Chapter 17: Chapter 17
"Ruin her wedding? Are you drunk? Why will I do that." I say in disbelief.
I know Emily doesn’t like me but accusing me of ruining Alice's wedding is just too far.
"Oh please, stop acting so innocent. I knew that you aren’t good enough the moment your little pussy stepped into this house but what I didn’t know is that you are a wedding whacker."
"Enough Emily. Just shut up!" Richie yells at her "What the hell is wrong with you? You can’t talk to Rachel like that."
Emily didn’t say a word afterward and I didn’t bother to give her my own share of remark. All I care about is Alice. I don’t really understand what she’s going through but I do know that she is hurt. I walked toward her and she instantly moves away not wanting me to touch her.
"Not now Rachel," John says; his voice soft and calm.
Alice sniffles her tears and she finally looks at me. Her eyes were a bit swollen from the tears she had just shed.
"Rachel, why?" She says
"I think of you as my little sister. I don’t think that I have ever done something to hurt you but even if I did something to you, you could have told me and I will apologize." She says standing up from the couch. John stands next to her.
"An apology would have fixed everything. But you didn’t want that, you wanted something more than that. You wanted something that would hurt me for life, that’s why you did this to me." She continues; her voice low and soft. She is completely clear and calm "I know I didn’t tell you the main reason why I didn’t want the public to know about the wedding but still, you knew how important it is to hide the wedding from the media but you went ahead and told them."
I shake my head as she speaks; her voice was solitary sadness. I know how she’s feeling right now but she’s wrong. I can never do that to her, not even in my dreams.
"I didn’t tell the public about your wedding, Alice. I will never do that." I say placing my hand on her shoulder to calm her down.
She takes my hand off gently. "You don’t have to pretend Rachel, I know. We all know what you did and to be honest, I am not saying this because I want an apology or anything. I am just saying this because I want to know why, it hurts me to even think that I made you do this." She says
"No, you didn’t Alice. You didn’t do anything." I say
"I wish It was true but It’s not. If I didn’t hurt you, you wouldn’t have done this to me."
"Stop blaming yourself, Alice. It’s not your fault. Rachel is a witch, you don’t have to hurt her because she will cause harm to you." Emily says
"Look Alice, I swear to God. I didn’t do anything. I will never do something that will sadden you." I say completely ignoring Emily.
"You know what Rachel, thanks to you now Alice’s family and ex-husband know about the wedding and they will do anything to stop it from happening," Emily shouts at me.
I thought she said she is an orphan. Maybe this is the main reason why she never wanted the media to know about it.
"Enough Emily!" Richie shouts "What is wrong with you’ll? Why are you accusing her?"
"I know I am a bit iniquities but I will never accuse someone for something they didn’t do, even if that someone is Rachel." She rolls her eyes as she says my name "Earlier today, I heard Rachel talking to someone on phone."
"You eavesdrop on my conversations?" I ask in disgust.
I should have known.
"That’s not the point, the point is that I heard Rachel talk about the wedding. She was on phone with some sort of girl. I can’t remember her name but I know what I heard." She says looking at Richie
Unsure of what to say I look at each one of them. They were all waiting for a response. I can’t deny the fact that I spoke about the wedding today. But I only told Rebecca about it and I know Rebecca will not say anything to anyone.
"Why are you suddenly quiet Rachel? Tell everyone the truth. You know you did that, you told someone didn’t you?" Emily asks
"Rach, you don’t have to listen to anyone. Emily is lying and I know that-"
"No, you don’t Richie." I cut him off. I hate to admit this but I can’t lie to any of them "I did speak about the wedding but I only told Rebecca and no one else apart from her."
"Well then, I’m guessing your little friend is the seller, she sold her silence. Cheap and disgusting. So not surprising." Emily gushes
I didn’t say anything to her because I know I’m not in the right place to talk or even argue with her.
"Alice." I take her hand in mine "I am so sorry. I will never do anything to hurt you-"
"But you did, you ruined her wedding." Emily rants at me
I take a deep breath and ignore her. Now is not the time to argue with her. "Alice look at me," I say and she lifts her chin to face me
"I am so sorry, I only told Rebecca and I swear, I know Rebecca will never tell anyone about it-"
"If Rebecca didn’t tell anyone then who did?" Emily gushes cutting me off.
"Who did Rachel?" She asks again "Say something."
I know she has been looking for an opportunity to rant at me and I can tell that she is very happy to get that opportunity.
"I don’t know Emily," I respond; my voice low and calm. I can’t shout at her right now.
"It doesn’t even matter who did. My wedding is ruined and my freaking ex-husband is gonna kill me and take Jake away from me."
John wraps his arm around Alice as she silently whimpers. "He won’t, I won’t let him." He whispers in her ear
"Who’s Jake?" I ask a bit more audible than intended
"Why do you want to know? You want to ruin his life too?" Emily rants at me
"Okay, that’s enough Emily. I have heard enough. You have been ranting at Rachel since we got here, aren’t you tired." Richie says
"I have been ranting at her? What about what she did, she fucking ruined Alice’s wedding. She’s such a wedding whacker." Emily says glaring at me
"No one ruined any wedding. And…..would you quit calling her a wedding whacker?……the last time I checked you are the wedding whacker, remember? Yours was too much that you ended up ruining your own marriage." Richie yells at Emily
"Really, are you fucking saying this because of her?" She points at me "What do you even see in her Richie? She’s just a lowlife cheap character woman." Emily says
"I’m not gonna do this right now." Richie held my hand he looks at Alice and says "I am sorry about what happened Alice. But don’t worry I will make sure that Aiden doesn’t get to Jake. I promise you that." With that, he walks us into the room.
