In My Life

Chapter 43:

January 06, 1962

"Wait a minute, what?"

Olivia, completely perplexed, looked at John and wasn't exactly excited to hear what she had just been told. Her eyes searched Larry's eyes, who was standing in front of her, next to Brian, for any signal that he had been joking around with her but his eyes were blank.

John and Olivia had been in Brian's office at NEMS now for only a few minutes and already, she was beginning to sense all the changes.

Larry frowned at Olivia, "I understand you're going to be upset, but you will be in better hands. Trust me, Olivia."

She scowled at him, shaking her head, "Going to be upset? I am upset! I've been with you since the beginning and now you're just gonna push me in the hands of somebody who doesn't have the slightest idea about handling the career of a model?"

Brian stayed quiet up until this point, "On the contrary.."

"So what will happen now?" Olivia interrupted Brian, completely ignoring any movements or gestures he had made to get her attention.

John sat in a chair next to her, watching everything blow up. His lips curled into a small, yet devious smile and looked at Brian. He knew that this was a bad idea to begin with and enjoyed the tension Olivia was causing in his office. He stared at Brian, raising his eyebrows at him once he had caught Brian's eye. 'I told you so', he mouthed to him. Part of him was enjoying the scene she was causing but the other part of him was worried about Olivia.

"As of this moment, it's in agreement with Mr. Epstein and I, that your contract will now be in his hands," Larry sighed, bringing his hands from behind his back now to his front, clasping them together, "And I am confident he will be able to balance the schedules of your family life and career better than I believe I have the ability to."

Olivia was angry. She had only known of Brian by word of mouth from John and now he was going to be controlling her schedule? She didn't even know this man and now she was supposed to trust him? There were too many emotions going on right now and she felt trapped.

"It's been a pleasure working with you, Olivia but I'm afraid I cannot continue.."

"There's something you're not telling me, Larry, and I wanna know," she glared at him, piercing her eyes with any movement they made.

Larry sighed, placing his hands in his pockets, "I've been struggling to get your reputation up to par, Olivia. It's been slowly declining and.."

"Declining? Come 'ead now! What about Paris?" She exclaimed, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion, "Paris was.."

"That was only Paris," he interrupted, taking in a deep breath, "It's different in London and America. Your interest in doing work in Paris alone has hurt your clientele and it's been difficult to get you work outside of Paris. Which is why I was trying to get you to Australia to start patching things up."

She had no idea things had become this bad with her career. Olivia had figured that when she became free of Don, all his baggage had been forgotten and left behind but it seems it stayed with her. As much as she was upset to part with Larry, she was eager to see how Brian would be able to help her career.

After a long and intended pause, she sighed, finally meeting her eyes with Larry and Brian, "So, Mr. Epstein, where do I go from here? How are you going to help me?"

Brian's eyes shifted to Larry, nodding, then met his eyes back to Olivia, "I assure you, Ms. Harris, that I will do everything to get your reputation and career back up to par."