Chapter 57: Chapter 57

Next weekend comes as quickly as I had hoped. Marta’s assistant; Layla is almost done with my makeup and I can’t wait for her to be done. I have been sitting in one place for over two hours all in the name of makeup. I told her I don’t want heavy makeup but still, she was taking so much time, I wonder how many hours she would have took if I had wanted heavy makeup.

"I’m almost done, just a touch of blush and we will be done." She says for the second time.

I don’t say a word and I sigh relaxing my back on the chair. As I sit there, I can't help but feel a sense of anticipation building inside me. I've been looking forward to this weekend for so long, and now that it's finally here, I can hardly contain my excitement.

Despite my eagerness to get started, I try to remain patient as Layla puts the finishing touches on my makeup. I don't want to rush her, but at the same time, I can't help but wonder how much longer it will take.

My thoughts come to a halt when I hear the sound of my phone ringing. I check the caller ID to see ‘designer' which means it’s Silas, my tracker.

It’s quite strange that he’s calling me, I mean he and I haven’t spoken for more than a month and I’ve even forgotten about him. I wait for Layla to apply the final touch before I excuse myself to answer the call.

"Hello," I say answering the phone

"Hello ma’am, my apologies for not reaching out to you for quite a long time. I was gathering enough information and evidence. And with what I have now, you will be surprised."

"What do you mean?" I ask

"I found out who Ezra is." He says

My heart skips when I hear the name ‘Ezra’ It’s been so long since I heard that name. I have completely forgotten that I told him to search on Ezra.

"I will send you photos of Ezra and his family while I tell you what the Maranzano family wants from Ezra."

"No, don’t do that. I don’t want you to send me photos of Ezra or tell me about him." I say. I know Ezra is a really important part of Maranzano's secrets and a big way to ruin Richie but I don’t want to do that anymore. I love Richie and I’m getting married to him, I can’t be snooping behind his back.

"Thank you so much for helping me out, I know it took a lot of time to gather information about him but I’m afraid I don’t want to know anything about Ezra," I say

"You actually do. What I have here is important." He states

"And what I’m committing to do is way more important. Richie and I are getting married, I can not be that kind of partner that snoops behind the other’s back. I trust Richie and whatever he does is for the best."

I release a breath before I continue "I really appreciate you working for me but I’m afraid I can’t work with you anymore. Things have changed now and I like it this way, I don’t want anything to ruin what I have now, and for that, I have to stop. You will receive your pay tomorrow. Thank you once again." With that, I end the call.

I sigh throwing my phone on the bed. I feel torn about Ezra. A part of me is extremely curious and wants to know more about him, I already know he’s someone really important, and Richie nor Papa wants no one to know about him. But at the same time, I don’t want to know, I don’t want to involve in Richie’s personal affairs without him wanting me to.

I love Richie and I trust him completely. Keeping an eye on him is something he wouldn’t be happy about nor do I want to do.

Lost in my thoughts, I feel a hand wrap around my waist. I smile knowing it's Richie. His finger trails my neck as he moves my hair away nearly giving me the chills. I suck in a heavy breath as feel his warm lips on my neck. "I can’t wait for you to be mine." He huskily says against my neck.

I smile turning to look at him, I wrap my hands around his neck "I can’t wait to be yours too." I reply giddily

Richie lightly tights his grip around me, he pulls me closer to him, his chest touching mine. He leans in and gently presses his lips on mine. I smile against his lips pulling him closer to me as he sucks my bottom lip into his mouth, nipping on it gently.

"You ready?" He asks once he pulls away

"Yes."

He kisses me on the cheek making my heart skip a beat. "Let’s go."

I grab my purse and head out of the room. As we arrived in the living room, the lights suddenly went out, plunging us into darkness. But then, a bright spotlight shone on us, drawing everyone's attention our way. As Richie and I made our way down the stairs, flashlights blinded us, but we kept moving forward. Richie's hand rested on my waist, and I could feel his gaze fixed on me, making me feel special and loved.

