand away from him. “Klein. As in Bennett Klein?” I asked, the familiar name becoming perfectly clear. “Ellis, what is this all about? I need to know everything. There is too much I don’t know and that makes me and Ken vulnerable.”

I put my arm around Ken and tucked him against my legs. I wanted him close to me right now.

“I did tell you to stay away from him. The Klein family is known to control mobs throughout Europe,” Ellis said, arching an eyebrow.

“No.” I shook my head. “That’s not possible. Bennett has always been so nice and the perfect gentleman. He can’t be connected to organized crime.”

“I don’t know if Bennett has any direct involvement. All I know is what I’ve learned about his family, and it isn’t much,” Ellis offered. His eyes softened and he looked at me, almost pityingly.

“He can’t be involved. What kind of criminal runs an orchestra?” I asked, ranting slightly.

Ellis chuckled. “I don’t know. You’d be surprised what the mob is involved in.”

I rubbed my forehead and looked down at Ken. He wasn’t on the verge of tears anymore but he still didn’t look happy. I wondered how much of all this he really understood.

“It is possible that Bennett isn’t connected to the same Klein family. It isn’t like there is only one Klein family in the world.” Ellis shrugged and sighed. “Nancy is back and she is safe. That is what matters.”

“Right… Nancy…” I muttered, looking down.

Even though Ellis told me he loved me and that he had never been officially involved with Nancy, I couldn’t help the insecure thoughts blossoming in my mind.

What if he changed his mind again? Nancy was like ‘the one that got away’ for him. He’d told me one of the things he’d liked about her was that she had resisted him and it made it more special.

I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if he decided he wanted to pursue her again and fulfill that lingering desire. What if he saw her as unfinished business?

“So, Nancy is back. What are you going to do about it?” I asked slowly. I lifted my eyes to look at Ellis’s face.

He was looking off to the side, his face had a stern expression on it. “I haven’t really figured that out. I’m still thinking over my options.”

“Options?” I scoffed.

I shook my head. Was he talking about the option of being with me or Nancy or was he talking about options in regards to dealing with the people responsible for kidnapping her?

I picked Ken up and held him on my hip. He was almost too big for me to do that now.

Ellis was still staring off into space, deep in thought.

It was clear to me that he still had some kind of feelings for Nancy. She was the embodiment of perfection. For seven years, he had memorialized her in his mind as the perfect love he desired and never had.

I couldn’t be called perfect. There was no way.

For five years, I’d kept Ellis’ son from him. I ran away without telling him and I’d accused him of all kinds of things that weren’t true.

There was a part of me that wouldn’t blame him for choosing Nancy. He’d mourned her thinking she was dead, but other than that, she’d never done anything to hurt him.

Nancy was friendly and warm. In our first meeting, she’d been nothing but nice and affectionate, to a complete stranger.

What had I done? I had looked at her with suspicion and disbelief.

Even though my trust in Ellis was being rebuilt, I couldn’t be sure that he wasn’t going to choose Nancy over me.

I couldn’t even imagine what he was thinking. The love of his life showed back up after seven years. Even if his feelings for her had been in the past, I doubted they were now.

I hugged Ken.

“Olivia, what are you thinking?” Ellis asked.

I hadn’t noticed that he was looking at me until he spoke.

“This is a lot to take in. For both of us,” I said, nodding in the direction that Nancy had gone.

He creased his brow. “I feel pretty certain about my own thoughts and feelings.”

“Maybe so, but she only just arrived here. Don’t you need time to… think things over?” I asked, my voice dropping to a whisper.

“No,” Ellis said quickly. He shook his head.

“Ellis, it has been a really, really long day for me. I need to get some rest. Can we finish this later?” I asked.

Ellis nodded somberly.

I appreciated how he respected my needs at this moment. Hugging Ken again, I headed down the hall to the room Ken had been staying in.

“Mommy, what are we doing?” he asked, waving to Ellis over my shoulder.

“We’re going away for a few days,” I whispered.

“I don’t want to leave,” Ken whined, hugging my neck.

I adjusted him on my hip. He was getting too heavy for me to carry like that. I had to stop and set him on his feet.

“I know, baby. It won’t be for long.” Honestly, I wasn’t sure if we’d be gone for long or not. I wanted Ellis to have the space to figure out his own feelings.

He needed time to process Nancy’s return and what that meant for him. I didn’t want to be standing over his shoulder, pressuring him.

Ken and I had to get away until Ellis knew what he felt.