Elo Smurflettes!
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Onwards
***
I sat in the restaurant, waiting for my guest. I was a few minutes early because my security team had wanted to scope the area first since they, much like my husband, didn't trust the situation I was putting myself in.
Except I already knew that the situation I was putting myself in was sketchy.
For all I know, Celine is playing us, but there was a certain desperation in her voice that was honestly letting me give her the benefit of the doubt. She appeared and I could already see my security team on alert. She looked flawless; like a woman who wasn't about to either give me valuable information or lead me to my doom. The box in her hands wasn't making me feel any better.
"Thank you for doing this," she said as she sat down.
"How did you even get the information?" I asked curiously.
"I slept with Daniel. When he was asleep, I sneaked into his home office and found the evidence. He had it moved after Raphael beat him. I don't think he meant to mention that little bit of information in my presence, but he was pretty pissed off at the time," she replied, handing the box over.
I opened the box and inside there were what looked like voice tapes, a video tape, a bloody cloth, a bloody knife, a gun, a wig and a pair of amber contact lenses. There was also a stack of papers, and I was wise enough to know not to touch anything in the box.
"I don't know what all of it means, but I'm assuming that's the whole point of finding out. I won't lie and tell you that this isn't a setup, because I don't know, but I'm here with genuine intentions," she commented.
"I'm choosing to believe you, but we need to get back to the hotel and figure out what the hell these things are," I replied.
"It will look suspicious if I come with you. If we're seen together, the press will have something to say about it, and then the Hugo's will know that I'm working with you. In fact, throw your drink at me," she said.
"What?" I frowned.
"Throw your drink at me and storm out of here. I'll find a way of getting into the hotel without being seen," she explained.
Choosing to once again trust her, I threw my drink at her. She gasped, causing the people in the restaurant to look our way. I gracefully stood up with everyone's eyes on me. She looked the part as she sat, silently 'fuming'.
"You stupid bitch! I will ruin you!" she spat.
"That will teach you to mess with my husband. Stay away from us Celine, and this is the last time I'm telling you," I said before walking out to the car.
My driver opened the door for me and let me in just as I received a text from Celine. She gave me props for my acting and told me that she'd meet me back at the hotel with the box within the hour. I figured I could help her out, so when I reached the hotel, I asked Harry to help her find a way in.
"Am I getting this correctly? You want me to help Celine White? The woman who has been after Raphael for years?" he asked.
"The very one; it's a very long story," I sighed.
"One that I am very interested to find out without a doubt," he scoffed.
"Will you help her?" I asked.
"I trust you little one, even if I'm sceptical. I'll let her in without anyone seeing," he nodded.
"Thank you Harry! I promise you have nothing to be worried about," I assured him.
"Again, I'm choosing to trust your judgement here," he said warily.
After hugging him, I sent Celine a text telling her to find Harry on her arrival. She was thankful that I found her a way in. I headed into the hotel, only to bump into my best friends and my sister. I hadn't seen them since Shelby's arrest.
"You flew us all the way here, only to ignore us," my sister said jokingly.
"I'm so sorry! After Shelby's arrest, Rafe took me out, and then we got lost in each other's presence," I apologized.
"Not that we needed to know that, but thanks for the scarring picture," Jonathan commented.
"I didn't even describe anything. You're just a perv who likes to imagine us getting it on," I smirked, making him shudder while his fiancée laughed.
"What's the next move girlie?" she asked me.
I suggested we head towards the restaurant, and they were more than happy to join me. We were led to a table and our orders for drinks were taken since I wasn't staying long. It's still so weird to have the people that I worked with serve me.
"We still need to regroup and come up with a way forward, especially now that we know that Daniel is the one who got Shelby out of prison. Rafe figures we should wait on them to make their move first, so for now we're doing the takeover of my father's company to trump Daniel's latest releases," I explained.
"Shelby got out?" Jonathan scowled.
"Yeah! We found out yesterday from Celine," I replied.
"And you believe the woman who almost killed your husband?" Rhonda asked sceptically.
"What reason would she have to lie about something like that? As it is, she came asking for our help to free her father from Jordan's grasp. Apparently they've kidnapped him and are spending his money. She wants her father back and is willing to help us in return for our help," I explained.
