8. Doomed
1636 Words
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Dominic, I didn’t expect to see you again so soon,” I gasped inaudibly at my mum’s obvious joy at his presence.
How does she know Dominic Valiente? Did he do something to my mother? Probably threaten her? He was the coldest person according to the rumors so I wouldn’t put it past him.
“Well, Nicole forgot her purse at my house and I came to drop it off,” his eyes were trained on me.
“You are such a gentleman and I’m really glad you are marrying my daughter. My husband and I didn’t get to thank you yesterday for your kindness,” What was mum talking about?
“Oh no! It’s not a problem. You are already a family to me so it’s my duty to take care of you,” his fake show of care was both nagging and scary.
“So, I’ll see you at dinner tonight?” he asked my mum.
“Oh, I’m really sorry but I don’t think tonight is possible. It’s kind of a closed family dinner night today,” I replied hastily before my mum could say anything while spearing her with a meaningful look.
“Yeah. But we could have dinner tomorrow. We would really love to meet your parents,” Mum added much to my chagrin.
“Don’t you have a family ball tomorrow night?” I asked him.
“Yeah I do but we could reschedule it to lunch. I’ll send my driver to pick you,”
Thanks, mum, I groaned silently in frustration. Only if she knew what kind of a person Dominic really was.
“See you tomorrow Julian,” he guy-hugged my brother then turned to me.
My heart was racing irrevocably but not because he happened to be a hot specimen of a man; there was just something about his whole appearance that had shivers crawling up your skin. He leaned down, placing his lips on mine. I froze, the energy to react disappearing to the light morning air.
I drew away from him looking away but not before noticing a mixture of anger and betrayal hovering dangerously in the depth of his eyes.
“You should go. We will talk later,” I whispered.
“Yeah, of course. I’m coming to pick you up for our lunch date with my parents in say five hours. Hope you didn’t forget,” his controlling nature was unnerving in every way.
He nodded once to both mum and Julian before striding out of the house. Mum went back to sleeping as I turned to Julian for an explanation.
“You are so lucky. That guy is f*****g rich, He was ranked second richest man after Lawrence Stewart in hotel Business in the whole of USA month last. Technically speaking, he is the richest bachelor,” My brows furrowed at the admiration shining from my brother’s eyes.
“Do I have to remind you he is in the Mafia?”
“Come on, those are just rumors besides he really loves you,”
“Jesus! You are unbelievable! How can you even say something that ridiculous? ” I muttered going to my house.
A long warm bath later helped calm me down a little. First I lose my job, had a run-in with the dreaded Valiente, he offers me a job later, I get drunk and wake up in his house only to meet his family, not forgetting his goddamn hot younger brother. I frowned. Did I just think Reed was hot? Shaking my head, I brewed a cup of coffee accentuated with a pint of cream and two spoons of sugar before settling on my couch. It’s just so funny how life can change so fast in a matter of only a few days. I must have dozed off after drinking the coffee because I was woken up by my doorbell. God! Why is everything just acting against me all of a sudden? The caffeine should have kept me awake but instead, it pushed right into the slumber world. I opened the door to find Irene standing, dressed casually in a grey sweater with dark blue jeans matched with a pair of blue gladiators.
“I know I’m the last person you want to see because of the work succession thing,” yeah, of course, I was mad at her but not because she succeeded me in my position but because her presence just reminded me I lost my job; a job I loved so much.
“What! Of course not. I’m just surprised seeing you here,” I commented.
“Oh, how are you dealing with it?”
“Dealing with what” I flashed a confused stare to her.
“Can I come in?”
“Of course,” I opened the door wider and closed it behind me.
“Honey, it’s all over the front page of New York Daily,” she handed me a copy of the newspaper that I hadn’t noticed it before.
In bold letters was NICOLE WILDE ENGAGED TO BUSINESS MOGUL DOMINIC VALIENTE. There were pictures of us but all I could do was breath in deeply to calm down the panic setting in my heart. This isn’t happening, this can’t happen. My eyes fluttered to the words written below it.
The New York bestselling author of the award-winning book series perfectly loveless trilogy has finally found her place in the heart of the sexy renowned business mogul of the Valiente chain of restaurants. According to our sources, the two met around six months ago but only got together four months ago. The business mogul has announced his deep affection for the breathtaking young, romance Author Nicole Wilde during a private interview with one of our journalists…
“Oh my God!” I muttered softly raking a hand through my hair letting the paper fall on my lap.
“Did he blackmail you into this?” She asked.
“No, he didn’t. He…It’s a really long story and a complicated one at that,” Sure Irene could be classified as a friend but we weren’t exactly close, not that I had any close friends at that.
“Try me. I have all weekend,” she volunteered briefly smiling in encouragement.
“I can’t right now. Actually I have to go,” I needed to talk to that asshole who was trying to mess up my life more than it was already.
“Why? Is there a problem?”
“There is no problem Irene. Just leave me the f**k alone,” I snapped as she stared at me in shock.
“Fine. I’ll leave but if you need someone to talk to I’m just a call away,” I barely nodded as she walked out.
I did feel guilty for snapping at her and that f*****g asshat was to blame for that. I wore a simple peach sundress with a pair of white flats before picking my car keys. Ten minutes later I arrived at his company’s headquarters, the anger in my system building up as I got into the company.
“Hi. Mr. Valiente’s office please,” I demanded at the receptionist who had a bewildering and was that a…jealousy look pasted on her face? Why would she be jealous?
“5th floor,” she replied as I stormed into the elevator aware of the stares burning on me.
The moment I stepped out of the elevator I was greeted with more stares but those were the last things on my mind. A door away was written DOMINIC in bold letters. I knocked twice before opening the door but it wouldn’t budge. Sighing in frustration, the temptation to kick down the door almost got the better part of me.
“Miss? Can I help you?” I turned to find a raven haired girl looking at me with a kind smile on her face. At least someone nice for a change.
“I’m looking for-“
“Nicole Wilde! Oh my God, I love your book-loving twice. Ryan and Danielle are my couple goals and Ryan is my book boyfriend! I’m so sorry! I’m spiraling again,” her cheeks were a shade redder.
“No. It’s fine. Do you know where Mr. Valiente is?”
“Yeah. He is in the boardroom, the third door just around the corner-“I didn’t wait for her to finish before I rushed to the said direction.
I barged into the exquisite conference room to find him with two other men. His bored expression changed into a complacent smirk as he spotted me. He quickly dismissed the other two men then turned to me but in my blind rage I slapped him twice, my chest heaving.
“What is wrong with you?” I asked as he stood up.
His eyes closed, his jaw clenching as he massaged the place I had just slapped him. When he opened his eyes there was immense rage oozing from them. Fear gripped me. What have I done? I tried to will my feet to move and make a run for the door but no part of my body was responding. He leaned in, breathing on my face.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he stated in a dangerously low but really aggravated tone.
- Writer
