Ivette couldn’t believe what she was hearing, or more importantly, the scene unfolding before her eyes. Her uncle, the cold, powerful head of the Castellano Family, was allowing some strange woman to disrespect and mock her.Not only that, but he was going as far as playing along with whatever she was planning. Tolerating her nonsense and acting like he actually cared for the engagement between them.Ivette frowned, unable to stop her anger from growing. It was impossible! There was no way her uncle would actually do something like that…not after what had happened to him.Yet, here he was, the proof was right in front of her and the realization, was like dozens of needle pricks on her nerves.“Wally, it’s getting late, we should get going.”Her uncle’s name, was the last straw, and Ivette had to hold herself back, from attacking the woman who was clinging onto him like a leech.The nerve! She thought, her hands shaking. The sheer audacity of her, was unbelievable and the fact
The drive back towards, her home, Noelle assumed, was silent, not the uncomfortable type, but the type that gave both parties room to indulge in her own thoughts.Noelle was the first to break the silence, glancing in Wallace’s direction as she asked.“So, now what? I’ve met your family, what’s next?”“We prepare for the wedding,” He answered, not even bothering to look up from the tablet he had in his hand, or rather, not willing to.Which one of the two it was, Noelle could tell that this, Marriage of a thing, didn’t mean anything to him. To her however, she couldn’t help the slight frown that crossed her face.But as soon as it had appeared, she banished such an expression, reminding herself that, not only was this her route for revenge on Jason and his ATM bitch, but also an easy way to pay off her mother’s medical bills and the debt her father left behind.So, pinning those thoughts in the front of her mind like a banner reminder, she tilted her head curiously and asked. “A
The one thing Noelle wanted after a very… eventful day, as she would like to put it, was take a long and hot bath, have dinner, watch a movie and then go straight to bed.She wanted that and had planned on doing just that. But unfortunately, the moment she had set foot in her house and spotted Elena sitting on the couch, the plan went down the drain.“Elena,” Noelle began, closing the door behind her. “I thought, I thought you were staying over at your sister’s, today.”“I was,” Her friend’s reply was short, and her gaze, well, Noelle knew that expression, it was an expression that meant one thing, curiosity.“Then, why are you here?” She asked, cautiously.“I could ask the same,” Elena responded, standing. “Noelle, what are you up to?”The question was a loaded one and Noelle didn’t even know where to begin.She was tired and stressed, and her encounter with Adrian Black was still fresh, so, the last thing she wanted was to discuss things with her best friend, but, there was n
The following day, Noelle took one look in the mirror and gave her reflection and approving look. It had been the middle of the night, sometime around 3 o’clock, when she came to the realization that she needed to switch up her dressing style.It wasn't essentially changing her dress style or closet, but rather, just, spicing things up. Yet another realization, beside the ones she had gotten during her little bath time, was that the possible reason why Wallace’s family had reacted so… wonderfully, to her being his fiancée, was because of her dressing.Wallace was a man of affluence, power and wealth, obviously, they’d expect him to pick someone of matching class to be his wife. And just that, Noelle was going to do.So, after two hours of rummaging through her closest and looking for a hair style that made her look elegant, a slight difference from her usual refined and composed look, she wound up with a simple white two piece dress.And now that she looked at herself in the mir
While Jason stood frozen, Noelle watched as Wallace approached them, and pulled her hand out of his hold. He turned to face her and his eyes softened as he examined her."You okay?" His voice washed over her like a harmless draft of wind, cooling the storm of emotions that had been brewing in her chest and she felt her heart skip a beat.Managing a smile, she nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thank you-""Mr. Castellano!" Jason's voice interrupted her before she could finish speaking. Eyes wide, he had watched the interaction for some time, even though it was brief. And something within him, couldn't bring himself to accept it.Turning to him, Wallace Fixed Jason with a cold stare, a total opposite of how he had looked at Noelle a few seconds ago.The younger man, noticing this, frowned deeply."And you are?" Came Wallace's question as he looked at him from head to toe. Although his expression remained passive, the look in his eyes couldn't be mistaken or missed.Disgust and contempt.Jason cl
As Noelle walked towards the car, she could still feel Jason's eyes on her, burning with anger and new found hatred. But none of that mattered to her.Fixing her attention on the man beside her, she asked Wallace as they approached his car."Now I know you weren't just lurking around my place, waiting for the right time to place Prince charming. So tell me, what brings you here?"Wallace flashed her a casual smile. Noelle took note of the fact that his eyes squinted as he smiled. A cute action, compared to the rather daring reputation of a faceless ruthless business guru."I have something to discuss with you. It's quite urgent and I couldn't wait till you came around tomorrow.""Oh," Curious, she tilted her head. "What is it?"Wallace didn't reply immediately. He pulled open the back door of his car for her, waiting until she had slipped in, before he himself got in, taking his place beside her."It's about what we discussed the last time," Wallace began. Noelle nodded, but just then