Once we reached the bottom of the stairs, Richie and I paused to let the cameraman capture a good shot of us. After he finished, we made our way to the center of the room. Richie takes a moment to thank everyone for coming, and then the live band resumed playing classical music, setting the mood for socializing and mingling.

"You guys look great," Rebecca says as she approaches us.

"Thank you." I reply

"I hope you won’t mind if I steal her for a moment." She says referring to me

"I don't like the sound of that but I guess I’ll be fine, just bring her back to me soon," Richie says. He then turns to me, kisses me on the cheek, and says, "I will go greet some guests. See you later."

I smile In response as I watch him walk away. Turning around to face Rebecca I as "So, did David come with you?" As we walk through the room.

"No, he is too busy to come with me," Rebecca says, grabbing a champagne flute from a tray a waiter holds while walking by. She also grabs a glass for me.

"Is everything all right?" I ask, a little concerned.

"Kind off…... I don’t really know. He’s been acting a little off these days."

"Maybe is work stress, he will come around," I say

Just as we were talking about him, her phone starts to ring. "Speaking of the devil," She says, holding up her phone for me to see. I look at the caller ID; it says Babe with a heart emoji by the side.

"Aww, you saved his number as Babe."

"That’s not the point, he’s calling me." She says

"Well pick up the call before it cuts."

"Too noisy here, I’ll go outside."

"Okay." I say before she walks away.

I take a sip of my champagne and look around the room in search of Richie. I notice that there are only a few people here, I guess Richie didn’t invite a lot of people. While I'm scanning the room, someone taps me on the shoulder, and I turn around to see who it is. It is a young girl who appears to be in her teenage years. She is blond and has a black spot right beneath her nose. With a single look, she reminded me of Emily.

"Are you related to Emily?" I ask; the resemblance is just too much

She chuckles nodding her head "Do I look like her that much?"

"Yes, you do,"

"Well, then I guess there isn’t much of an introduction here. I’m Stacy, her daughter."

"Really! I didn’t know Emily had a daughter," I say surprised. Emily has never said a thing about her daughter nor even about her marriage. Is she even married?

"Well she does and that’s me." She grins

"It’s nice to meet you, Stacy, I’m Rachel." I introduce

"I already know that. I’ve heard so much about you." She seems excited as she speaks

"Really? Did you hear it from Emily? If so, then it's probably not true," I say with a lighthearted tone.

Stacy giggles "It’s not her, it’s the media. I’ve read articles about you and Richie. I kinda have to say, you guys are cool."

"Aww, thank you, Stacy."

"You’re welcome. Do you want to meet my dad?" She asks

"Yeah sure why not," I say as she leads me towards her dad.

"You must be wondering why you haven’t seen me till now. I live with my dad in California and we never come to New York unless it’s important."

"Ohh, I see."

"Yeah, but we plan on moving back to New York soon." She says. Stacy continues to speak until we approach her dad. I am beginning to think that she enjoys talking.

She taps him on the shoulder and he turns to look at us. "Dad this is Rachel and Rachel this is my dad." She introduces

I take a good look at him, noticing his striking features. He has the same blue eyes as Stacy, only his were more defined. His raven black hair is perfectly styled, and his straight nose complements his muscular, toned body. He appears to be in his late twenties or early thirties, all in all, he’s okay. However, there is something about his eyes that kept drawing my attention. They didn't just look pretty; they looked familiar... very familiar.

"Have we met before?" I ask; those eyes are just so familiar.

He doesn’t respond as he keeps staring at me with a profound expression as if trying to figure out something. For a moment I felt uncomfortable with the stare and wondered if he is just lost in thought or if there is something else going on.

"Dad she asked you a question," Stacy says taping his hand.

He shakes out of his thoughts and with a release of breath he says "No."

"Ohh, well you look really familiar."

