Olivia's POV
I burst through the apartment door like a tornado, my chest heaving as if I'd run a marathon instead of just sprinting four blocks from the subway station. My appearance was a mess - hair disheveled, tie askew, and I could feel the prosthetic on my nose starting to slip from all the sweating.
"Kira!" I called out desperately, my voice cracking between Oliver's deep tone and my natural pitch. "KIRA!"
She emerged from the kitchen with a sandwich in one hand and a confused expression on her face. "Liv? What are you..." She stopped mid-sentence, taking in my panicked appearance. "Oh my God, what happened? Did someone in your office recognize you?"
I collapsed onto our couch, burying my face in my hands. "Worse. So much worse."
Kira immediately set down her sandwich and rushed over, sitting beside me. "Okay, breathe. Now tell me everything."
"The CEO," I gasped between ragged breaths. "The CEO of Wellington and Sons... it's Dr. Heart."
Kira's eyes widened. "The love coach? The one who was a complete ass to you?"
"The very same." I looked up at her, through my smudged makeup. "He's Maxwell Wellington. He's Alex's best friend. He's my boss's boss's boss."
"Holy shit." Kira sat back, her mouth agape. "Okay, but did he recognize you? I mean, your disguise is pretty strong."
"I don't know! That's the problem. He made me shave with Alex's razor right in front of him, Kira. He watched me like a hawk, asking weird questions, and then..." I swallowed hard. "Then he scheduled a private meeting with me for four o'clock."
Kira glanced at the wall clock. "It's 3:15. You ran out?"
"I panicked!" I stood up, pacing frantically. "I couldn't face him. What if he knows? What if he's planning to humiliate me in front of everyone? What if he calls the police for fraud or something?"
"Slow down," Kira said firmly, grabbing my shoulders to stop my pacing. "First of all, you haven't committed any crimes. Unconventional? Yes. Illegal? No. Second, you don't actually know that he recognized you."
"But the way he looked at me..."
"The way he looked at you could mean anything," Kira interrupted. "Maybe he was testing you because you're new. Maybe he was just being his usual arrogant self. Maybe he genuinely doesn't recognize you."
I shook my head. "You didn't see him, Kira. The smile, the way he made me use that razor... it felt like he was playing with me."
Kira was quiet for a moment, studying my face. Then she stood up and walked to our bathroom, returning with makeup wipes and my emergency disguise kit.
"Sit down," she commanded.
"What are you doing?"
"Fixing your face. You look like you've been through a blender." She began cleaning the smudged makeup around my eyes. "Now, let's think about this logically. What's the worst-case scenario?"
I leaned back as she worked. "He exposes me as a fraud, I get fired, probably blacklisted from every law firm in the city, and I have to move back in with my mom."
"Okay. And what's the best-case scenario?"
"He doesn't recognize me, the meeting goes fine, and I continue living this double life until I eventually have a nervous breakdown."
Kira paused her work to give me a look. "Liv, those are both pretty dramatic scenarios. What about the middle ground?"
"There is no middle ground with that fake love doctor."
"Says who?" Kira resumed applying fresh concealer to my jawline. "Look, I've known you for so many years, and I've never seen you back down from anything important. Remember when you stood up to Professor Clinton when he tried to fail you for that paper he lost? Or when you fought the landlord about our deposit?"
"This is different..."
"It's not. You're just letting your fears make your decisions for you." She stepped back to examine her work. "The Olivia I know would march back into that office and own that meeting, regardless of what Maxwell Wellington thinks he knows."
I studied my reflection in the compact mirror she held up. She'd managed to repair most of the damage to my disguise, but I still felt exposed, vulnerable.
"What if I can't pull it off? What if I slip up?"
"Then you slip up. But at least you'll know you tried." Kira sat back down beside me. "Look, let me ask you something. Why did you do all this in the first place?"
"To get close to Alex."
"No," she said firmly. "That's what you told yourself, but that's not the real reason. You did this because you wanted to prove that you could succeed in that boys' club. You wanted to show that you belonged there."
I opened my mouth to argue, but the words died on my lips. She was right. Somewhere along the way, this had stopped being about Alex and started being about me. But still about Alex.
"Even if that's true," I said quietly, "I still don't know how to face him."
Kira grinned wickedly, "Easy. You channel your inner badass."
"My inner what?"
"Your inner badass. The part of you that convinced an entire law firm that you're a man. The part that's been fooling everyone for days." She stood up and began pacing, "Think about it, Liv. You've already done the impossible. You've infiltrated an old boys' club, impressed Alex Gregory, and earned respect from some of the most powerful lawyers in the city."
I felt a tiny spark of something that might have been confidence. "I guess I have been pretty convincing."
"Pretty convincing? You've been great! You've been so good at being Oliver that you forgot how amazing Olivia is." She stopped pacing and turned to face me. "Maxwell Wellington might be the CEO, but he's also the same man who told you that you weren't good enough for Alex. And look at you now - working directly with Alex, earning his respect, proving that pompous ass wrong every single day."
The spark grew brighter. "He was wrong about me."
"He was completely wrong about you. And whether he recognizes you or not, whether he's testing you or not, you're going to walk into that meeting and show him exactly what he missed."
I stood up, straightening my tie and squaring my shoulders. "You're right. I've come too far to run away now."
"Damn right you have." Kira grabbed my suit jacket from the chair where I'd thrown it. "But first, let's make sure you look absolutely perfect."
For the next twenty minutes, Kira worked on my disguise, making sure nothing was out of place.
"There," she said finally, stepping back to admire her work. "You look like you could run that place."
I looked at myself in the full-length mirror this time, and for the first time in hours, I saw Oliver Hopton instead of Olivia in disguise. The man staring back at me looked confident, competent, and completely believable.
"Now," Kira continued, "let's talk strategy. How are you going to handle this meeting?"
I thought for a moment. "I'm going to be Confident. I'll answer his questions directly and give him nothing to work with."
"Good. And if he tries to rattle you?"
"I'll remember that I've already proven I belong there." I adjusted my tie one final time. "And if he does know who I am... well, he's had plenty of opportunities to expose me. The fact that he hasn't means he's either playing a game or he's genuinely not sure."
"Either way, you hold the cards," Kira agreed. "You've been performing perfectly. Don't let him get in your head. And when you get back, we'd discuss how that scumbag moved from being a love doctor to becoming your boss."
I grabbed my briefcase and headed out the door.
Time to show the jerk who he was dealing with.