"But," Noelle's parted, but she found herself speechless, a habit she realized she had an awful lot each time she was around Wallace.The man always manages to find a way to make her speechless."But you said month end," She said, fighting back the frown that she felt creeping up her face, but miserably failed. "So why do you need me to come back after the dress fitting tomorrow?""Well, you have to come make yourself familiar with the surroundings of the place you'll be staying in moving forward. Wouldn't you like that?"Noelle thought his words through for a few seconds. As much as she hated to admit it. He was right. If she was going to be staying there for the next year, she needed to familiarize herself with it, and make little alterations, fitting the room she was going to be staying in, to her liking."I guess," She muttered, folding her hand across her chest. The gesture caught Wallace's attention, especially when it made her chest look more pronounced and his gaze lingered fo
The metallic tinge of blood hung heavy around the room, but not heavy enough to drown out the sound of muffled screams, and the occasional crack of bone. Standing in the middle of the room, Wallace watched the scene unfold, his face devoid of any emotion, his expression passive. He did not react as his men did, did not speak or intervene, just simply, watched. The man, who unfortunately, had crossed his path in the wrong way, the very same one who had been screaming for mercy right before a gag was thrown over his mouth, had gotten himself in this situation, by his own foolishness. His greed. He has tried ripping Wallace off a deal they had planned for months, trying to take more than he deserved and well, when Wallace found out after dropping Noelle at her workplace, he wasn't exactly pleased. And that is what brought about the whole situation now. Taking a few steps forward, Wallace casually adjusted the cufflinks on his suit, ignoring the man's muffled whimpers and pleas as
“If you don't want your nude pictures plastered on that screen,” Ivette repeated, going the extra mile to point at the huge screen at the center of the hall, with a smirk. “I suggest you follow me now.”“You…” Noelle wasn't quite sure what to say, or rather, how to feel. Was she meant to feel baffled over the fact that Jason had leaked the private photos she sent to him, for his eyes only, or, was she meant to feel surprised and panicked, that Ivette had just threatened her with those photos.Whichever two of it she was meant to, Noelle surprisingly, did not feel that way. Rather, she felt assumed. “You…you're threatening me at my own engagement party, with my own nude pictures?” She asked, finding the situation amusing, but did her very best to keep her smile at bay.Ivette nodded boldly, crossing her arms with a smug look on her face. “Exactly. I won't repeat myself again, so come along.”Noelle watched as she turned and began walking off without even waiting for a response. She c
Saturday had breezed by faster than Noelle expected. One second, she was waking up, contemplating if she still wanted to go through with this and the next, she was throwing on the white dress she had picked out, and hopping into the car Wallace had sent to pick her up.The drive to the event center was a silent one, allowing Noelle stew in her growing nerves. It wasn't everyday she did something like this, an engagement ceremony, mostly, with all sorts of influential and rich people surrounding her.She wasn't a social person and the thought of mixing up with many people alone was already tiring her out, but her motivation, the date circled with a red marker, payment date for Adrian Black’s loan, was enough to keep her going.The car soon came to a stop in front of a magnificent event hall. The outside alone, said tons about what the inside was going to be. Castle like structure with highrise and glass finishing. Noelle’s astonishment for the place was clear as Khalid held the door op
Less than forty eight hours had passed when Khalid showed up at the door, carrying with him, a bunch of expensive looking dresses, nearly hung on a rollable hanger.Noelle, standing by the open door, surveyed the dresses with clear surprise written across her face. When Wallace had said he was going to send Khalid with dresses from her to pick from, she didn't think it was going to be This much.“Mr. Castellano sent me,” Khalid stated the obvious, pointing in the direction of the dresses behind afterwards. “He'd like you to pick out a dress. May I come in?”Politely spoken, Noelle noted as she nodded and took a few steps back, granting the assistant entrance into her apartment.Elena wasn't home today, haven woken up in the early hours of the day to get ready for an even Noelle couldn't quite make the name out from all the mumbling and mindless words she said when getting ready, so, letting Khalid in with the dresses wasn't going to to any sort of inconvenience.Once Khalid had rolled
