The Billionaire's Bully

3

Carde is having an episode of deep regret.

It had been two days since she rolled in bed with Olyse, doing things that she no longer wanted to remember. Her body betrayed her aching for those big hands running, caressing, heating up her body in preparation for the thin, sexy, wide lips to follow suit on the path the hands had taken. The memory of the night spent with Olyse was replaying like a spool of film left on by an unknown person which keeps going over and over without a pause button. Two days later, she had left his house at the crack of dawn to save herself from seeing disgust on Olyse's face when he woke up, but also, feeling optimistic that he might actually like her, to give her a call on the number she had written on a piece of old receipt with her mascara brush that she always carried in her purse. Carde's phone had not gotten a call from an unknown number, either received or missed. She had called the cell service to complain about having a problem with receiving messages on her phone. Maybe Olyse had tried to text instead. The patient customer representative on the other side of the call had informed Carde with practiced patience that she had no issues receiving or sending text messages. As the universe was in agreement, Carde received a text from her mother to remind Carde about calling her grandmother. As if that wasn't enough, another text came in from Alex also to remind her about the appointment they had that morning with a new client who had been recommended by the very same person who was making her forget about the appointment. Olyse Anderton.

By the time Carde arrived at the rendezvous point, it was already four minutes late and they had yet to board a cab which would take them to the Bayfresh Mansion.

Mansion was a good term to describe the magnificent view the team of one designer and assistants were standing before. But a more suitable word would be 'Villa'. It was complete with little houses surrounding the main house and it looked like the kind of place which would have a mini golf lawn, a stable that had actual horses and a big garden where they got most of their salad vegetables from.

The assistants were looking at their boss and between themselves thinking about how they were to get to the other side of the barrier before them. Carde was sporting the same puzzled look as her assistants over the best decision to make. The caller had given them the address to go to but not instructions on how they were to get in. The gate was railed, making it possible for all three of them to see beyond it. But rather than lying horizontal, it stood like a vertical shield protecting the villa from obvious misfits like them.

A sign was shown to them when a colourful little bird startled them out of confusion. The bird had sat on a fancy telephone receiver. Carde walked to it but when she lifted the receiver, there was not a button around it on which she could dial. She started to laugh at their predicament when a stern voice spoke out from the telephone receiver.

Abigail Anderton, popularly known as Madam Abby A, was the mistress of the villa where three enchanted people were visiting for the first time. The day before, the mistress had visited the home of her son where she insisted on going to before they would have to leave together for a ball hosted by an old friend. Madam Abby A was intent on taking her son to such events where she believed that he would get to meet a suitable woman that he would build a good relationship with and they could get married eventually. Olyse would not attend an event if it wasn't an avenue to discuss business, and even though he had agreed to attend, Madam Abby A did not trust her son to show up.

As a mother who had built a good relationship with her children, she understood how each of them reasoned. Olyse would show up at the event, but he would arrive late and pretend to be in a sour mood to discourage any casual discussions. The plan was to get him to relax before they had to be there. Madam Abby A was a nice and soft spoken woman but she was also very determined and keen when she wanted to be. She had taken every opportunity to introduce her son to eligible single ladies. A few had been older than Olyse, and she did that to encourage him if he would prefer women who were older than him. The majority of ladies were younger but not by many years to discourage having a relationship with teens. Olyse was twenty-four and old enough to have a stable relationship. Madam Abby A and Olyse's father had met when they were twenty-three and twenty-one, and they had gotten married two years later.

When Madam Abby A was watching the big television in the lounge, waiting for Olyse, her phone rang and she walked out to enter the library two doors away and that was the moment Olyse walked out in a new suit design she had not seen before. Smiling at her son, Madam Abby A shut the door after giving her son a signal indicating to him that she had to take a call.

Sessions of interrogations later, Madam Abby A found out that Olyse had a new design who is female, and from his elusive and far reaching gaze, he could be interested in her. Madam Abby A mentally hit herself when she thought that they might even be involved.

Mind made up, the conniving mother gave an excuse about having a friend who needed a new designer, claiming that she was sure that her friend would be interested in such a designer with deft fingers.

Carde was studying in amazement the woman who walked out of the main building to meet them. The woman's elegance could not be missed despite the casual dress she had on which fitted the woman's slim and tall body. Carde expected the housekeeper or butler, because of the size of the house, to meet them at the door. If the elegant woman walking out to meet them wasn't the mistress of the house, then she might be forced to bow her head in the presence of the mistress, Carde thought.

