Chapter 8: Chapter 8

I feel like today is going to be a great day for me. I always wanted to ruin or hurt Richie’s life either physically or emotionally and I think smashing a rejection in his face will be a small win for me. I have planned on how I will reject Richie, I am not going to do it in private, I will do it in public so everyone will know that Richie Maranzano is not every woman’s dream.

Oh lord! This is going to be interesting, I can’t wait to do that. I have finished dressing up for work and was admiring myself as I apply red lipstick.

"Rachel," Rebecca says walking into my room

"Why are you up so early," I say looking at her through the window

"We need to talk."

"You broke up with your boyfriend didn’t you?" I asked turning back to look at her. I won’t be surprised if she did.

"Not yet and it’s not even about me, it’s about you." She pointed at me

"Those my lips look good?" I pout closing the lid of the lipstick.

"Oh wow! Is that red or nude?" She asks suddenly interested in what I’m saying

"It’s both," I say grinning. I can’t believe red and nude lipstick looks good together. I think I will be doing this more often.

"Really, it looks very- wait, wait. I see what you are doing here, you want to make me forget what I am here to do right?" She asked

I rake an eyebrow gazing at her, I don’t even know what she’s talking about. Maybe she’s drunk, she always acts crazy when she takes too much alcohol.

"Uhm- no," I responded

"Anyways, I am here to talk about Richie."

"Oh please don’t." I say already aware of what she is going to say.

"No, no, I am not going to stop. You have to hear me out. You shouldn’t reject Richie and even if you want to, you should at least not do it in public."

If only she knows what Richie and his family did to my family.

"Rebecca," I say placing a hand on her shoulder "I will reject Richie and I will do it my way."

She was about to speak when we heard a horn sounding from outside and Rebecca peaked her head through the window and then looked at me.

"It’s Richie, right?" I ask

She nods her head, confirming my suspicion. I turned to the mirror smiling. Sweet rejection here I come.

"What are you going to do?" She asks

"You might wanna keep checking instablog for that." I smile bidding her goodbye.

I walked out of the house and the first thing I saw was a black SUV parked in the driveway and standing in front of it was Richie. He walked towards me and once again my unfaithful heart stopped beating. In word one, he looked hot, and the ray ban sunglasses he was wearing made him even hotter and it got my heart beating again.

He looked sideways as he wraps an arm around my waist. "We need to get in the car, now." He says steering me toward the car.

"Okay. But is everything alright?" I asked a little concerned as to why he said that.

"Paparazzis are following me, and I don’t want them to get to you." He replies

The driver holds the car door open for me. I got into the car and Richie slides in after me. Once he settled, the driver pulls the car out of the driveway.

"You came to pick me up so the paparazzi don’t come and interrogate me with questions?" I ask

"I didn’t only come because of them but I came because I wanted to see you."

Of course, he wanted to see me. I roll my eyes.

"But you do know that you will see me at the office," I say

"I know but looking at you before anyone else is a different blessing." He smirks

I roll my eyes ignoring what he said. I’m not falling for that.

After a few minutes of driving, the car arrives at the office parking lot. I grabbed Richie’s outstretched hand and stepped out. Richie put his hand on my back as we began walking. The moment we walked into the building, flashlights screamed at our eyes as we were surrounded by paparazzi.

"Richie!"

"Richie Moranzino over here!"

"When did you plan on getting married to Rachel Miller?"

"For how many years have you guys been dating?"

"Do you think Rachel is the best person for you to marry?"

Questions rammed around as they continued taking pictures of Richie and me. Richie’s hand held onto my waist tightly as his bodyguard stood side by side with us. We walked through the first floor and the moment we walked past them, a sigh escaped my mouth.

"How did they get in?" I ask

"I don’t know." He replies pulling out his phone to make a call. He looks very annoyed.

"I want those paparazzi out of here. Now!" He screamed into the phone "I don’t care and also, I want those security guards fired!" He hung up the call and turns to look at me.

"I am so sorry Rachel, I didn’t know they were going to be there."

"It’s okay. It’s not your fault." I say.

I seriously don’t care about the paparazzi, I mean who cares if they’re around? All they ask are questions, and it’s not like I will be forced to answer them.

