Chapter 40: Chapter 40

Chapter 40

~ RICHIE’S POV

My hand scrubs over my face once Rachel is out the door. I can't believe my attempt to make things better between us only made it worse. My shoulders hunch as I realize Rachel is probably going to hate me for that.

God! What have I done? If I had just explained everything the minute she walked out of my office all this wouldn’t have happened. Anger burns hot in my chest as I recalled how Papa called me at the wrong time. I wanted to go after Rachel and explain things to her but Papa distracted me, he just had to call me at that moment. And as usual, it’s about Ezra; Ezra always ruins things. Why does his stupid behavior start when I am trying to do something important?

With a groan, I lash out, punching the closest wall to me. The skin breaks and blood pours out of my knuckles, but I don't care. My heart is in more pain than my hand could ever be. Right now, I wish more than anything in this world that I could explain things to Rachel, I hate to know that she thinks I’m cheating on her. If there is anything in this world that I wouldn't do is cheat on Rachel, not that I love her or anything, but she means so much to me. And I know how important she is to Papa, he would kill me if I let anything go wrong with my relationship with Rachel.

I rub my palm across my face. Right now, this is not even about Papa, it’s about me and Rachel. I hate how she just walked out on me like that.

My head is starting to burst with anger. I feel fucking irritated, everything is just so frustrating abs what’s more frustrating is how I can’t comprehend what is triggering my anger. Is it the fact that Angelina came to meet me out of nowhere or the fact that Ezra is becoming a big issue or the fact that I just ruined things between me and Rachel?

Oh fuck!

My heart clenches at that thought, this is my first fight with Rachel and I don’t like it. I have to fix things, she needs to know that Angelina means nothing to me; she does.

My thoughts come to a halt when I hear Angelina’s irritating voice behind me. "Hi, Richie."

What the hell is she doing here? I feel her hand on my shoulder and I shove it away. I don’t turn around to look at her and she walks and stands in front of me.

"Oh, my God! What happened to your hand?" She asks, concerned. She tries to grab my hand, but I pull away, letting my blood continue to drip and stain the pavement near the back door.

"You fucking happened." My voice is filled with condescension.

"Me? I don't understand." She sounds genuinely confused, but I know better.

"Stay away from me and stay away from Rachel." I push her out of my side as I walk out of the club.

She is the cause of all this. If she didn’t come to my offices, Rachel wouldn’t have seen her and all this drama wouldn’t have happened. I respect Angelina but right now she’s making me hate her. All I asked from her is to stay away from me and respect the fact that I’m engaged but it seems like she didn’t get it.

The thought of Angelina waves off my head when I got out. The first thing my eyes caught is a bunch of paparazzi and it seems like they are waiting for me. I groan thinking of how the kind of questions they might have asked Rachel. Paparazzi’s are pigs, I’m pretty sure they implanted so many thoughts in her head that would make her hate me.

As soon as the paparazzi acknowledge my presence, they rush towards me and started blasting me with questions.

"Richie Maranzano."

"Care to tell us what happened between you and Rachel?"

"Why was Rachel crying?"

"Did you say something hurtful to her?"

"Richie Maranzano, are you and Rachel breaking up?"

I shot a bad side eye to the man that asked the last question. Is he nuts or what? One small fight does mean we will break up.

The paparazzi kept going with the questions but I didn’t respond to any of them. Right now, they are the least of my concerns, I just want to talk to Rachel. I manage to walk past the crowd, it is a little difficult since I didn’t bring any bodyguards with me.

Approaching the parking lot, I look around searching for Rachel’s car; it’s not there. I turn around and spot her car from afar, it was driving out of the parking lot and If I’m not mistaken I think Brad is the one driving.

What is Brad doing here?

I find it a little strange to see Brad here because he told me that something personal has come up and he has to take the day off. Though, I am glad that he is with her, at least now I know she’s not alone.

I got into the car and drive out of the parking lot. I have so many things going on in my head right now but what bothers me the most is Rachel. The first thing I will be doing when I get home is explain everything to Rachel. Arguing with her isn’t giving me any joy. I don’t like it at all.

When I arrived home, I didn’t bother parking the car in the garage so I parked in front of the house. I toss the car keys to the security guard standing beside the door and I say "Go park the car in the garage."

He nods and I step into the house. The first person I see when I enter the house is Brad, he has a suite case with him. I wonder why?

"Where is Rachel?" I ask him

He looks at me confused probably wondering why I asked him that question.

"Where is she? I saw you driving her." I say

His shoulders are held low and he says "I dropped her off at her friend's house. She asked me to do so."

I release a sigh. Of course she did, she doesn’t want to talk to me so it isn’t much of a surprise that she decided to spend the night at Rebecca’s.

"Okay. I guess I will just call her and check up on her." I pull my phone out of my pocket and I dial her number. A bizarre feelings wave through me as the call goes to voicemail. I wonder why her phone is switched off. I try reaching her again and it goes straight to voicemail.

What’s going on, is she avoiding me?

I give up reaching her after dialing her number a few more times. I would have called Rebecca and asked her about Rachel but I don’t have her number. I sigh as I am about to leave and go to my room, I realize Brad’s attention is on me. "What?" I inquire

"Nothing." He responds as he knocks out of his thoughts.

"Then leave," I command. He immediately nods and walks away.

I feel like Rachel isn’t handling this maturely, I mean I tried to explain but she didn’t let me, now I’m calling her she isn’t responding. What is going on with her? Well whatever it is, it will end tomorrow. If she won’t answer my calls then I guess I will have to go meet her myself.