The woman was smiling, which helped to ease the tension her guests were feeling, but her quick eyes were studying the two females in the company of the single man. The tall woman had a set face that showed her strong features and she looked beautiful enough to be the kind of woman her son would be attracted to if the woman with strong features were a model or some kind of entertainer. Another thing Madam Abby A observed, was that the taller woman of the two lacked the confidence of a woman who had the solution to her problems figured out. The taller woman, in Madam's view, looked more like a person who had a lot on her mind to notice a man's attraction or give attention to any man.

Madam Abby A found Carde to be more interesting. In fact, ideas were already budding in her head. Carde, Madam believes, is the kind of woman who would bring a king to his knees. A disciplined woman, sure of herself and desperately ambitious. Yet, Madam had a certain reservation which had nothing to do with Carde's ambition.

"It's interesting, to know that you do not have a clock to tell you the time."

Carde's last act of bravado faded as she visibly squirmed, unaware of how to respond. The elegant woman had not asked a question, but Carde knew that an apology or reasonable explanation was demanded.

"I must apologise for our tardiness, it is all my fault. I do not have a valid explanation to give except the truth. It will never happen again."

Madam accepted the apology with a grunt. All the while, the smile hadn't left her face.

The amiable host led them into the house, walking ahead of them till they got to a big room where she then stood aside to let them in. In the brisk walk following Madam Abby A, Carde and her assistants had not been fortunate enough to look around at the expertly furnished decorations. The brief sights had hinted at elegance and class.

In the drawing room where the mistress had led them into, Carde saw two younger women sitting and doing nothing to hide the curiosity in their gazes.

Beth, the older of the two ladies, moved from where she had been standing to cross to her mum. Beth looked like she was hugging her mother but she was actually enquiring from their mother which of the two women was their subject.

Madam had been acting so excited since she woke up and her eldest daughter, who was always lively and social, had thought that something interesting was about to happen. In Beth's nature, it was easy for her to get any information out of a person, which made her mother spill out the theory of Olyse having an interest in his new designer.

Beth would not keep such information to herself, she had run to tell her more serious younger sister the news. It was Dania who stopped Beth from trying to call Olyse to find out if the theory was true. Both sisters easily agreed to come down when the designer arrived. Out of excitement, the sisters had been unable to wait before coming down. Dania was curious to know if their brother was still chasing after ladies who had no sense, or if Olyse had simply gotten worse and would be attracted to ladies without sense and shame. Dania believed that it was only a woman who had no shame that would want to warm up to a man's mother to hold onto the man. Her misunderstanding stemmed from the details or lack of any information given in Beth's story about their mum expecting a love interest for their brother.

Carde was aware of the look of interest shown towards her and her team. She simply made it out to be an interest in her young age, which might indicate inexperience. Worries about the level of expertise weren't in question since the caller had pointed out to Carde that she had seen the kind of work done for Olyse Anderton.

It was Monday morning when Olyse discovered that he had still not spoken with his mother about her decision to open up some areas of their land to the public. He knew that his mother liked to entertain and still did so. But after the death of their father and his mother's experience of how quickly people would turn their backs on a person that was thought to have fallen from fortune, Madam Abby A could only entertain guests when Olyse needed her to do so in return for business opportunities. Olyse took some time to think about his mother's plan. He concluded that it would be best to give his mother her dream of socialising as a host and earning money for the various charities she supported.

Olyse planned a better idea for his mother to have her own foundation where she would be able to provide support to some people who the charities had refused to put into consideration after she had recommended that they do so.

Everything was possible but only if his mother agreed to put a barrier between their living quarters and the places which would be opened up to the public.

Fernando always relished every opportunity to go back to the family home with his boss, Olyse Anderton. Maria, Fernando's love interest, lived and worked in the main house and they could only see each other briefly whenever Maria had the day off and Fernando got a break when Olyse did not need him while at work. Mr Anderton had sent a message to Fernando that they would leave home early because he, Mr Anderton, had to see Madam Abby A before going into the office. Fernando was not excited about leaving early, but he was glad to see Maria even for a short while.

Fernando wore his best shirt on his new trousers and jacket. The happiness he felt was going to give him up to his boss, but Fernando did not care and simply drove as fast as was safely possible, while hoping that whatever business Olyse Anderton had with his mother, the Madam, would take a long time giving Fernando a likewise long time to spend with Maria.