The journey back home was rather a quiet one.

Olivia couldn't take her mind off the things she had heard Randal say. She couldn't forget his mention of what had happened to her parents that night either. She could remember the pride in his voice as he noted his accomplishments. He didn't regret it, he didn't even deny it. He acknowledged what he had done right in front of her without the littlest remorse.

Her heart was heavy and she hated herself even more for being unable to talk or express herself the way she wished she did. She hated how easily speechless she was, she hated how weak she was. Her inability to randomly defend herself when the situation called for it upset her a great deal. It was what a life long cycle of abuse did to her. It made her awfully silent in situations that needed her reaction. It made her foolishly understanding too.

She couldn't hear it but she could imagine how Rafael's heart must have been racing with anger and frustration throughout the entire journey. She could also imagine how embarrassed he must have been to face her. He had really wanted her and Ivory to get along with each other, he had made a lot of effort to make sure he was available that evening to take her out on a dinner date with his sister, to show her the side of his family he never got the chance to. It was a shame that Randal had to ruin the moment, he always did.

It was the longest they had gone without talking to each other in the same space. Kenneth was worried and it didn't matter how he tried to keep his attention focused on the road, he couldn't help but watch them both from the rear view mirror each time he had the chance to.

Olivia slowly turned to Rafael and watched how he left his gaze on the window, pulling his tie from being too close to his neck in frustration. He couldn't even bring himself to look at her after everything his father had said, after hearing his father brag about murdering hers to protect their family. The only moment he flinched was at the vibrating sound of his phone.

Olivia looked away while he slowly buried his head to reach for it on the space between them. He raised it up just so he could see the caller on it.

Tony's name was right on it.
He wasn't sure that was the right time to speak to anyone yet but it was Tony, and it was really hard to ignore Tony. If he tried to, he was going to keep calling until he picked if it was an emergency.

He pushed the answer button and raised his phone to his right ear. He cleared his throat and placed two fingers at the side of his nose bridge and rubbed gently.

"Tony." He said right before he noticed how loud his background was, not too loud anyway since he could hear Tony clearly. He turned to Olivia immediately and took a good look at her while he listened to everything Tony said.

"Oh, I forgot that that was today."

Tony had just reminded him about Sam's birthday party that was also happening that evening. Rafael couldn't believe that he had forgotten about it too. That could explain why Tony didn't show up at Ivory's house earlier.

Just like Tony, Sam was a very close friend of his, they had met seven years ago at a function Tony had invited him to and they became close since then. Sam was a very close mutual friend to both him and Tony and the quad squad had become a lot closer the last three years. He wasn't exactly sure Sam was going to forgive him for forgetting about his birthday and third year anniversary of being chairman at his father's company but he hoped he understood.

It looked like he just had to deal with Sam the next day. He wasn't sure he and Olivia were up for any other outings that night, not especially since they were almost home too. Olivia slowly turned to look at him like she was curious to know what Tony had mentioned. She watched him carefully, wondering what it was he was talking about.

"I uh, I don't think Olivia and I can make it tonight." Rafael exhaled. "It's been a long night, so we'd just retire back home for the day."

Besides, they hadn't exactly given an official statement to the public about where they stood as a couple. Rafael still understood the importance of keeping it subtle and making sure they weren't seen together in public. But that was the thing though, he was tired of how long he had to keep hiding, how long they had to keep hiding from everyone. The thought that they both had to individually go through series of online bullying, Olivia more so, all because everyone misunderstood them and their relationship appalled him. How long did they have to go on that way? How long did they have to hide how they felt about each other? For how long did he have to hide her and hide the truth about how he felt about her from everyone? Hide the fact that all the choices he made to be with her and Grace, he made on his own and not because she threatened him to with the news about her being with his child.

For how long?
Rafael rubbed his forehead. He was tired of it. He was tired of everyone trying to tell him what he could and could not do, he was tired of everyone looking down on her and having their own definition of their relationship, he was sick of everyone having something to say, having their own opinion on what they knew nothing about, he was tired of the misplaced judgements and priorities, of the harm she had to go through just because of all the lies they told.

He was tired of having everyone feel his silence, he was tired of turning a blind eye to everything, he was tired of all of it. He wanted to show her off, he wanted to defend her, he wanted to feel in charge of all his decision. It was time for him to, he had to, for all their sakes.

"You know what?" He said to Tony. "I need a minute so I'm going to place you on hold okay?"

He placed Tony on hold for a second after he got his confirmation right before he turned to Olivia who was still curious as to what was going on. He left his gaze on her for a moment, trying to find the right words.

"Is everything okay?" Olivia had to ask now.

