“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
“Let’s break up.” Noelle couldn’t believe the words she was hearing. No, she couldn’t bring herself to understand why her boyfriend of 3 long years, suddenly wanted to break up with her on the night of their anniversary, while they sat in a fancy restaurant, the food in front of them still untouched. “What?” She croaked out, feeling like someone had just sucker punched her. “I said let's break up, Noelle.” Jason, her boyfriend, replied, his expression bland, as if he were stating a fact. “I’ve found someone better and we’re going to get married so I want to end 'this', tonight.” “Someone better?” Noelle repeated, feeling her heart clench painfully, yet a part of her was screaming for her to stand up and slap the bastard across the face. Had he just referred to their three years long relationship filled with sacrifices from her side, as 'This'? “I don’t understand what you're saying, Jay." Jason leaned back with a sigh. He hesitated for a few seconds. “She’s richer,” He finally s
For a few seconds, the man was silent and his expression unreadable. Noelle nearly thought he was going to reject, or worse, call her crazy, but then a smirk crept along his lips.“And why would you ask me that?” He asked, tilting his head ever so slightly to study her.“Because I want to have a one-night stand and you look like the perfect candidate.” Noelle answered, bluntly, allowing her eyes take in his features once more.He was indeed a hottie; she could admit that a thousand times without shame.“A one-night stand, huh?” The man let out a low chuckle and Noelle found herself gulping at the sound. “What makes you think I’ll agree?”“Well, you’re here, aren’t you? And you have been staring at me since I arrived.” She pointed out, feeling more confident than usual, thanks to the alcohol.“Maybe I’m just a fan of beauty.” The man countered.“Maybe.” Noelle shrugged. “Or maybe you’re interested.” She leaned forward, exposing more of her cleavage than the low cut dress she wore for h
Knock, Knock. Khalid Greco opened the door of the Hotel, Zeus’s top room and slid in. He only taken one step forward when a gun was pointed in his direction. “Sir!” He quickly called out, raising his hand and identifying himself. “It’s me, just me!” Without even a glance in his direction, the gun was lowered, but Wally didn’t speak a word, not at first. He just continued staring at the note in his hand, reading it. [Last night was a great one. Too bad it’s only a one night time, but anyways, thanks for making my shitty day a little better. Here’s a tip.] ~Noelle. On the table where the note had been found, was a 100 dollar bill. Wally felt his eyes twitch at the sight. That woman, did she… “Sir?” Came Khalid’s voice, who wondered what had happened, for his usually calm and collected boss to be standing in the middle of the room, looking like he’d been sucker punched. It was a sight to see- coming here to pick his boss up after receiving orders, only to end up seeing him like th
Noelle blinked in confusion, speechless for a few seconds before she opened her mouth, attempting to speak, but ending up with nothing but a croak.“You…you want me to what?” She finally asked.“Marry Wallace Castellano,” Elena replied loud and clear, also shamelessly at that, considering she had just boldly spat out ridiculous words.“It’s perfect!” She carried on, paying no attention to the expression on Noelle’s face. “Once you become his wife, not only will you have the money and status to get revenge on Jason, but you can also put that bitch in her place.”“Imagine this,” hopping off the chair, she pretended to project an image in the air. “Once you’ve married Wallace Castellano and have him head over heels in love with you, you can control the funds, meaning you can determine how much that bitch gets.” She snickered. “Then she can kiss goodbye, to her million dollars allowance.”“Wait,” Noelle rose her hand at last. “Wait, hold up, Elena. Are you even listening to yourself? You
Morning rolled around faster than Noelle would admit, but as the sun crept through the curtains, and casted its light onto her face, Noelle knew she could no longer run away from reality. With a heavy sigh, she sat up, stretched and made her way to the bathroom. After a quick shower, she slipped into her most expensive and figure flattering dress, and made sure to apply the best makeup she had. As she applied the finishing touches, Elena came out of her room. “Looking good, Noel,” She commented, looking her over with an approving smile. “Ready to make Milan’s richest tycoon fall at your feet?” “More or less,” Noelle muttered, applying the last bit of lipstick. “But, I still don’t think it’s going to be as easy as you make it out to be.” “Oh come on, have a little faith.” Elena nudged her. “Besides, it’s not like you have a choice, you’re already committed and even if you do fail, it’s not going to take anything out of you, but if you succeed, Jason and his bitch are in for a
If being surprised was a color, then Noelle’s complexion would be black and white, as she stood there, her eyes slightly wide and her brain short circuiting, trying to comprehend how and why the very same man who she had a one night stand with, had introduced himself as Wallace Castellano, her biggest multi-billion dollar client and supposed target! It was almost as if the universe was playing a funny joke on her, one that she wished wasn’t true. But the man standing in front of her and her slow sense of rising panic, told her that this wasn’t a joke and the irony wasn’t funny. The man in front of her, was indeed the person she had spent a night with, left a hundred dollars tip and then fled in the morning. He was also the man who, she had planned to make him fall head over heels for and use to get revenge against Jason and his newest ATM. This was…a mess. But even at that, Noelle knew she had to pull herself together. There was no room for error, and the fact that Wallace’s
The apology that had been on the tip of Noelle’s tongue immediately died off and she felt anger rise within her as she stared at the couple in front of her. Of all the people in the world, she had to bump into her cheating ex and his newest fling. And not only had she spilled her coffee on the blonde, but the bitch had the audacity to look pissed about it. “You idiot!” The girl shrieked, voice loud and squeaky like the bratty freeloader she was. “Do you know how much this dress cost? It’s an original Chanel!” Her outburst had caused a few people to look in their direction, curiously watching and some even pulled out their phones to record. Noelle could feel her eye twitching in irritation at this. Was the bitch for real? She opened her mouth to speak, but before words could even come out, Ivette had flung herself into Jason’s arms, shamelessly clinging onto him while putting on a show. “Baby bear, this rude thing spilled her hot coffee on me and she doesn’t even want to a
“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