In Love With My Bully-Chapter 97: Big Mistake

Both men turned to see Richard standing at the doorway, his gaze shifting between them.

"Yes, sir," Drake replied smoothly. "Just a little bro chat."

Liam straightened, his confident smirk returning. "I should probably get back to my fiancée. Guests are waiting."

Richard nodded, watching as Liam walked back inside. The second he was gone, Richard turned his attention to Drake.

"You know," he started, stepping onto the balcony, "years ago, in this very spot, when Queen was just a baby, I asked a friend for a ridiculous favor."

Drake frowned, unsure where this was going.

"I was convinced I was putting my wife in danger," Richard continued, his voice lower now, almost reflective. "So I made a stupid decision. Thought I was doing the right thing."

Drake remained silent, listening.

Richard turned to him fully. "What I’m trying to say is that love makes you do stupid things. But whatever you do, son, don’t let your decisions take you too far from the person you love."

Drake froze.

He looked at Richard sharply.

He knew.

Queen’s father had noticed.

Drake felt a wave of embarrassment wash over him, but before he could say anything, Richard patted his shoulder and walked back inside.

Drake ran a hand down his face.

Damn it.

He was about to follow when Chayara stepped out.

"Hey."

Chay’s voice was soft as she joined him on the balcony.

Drake turned to her, grateful for the distraction. "Hey."

"I’m sorry," she said, sighing. "I had to get out of there. I can’t watch that."

Drake nodded. "I know. But we’re not in high school anymore, where we get to play superhero and stop her from making bad choices."

Chay exhaled, leaning against the railing. "So we just watch her walk into the biggest mistake of her life?"

Drake sighed. "Guess so."

A beat of silence passed between them.

Then Chay shifted, her fingers twisting together.

"Speaking of mistakes... I... uhm..." She took a breath, her voice quieter now. "I need to tell you something about how I feel—"

"Come on, guys! Picture time!"

Queen’s voice rang from inside, cutting Chay off.

Drake turned to the room full of guests, then back at her.

Chay hesitated, as if debating whether to finish her sentence, but in the end, she didn’t.

Instead, she sighed, offering him a small, unreadable smile.

Drake didn’t know why he did it, but before he could stop himself, he reached for her hand.

Their fingers intertwined.

For a moment, she looked at him with something he couldn’t quite decipher.

Then he walked back inside with her, her confession momentarily forgotten.

*****

The wedding preparations were moving at the speed of light or more appropriately put, at Queen’s speed.

She was a woman on a mission. Two weeks after the proposal, she wanted to be Mrs Falco.

Her parents weren’t thrilled.

Nita at least wanted to get to know the guy before Queen ran down the aisle. freeweɓnovel.cѳm

Richard? Oh, Richard knew exactly what was happening.

His daughter wasn’t in love, she was just in a hurry.

She wasn’t marrying Liam because she thought he was her soulmate. She was marrying him because she wanted the CEO title on her desk yesterday.

Drake was avoiding Queen like the plague.

Because every time he saw her, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to shake her or kiss her.

And that was a problem.

So, instead, he threw himself into work, which, fortunately for him, included spending a lot of time with Chayara, who was now the official fashion consultant for Numero Corps.

As he stood outside the massive glass entrance of the company’s fashion design building, he watched Chay try not to hyperventilate.

"This is crazy," Chay muttered, smoothing out her blazer. "I’m supposed to walk in there, look at people’s designs, and decide that some of their work isn’t up to standard? Do you know how many people are going to hate me?"

Drake smirked and threw an arm around her. "You’ll be fine. And if things start getting too tense, I’ll signal you to take it down a notch."

Chay exhaled slowly, then nodded. "Okay. Yeah. I got this."

"Good." He patted her shoulder. "I just need to check in with the advertising department head real quick. Give me five minutes."

With that, he turned and disappeared down the hallway.

Chay took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and marched up to the receptionist’s desk.

The receptionist, a woman with sharp cheekbones and an even sharper attitude, barely glanced at her before continuing whatever extremely important task she was pretending to do.

Chay cleared her throat. "Hi. I’m Miss Numero. I’m scheduled to visit the design department today."

The receptionist blinked, slowly dragging her gaze up from her keyboard.

