A/N: I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm sorry it took so long for me to update! Thanks to Tortured Breath for editing. Please review.

Chapter Five: Running into Walls

Olivia followed Susan out of the room, across the hallway, and down the flight of stairs. She knew the estate consisted of at least three floors because her room was on the third floor. When Olivia reached the bottom of the stairs, she noticed a door to the far right.

It was completely different from the rest of the decor of the house, made by darker wooden tones, and it was slightly concealed by large oak furniture. The furniture didn’t block it in any way, but the colors blended in with the rest of the surroundings making it appear as if it just belonged there. If Olivia hadn’t paid close attention, she would have missed it, something that would have happened to anyone had they decided to walk through the hallway.

Curious, she decided to ask Susan. “Why does that door look so different?”

Susan turned quickly and looked at the direction of Olivia’s interest. Her eyes passed over it briefly before answering in a bored tone, “That’s just the chef’s way of getting into the house from the back. As you can see, we didn’t come down the stairs the way we did the other morning. This one leads to the back of the house. It’s a section that’s not as sophisticated, because of its location and because no one, outside of the servants, wander towards here. I took you through this path so that you know the quickest route to the Candace Room.”

The rattle of a doorknob caused both Susan and Olivia to look back towards the door. A short and rather plump man bounded in with two younger boys. All three had the same coloring; dark, almost black, hair, pale skin, and brown eyes. Olivia assumed that the man must have been their grandfather. The two boys, looking about fifteen years old, give or take a year, carried bags full of fresh groceries. “Oh come on grandpa, it’s just one night!” they grumbled.

“I don’t care if it’s an hour, your not going anywhere tonight.” The boys grumbled some more and headed towards the kitchen.

“What is it now, Chuck?” Susan asked, amusement lacing her words. Olivia eyed her as she spoke to the older man. “Are you turning down their proposal to go out tonight, again?” She laughed and started walking away. Chuck shook his head as he watched her with a grin on his face.

Susan’s voice drifted farther away. Before turning away, Olivia glanced once more at the door. A clever smile escaped her as she quickly made note of it. Then, she followed Susan to avoid suspicion. They continued to walk down the hall passing doors as they went before stopping in front of a large room. Above the entrance, there was a plaque with gold embossed letters. This one said “Candace Room.” Well that’s easy enough, Olivia thought. She took a deep breath and stood there for a few minutes. If I want to get answers, I have to get through this session. Determined, she entered the room.

The sound of boxing gloves coming into contact with a punching bag filled the large square room. Mirrors aligned the walls while the most innovative exercise equipment was scattered throughout. To top it off the room was painted in neutral tones with whites and shades of grey. There were loud noises of metal clinking and the shouts of men as they lifted weights. In fact, the only man who wasn’t grunting or shouting at the moment was the one that stood off in the right corner of the training room hitting, almost robotically, a large punching bag.

Rain concentrated on the punching bag. He took a side step as if it was an opponent on the offensive, about to strike, before beginning his assault again. The bag was at least a hundred pounds. It was one of the few that were used for men who were over 6 feet and weighed over 200 pounds. Rain was 5’ 9” and weighed 178. He pivoted, dodging an invisible attack again before sending one more punch to the swaying bag.

“Hey!”

Rain’s gaze flicked over to where he heard the caller. His frown turned into a genuine smile. “Chase. Where the hell have you been?” The two men shook hands and clapped each others backs.

Chase laughed before speaking. “I just quit my job. Remember Johnson’s Escort Services?” Rain nodded. “Well, working there was pretty bad compared to what it was like back when I worked here.” Rain laughed at that. Even his laugh exuded an air of confidence. “Besides, Nicholas said to give him a call whenever I needed something, so I thought I’d take him up on that.” Chase explained.

Rain patted him on the back while he stripped off his boxing gloves, tossing them to the floor, before speaking. “So that means you’re going to work for me again, right?” They both laughed and started walking out of the weight room. Rain was slightly taller than Chase, but their looks couldn’t have been more opposite. Where Rain was dark haired and tanned, Chase was fair skinned and clearly blonde.

“Does Nicholas know that you’re here, then?” Rain asked as he motioned for Chase to follow him down the hallway.

“Yeah. He sent me your way, since your head of the Security Department now. Congratulations by the way.”

Rain shook his head to indicate that it didn’t matter, but couldn’t help smiling at what Chase said next.

“Which means that I’m guaranteed to have a job, since my best friend’s the boss right?”

Both men laughed as they walked through the large oak doors. The plaque placed on the wall read:

--

Nicholas Sullivan

Executive Director

Sullivan Trade Corporation

Sullivan Escort Services

--

“So my father has owned two incredibly wealthy businesses for how many years?” Olivia asked in disbelief.

“Well I’ve worked here for about fourteen years, but the first company, your father’s Trade Corporation, was up and running nearly five years before I came.”

Nineteen years. She would have been three years old at the time. Her mother would have been alive. Very much alive.