Nearly five minutes has passed since Elena walked in on the rather confusing scene. All three of them were now seated in the living room, with Wallace beside Noelle and Elena sitting across from them, scrutinizing their very being at any given chance.“So,” Elena began at last, breaking the silence. Neither of them had spoken after Noelle promised to explain the situation as soon as they were seated, yet, had said nothing up until this point. “Are you going to start explaining or should I start questioning?”“I…I'll explain.” Noelle said with a sigh. Taking a few seconds, she thought of the best and easiest way to explain this, but realized, there was no way. So, she went straight for it. “This…this is Wallace. Wallace Castellano.” She introduced.The male in question, flashed a friendly smile, accompanied by a nod of acknowledgement and did nothing else. However, he didn't need to. Even when he sat beside Noelle, looking all composed and aristocratic, he still managed to give off a
The first visitor to drop by, although unexpected, wasn't as unpleasant as the second one.With a scowl on her face, Noelle didn't think twice to try and slam the door in the face of her ex, scumbag boyfriend, the moment she opened it and saw he was the one standing there.“Noelle,” Unfortunately, Jason had more strength than she did, and found it fairly easy to pry the door open before it closed shut. With the same strength, he held it open, preventing Noelle from doing the same thing.“Don't you dare slam the door in my face. We have to talk.”“Like hell we do,” Noelle sassed, pulling harder on the door to shut it, despite the obvious fact that her strength couldn't outmatch his. “I have nothing to talk to you about, Jason. Now, while I'm asking nicely, get your fucking hand off my door and do yourself a favor, by never showing up in front of me, ever again!”“That's not going to happen until you answer me. I have questions and you're going to answer them.” Saying this, Jason too
Surprise washed over Noelle's entire expression as she looked at the man in front of her.For a second, she was speechless. “How…why are you here?” She eventually asked.“I heard what happened with my mother,” Wallace started. The sound of his voice was surprisingly smooth and when he stepped forward, Noelle realized that she did not take a step back.Instead, she stared, trying to understand what he had just said…meant. He heard what happened with his mother - the incident at the bridal fit- so he came all the way here.To what, check up on her? The possibility of that made Noelle's stomach do a weird flip that she did not like.Suddenly, the feeling of a cold hand against her cheek pulled her out of her thoughts. Only after blinking a couple of times, did she realize Wallace was now standing in front of her with his hand placed on her cheek.Her reaction was immediate. She flinched and took a few steps back, staring up at him, in surprise.“What-” The question began forming on her
The ‘dinner’ was already in full swing by the time Wallace walked in. The large wooden dining table, the very same one he recalled having enjoyed dinner at when he was younger, was decorated from top to bottom with different varieties of food, and at the head of the table, sat his mother.Composed as usual and dressed in fine and neat material. Her eyes followed him as he entered and took his seat by the other end of the table, as far away from her as possible.Silence settled between them for what felt like the longest time. The staffs at the back of the room, although used to interaction like this from mother and son, couldn't help but feel anxious and misplaced, occasionally glancing at each other, but not daring to speak a word.Thankfully, Wallace was quick to break the silence, relieving them of their silent suffering. “I’m sure we both have better things to do than sitting around a table and pretending to have mother-son time. Let's make this quick, shall we?” His words made
Walking out of her mother's room, Noelle gasped in surprise when she nearly ran into a tall figure standing in front of the room.“C-Caiden,” The name rolled off her lips with relief as she looked up and met the eyes of her close friend, former neighbor and now, her mother's doctor.The male smiles down at her. The gesture highlighted his dimples and made his golden eyes crease ever so slightly.“Did I startle you, Noel?” He asked softly and Noelle shook her head, feeling her heart return to its normal pace at the sound of his soothing and familiar voice.“No, you didn't.” She flashed him a smile of her own before pointing towards her mother's room. “Are you here for a checkup?”Caiden nodded.“How is she?” Noelle asked. Although Jane had told her that her mother's condition was improving, she wanted to hear it directly from the doctor monitoring her.“Compared to her condition last month, she's improved,” Caiden began, but when his brows furrowed, his expression falling a bit, Noell
The walk back to Mrs. Castellano’s car was far too quiet for Bianca's liking. Staring at the older woman's back as they approached the vehicle, she tried to figure out what she was thinking.Had Noelle's words had an impact on her? Impossible! Iris Castellano was not just anyone. Words like that meant nothing and had no effect on her. She had seen worse, been through worse. After all, one does not get into the Castellano family by mouth alone.However, it looked like Noelle was about to do exactly that. The thought made Bianca frown. Noelle wasn't worthy of such a position.She knew nothing about the Castellano family, unlike her. She hasn't been through the hardship and training she has been through. That position should and would be hers.“Mother,” At last, she called out to Mrs. Castellano as the older woman was about to enter her car. The close natured way at which she always calls the woman, seemed to lighten the mood. “You must be surprised.”“Surprise no, disappointed, yes. I