Chapter 324: No Turning Back
Unlike in the movies, Bastien was not knocked out after being hit by Peter. Instead, the man fell to a knee and dropped Olivia in the process. He held the back of his head cursing in pain. He was clearly caught off guard by the assault, and it took him a minute to come to his senses; a delay that his attacker exploited.
Peter could hold his own in a fight, but he saw no need to use his fists when he still held a heavy object in his hand. He used it to keep hitting Bastien before the man could react, and he finally got the result he was looking for.
With Bastien dazed on the ground, Peter bent to check on Olivia, whose face was still grave. He knew it was because of the past invitation he had given her. To Olivia, it did not matter if he had just saved her from someone. She was still a woman, unable to do anything to protect herself, and he was a man who she knew wanted to sleep with her.
Peter picked up the terrified Olivia and brought her into his own vehicle. He had no idea where the woman lived, and after a quick search, he discovered that her phone was either lost or left behind and his phone was with Matthew.
Peter cursed in annoyance. He could not believe he was alone with a clearly drugged woman, whose cousin could end his career with a word. Worse, he had just attacked the man's friend, without knowing the full details of what was happening.
For all Peter knew, Bastien could have been trying to get Olivia to safety, but Peter had convinced himself that Olivia was looking to him for help. He had only just realized that he might have been projecting his emotions onto Olivia. If he could confidently say that he saved her from something bad, it would help to relieve him of the guilt towards her.
With Olivia's reputation and safety in mind, Peter knew he could not take her to a public hospital. Even with her status, she would not be given preferential treatment, and might even have had her information leaked. Peter had sway, but he did not have the influence or power of the Rue family.
Not wanting to leave Olivia in the car alone, Peter decided to take her to his apartment.
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Olivia's mind was racing, but whatever she had been given made her incapable of speaking. She was screaming in her mind, but no words would come out, and she found that she could not even use gestures to communicate. Anything she was asked, she simply nodded to. When Peter's car stopped in front of an unfamiliar apartment complex, she internally panicked. Olivia believed that Peter had finally lost his mind and wanted to take revenge on her.
"Don't cry, I will not touch you," Peter said. Olivia did not even know she was crying, but when Peter mentioned it, her face did feel wet. Peter opened the passenger side door and scooped her out of the car, then paused in his actions.
"When I said I wouldn't touch you; this doesn't count," he said. He did not want Olivia to think he was lying to her.
Peter was familiar with the drug Olivia was likely given. He had come across it when an actor in one of Matthew's films had it slipped into a snack item given to him by a fan. The women then waited around, and took several nude photographs of the man, who claimed to have no memory of having ever taken the pictures.
Peter also had experience with an actress who was given the drug by her co-star. The man did not manage to take advantage of the woman, because Peter and Matthew had taken her to a hospital, where she fell unconscious. It was because of that experience that Peter knew Olivia would be out cold within an hour or two.
Peter knew that bringing Olivia back to his apartment was stupid, but already having jumped to conclusions about Bastien; there was no turning back. He laid Olivia on his bed, he removed her shoes and tried to make her comfortable without touching her anywhere that would cause further Panic.
Peter spoke calmly as he arranged her body and spoke his actions aloud. He could tell his method was helping, or maybe Olivia was losing consciousness, because her expression softened and he was able to wrap her up in a bed sheet, without her looking at him like he was a monster. He told Olivia that he needed to contact her cousin, and through a series of blink once for yes, twice for no; he managed to get the man's number.
After a brief absence, Peter returned with an older woman who looked upset to see Olivia. The old woman scolded her about drinking alone, then praised Peter for being gentlemanly enough not to do anything. Olivia wanted to roll her eyes, but she could barely keep them open, let alone roll them. The old woman introduced herself as Lory, a retired nurse who lived in the unit next door.
Peter left the women in his bedroom and went back to his foyer to call CEO Rue again. Either Olivia had given him the wrong number, or he had underestimated the effects of the drug she ingested, and her blinks were nothing but spasms.
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Cylus was rushing to the hospital where Bastien was being treated. He had been in his office when he was given word that Olivia had been taken.
According to Bastien, he was escorting a drunken Olivia to his car, when he was attacked by an unknown man. Bastien could not describe the man well, and because the bar did not have cameras there was no way to know who had taken his cousin.
Cylus was in the middle of panic when he thought about calling CEO Zane, but his pride held him back and he called Mina instead. Now that the woman had her own device, he had spent countless hours courting Mina and called her often, so he felt comfortable telling her the information that was so far undiscovered by anyone else.
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Mina was saved by the bell, Cylus called her in the middle of a knitting lesson and she could not be more grateful. Mina did not think there was anything she could not do, but apparently, she was wrong. She answered the phone cheerfully, expecting Cylus to be calling casually, but she nearly dropped her device when she heard that Olivia was missing.
Flashbacks to her own experience started to flood Mina's mind, and Cylus immediately regretted calling. He could hear the emotion in Mina's voice, and she was breathing heavily as if she had been worked up. She did not speak when she hung up the phone. Mina immediately called Jay.
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Jay swallowed her pride and called Matthew who answered the phone in a cocky tone. She wanted to hang up the moment he asked her if she missed him already, but protecting her ego was not worth Olivia's safety.
Jay opened the conversation casually. She had been forewarned by Mina not to tell anyone that Olivia was missing until Cylus had made a formal report with the police. However, she was struggling. Matthew was acting as though she called him because of their earlier confrontation and wanted to reconcile.
"Look, Olivia just called me crying and I wanted to give you a heads-up just in case we need to do damage control. My career is linked to your production as well," Jay said scornfully.
"Sh*t! What did that idiot do now?" Matthew said. He realized that he should have stopped Peter from following Olivia out too late, but he also did not want the man to blame him if something was really amiss.