"Is it crazy if we take a rain check on going home so early tonight?" He asked her, looking her right in the eye. She didn't understand what he meant, he could see it. "It's Sam's birthday today, and we never really got around having the night we had both hoped we would."

Olivia didn't understand what he was asking. Was he really implying that they went out together? In public? Were they even ready for that? They had barely figured out what they were to each other at that point, how on earth were they supposed to explain it to other people.

"It's a private party, just a few friends, no press, no paparazzi -"

She nodded, he didn't have to explain.

"I'm in." She told him. She was sick of it too, she was tired of hiding and letting people believe things that were far from the truth. She needed this, she needed to set the records straight, she needed to speak her own truth, to show her own truth.

If she was going to leave the mansion with Grace very soon, she figured that she had to set the pace and show everyone just how wrong they were about her, just so they didn't put her through what they did before, just so she could be able to live and walk freely without everyone in her business. It was better they saw it now than later. The public appearance was going to favor her just as much, plus, she had made a lot of efforts to look that pretty to let it all go to waste. The night might not have started off in their favor but it didn't have to end that way.

They both needed the distraction after the kind of evening that they had had. She knew he needed the distraction, he needed to be around friends like Tony that would take his mind away from things and help him blow off some steam before trial. He needed this, besides, like he said, it was a private party, what's the worst that could possibly happen?

"Are you sure?" He asked her.
She nodded.

"Yeah."

Rafael nodded right before he reached for his phone and returned it to his ear.

"We'd be needing an address." He said and muttered a few words Olivia was too distracted with her thoughts to hear right before he dropped the call and raised his head to the rear view mirror.

"Please take us to the Blue horizon resort immediately Kenneth."

"Yes sir."

Olivia relaxed in her seat and drew a deep breath as she felt the car make a circle around and pick back its speed.

She let out an exhale and swallowed hard.
Hopefully, the night was going to turn out in both their favor.

It is just a private party Oli, what could possibly go wrong?

━═━═━═━┤➴├━═━═━═━

Parties,
Olivia didn't know how she managed to attend them every time even though her memories of the previous ones never ended well. Her anxiety was off the roof, she could feel her palms get sweaty just thinking about it.

It was just as Rafael had said it would be, private.

Olivia could count the number of people in the medium sized hall, and could count a few others outside the pool area. Their numbers gave her some kind of comfort, and she felt even more comfortable recognizing some of the ladies there, especially the ones talking in the same small circle she was in.

Rafael had introduced her to one out of the five women a while ago, she was Sam's fiancée so they got to go to a lot of outings and double dates a few times in the past. She had introduced Olivia to the two other women Tony had failed to introduce her to when she and Rafael arrived at the hall.

She liked how calm the music was and appreciated how warm the designs in the room made her feel. Unlike the other parties she had been to, she liked how no one in this party cared about anything, they didn't care about who she was, or what kind of audience they were going to pull taking records of her and her personal business. If her evening didn't start off well, she was almost sure that it wasn't going to go as bad as it would have been if Rafael had not pulled her out of Ivory's house hours ago.

That reminded her, she had lost Rafael shortly after Isabel got a hold of her and pulled her to talk to the other ladies there, now she was getting bored of the conversation and just wanted to find him again. She let her gaze wander around the room until she did, she could meet his gaze watching her just from across the room where he stood with a few of his friends. She could recognize all of them; there was Tony, Sam, Victor, Ben, and Matthew. She just started to realize how involved she was in every part of Rafael's life. She knew everything about him. She knew all his friends and appreciated the fact that there were only a few of them. She knew most of his business partners and a lot more other things that she couldn't even count. He had made her a part of every detail in his life, big or small and she was only starting to know just how involved she was in all of it.

She could feel how her heart picked its rhythm each time their eyes met, it was like she had just seen him for the first time. She got excited at every turn and could feel how her cheeks went warm and her belly tighten when his beautiful eyes met hers. It was hard for him to keep his eyes on anything else, not Victor's random jokes, or the conversation Matthew was trying to have. She swallowed hard and turned to the waiter that had suddenly appeared in front of her.

"Wine?" He asked her just as she let out a shy smile, lowering her gaze to the tray filled with champagne flutes, and wine glasses on them. She could feel like he was still watching her, and he was. Rafael tried to see if he was going to have to go stop her from making a choice out of the choices in the tray, he hoped he didn't need to remind her why she couldn't drink anything with alcohol in it, even though Olivia could have sworn that she needed it.

"I uh- no thank you." She raised her head to the waiter and smiled at him.