"How could she possibly help you with anything?" my sister asked.
"She got the evidence that Mariya fabricated against Anita," I informed.
"And you're sure it's legit?" Jonathan asked me just as I got a text from Celine telling me she'd arrived.
"Well, she's here with it, so I guess there's only one way to find out," I replied as I stood up.
"We're coming with you," my sister declared as she too stood up.
"I agree! We're not letting you face that crazy woman by yourself," Jonathan said as he joined us before helping my best friend up.
"You really don't have to guys," I told them.
"If she's got nothing to hide, then perhaps you're right, but until then, we won't let you face her alone," Rhonda added.
"Fine," I gave up.
We headed towards the elevator before going up to the penthouse suite that Raphael and I were staying in. Celine was already waiting inside with the box in her hands. She didn't look the least bit taken aback to see our extra guests.
"Have you really brought protection? I'm not going to do anything to you, you know," she said in a bored tone.
"My sister may choose to see the best in everyone, but we don't buy that shit, so if you're really not going to harm her, then you shouldn't have a problem with us being here," Katherine said fiercely.
"You're definitely the spicier sister, even though I wasn't aware that Aretha had a sister to begin with," Celine replied.
"What's in the box?" Jonathan asked. Celine turned to put it down, and she was about to say something when the door flew open to reveal the Maestri twins looking frazzled.
"Cara mia," Raphael said, breathlessly, rushing into the room.
"Rafe? What's wrong?" I asked as he came over to hug me.
"Thank God you're ok," he said into my hair.
"There are two of you?" I heard Celine ask, probably referring to the twins, but I was focused on my husband.
"Why wouldn't I be ok? What's going on?" I panicked.
"It would seem the Hugo's have kicked up their antics a notch. If it wasn't for my brother's excellent driving skills, he'd be dead," Ralph said.
"What is he talking about?" I asked my husband.
"There was a car that almost ran me over at a red light but I moved just in time," he explained.
"How do you know it was coming for you?" Jonathan asked what I was thinking.
"As soon as it missed me, it turned around only to try and do the same thing again. It chased me for a good ten minutes before leaving me alone. I obviously realized that it was clearly a hired hit on me, so I rushed over here to check if you were ok," my husband elaborated, looking straight into my eyes.
"I'm fine caro. Celine was about to show us the evidence she got," I informed.
"Is that the evidence against Ma?" Ralph asked his brother, to which Raphael nodded. Celine put on some white gloves.
"I believe you'd like to have this blood tested to prove that I'm not lying to you and what not, so I would suggest you handle everything in here with gloves," she warned.
"What is all this stuff?" Rhonda asked.
"That wig looks a lot like what Ma's hair looked like back then," Ralph commented.
"And I guess the contact lenses were so that Mariya would have Ma's eyes," Rafe added.
"I'm going to assume the knife was the weapon of choice, so why's the gun there?" Jonathan asked.
"Forget that! Have a look at these," Celine said before handing showing my husband the papers in her hands without him touching them.
"What are they?" Katherine asked.
"It's DNA results that prove that my uncle was Marci's dad. There's a whole lot of papers with bank account numbers on them too," Rafe responded.
"Bank accounts? What are they for?" Rhonda asked.
"We'd have to look into them," Ralph replied.
"There are call records here to different international numbers. Maybe the two go together?" my husband told his brother.
"I'll look into it," Ralph nodded.
"What are on the tapes?" Jonathan asked.
"No idea! We need to get our hands on an old school player," Celine suggested. Everyone looked at her weirdly.
"What? Are you still convinced that I'm setting you up?" she asked, deadpan.
"It's just a little hard to believe that you're not doing this with hopes of not getting something out of it," Rhonda told her.
"I will be getting something out of it, and that something is my father. I just need him back," Celine said sadly, on the brink of tears.
"And you will get him back as soon as we've nailed these people," I promised her.
I probably shouldn't, but what the hell.
My husband made a few calls trying to get his hands on an old VCR player. He finally found one and we set it up in one of the conference rooms in the hotel, making sure to close the blinds. The rest of our friends and family also joined as we sat to watch the tapes.
