A Beautiful Mess Read Online Free PDF Page A

kneeling in front of her. “You have nothing to apologize for.” His voice was soft but firm.
    “I know, but I was stupid to not have my keycard out and ready to go.” She touched her head and felt blood.
      “Do you want to file a report? I can have a detective come and meet us up in my office.”
    Olivia gazed at him, a look of hesitation apparent on her face. She had just been attacked outside of her office building by someone she thought she knew and now a total stranger asked her to go with him, alone, to his office.
    “I’m one of the good guys, I promise,” he assured her, noticing her hesitation.  
    She looked deep into his green eyes. “You can trust me,” he said softly. Her brain flashed back, remembering those words from a childhood memory. She didn’t know why, but she believed him.
    “What do we do about him?” Olivia asked, nodding toward where Simon lay on the sidewalk, unconscious and restrained.
    “I’ll take care of him.” He fished his cell phone out of his pocket and punched a button on it.
    “Martin. Burnham here. I need you to send someone down around the corner of the night entrance on State and detain the individual you see restrained. Please call Detective Wilder and escort her to my office the moment she arrives. There’s been an incident outside the building this evening.” He immediately hung up and turned to face Olivia. “My office is in that building,” he said, gesturing to the same building where Olivia’s office was located. She smiled. “I can take a better look at that head, too.”
    Olivia nodded. “Okay.”
    “Let’s get you inside…” Alexander looked at the woman in front of him with a questioning look. She quickly realized he was asking her name.
    “Olivia Adler. Libby.” She reached her hand toward him.
    He looked at her, unable to believe he just heard that name. It couldn’t be her, surely. Same first name, but the last name was different. Still, she was taken from him over twenty years ago. If she were alive, he would have found her already. And why would his father lie to him and say that she didn’t make it after that tragic day?
    He took her outreached hand and felt a certain electricity. “Alexander Burnham. Can I help you up, Miss Adler?”
    “Yes, please, Mr. Burnham.” Still holding onto Olivia’s hand, he placed an arm around her and gently helped her stand.
    “I’ve never seen you here before,” Olivia said to him as they walked down the block toward the office building. “I’ve been working at Downtown Wellness for the past few months.” The pair turned down the side street, heading toward the night entrance to the building. He held the door for her after swiping his keycard, granting them both access.
    “Well, I tend to work all sorts of strange hours.” He led her toward the bank of elevators and swiped his card again before punching the button for the twenty-ninth floor. The penthouse.
    Olivia immediately turned to look at him. She had always heard stories about the man who occupied the twenty-ninth floor, mostly from Melanie who told Olivia time and time again how “absolutely breathtaking” the guy was. She had also said that he was some sort of “Billionaire Super Spy.” Olivia quickly brushed it off. Melanie clearly read too many romance novels.
    “Who are you?” she asked with a curious look on her face. He just smirked at her with a sparkle in his eyes as the elevator continued to ascend the twenty-nine floors to his office. “Wait a minute. You’re Alexander Burnham. The Alexander Burnham?” Olivia exclaimed. “You run Burnham & Associates, don’t you?”
    “No. I own it,” he replied, smirking at her even more. “That, and this entire building, if we’re being honest. And I feel partly responsible for what happened to you this evening,” he admitted, the smirk being replaced with a look of compassion. “I’ll be changing some things around here next week.”
    The elevator doors opened and Olivia