Susan broke the silence and Olivia’s thoughts as she described her father’s companies. “The Trade Corporation started as a hobby for your father, I think. He liked going about to different countries and collecting all sorts of arts and crafts around the world. He had the money to start the company, of course, from your grandparents in Italy, so that wasn’t a problem. I think that his success was rather a surprise for everyone, since the company was just a way to do what he liked to do. He traveled the world to give artists a chance to trade their talent for his pleasure.”

“And what of the security services? I don’t really understand how that could branch off from a trade company.”

Susan nodded. “That’s because it wasn’t connected to the trade company.” Susan chuckled. “Sullivan Escort Services was just a company that your father decided to invest in. Its owner, I don’t even remember his name, couldn’t run it so your dad bought it off. I guess it turned out to be a darn good investment, too.”

“What about me? What do I have to do with all of this?” Olivia finally asked.

“I actually don’t know the reason behind your father’s decision at the moment.” Susan said, looking genuinely confused.

Olivia lifted both hands and made a sound of frustration. “What’s the point of getting answers when the one answer I need I can’t get?”

She got up off the bed and walked out to the balcony. The lesson earlier that day had been dreadful. The instructor, Valerie Portbell, had been a snotty bitch. Although she was younger than Olivia had originally imagined, she definitely acted like an old hag. Right when Olivia walked into the room, she’d handed her textbooks, dates and deadlines, and glared at Olivia when she didn’t have any materials with her to take notes with. What exactly did she expect anyway? Olivia wanted to let the glare slip, thinking that the Portbell woman might not have known about Olivia’s situation, but after their first “conversation” in French, Olivia believed that she would’ve hated Portbell regardless.

Olivia’s thoughts went back to their conversation.

“Je m’appelle Valerie Portbell, et toi?” Olivia replied, fluently saying her name and even adding a few likes and dislikes. Portbell had narrowed her eyes and then began speaking in English with no trace of an accent. “Well, since you’re already pretty fluent, you can probably finish these books fairly quickly. I expect Candide to be finished by the day after the ‘morrow. You may leave. I am done with you.”

And that was it. Olivia had been surprised by her abruptness but angered by how rude she’d been. The thought of having yet another person in charge of her caused Olivia to become even more frustrated and annoyed. She had left the room in a huff and met Susan at her bedroom door where she stood there smiling, shaking her head as if it was Olivia’s fault that the Portbell woman was a bitch. Imagine that.

“I’m sorry sir, can you repeat that?” Rain asked, breathless and angry. Extremely angry.

Nicholas pinched the bridge of his nose and took off his glasses. His eyes were glassy, showing how tired he had become. “I want you to be my daughter’s escort.”

Rain stared at him for a few seconds.

After Chase left, Nicholas had asked Rain to stay for a few extra minutes. His mind was spinning. He wants me to be that brat’s escort? Out of all the escorts available…

“I know what you’re thinking, but let me explain this to you. You know that you’re the only one that I can trust, Rain. She’s my daughter, and probably the most important person in my life right now. I don’t want anything to happen to her…which means that I need the best of the best.” His eyes meet Rain’s. “And you’re the best.”

Shaking his head steadily, Rain leaned back in the chair facing Nicholas. “Why would she need the best? The only reason you’d need me to be her escort is if she’s—”

“— in danger.” Nicholas finished for him. His weariness showed even more now. His hair was disheveled and the smears under his eyes were more evident. “We’ve been getting threats.”

Rain’s ears perk up at this new knowledge. A slow drum built up in his temple. He sat up straighter, both annoyance and hurt moved across his facial features. He masked the hurt as quickly as possible. “When? Considering the fact that I am head of the security department don’t you believe that I, at least, have the privilege of knowing about the threats? Don’t you trust me?”

Nicholas saw the hurt before Rain could hide it, however. He sighs. “The problem isn’t whether or not I trust you, Rain, because we both know that I do. The fact is that the threats weren’t a problem until recently. It started off with just a few untraceable notes sent to my office in Minneapolis. However, they started to get more personal.” Nicholas’s voice turned a little colder as he said this. “The culprit somehow found out about Olivia. The bastard wants Olivia because he knows that it’s the only way to get to me.”

Rain was silent for longer this time. “There are no leads?”

“No. You’re the only one who knows about the more personal threats. The other ones were discretely investigated by my security staff in Minneapolis.”

“Why didn’t you let me handle it?” he asked. “You would have told me the story sooner or later.”

“I already gave you a job to do, remember? And that was to bring Olivia to me in the first place. I’m putting you as the head of this investigation now. But I also want you to be Olivia’s personal escort.”

Rain remained silent.

“It would mean a lot to me.”

He took a deep breath and met Nicholas’s gaze. “For you.”

A/N: I know it's sort of cliche, but I'll try to stay from those as much as possible. Please review and tell me how you like or don't like it. I've already started for the next chapter and I know earlier I said that I would have Olivia training with Rain in this chapter...however it didn't work out. So for now, that's what I've been righting for chapter six.

Again, thanks for reading! ... Please don't forget to review!

StarEyed14