Ralph put in the first tape, and we realized that it was a murder scene. There were seven tapes, and five of them were of gruesome murders of people I don't know. They were all killed in the same looking room though, and Mariya and Reece were both visible in all five videos, with Reece doing the killings.
The sixth tape was of the secret wedding of Mariya and Reece Hugo. By the looks of things, they got married with only two people around. We couldn't make out the faces of the two people, so it was pretty obvious that that's what was intended to begin with. When the last tape started, we all screamed from the clear moaning and sickening imagery.
"Woah! Did they really have sex tapes back then?" Fabius said in disgust.
"They had porn back then, so I'm going to go with yes," Luigi replied.
"Oh man, I can never unsee that," Salina complained.
"Tell me about it," the twins said simultaneously.
"So, does anyone have a clue about who the victims in the first five videos were?" Rhonda asked.
"I recognize three of them from cases at the CIA that went cold simply because their bodies were never found. I don't know about the other two, but it shouldn't be that hard to find out since the other three were influential people in the crime circles," Ralph replied.
"You mean that Mariya and Reece are basically criminals?" Salina asked.
"It would seem the Hugo boys didn't just wake up one day and decide to be criminals. They were clearly born into that kind of life," Ralph agreed.
"And Mariya and Reece obviously got married and only a few people know of this union," my husband added.
"However, none of this points back to Mariya killing our uncle," Ralph pointed out.
"That much is true. How do we then prove it's her?" I asked.
"I'd like to think that the tapes at least prove that it wasn't Anita. I mean, everyone knows the woman is an angel, and when you have Mariya on tape at the murder scenes of five people, I think you'd most likely believe her to be a killer over Anita," Jonathan argued.
"I'm with Joel on this one. It's clear that Mariya is the devil's wife, so I think this is enough to at least get Anita off of the hook, even if Mariya isn't sentenced for murder. It is the whole point of why we got our hands on this evidence, right?" Rhonda pointed out.
"I guess you're right. We may not get justice for our uncle or padre, but at least Mariya won't have anything over padre anymore, and then he can leave her and be with Ma. I'll look into those bank accounts and numbers," Ralph informed.
"What about my father?" Celine asked lowly.
I'd forgotten that she was in the room.
"Your father is being kept by Jordan an-" my husband started, only to be interrupted.
"YOU PROMISED YOU WOULD HELP ME!" Celine screamed.
"Woman, calm down. We are still going to help you. Just because we can get my mother in law off the hook, doesn't mean our problems disappear. We will help your father because Jordan is still a major problem for us, so just keep calm," I told her. She looked shamefaced and found it wise to simply nod.
I could only relate to her on an impatience level because I knew what it was like to look forward to being out of the Hugo's grasp. I wished for it every day when I was stuck between Daniel and his demented wife.
Thinking about Eva led my thoughts to my son. He'd recently turned two, and I'd already missed so much in his life. I couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of environment he was being raised in, despite Eva telling me that he knows who his mummy is.
For all I know she lied to me.
Or even worse- she has him believing that she's his mother.
"Cara mia, what's wrong?" my husband asked me. Only then did I realize that all eyes were on me.
"It's nothing," I whispered as a tear slid down my face.
"You could at least try to be convincing," Katherine said with a scowl, but her words slid right off me as my husband pulled me into him.
"What's got you in tears mia moglie?" he asked me.
"What if Lewis thinks Eva is his mother?" I cracked.
"Lewis? Lewis is still alive?" Rhonda asked in shock. I could only manage a nod.
"Who's Lewis?" Luigi asked.
"He's my son," I said lowly. Shock settled on the faces in the room, Celine's included.
"Is he...?" Jonathan trailed off, but I already knew what he was asking. Again, I could only manage a nod.
"Where is he? Why would you think he would regard Eva as his mother?" Salina asked.
"Because she has him. Ari has only seen him once before the bitch took him. She's holding him over her," my husband informed angrily. I grabbed his hand and held it.
"Wait a minute! So she took him, but she didn't kill him?" Rhonda asked me. I nodded.
"She told me that he's safe and he knows who his mother is, except a part of me doesn't believe her," I replied.