"She can't have alcohol."Isabel took it upon herself to explain the situation to the waiter even though she didn't have to. "She's expecting."

Olivia watched how the waiter turned to her with a look of surprise and realization on his face.

"Come on." One of the ladies gave her arm a small push as she turned to her slowly. "You can have some of the wine, it's only nine percent. It's not enough to cause any harm. I consumed twice that amount when I was pregnant with my third, he came out pretty fine."

Olivia forced a smile on her face so she didn't seem rude. She appreciated her concern but she just wasn't sure Rafael would like the idea, she didn't either. The waiter could see how uncomfortable she was.

"How about a glass of water?" He recommended just as Olivia turned to him. "Sparkling water."

She smiled warmly.

"That would be nice, thank you."
He nodded and then walked away just as the ladies went back to chit-chatting.

"You can't keep watching her every move like that brother." Sam had to bring Rafael's intentional distraction to his notice as he took a huge sip from his wine glass. "She's not going to disappear if you don't."

He exhaled.

"Do you think she's comfortable?" He asked, not taking his eyes off her. "Do you think she's okay? You guys won't mind if she joins us would you?"

Sam scoffed just as they all turned to where the ladies were standing.

"You make it sound like you're at a father-daughter dance party." Matthew said. "Come on man, your girl is old enough to leave a circle she doesn't feel comfortable in, besides, she looks like she's having lots of fun. The ladies are cool people, Isabel is there too, and we all know how kind Isabel is. She won't let anyone be unkind to her."

"Matthew is right Ralph." Ben said. "I think you worry too much about your lady, live a little, give her space to make her own circle of friends. She needs friends too you know, you can't be her only friend for the rest of her life, she needs to mingle" he gave Rafael a gentle push on his shoulder.

They were right, maybe he was worrying too much about her, maybe he just needed to give her space to live and make her own friends now, she needed all the positive energy she could get. She had been surrounded by negativity for as long as he could remember and she never got to make any friends, even while she was still married to Andrew, he never let her be friends with anyone and the only friend she ever knew, testified against her in court. Maybe it was time for her to find her footing again in the social field, maybe it was time for her to make meaningful connections through association and from his research on the women around her, they all seemed to be good people, that comforted him at the very least, that and that continuous buzzing sound of Tony's phone.

Talk about distractions, Tony had been nothing but distracted for the entire fifteen minutes since they had been standing there. His phone kept ringing and he kept ignoring it.

They both knew who it was, they all knew who it was and just why Tony wasn't answering it. Tony let out a loud exhale as he hung up and quickly threw his phone in his pockets, reaching for a glass of wine from the bar table. Rafael watched him empty the glass into his mouth in just six seconds right before he dropped the glass back on the table with a thud.

He was going to drink himself insane if it stopped him from thinking about her, or taking her calls. He just couldn't bring himself to be kind to her. He couldn't understand why Ivory had suddenly showed up again and why she didn't just let him be.

Why did she keep calling his phone? What did she want?

"Are you sure you don't want to take that, man?" Ben asked him just as he reached for another wine glass. "You can't run from her forever. I mean, she's back and it looks like she'd be here for quite a while."

Not that it concerned any of them, Tony emptied the wine glass in his mouth hurriedly and dropped the glass again on the table. He wiped his mouth with the back of her hands.

"For Christ's sakes, just take her call already." Victor said. "Nothing has to be that difficult you know, do us all a favor bro, you're making the night miserable for everyone."

Rafael knew he had to do something, he had to at least try to make the situation better, he leaned closer to Tony.

"Things didn't go well at dinner tonight." He told Tony. "Randal showed up, mother invited him, she must be scared and just needs someone to talk to." Tony raised his eyes to where Rafael stood, he looked at Rafael for a while, not quite knowing what to say.

"No offense Ralph," Sam said. "But I don't see how that's Tony's problem. I mean, your sister chose to leave all those years ago, she left to chase her dreams as per your father's requests and never called or responded to any of his emails so I don't see why Tony needs to run at her beck and call now that's she's finally back home, has daddy problems, and needs a shoulder to cry on."

Tony scoffed, as he reached for a champagne flute while Rafael accepted defeat. He understood the situation, he knew just how sensitive the subject was to Tony, he didn't want to force it. He could see how miserable Tony was already. It was pointless making him feel even worse.

"I really don't understand why relationships have to be so difficult." Matthew went on. "So far so good, Benedict is the only one in this circle without a complicated relationship." He scoffed.

"My wife still won't talk to me for having a vasectomy without her consent, it's been three months and she can't get used to the thought of not having another child despite the fact that we've had four children already in six years, Tony on the other hand," he pointed at Tony, "Tony is yet to let go of his abandonment beef with his long lost ex, and my brother here Ralph can't be with the woman he loves-" he frowned. "Why again?"