***

Richie and I just finished a couple of meetings so I am in the middle of sorting through his paper- many papers. I swirl the chair around and bring out some files for tomorrow’s meeting. I set them on my desk and start sorting through all of them. I will be lying if I say today isn’t a stressful day. Richie told me to take some rest but didn’t want to, I wanted to keep myself busy so I can stop thinking about the stupid thoughts that have been wandering around my head while we were at the meeting. It’s so weird that I think if I look at Richie too much I will eventually not be able to reject him.

After finally, going through a little more than half a pile of papers, I came across an envelope with ‘PRIVATE’ written across it.

"This seems interesting," I mumble

I look around the room making sure that there weren’t any CCTV cameras directed at me. I open the top of it, pulling the papers from the envelope. I look at the front page, It was written in a code language, and good thing I know code language. My parents taught me code language when I was twelve, they said it is a way of business. I never thought it was necessary but looking at this paper I can’t be thankful enough for learning it.

I read the paper and discover that It is an illegal drug dealing receipt that states that Richie paid over a billion euros to get a supply of drugs and illegal possession of firearms.

"Holy shit!" I whisper as I continue to read it.

Screw the rejection this thing right here will ruin not just Richie but his family. I read the part of the paper that states Richie and his father's fake visas are ready. I can’t believe I got so much information by just reading one paper. I look at the name of the sender, it was written in some kind of in some sort of language. I wasn’t able to read out the name but I am sure that all this is supplied by a particular person. I quickly pull out my phone to snap it, I want to use this as a source of evidence. And if I get someone that can help me read the sender’s name, I might be able to track the person and might finally expose Richie.

Bringing out my phone, I hear footsteps sounding towards the room, the moment my hand got to my phone, the door knob turned and I knew it wasn’t going to happen. I instantly put the paper back into the envelope not wanting to get caught.

"Hi." Richie says opening the door and walking toward my desk "What’s wrong?" He suddenly asks

"N- no- nothing."

O' my lord! I always freak out when I am tensed

"Are you sure?" He ask sounding a bit concerned

I nodded instantly not wanting to ramble my words out. Richie opens his mouth to talk but then clasps it shut. I stand from the chair and walk to the front cabinet to get some files.

"Aren’t you tired of working?" I hear Richie ask from behind me. I could feel his eyes on me and that sent chills down my spine.

I glance over my shoulder, still standing in front of the cabinet. "Not really," I say

He walks even closer to me, his cologne wrapped around me and his breath fanning the side of my face. "This skirt makes me crazy." He huskily says, slightly tugging on the material. The pencil skirt I was wearing was nude and it hit a little above my knees, hugging every inch of my body.

"I can’t believe I let the paparazzi see you in this." His hand grazes from my hip to mid-thigh, leaving a burn trailing wherever he touches. "Every curve." He whispers in my ear

If he keeps talking like this, I am not sure I will be able to reject him. I am so glad I’m not facing him right now.

"Richie." That was all I could say. I wanted it to sound like a warning but it came out as a whisper

He hummed his response pressing lightly his chest slightly against my back. "I love how you call my name."

I was slightly taken away by his words that I couldn’t stop him. I take in a breath and turn to look at him. His lips were a thin mile away from mine. I leaned against the cabinet, trying to create some distance but it was of no use. He just further crowded me.

"W- what are you doing?" I stutter

Richie makes me weak

He smirks looking between my eyes and his hips.

"Something I should have done the moment I saw you today." He knelt on the floor and hold his hand up for me.

Is he proposing again?

"I will keep saying this until you accept me, Rach." He says

I love how he called me Rach.

"I mean every single word I said last night. I love you Rachel and I wish I can have a chance to keep you for the rest of my life."

The moment he says that the door slams open and walked in were a bunch of strangers with cameras. There is no doubt that they are the paparazzi. I glance at them and turn my gaze to Richie.

"Will you marry me, Rachel Miller?" His voice sounds like velvet, it has a sultry rasp that makes me weak in the knees.

"Yes." I nodded "I will marry you."

A gorgeous smile tugged around the corner of his lips as he pulls me close and captured my lips with a passionate kiss.

The only reason I agreed to this is because I want to find out more about Richie and I believe getting married to him will get me more access to his life.

It’s only a matter of time until I ruin your life, Richie Maranzano.