"Did she mention anything about how you can get him back?" Ralph asked.
"I have to get the black diamonds from Rafe because Jordan wants them. I also have to leave Rafe and then I can get Lewis back," I replied.
"But that's not the plan we're going with," my husband jumped in.
"I would imagine so, but what's the alternative?" Fabius asked.
"We're going to get Jordan to give us Lewis in exchange for the diamonds," Raphael informed.
"That won't work," Celine sighed.
"And why not?" my sister asked. I could sense the hostility in her voice.
She really hates Celine.
"Jordan doesn't know where Lewis is," Celine informed.
"And you know this how?" Luigi asked her.
"I've been to Eva's gentlemen's club before. It was before operating hours and she had the kid with her. Jordan was very annoyed by that, and I learnt that while Eva and Jordan are married, they don't live with Lewis. I assume he lives somewhere else because Jordan told her to take him wherever the hell it is she's keeping him. If you negotiate with him to get Lewis in return for the diamonds, he's going to have to ask her about him, and that will raise flags in her head," Celine explained.
"That shouldn't be our problem," Fabius argued.
"Except she's right, and it is our problem. If Eva even thinks that we're after Lewis, she might retaliate, and we don't even know in which way she'd retaliate," my husband said, sending me deeper into my depression.
"Hey, we're going to get him," Ralph said softly to me.
"I don't doubt you. I just doubt if he'll be alive by the time you do," I admitted.
"Girlie, you need to have faith. You will get him back and he will know who his real mother is," Rhonda told me.
"I guess," I sighed, no longer wanting to entertain this topic.
"Well, what's the way forward from here?" Jonathan asked.
I wasn't paying attention, and only because I was trying to figure a way out of this by myself. The more I think about it, the more it becomes clear to me that the only way out for me is to just go back to Eva and forget that I ever had this fairytale life.
"You're not going back to her mia moglie. You're not leaving me behind."
I looked up to find that it was just my husband and I left in the room. I didn't even hear everyone else leave. I looked at him and found tears in his eyes, which brought tears to my own eyes. I cupped his cheek.
"What choice do I have?" I whispered.
"Trust me, that is all I ask. Trust me to make this right," he pleaded. I leaned in and kissed him softly.
"I trust you Raphael. Don't disappoint me," I said.
"I will not disappoint you or our family. I promise you on our marriage," he said strongly, wiping away my tears.
"Let me go and plan the banquet. There's a lot to be done tomorrow," I sighed.
"I have a big surprise for you," he said excitedly.
"Am I pregnant and I don't know it?" I joked.
"Pssh, I wish, but no. I've signed a huge deal that involves two mergers and a takeover," he informed.
"I don't understand," I scowled.
"It wasn't easy, and the next couple of months are going to be complicated at the Empire, but I've managed to get Chang to merge with us, as well as Maestri Industries, while your father has officially handed over Hartley Incorporated," he explained.
"What?" I whispered.
"I was serious Ari. I know you, and I know that while your businesses excite you now, they will annoy you down the line and you'll find yourself wanting to be home more. Well, I want that too. I want to spend more time with you, Lewis and the girls. I want us to have more children. I want to spend time loving you, appreciating you. I want to be the best husband and father, so I want to cut back on everything and be home more, and in order to do that, I need to entrust our Empire in capable hands. It doesn't get any more capable than Chang and Fabius, and the rest will be divided amongst our family members. At the banquet, we'll announce the Chang merger and the Hartley Inc. takeover since we can't announce the Maestri Industries merger. It will rai-"
I stopped him from speaking by kissing him. This man just continuously amazes me at every turn. I'm not stupid, so I know just how much his company means to him, and to hear him say that he was shedding responsibility so that he could be a better husband and father was just breathtaking.
"I love you Raphael Maestri," I said breathlessly when we pulled apart.
"I love you too Aretha Maestri, so much," he said before kissing me again.
When we left the room, we agreed that we'd have dinner together, so that's when we would see each other next. He needed to go and meet up with Chang at Chang's offices, while I had a banquet to plan.
"So, I've sent out all the invitations as you requested," Malia informed me as I walked into the lobby.
"That was quick," I frowned.