"Forbidden love." Sam said, forcing himself to hold back his chuckle while Rafael scoffed out a smile.
"Because there is a possibility that his father, murdered her parents, and a whole lot of other insane things."

"Oh." Matthew inhaled and then nodded, that was right. He turned to Sam, "Sam is about to get married, I honestly wonder why, and Victor-" he turned to Victor,

"You know what?" Victor cut him off. "Ivory, I can understand," he went on. "I mean, we all know that at a point in one's life, they begin to get a lot of conflict within themselves on the right thing to do. I can understand why she chose to pursue her dreams abroad rather than run away and abandon her family to be with Tony, but Rafael," Rafael raised his head to Victor.

"Brother, what exactly are you fighting for?"

Silence.

Tony let out a weak breath, just as he turned to give Victor his attention just like the rest of them. Rafael was more confused by the question Victor has asked him, shocked too. He wasn't even sure it was a question he needed to answer. Was it a joke? Was it another one of his jokes?

He watched the look on Victor's face, he looked pretty serious to him.

"Victor." Ben called him silently in disbelief.

"No, wait." Victor pointed a finger to stop them from stopping him. "I'm curious." He narrowed his gaze on Rafael. "I just," he scoffed. "It's hard to get my head around any of this, crazy too. It's just- we all know Rafael guys," he looked at the others one after the other.

"He's not the type to make irrational decisions, he's not the type to abandon his family either. It's just that all of what's happening seems, puff." He tapped the side of his head once with three fingers. "Crazy."

"What are you trying to say." Rafael asked him.

"Are you really going to do it?" Victor asked him. "Are you really going to send your father to prison and destroy your family's company you've all worked so hard to build? Even worse, you expect us to believe that you'd do all that for a woman? Isn't that crazy? Selfish?"

"What?" Rafael frowned hard at him.

"Hey," Matthew tugged Victor's arm, faking a laugh to calm the tension in the circle. "How can you joke like that? With something like this?" He asked him. "You must be too drunk and how you're spewing a lot of nonsense."

He laughed nervously, looking at Rafael and hoping that he saw it as a joke too. It didn't look like Rafael did

"I'm serious though." Victor pulled his arm away from his hold. With the way he dragged his words, it was hard for anyone to really see if he was drunk or not. He acted like he was, but not too much to not know what it was that he was saying.

"I just need to understand what he's fighting for." He said. "I know you all feel the same way, it just doesn't make any sense to me. Look at him, guys, our friend is Rafael Okonkwo, one of the most handsome men the country has every known, young and rich too, richer than a lot of people our age. What woman would not go to war to be with a man like him."

"What's your point Victor?" Ben asked him right after he let out a weak exhale. He was saying a lot of nonsense that he was tired of listening to.

"Take a look around this room." Victor turned around and they followed him, all of them except Rafael and Tony. "There are more than fifty eligible women in this very room, women who are more worthy and would be honored to be the future Mrs Okonkwo, women that are within his league, our league, he wouldn't have to fight his family to be with any of them. A lot of fishes in the sea, why does he have to settle for the worst in the pond?" Victor sounded so frustrated.

"V-victor," Matthew pulled his arm as he took his gaze to Rafael, he could see how Rafael just stood there, glaring at Victor and not saying a word, it had been the angriest any of them had ever seen him and the quietest too. He had stress lines on his forehead and red veins at the corner of his sclera that were obviously reddening with his glare.

"What?" Victor asked him.

"That's enough."

"What's enough? I'm only saying the truth." He told Matthew, "I mean look at her." He turned to where Olivia was standing, laughing with the other women. "How on earth does a woman like that cause all this trouble and still smile? How is she worth the trouble she has caused? She's not even half as pretty as the women in this room, she's not half the woman Constance was even, it's like going from owing gold to brass, and let's not even talk about how she's second-hand goods." He turned back to them.

"Hey Victor," Tony called him, glaring at him too.

"It's the truth," Victor stood his ground, he wasn't going to let any of them intimidate him or stop him, he had the time and he was going to speak his full.

"Wasn't she married before to that family? Even went to jail and had a daughter for them? How is a woman like that fit to be his wife? What kind of representation would she have on his reputation? What can an ex-convict possibly have to offer? She's someone else's left over. It doesn't matter how much he tries to tidy her up and spend on her, it doesn't matter how good the sex is, it's not going to change the fact that she is not good for him, she's only taking advantage of his kindness to keep her status, and making him care for her and her child. She is Andrew Silver's forgotten property and is really not worth the hassle and trouble Rafael is going through with his family-"

"Victor have you lost your mind?!" Tony yelled at him at the top of his lungs causing a crazy silence to fill their midst, not just them, the entire hall as everyone slowly stopped whatever it was they were doing to turn to where Tony's yell had come from. If that was Victor's plan, to make everyone agitated, it was slowly working, it was working even more on Rafael.

