Planning Bliss (Bliss Series Book 1)

The Wedding Planner - Part One

The Wedding Planner

Part One

I stood at the threshold, mouth agape, unwilling to believe what I had witnessed. I didn't even remember walking away from the fight. If there was a patron saint of wedding planners I would've prayed to him/her by now. A tug on my hand jolted me.

Isobel glared at everyone in the room while she kept pulling on my hand. "Nica, c'mon. Let's leave this circus!" Her voice wasn't soft at all and it echoed throughout the room.

I had broken up fights before, but never to this degree, and I always had security (Chase) around me. And never had it involved people I deeply cared for. I turned towards the hallway where Trent and Landon were trying to keep up with a very angry Jake. Then a loud sob brought my attention back to the room.

Sandrine had collapsed back on the floor, and was sobbing her mascara off. Her shoulders shook as she mumbled words into her palms. Her father knelt on one knee beside her, patting his daughter's back. Vivienne stood proud and angry, glaring in my direction with pure hatred in her eyes towards my direction. Hadn't she realize that like her, I was only a witness to this whole debacle? Was she blaming me for this?

Gaspard stayed seated on the parquet floor, carefully rubbing the blood off his lip and chin. An egg-sized contusion had started to form underneath his left eye. Jake had done quite some damage on this man's beautiful face. Gaspard's perfectly regal nose looked twisted. No doubt it was broken.

"Nica, let's go." Isobel tugged again.

In two strides, Levi stood before me. "Go with him. Make sure he doesn't pull any more stupid stunts. He's done a hell of a lot of damage here. I'll check on you later," he said to me and Isobel. Levi grabbed my arm carefully. For a moment, I thought he'd pull me into an embrace and tell me that everything would be okay, but he didn't. He stared into my eyes with what seemed an apologetic look, then he walked away.

I turned and gave in to Isobel's pull. I had taken a couple of steps when some unknown force made me turn back. And I wished I hadn't. Levi stood facing Sandrine. Her face was buried in his chest. His arms were wrapped around her and his hand was rubbing her back. His lips touched the top of her head.

Levi had chosen Sandrine over Jake. He had chosen her over his best friend. Moreover, he had chosen her over me.

I bit my lip when I felt that unexpected stab of jealousy. I had no claim on Levi. He wasn't mine. We had no relationship. With no other choice, I walked forward until the cool night air greeted me. I tried and failed to erase that last picture on my mind.

Jake had left with his cousins. Isobel and I were left to take the car that had brought me to the manor. The ride back to my hotel was unexpectedly quiet.

"Can we get something to eat? I'm starving," Isobel asked when I made the move to get out of the car.

I wasn't hungry. The events of the night had drained me. My thoughts throughout the ride had left me queasy. Food was the last thing in my mind and I feared that anything I took in would eventually make its way up again. But as a classic people pleaser, I gave in.

She chose the first restaurant that suited her just south of my hotel. It had old world charms with red velvet curtains and gilded chandeliers. It unfortunately reminded me of the manor, and made me wonder what could be happening there at the moment.

Without looking through the menu, I asked for soup in plain English, without a care whether our server understood me or not. I patiently waited for Isobel to decide and attempt to order her dinner in French.

As soon as our server left, I couldn't help the questions from spilling out."Who the hell is Gaspard? And why was he there? What was it about him that made Jake tick?"