"I'm good at my job, sue me," she winked.
"Yeah, yeah. Has Adrienne come in yet?" I asked.
"She just arrived fifteen minutes ago. Would you like me to alert her that you're looking for her?" she asked.
"Please tell her I'll be waiting in the main conference room," I nodded.
"Got it," she said before walking away.
Handling Adrienne would be different this time around because I was facing her alone. I needed to understand some things, as well as possibly find out what she knows about the whole Daniel and Shelby scandal.
"You asked to see me," she said, walking into the room.
"Yeah. You're fired, but before you go, I need to understand some things," I told her. She sighed, taking a seat.
"I figured it would come down to this. What do you want to know?" she asked.
"You mean you're willing to tell me everything?" I asked.
"I'll answer your questions to the best of my abilities Aretha," she said blankly.
"Why did you betray me?" I started off.
"I was always threatened by you. You're beautiful, kind hearted and everyone pretty much loves you. I thought that maybe if I had your job, it would be the same for me, except I quickly learnt that there's only one you, and I'll never be like you," she confessed.
"What about Shelby? Why work with her of all people?" I asked.
"When I found out that she was planning on firing you on grounds of corporate espionage, I went with it. I wasn't exactly working with her. I just gave her the boost she needed that morning when I saw you leave Daniel's car. I was pissed off about that," she replied.
"How come?" I questioned.
"Daniel is my boyfriend and he promised that he wouldn't ever call you again," she spat.
Wait, what?
"Hold on, you went ahead and dated my ex-fiancé, while we were still friends?" I asked incredulously.
"Like I said, I was threatened by you. When you broke it off with him, he hit on me and I took my chance. I finally had something of yours," she replied.
"And my job was next," I finished off knowingly, to which she nodded.
"Everything was fine between us until you called him again. Things were rough then, but they went back to normal after you left for Italy," she informed.
"Are you aware that he has relationships with other women?" I asked. She looked like she couldn't believe what I was telling her.
"Wow, even now, when you have everything, you're still trying to take my one bit of happiness away from me?" she said, appalled.
"I'm doing nothing of the sort. Believe it or not, a part of me truly believes that you deserve the best, despite everything. Daniel is not the least bit faithful to you. I spoke to one of the women he slept with just yesterday earlier today. He bailed Shelby out of prison, and I'm pretty sure there might be something with them too. You deserve way better than Daniel, Adrienne, and I'm not saying that with malicious intent," I told her honestly. She had tears in her eyes.
"I'm nothing without him. You're lying to me, and I won't let you ruin my life like this. He told me we were going to get married," she sniffed.
"Alright, even if that's true, I would still suggest you get as far away from him as you can. He has the feds investigating him, and I doubt you want to get wrapped up in that mess," I told her.
"Why should I believe you? You can't still be good to me after everything I've done," she denied.
"I don't hold grudges Adrienne, and neither do I wish you any negative things just because you're human. Look at it this way, I'm happy with my life right now. Had everything not gone the way it had on that day, I wouldn't have moved away to live with my new family. I wouldn't be sitting across from you with the title that comes with my name. I am in no way thanking you for all that you did, but I don't hold it against you either. I also don't believe that you should suffer, which I can guarantee you will if you stay with Daniel. Cut your ties now and move on. If you need money to start over somewhere else, I'll help you. You had big dreams Adrienne, and you can still achieve them. Just go far away from here and start over," I advised.
She was silently crying, and I didn't say anything or interrupt her. I simply passed her my packet of pocket tissues and let her cry it out. I felt bad for her. She'd been a pawn to evil people and negative emotions. That doesn't mean she suddenly deserves to suffer.
"He's planning something big. It's supposed to go down tomorrow night and it involves his new line and something called Project Aries," she suddenly informed. Raphael had already told me that Daniel found a way to make Project Aries a thing.
"Why tell me?" I asked curiously.
"Because you still care. If I'm going to be leaving this life behind, then I might as well leave having done some good. I don't know if you know about his brother Jordan, but he's in town. From what I know, Daniel hates him, but they're working together with something, so he's helping him out. Also, Celine White's father is being held in his apartment. A woman by the name of Eva brought him there about two days ago, but she was not happy. She and Daniel got into a huge fight about some woman. I didn't catch the woman's name, but apparently this Eva lady was not happy that Daniel was in communication with her again. He denied the whole thing before the woman left," she informed.
