Veronica's Vendetta

XV - I know you did this

Caleb.

The incessant buzzing of my phone wakes me up. I don't even remember falling asleep. Opening my eyes, the first thing I see is a body laying across me on my bed. Everything that happened last night comes rushing back to me.

"Shit" I mutter, and sink myself further into the bed. Being sex deprived for two years leads to bad decisions. The last woman I made love to caused me to despise it with anyone else. They simply don't compare to her, hence why I decided to give it all up.

My phone buzzes one more time, and I finally draw my attention to it. It's 3am, yet I have five messages from Olivia, asking to me to join her in the kitchen if I'm awake. No surprise there, considering how terrible her insomnia is. I take a quick shower, put some shorts and a T-shirt on, then make my way out.

The kitchen is about two doors from my room. There's another one downstairs, but no one really uses it, apart from Lorenzo.

I find Olivia alone at the kitchen counters, standing in a short nightgown, mixing some kind of batter. She turns immediately, even though I made sure my footsteps were as light as possible. I basically tiptoed.

"Hey" She says to me with her angelic smile, her features always appear softer without everyone else around.

"You always do strange things alone in odd hours of the night" I reply, my own smile forming.

"Who says I'm alone?" She raises her eyebrows at me, and I'm confused. As if on cue, footsteps saunter up the staircase, and into the kitchen. What appears before us is Lorenzo in his pajamas, holding a jar of blended pepper.

"This was the only one I could find" He says to Olivia.

"Black pepper, really? It would just have to do" She takes the jar as Lorenzo hands it over to her. Turning to me, he slaps a hand on my shoulders and smirks.

"You had quite a night, didn't you?" He asks. He and Olivia break out into giggles.

"Fuck off" I flip him off and roll my eyes.

"Guess she finally made you break that celibacy streak, huh" He continues.

"We're taking things slow" I murmur, and it's their turn to roll their eyes.

"When exactly are you making your wish?" Olivia asks me about something that has slipped my mind completely.

"I lost interest ever since you played your game of politics" I respond, still sullen over the fact she made that decision

"It was necessary" She says, with a ghost smile on her face.

"I'm still deliberating"

"Hmm, you have till noon" She says, and turns her attention back to mixing. I catch Lorenzo hiding his own smile, as he stares into his phone.

"I need to make a call" He says abruptly, and rushes out.

I take advantage of the opportunity, and make my way behind Olivia. Putting my palms on opposite sides of the counter she's busy on, I lean into her and cause her to gasp.

"Are we okay?" I ask, whispering into her ear.

"I think the only person bothered about tonight is Allison" She replies, and we both laugh quietly.

"Figured out why she's here yet?" I ask her

"Soon, really soon" I nod, and place a kiss on her neck. Taking a step back when Lorenzo walks in, I ask her

"What exactly are you making?"

She opens her mouth to answer, but Lorenzo beats her to it.

"It's called "Masa", a delicacy made from the Hausa part of Nigeria" Olivia's whole face lights up hearing his answer.

"You interested?" She asks me

"Always" I respond, and we all share knowing smiles.

We stayed up the rest of the night watching the "Mission Impossible" series in the downstairs living room. Olivia ended up falling asleep about an hour ago, and she decided to use mine and Lorenzo's legs as her pillows.

It was around 7:00am when I began dozing off, I'm about halfway in dreamland when Yasmin bolts out of her room, screaming as she comes downstairs. Olivia jolts awake immediately, and so does Lorenzo, who I didn't even notice had fallen asleep as well.

"What the bloody hell is going on with you?"Alexander asks from the top of the stairwell, a dreary eyed Leia and Sebastian stand beside him. Noah, Elaine, and Allison are at the other end. While Hadiza and Rahim file out from her room, barely dressed up.

"Who did this?" Yasmin growls, whilst pointing fingers at all of us, with glowered eyes.

"Who did what?" Olivia asks as she props herself up with her elbows, the annoyance is clear on her face, and everyone else's.

"HU's gossip blog just posted an article about my abortion...with medical reports!" We wince at the screeching of her voice, which is loud enough to bring the whole house down.

"I know you did this, Olivia" Yasmin whirls around and faces Olivia with a hot glare. The latter only stares at her like she's crazy.

"If I wanted you ruined, I would have done it a long time ago" She stated calmly as she sits upright, the rest of us look on with confused eyes.

"Have it taken down then, immediately!"

"I do not take orders from you, Herrera. Carry your fucking cross yourself" Olivia responds as she gets up from the couch and walks into her room, closing the door loudly behind her.

"You're being ridiculous, none of us would ever do that to you" Leia says to Yasmin, coming down to wrap her in a hug.

Taking out my phone from my pocket, I quickly open up the blog's page on instagram. The article is awful, it speaks about her as a catholic who fails to practice her religious beliefs. It makes her look like a person who frequents abortions. The question is how did they find out about it, even I didn't know about it.

"Don't toy with me, no one knew about it other than the parties involved" She says, and I notice her throwing a glare in Rahim's direction.

"I want it taken down, Alexander" Yasmin tells the British prince, and he nods in response.

"I hear you. Don't fuck with my sleep again" He tells her as he heads back into Olivia's room. I don't miss the anger in his eyes when he spoke to her.

I let out a sigh as I start walking up the stairs, and back into my room. I hear light footsteps as I enter, my eyes dart around till it lands on Veronica sprawled out on my bed. I had honestly forgotten I left her here.

She seemed to be sleeping, and I would have believed she was, if it weren't for her irregular breathing.