Chapter 62

OLIVIA

THE fireworks ended nicely. I blinked my tears away as I realized that my future with Chase remained unknown. With the ticking bomb that could reveal the truth at anytime, I knew that I must prepare myself and accept the outcome of the lies I made up.

"Your food is getting cold. Let's eat, my love." Chase got my attention.

I smiled at him, but it didn't reach my eyes. Many thoughts consumed my chest, making it impossible for me to enjoy the food.

"Reese, is everything alright?"

"Don't worry, Chase."

I sighed heavily and picked up my spoon and fork to try the food. I reminded myself that I should never give Chase a chance to be suspicious of me. Otherwise, I would end up facing countless lawsuits once he figured out that I was not the real Reese Jones.

Though thinking that I'd be helpless if that happened, the sheer determination to build a business crossed my chest. Perhaps it wouldn't be so less dignified to get some resources if all else failed. I mean, that's the plan, after all.

I knew I couldn't win the battle of love, but I could stand a chance in terms of business... which would lift me up off the ground in case the truth gets revealed to everyone.

Chase had been so romantic all throughout our dinner. After savoring the food that was served, we danced for a bit while the violinist played a great classic song.

"I love you so much, Reese..." he whispered to my ear.

My heart skipped a beat because of his soulful words, ignoring the fact that they were meant for the real Reese Jones.

"I love you too," I replied, but my voice came off hurt and low.

"It's getting late. Should we end the night here?" he asked carefully.

"Yeah." I bit my lip and embraced myself. "I also feel cold and there are tiny insects swarming up to my feet."

He smiled and wrapped his arms around my waist. "How about now? Do you still feel cold?"

I pouted my lips and narrowed my eyes as I gazed up at him. My battle to fight my feelings towards him continued because of his irresistible charm.

How could he be so charismatic in every way?

"I think you being close like this is much better..." I said.

We both chuckled.

We then headed back to the private villa. While walking to the familiar garden going to the porch, we noticed that the lights were flickering. The wind was blowing so hard that it forced its way through the windows, making an uncomfortable sound. The glass panes shook and bent a bit because of it too.

"Wear this," Chase said, taking off his black coat and wrapping it around my shoulders.

He probably noticed that I was quivering even more because of the cold wind coming from the windows.

"Thank you, Chase."

I felt the warmth, but it wasn't enough. I moved closer to him and clung to his arm. We walked to the living room, and with one blink of an eye, everything turned pitch black.

"Chase, what happened? Is there a blackout? I can't see anything," I stated. My voice was in a panic.

Anxiety went through me. I swallowed the lump in my throat. Even when I was a kid, I was frightened in the dark as sharing ghost stories back then was a thing if there was no electricity in the orphanage. I was always a victim of their pranks, especially because of the fact that they knew exactly how I was scared of ghosts.

"I am sorry about this, Reese. There is probably an issue with the electricity. I am not sure if they have generators here," he responded. "Don't worry, we can use my phone as a flashlight."

He then picked up his phone from his pocket and turned on its flashlight.

He then opened his phone flashlight as we went inside.

We walked upstairs, and when he tried to open the door to the master bedroom, it was locked.

"Weird. Why is it locked?" He then reached for his pocket, trying to look for the room key. "Sh*t. The keys are missing."

"What?" My forehead creased.

"Is it in your purse?" he asked.

Even though it was dark, I managed to check my purse, but I hadn't seen any keys inside. Then I recalled that I was the one who locked the door and probably forgot to take the keys on the side table.

"I'm sorry, Chase. I think I left it inside," I said and bit my lower lip.

"That's alright, baby." He patted my shoulder, assuring me that it was fine. "Let me go check the locker downstairs and see if there are spare keys we can use."

"You're going to leave me here?"

"I'll just go downstairs for a minute, Reese."

"No, I am coming with you!" I demanded.

I had no strength to stand here all by myself. I heard him sigh and said, "Alright. Come with me."

We then proceeded to the locker he was referring to. The lights flickered once again, which made me scream in fear.

"Damn it!" I cursed under my breath. The weather was clearly fine earlier, but now, I could hear the loud sound of thunder. That doubled my anxiety.

"Relax, Reese. I'm here. I'm not going to leave you... or am I?" His tone of voice suddenly changed upon saying those last words.

"What the hell are you saying, Chase?"

"What if I'm just pretending to be Chase Maxwell?" He laughed devilishly. "I'm not your real husband. I am just playing the part, and I will now leave you in the dark! Boo!"

I screamed like a little girl being haunted by ghosts.

He laughed for a bit, but when he noticed that I was in tears, he immediately apologized and embraced me tightly.

I pushed him away and punched his chest.

"Damn you, I was scared for real! How dare you just do that to me!" I snorted.

He was clearly teasing me, but my heart just jumped out of my chest with his tone of voice earlier. It was truly spooky.

"I'm so sorry, wife. Come on, I was just joking!" He fought the urge to continue laughing. "Alright, I promise it won't happen again. No more scary stuff."

"It's not funny, Chase! I'm truly scared!" I scoffed.

"You weren't scared in the dark before."

"That was before!"

His face was crumpled. I realized that I went overboard with him by yelling.

I palmed my face. "I just want to go to our room and sleep with you."

"I understand and I'm sorry again, baby. I found the keys. Lets go upstairs so you can take a rest," he said.

We went back to the master's bedroom. Chase saved his phone battery, so I used mine as our flashlight to lighten up the room a bit. I changed my clothes and was ready to go to bed when Chase caught my attention. He was sitting on the edge of the bed and was doing something on his phone.

"Aren't you sleepy yet?" I asked.

He shook his head and turned to me. "Will you be fine alone here for a couple of minutes? I want to check the electricity source and see if I can fix it."

I gave him a wide-eyed look. "There is no way I can stay here all by myself, Chase."

"I promise it won't take long, baby. I want to get it fixed so we can both sleep properly."

I let out a heavy sigh and nodded in the end. He stood up and kissed my forehead.

"It will be quick," he assured me.

"Fine," I said and went to bed.

He tucked me in first under the blanket before he went out of the room. My heart pounded aggressively inside my chest. The thought of being alone in a dark room sent shivers down my spine. I thought about the happy memories, not letting the fear engulf me, but the mere sound of the wind rustling against the window made it impossible for me to focus.

I shut my eyes, but it made the situation worse as I imagined shadows trying to get near me. With that in mind, I quickly got off of bed and stormed out of the room.

"Chase?!" I called him but no one responded.

I descended downstairs and looked around the villa, but got even more scared. The rustling sound from outside made me panic. I rushed towards the main door and proceeded outside. I was checking over my shoulders as I ran when someone blocked my way and held both of my arms.

I screamed. My fist was about to strike the face of the person who suddenly appeared if he didn't speak right away.

"Reese, it's me!" Chase's voice made me come back to my senses. "Why are you running outside? I told you to stay in our room."

"I can't!" I said, shaking my head.

"Alright, I'm here. Don't be scared, my love." He wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "I talked to the crew and they said there were issues with the solar panel. They already called someone to come and repair it first thing in the morning."

"Charles should have invested a lot of money to maintain the solar energy here!" I scoffed.

He laughed a bit and caressed my hair. "Let's walk to the beach side then for you to calm down."

I pressed my lips together. Chase gazed at me with a smile.

"Fine," I replied.