"They didn't know you were there?" I asked.
"No, they didn't," she shook her head.
"I know it doesn't mean much, but thank you for everything that you've just told me. It means a lot to me," I admitted.
"Thank you for still believing that I can be saved. I forgot just how much of a good person you are," she said with a small smile.
"You're most welcome," I returned the smile.
We worked everything out in terms of her new life, and I called and asked Sven to set everything up for her. By the time she left, she said she was going to get her stuff and be on the first flight out of Washington.
"Cara mia, why is Sven putting together a new life for someone?" my husband asked over the phone.
"Aren't you supposed to be busy?" I sighed.
"Ari, what's going on?" he instead questioned.
"I'm setting Adrienne up with a whole new life. I got some important intel from her, so I only thought it fair to give her something in return," I replied.
"And you trust her intel?" he asked.
"There's only one way to find out. Daniel's hosting a big event tomorrow involving his new line and Project Aries, so if you can find out if that's true, then we'll know for sure," I told him.
"Hold on," he said, before I was met by silence for a few seconds.
"Chang says it's true and he even got an invite. Either Daniel doesn't know that we're working together, or he's that sure of himself," he informed.
"I'm going to go with both just to be safe. So now what?" I asked.
"We'll go over whatever it is that Adrienne told you when we have dinner. For now, just continue with planning the banquet and stay safe. I love you cara mia," he said.
"I love you too caro," I replied before hanging up.
Putting together a banquet at the last minute is borderline impossible. It only helps that people are easily persuaded by money. They were charging exorbitant amounts, but for once I wasn't letting that much get to me.
"Hey pretty lady," Jonathan said as he found me. I was hiding in the kitchens.
"Hey," I greeted before taking a bite of my cake.
"You're here eating cake while everyone else is out there slaving away for you. Shame on you," he chuckled, grabbing a fork. He joined me, and from the look on his face, I can only guess he understood why I was here.
"I couldn't help it. I needed a break," I pouted.
"Mhmm! Well, I can get you out of here on condition you help me," he bargained.
"I'm listening," I narrowed my eyes at him.
"As I'm sure she's told you, the love of my life feels suffocated by us. She told me about wanting to slow things down, and she's pretty much terrified that I'm going to change my mind about her. I want to get her something to show her that I'm going nowhere and we can take things as slowly as she wants. Everything else in our relationship has happened quickly you know, so I get where she's coming from, but these pregnancy hormones are going to drive her crazy," he sighed.
"What were you thinking?" I giggled.
"I wouldn't be talking to you if I had it figured out Rita," he said, deadpan.
"Ok, ok. Let's get out of here and see what we find at the mall," I laughed.
We managed to sneak out without being spotted by anyone. I annoyed him the whole way to the mall by tampering with his radio. It's apparently a habit I share with Rhonda, a habit he felt he'd been condemned to dealing with for life.
"Oh cheer up Jono. Pop bands are so the in thing," I teased as we walked into the mall.
"I'm not even the least bit interested in anything you have to say to me right now," he muttered.
"Then I might as well go back to the hotel," I sang.
"Ok fine! I will put up with you until you've helped me," he stopped me from leaving.
"That doesn't sound nice, just for the record," I pointed out.
"I wasn't trying to be nice in the first place. I just need you to do this one thing and then you can be about your merry boring life," he joked.
"Gee, for someone who needs my help, you're really coming along with those compliments," I said dryly.
"You know I love you Rita," he laughed.
"Because your words were just sprinkled with love," I rolled my eyes.
"Don't make me pull the best friend card," he threatened.
"Excuse you? You've overused your best friend favours. I don't even know what I've gained from this friendship," I joked, making him gasp.
"I'm the reason you even have a husband!" he said, appalled.
"You married us?" I asked amusedly.
"I may as well have," he scoffed.
"Someone holds themselves in the highest regard," I taunted.
