The latter

The more Jake thought about Olivia's words, the more he realized that she was right. Though it was a bad thing for Laila, it would be a good thing for him. No, not just for him. In the end it would be something good for her AND him. After all, Laila's pain would be temporary. After the initial pain, she and him would be able to build something together that would last forever. A relationship so great that it would make Laila forget all about that Noah. Turning him simply into a person that she used to know. To reach that blissful place in life with him, this was a moment of sadness she would have to go through. As the saying goes, all great things require some sacrifice.

As Jake began to justify everything for himself, to benefit his desires in life, Noah and Steve were working out the next step of the plan they had impromptu started. In that moment, as they were listening to Jake and Olivia's conversation, they needed to act fast before Olivia might see anything that could arouse her suspicions. Though they had covered their tracks as well as they could, they did not want to risk her finding something they might have missed. Steve was pretty confident anything was hidden for a normal viewing but a detailed inspection of the footage is something he couldn't make any promises about.

The decision they had come to was not just to make Olivia stop scanning the recordings from last night. It was also intended to be something that would make Jake doubt his own. The step they had ultimately chosen in the heat of the moment, would tackle both. They imagined that the excitement of the first and the shock of the latter would be enough to fill their minds with other thoughts for some time. Hopefully long enough for them to come up with a proper plan to deal with not only the two of them but also with Harrold, once and for all.

But now that they had started this mess and opened up the can of worms, there was no going back. Though Noah had regretted his words the moment he had said them and still asked himself if there really wasn't another way. He could already imagine Jake's words and thoughts. Thinking about Jake approaching Laila again because he thought that he was cheating on her. Making it all fair game in his head. Disregarding what Laila might want since he considered himself an expert at everything and thus thinking he knew what would be in her best interest. Even if she wouldn't be the vulnerable, weak woman Jake probably had imagined in his head, Laila would have less reason to reject his advances. At least in his eyes. With his own reputation about to be dragged through the mud, Jake would consider himself his equal if not his superior and there would be very little he could do about it without giving himself away. With a balled fist and gritted teeth he told himself, now that he had said the words, it was time to walk the walk.

He contacted his assistant and told him to make a reservation at an expensive restaurant for tonight. He had him also order some flowers to be delivered at her home. After that he called Laila in order to explain what had happened to her. Having no desire to let this kind of news reach her through someone else and especially not Olivia. Not with Laila's past and not regardless of it. He loved her too much to want any type of hurt to come to her. Because of something that was true or not.

Laila picked up his call almost immediately and cheerfully answered the phone. "Hello honey!" With a chuckle she added, "Mis me already?" Despite what he had to tell her, Noah couldn't help but chuckle as well at his wife's silly behaviour. With a loving look in his eyes and a gentle smile he said in a warm voice, "Always. From the moment I leave, till the moment I return to your side." Laila felt his love for her reach her through the phone and couldn't stop herself from blushing ever so slightly. But she quickly shook the feeling off and said, "Enough of that smooth talk. There is only so much my poor heart can take. So, why did you call me."

Noah looked a bit more grim as he told her about what he had done. "Well, Steve and I got a notification that Olivia was on the phone. When we listened in on her conversation, it was her talking with Jake about last night. Jake told her that we had just been playing her and that she should check the security footage. When we heard that, we could only do two things. Hope that there was nothing to see and wait for Jake's suspicions to die down. Or take action and dismiss any suspicion they both have. In the end we chose for the latter."