Care to explain?

After hearing Noah's question, Olivia's eyes grew wide and she felt herself become a bit shaky in the legs. Olivia's butler noticed this and asked if she was alright. She put on a brave face and said that she was before telling him that she would take it from here, which meant that he was excused. The butler nodded lightly before taking a step back and closing the in-between that separated the living room from the hall where they had come from. Now that they were alone, Olivia walked over to the couch, across from the one where Noah and the shadow had been sitting, and took a seat. She still appeared a bit nervous as she pushed some strands of hair behind her ears and tried to compose herself before she said, "I don't know what you mean. Who did you say called me? H-Harold Richardson? I don't think I know anybody by that name."

Noah threw his head back a bit as he rolled his eyes in disbelief. He didn't like it when people treated him like a fool but where he usually liked to play along to make them realize their mistakes on their own, today he had no time for those kind of games. So, instead he cut to the chase more quickly as he said, "Oh come on Olivia. We both know that is not true. Now would a true friend lie to someone they had considered a friend? Before today you couldn't shut up about how close of a friend I was and how you were practically my second wife. You even tried to come on to me more than once and made me a home-cooked meal. Yet with that same mouth you are telling me that you don't know Harold Richardson, when I have proof that he called you three times. Why would someone you don't know, bother to call you three times in one day?"

Knowing that she had been caught, the front she had created started to crumble and she began to show her true feelings. Her once widened eyes began to tear up and the tears started falling down her face one by one as she began to apologize. "I am sorry. I am so sorry Noah. I never meant to take things this far. I just wanted you for myself and he offered to help me. He promised he wouldn't hurt you. All he was after was some of your business. He never told me that he was after you as a person as well. But somehow something changed."

As Olivia continued to cry and seemed like an actual human for the first time since Noah had met her, she tried to tell Noah everything. As she was fidgeting with her nails, looking down at them, she said, "All of a sudden he called me this morning telling me that he was going to need a place to stay because he was going to get even with you. When I asked him what he meant, he told me not to worry about it. He just said that he was evening the score and that you had gone after him first. But he didn't clarify anything else to me. Of course I did worry after that call, since Harold is a very unpredictable man. But at the same time, he had told me that he had given you a way out and it wasn't certain that he would actually do anything. So, I wanted to believe that he wouldn't do anything too crazy or that I at least still had time to figure out what he was planning to do. Only then would I be able to stop him or warn you. Plus, there was still a chance of you taking his offer and all of this going away. I clung onto that hope as I desperately tried to figure out what he was going to do."

This is when she looked up and showed Noah her reddened eyes as she said, "I promise you that I didn't know what he planned to do. I tried calling Jake, I tried call mutual friends but nothing. They either didn't pick up since it was so early in the morning or they didn't know. By the time I found out what he had planned, it had already happened. I-I just didn't expect him to turn his words into action so soon. I didn't think that he would actually plan to kill you. If I had know that I would have done whatever I could to stop him. You have to believe me on that. It wasn't until I saw the footage on the news, that I realized what he had done and how bad things were. I was beside myself. I tried calling to your office to confirm the news, but I couldn't get a hold of you. After not hearing anything and after not being able to reach you or Laila, I thought that the worst had happened. That is why I was so shocked to see you as it felt like seeing a ghost."

Noah had heard all of this but the answer he was looking for wasn't in there. In a calm voice Noah asked, "Okay. I want to believe you Olivia. I want to believe that you are speaking the truth. In fact, let's say I believe all of that, that still doesn't tell me what I want to know. Which is what happened with Harold. And you say that you would never hurt me, but I have heard stories saying otherwise. Care to explain any of that?"