I feel very terrible right now. I will never do anything to Alice, I know how she has been anticipating the wedding and I know how she doesn’t want any of the media people to find out. I don’t blame her for thinking that way. She should have reacted, she should have yelled at me, and scolded me but she didn’t because she still sees a little sister in me.
I sit on the bed and Richie sits beside me. He wraps an arm around my shoulder. "It’s okay Rach, it’s not your fault." He says
"It is. I ruined everything, I spoiled her precious wedding before it even occurred." I say not wanting to brim with tears. I cover my face with my hand. I don’t think I can face myself again.
"Rach, it’s okay. You don’t have to worry about it." He takes my hand off my face. As he did that, I covered it again.
"I have to worry about it. Alice is the only person I like to spend my time with in the house and now that she thinks I ruined her wedding, she’s never going to forgive me."
"Rach it's fine. Trust me." He says again
"No, it’s not. What’s going to happen now? Her family is going to come and her ex-husband will stop the wedding from happening." I ask and he sighs probably because he knows many terrible things will happen.
God! Why does this have to happen? It should have been my wedding that is ruined not Alice’s.
"Richie." I say looking at him "Why doesn’t Alice want her family and ex-husband to know about the wedding?"
He sighs "Her ex-husband is a psycho and he treats her like garbage. He is a monster; at least that’s what she says and the last thing Alice will want is to see her ex-husband around her."
"And her family?" I ask
"I don’t know much about her family but I know that they are no worse than Aiden, her ex-husband."
"What about Jake, who is he?"
"Jake is Alice’s and Aiden's son. When Alice left Aiden she was pregnant with Jake but Aiden doesn’t know about it. The plan was for Alice to marry John and take full custody of Jake without anyone knowing."
Richie tells me everything about Alice and it just made me feel worse. Alice’s ex-husband is the son of the most powerful mafia king in Russia and because of that Alice had a very hard time getting out of the marriage.
"But why didn’t Alice just report them to the authorities?" I ask
"No one reports a mafia king to the authorities. They own the government." He responds with a smirk.
There is no doubt about that. All Mafia are the same. They try to ruin every life around them. But I won’t let them ruin Alice’s. I won’t let her go through that pain again. It’s a lot to deal with.
I need to think of how to make it up to her but first I need to know who let the paparazzi know about it. It’s the only way I can stop this from happening.
Shortly, Richie walks out of the room to make a few calls. He says he has to make sure no private plane lands in the country and even if it does, he will do anything possible to ensure that no one gets to Alice or Jake. Once Richie steps out of the room, I walk into the bathroom and wash my face. I take a little moment before I go back into the room.
I take my phone and dialed Rebecca’s number. I need to clear things up. Immediately.
"Hey, girlfriend, what’s up!" She says, answering the phone.
"We need to talk. It’s urgent. Meet me at T Marie’s cafe, I will be there in fifteen minutes. And yes, bring your laptop while coming." I end the call and put on my shoes and take my bag.
The one thing that benefits me the most about Mafia research is that I got to learn how to use the internet like an expert. I want to meet Rebecca in person because two brains are better than one and I know that If we discuss this at home, Emily’s ear will be ringing at my door. She eavesdropped on my last conversation with Rebecca so I won’t be surprised if she does it again.
No sooner did I arrive at the cafe and I put on my sunglasses and hat before climbing out of the car. I have to put those on because of the paparazzi. Waking into the cafe, I see Rebecca sitting at the third table.
"Hey," I say sitting across from her.
"Hi. Nice hat." She looks at me and then looks back at the laptop
"Thanks, I had to wear it because of the paparazzi." I take the glasses off and keep it on the table "So did you find something?" I ask
On the way here, I ask Rebecca to start searching for the first media station that broke the news of Alice’s wedding.
"Nah, I’m still checking." She doesn't even bother looking up from what she’s typing on her laptop.
"But are you sure you didn’t tell anyone?" I ask her. I know Rebecca won’t tell anyone but I had to ask her just in case she told a friend.
"No, I told nobody about it."
"If you didn’t say anything then who did?" I whisper. She’s the only one I told. It doesn’t make any sense, if Rebecca didn’t tell anyone, I didn’t tell anyone then who did? Who informed the media?
"Rach, I think you need to see this." She says and she turns the screen to me. My eyes widen and I read what the headline says. It was posted three hours ago.
Fiancé of Richie Moranzino; Rachel Green just announced her brother-in-law's wedding with Alice Smith, ex-wife of Aiden Smirnov the son of the greatest Russian Mafia. Is this a news to celebrate or is this a way to prove that the Italian Mafia has more capabilities than the Russian?
When did I announce that?
Why are they saying this?
Who used my name to give the news out to the media?
Oh no, this just made everything worse.