Olivia squinted her gaze to the scene after one of the ladies had brought her attention to it, not quite sure she understood what was going on. They were just talking a while ago, why was Tony yelling at the top of his lungs and why did Rafael just stand there like a statue, glaring at Victor like that?

"What on earth do you think you're blabbering about?What do you know huh?"

Victor looked right at Tony, wondering why Tony was suddenly getting mad at him for saying the truth.

"Victor," Sam grabbed his arm gently, the moment he got a hold on the situation, realizing that it wasn't a joke to anyone anymore.

"I think you crossed the line this time bro, you should apologize quickly." Sam beseeched him just as Ben let out a disappointed exhale, rubbing his forehead on reflex.

Matthew kept his eyes on Rafael, noticing how awfully quiet he was, the look of his face said a lot of things that everyone else failed to notice. Rafael was trying hard, he was trying hard to keep his head afloat of the situation, leaving his gaze on Victor who took a scan around the room, noticing how everyone had suddenly given them their attention.

What were they all startled for?
The room was quiet, more quiet that Olivia had thought and the music had stopped too, apparently even the DJ wanted a hold of the situation.

Victor slowly turned back to Rafael and the moment he settled his gaze on him, Rafael threw a straight punch at him using a lot of force that threw Victor to the ground just as the ladies around Olivia gasped in shock, Olivia too.

Victor could feel the blood that started to tickle down his nose as he tried to register what had happened. His jaw had hurt a lot too, he could barely feel it. He turned immediately and before he could try to get up again, Rafael rushed him as fast as he could, he got on top of him, grabbed him by his shirt with his left hand, and started to punch him right on the face with his right without even giving Victor a chance to breathe, or resuscitate himself. It was a disaster just as they all rushed to them.

"Rafael!" Tony and Matthew tried to pull Rafael off Victor but he didn't let go, he pushed Matthew off him and went back to hitting Victor with every strength he had inside of him.

Olivia was too shocked by the situation, she didn't even have the opportunity to understand what was happening. Everything was happening so fast and she had the most shock of it all because it was her fist time, it was her first time seeing Rafael physical with anyone. He was not that kind of person, he was not the kind to use his fists so intensely especially on his friend.

"Say it again!" Rafael yelled at Victor as his punched him again. "Go on then, keep talking!" He punched Victor yet again and the entire crowd that had surrounded them went in an uproar.

Victor's entire face was filled with blood and he could barely keep his eyes open but it didn't stop Rafael, he didn't stop at all. It took a combination of Matthew, Tony's and Ben's strength to get Rafael off Victor and push him aside just as Ben and Sam hurried to help Victor from where he laid helplessly on the ground, barely breathing.

"Come here." Rafael gestured Victor to come to him even as Tony and Matthew tried to stop him. "Come here right now."

Rafael was tired of it. He was sick of the judgements, he was sick of everyone telling him what he could and could not do, he had held back a lot and at that moment, hearing Victor say those words to him, he had surely exhausted his last patience. He pushed Mathew out of his way and made way to return to Victor.

Every hurt he felt, every anger, representing all the evil words Victor had said to him, he was making sure he utilized it appropriately. Tony grabbed him immediately and pushed him to the ground, falling with him in the process, while Matthew bought himself some time to get up. He hurried to them just as he and Tony tried to restrain him once again.

"Victor." Ben slapped Victor gently on his face three times. "Vik, can you hear me?"

Victor was not responsive.

Sam hurriedly placed his head to hear a heartbeat.

"He's barely breathing." He announced as he turned to the ladies behind him. "Call an ambulance immediately."

Isabel pulled her phone from her purse immediately and started to push a few buttons just to call the emergency care number.

Olivia could feel her heart racing as everything became static all of a sudden, she was trembling from head to toe, she was shocked at the sight of the scene in front of her.

She watched how Tony and Matthew pulled Rafael from the ground and quickly escorted him out of the hallway before the situation got worse than it already was.

Olivia could hear her own heart beat, it skipped several beats. She could feel how loose her jaw had become and how teary her eyes suddenly were especially when she caught the sight of Victor's blood on Rafael's fist.

What on earth was happening? What on earth had happened.

She took a deep breath and she didn't let it out.