"Let's just do what we came to do so that I can be free of all of this negativity. Seriously Rita, you're messing with a man's good vibes," he said dramatically before walking into a jewellery store.
I could only laugh as I followed after him. People like Jonathan are needed in a person's life to keep them sane. He always manages to make me forget about the serious parts of life and constantly reminds me that laughing is a bigger part of life than most.
However, I was also ready to kill him.
You know how you can get when you know what you want to get a person, but at the same time you don't? You want to get them the perfect gift, but everything just doesn't seem close to perfect. I was dealing with a man in that very situation.
"Jono, we've been here for three hours and the shops are starting to close. Could you please make up your mind?" I pleaded.
"Nothing is close to what I have in mind," he complained.
"And what do you have in mind?" I dared to ask.
"I don't know, but I'll know when I see it," he said sheepishly.
See?
"You're impossible," I sighed.
"A diamond necklace isn't enough Rita, especially since it's not something she particularly likes," he pointed out.
"I think I've got it," I said before telling him my idea.
Luckily for me, he liked it.
We did everything that we needed to do, and by the time we were done, most of the stores were closed. We headed back to the hotel and Rhonda was in the lobby, pacing. She threw daggers at us the moment she spotted us.
"Where have the two of you been?" she asked.
"We went to get you a gift," I said honestly.
"What? Why?" she frowned.
"Because you deserve all the gifts in the world," Jonathan said, handing her the box.
Inside the box were two smaller boxes; a rectangular one, and a square one. There was also an envelope. I held the box while she opened the rectangular box. In it was a necklace with the letters JB, separated by a heart.
She smiled at that before putting the box back. She grabbed the envelope, which was actually a very cute idea on my part. We bought a premade wedding invitation, and on it, Jono wrote a random date two years from now. He wanted to show her that he didn't mind waiting, and while she looked at the invitation, he grabbed the square box without her noticing.
"What's this?" she asked, only to look up and find him kneeling.
"Once again, I find myself doing this in a random place, but I don't care. I know that you're worried that I'll change my mind about us because you want us to take things slow, and since you're stubborn and don't want to listen to me when I'm being ordinary, I thought I'd pull an Ambrosi and do something extravagant. So Miss Riviera, love of my life, will you please take things slow with me and promise me that you won't leave me when I eventually bore and irritate the living daylights out of you, while also turning our child against you?"
Both Rhonda and I laughed at his second proposal, with the difference being that she was crying. She nodded and he slipped the ring on her other hand before getting up to kiss her. People around us were cheering, even though I'm pretty sure a whole lot of them probably thought that this was a proposal.
"I love you Jo," she said happily.
"And I love you my munchkin. I'm not going anywhere," he added.
"I believe you now. Is this the date we're getting married?" she asked.
"I don't even know what day of the week it will be then. I chose a random day," he admitted.
"I say we get married then. There's a reason you chose this day," she smiled.
"Anything for you," he shrugged, smiling.
"You guys are too cute! Is Rafe here yet?" I asked Rhonda.
"I haven't seen him," she replied just as Malia came towards us.
"Sorry to interrupt you, but Rita, I've just been told that there's someone waiting for you in the main conference room," she informed.
"Alright! Please excuse me guys," I told my best friends.
"We'll see you tomorrow girlie," Rhonda said before squealing as Jono picked her up.
"What she said," he added before they walked to the elevator with my best friend in a fit of giggles.
It warms my heart to see her so happy.
"I'll walk with you and update you on the way," Malia said.
"That's good with me. How's everything coming along?" I asked as we walked towards the conference room.
"It's actually coming together. People have RSVP'd, so we actually have a full guest list," she replied.
"Any hiccups?" I asked. We were nearing the conference room.
"Just some problems with the catering company, but I told them that we'd look for someone if they didn't get their act together," she informed just as I opened the door to the conference room. We both froze at who was waiting for me.
"Hello pet," she smirked.
"Oh my God!" Malia gasped. Eva looked at her weirdly.
"Eva, what the hell are you doing here?" I asked her.
"Did you just call her Eva?" Malia asked me.
"Yes, why?" I asked.
"Because that's my sister," she said, visibly shocked.
"What?" I whispered.
"Eva is Gabi Hart."
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