"I bet I do," He says, his gaze still fixed on me without even blinking for a second.

"Ummm... well It was nice meeting you and I'd love to stay and chat, but I need to refill my drink," I said, turning to leave. As I walked away, I could feel his eyes on me which makes me feel uneasy.

I go to the bar and ask the bartender for a refill. While waiting for my drink I see Stacy’s dad walking towards me.

"I’m sorry about what just happened. I’m not really feeling good today." He says once he approached me.

"Ohh, sorry about that. How are you feeling now?"

"Okay, I guess. I’m Alexander." He stretches out his hand for a handshake. I shake his hand and introduce myself "Rachel."

He releases my hand and says "Nice to meet you, Rachel."

"You too." I reply smiling.

Alexander takes a step closer "I have something to tell you." His voice suddenly becomes profound as his expression becomes turns serious. I could tell that whatever he had to say was important.

I nod, signaling for Alexander to continue but before he could, mine and his attention turn to the click sound of a glass. I look in the direction of the sound to see Emma clicking a glass; she wants to give a speech.

"Good evening everyone, I’m Emmeline short for Emma. I’m the groom’s sister and I am thrilled to be here tonight celebrating the upcoming wedding of my brother and his fiancé. I don’t really have much to say but I wanna take a moment to say how much I love you guys; Rachel and Richie you guys are amazing people and I’m sure you will be a really great couple. I wish you all the best as you do that and I wish you a lifetime of happiness together. I can't wait to see what the future holds for you guys."

As she makes the announcement, she takes a seat. But then, she realizes that she has one last thing to say. She quickly stands up and raises her glass of wine, saying "Cheers to the happy couple!"

We all raise our glasses and as I take a sip of champagne, I see Richie approaching me. He offers his hand to me and asks "Wanna dance?"

"Sure." I say as he leads me to the dance floor.

Richie wraps his arms around my waist and I wrap mine around his neck. I’m not really good at dancing so I let the rhythm control my movements.

His eyes glisten as he smiles taking every inch of my face. "You are so beautiful, I can’t wait to be with you alone."

I smile as an uncontrollable feeling surged through my body. I am about to speak when my gaze lands on the group of men dressed in black tuxedos. They are dressed for the occasion but something about them seems off - their eyes are dark and piercing, and their faces are twisted into sinister grins. I feel a shiver run down my spine, and I can't help but feel like they don't belong here.

"Did you invite those guys?" I ask making Richie turn to look at them. "They seem really weird and they kinda scare me."

"They are special forces, I had them come here to make sure everyone is safe."

"Ohh, well if there is a criminal here they will be hell scared by just looking at their faces." I exclaim while dancing.

Richie lightly laughs "There is nothing scary about them, they seem normal to me."

"Easy for you to say, you are not scared of anything."

"That’s not true. I’m scared of one thing."

"Guns?" I inquire

"No." He says

"Then what?"

He looks at me with a serious expression "The thought of losing you."

I feel my heart swell with emotion as I smile at him. He makes me feel so special.

"I can't bear the thought of losing you, Rachel," He says. I feel my smile widen, he only calls me Rachel when he's being serious, so I know he means it.

"Well, you shouldn’t be scared of that because you’re never gonna lose me."

"I’m so glad you’re in my life." He smiles and pulls me closer to him "I think I’m the luckiest person in the world, I’ve never been to heaven but I feel like I have."

"What do you mean?" I ask

"I mean you, your presence makes me feel like I am in heaven."

The smile on my face broadens as I become speechless "I love you." I say and I press my lips against his. I feel the warmth of his lips as my tongue dives into his mouth; softly, delicately, like butterfly wings, just long enough that I could inhale his breath, feel the warmth of his skin, and taste of the red wine he had earlier.

Richie pulls me closer, cupping my face with one hand and holding me tightly with the other as the kiss continues. All the scenery and people around me dissolved. And I feel it's just me and Richie. I never want this moment to end.