Then she sized Chay up.

A long pause.

Without a word, she picked up the phone, mumbled something, and went right back to ignoring Chay like she wasn’t even there.

Great start.

A few minutes later, a man in his mid-thirties, overdressed for no reason, stormed over.

"Where is Miss Numero?"

The receptionist pointed to Chay with all the enthusiasm of someone directing traffic.

Chay smiled politely. "Hi, I’m Miss Numero. I need to..."

"What nonsense is this?" The man scoffed. "What do you mean you’re Miss Numero?"

Chay blinked. "I... am?"

The man folded his arms, eyeing her jeans and blazer.

"Do you think we’ll just let you into the building if you throw that name around?" He rolled his eyes. "Please, get out before we call security."

Chay stared at him.

Surely, surely, this was a joke.

"But I am..."

"If you’re going to pretend to be a Numero," the man interrupted, "you could at least make an effort."

Chay looked down at herself. She was wearing a perfectly acceptable outfit. Classic jeans. A fitted blazer. Flats because, you know, comfort.

Was this man really out here gatekeeping fashion?

"Leave now, please," he added, as if she were some random intern who had wandered in by mistake.

"Is there a problem here?"

Drake’s voice cut through the tension as he reappeared, looking casually lethal in his tailored suit.

The man turned, immediately going into corporate peacock mode.

"And who are you?"

Drake smiled, slow and not at all friendly. "I’m Drake Houston, Director of Business Development."

The man blinked. "Oh."

Drake’s gaze flicked between him and the receptionist. "Now, what exactly is the issue?"

The man huffed, folding his arms. "This tramp waltzed in here claiming to be Miss Numero..."

Drake’s entire expression shut down.

"If I were you," Drake said, voice dangerously even, "I’d stop talking."

The man swallowed.

Drake took a step closer. "This is Miss Numero. And you will show her some respect."

The man sputtered. "I... I don’t even know you! Why should I listen to you?"

"I would love to see your face the moment you realise how badly you fucked up."

Drake leaned in slightly, lowering his voice to a growl. "And just so you know, I’m personally going to push for you to be fired today."

The man rolled his eyes, unfazed. "I don’t know if you two are thieves or spies trying to peek at our designs before they hit the market, but..."

"Enough," Chay sighed, already tired of this circus act. She pulled out her phone and called Queen.

The moment Queen picked up, Chay didn’t bother with pleasantries.

"Hey, did you inform the design team that I was coming? Because they won’t let me in."

Queen huffed on the other end. "What?"

"Yeah."

Silence.

Then Queen’s voice turned icy.

"Give me five minutes."

The call ended.

Chay patted Drake’s arm, urging him to stay calm. His jaw was so tight she was afraid his teeth might shatter.

Exactly fifteen minutes later, the front doors slammed open, and Queen strutted in.

The entire room fell silent.

Queen Numero looked drop-dead gorgeous in a powerful white suit, her hair sleek and shiny, makeup flawless. She carried herself like a queen who had just descended from Olympus to deal with mere mortals.

She stopped beside Chay, the temperature in the room dropping to sub-zero.

"Miss Numero!" The man almost bowed. "Thank God you’re here! This woman...she thinks she can fool us..."

Queen didn’t blink.

"For the love of God, stop talking, Mr. Kincaid."

His mouth snapped shut.

Queen turned to Chay. "Come with me."

Chayara smirked at Kincaid as she and Drake followed Queen into a sleek glass-walled conference room.

Kincaid followed them inside.

Queen sat at the head of the table, her presence a gravitational force. Drake and Chayara sat beside her, watching the show unfold.

Queen folded her hands on the table and smiled. "Mr. Kincaid."

He swallowed. "Yes, Miss Numero?"

"My assistant sent you an email personally about my new consultant coming in today, correct?"

"Yes, I received it, and I was waiting for..."

"Waiting?" Queen’s perfectly shaped eyebrow lifted.

Kincaid shifted in his chair. "Yes, and then this woman showed up and introduced herself as Miss Numero..."

"She is Miss Numero."

"But..."

"See, you could have picked up the phone to confirm. You could have checked her credentials. You could have asked for an ID. But instead, you embarrassed a member of my family."

Mr. Kincaid sweated bullets.