"My, my, my." Anthony spoke as Isabella and I walked down the right staircase. "Look at how gorgeous you ladies look. If only I wasn't married."
"As if that has ever stopped you before." Isabella spoke with a roll of her eyes.
But she really did look beautiful in her short ivory dress while I on the other hand felt awkward and uncomfortable in the red gown Isabella had thrown me in.
Anthony beamed at me. I had to admit, he looked ridiculously handsome in his tuxedo.
He held out his hand for me. I hesitantly took it. I was taken a back when he placed a soft kiss on my gloved knuckles.
"You look ravishing, Miss King."
For a minute I hesitated wondering what he meant then I remembered that that was supposed to be my name. Katelyn King.
According to Isabella, it sounded more sophisticated.
"Oh right, um... Thank Mr Callahan." I told him.
He gave me a small smile. "You're gonna have to work on that Katie-Kat." He spoke. I didn't appreciate the nickname but I had a feeling there was no stopping Anthony Callahan when he gave you a nickname. "And by the way, as flattered as I am, tonight, there's only one Mr Callahan and that's the birthday boy."
"So what am I supposed to call you?"
He gave me a charming smile. "I think Anthony works."
I slapped my forehead. "Right."
My head was already spinning with everything Isabella had been drilling into my head.
Thankfully most of them weren't lies so I wouldn't have trouble remembering them.
For example,
●Apparently, I was an aspiring model from San Francisco who moved to New York hoping to get discovered. (Lie)
●I'm an orphan and an heiress. (True)
After my parents and brother passed on, I inherited everything. From their houses, to the law firm and country club owned. My brother, who was also a lawyer left everything in my name.
But I didn't have the heart to use any of their money or even touch it, I couldn't even live in their houses, it reminded me too much of them. I got a small apartment on the opposite side of town and a job at a little restaurant.
●I met Jason at a coffee shop. (Lie)
In fact the only thing I've ever seen Jason drink is alcohol.
●I play polo. (True)
I was on my school's polo team actually.
Isabella insisted on having me change little details about myself like my birthday, where I went to school, where I lived.
They were all little details but the thing is that those little things are what make me, me.
"Well, Miss King, you better brace yourself because everyone will want to know anything and everything about Jason Callahan's new girl." Isabella told me. If I wasn't mistaken I swear I detected the slightest hint of jealousy in her tone.
It was bad enough that I was 'dating' Jason with Alex still in my life but now it was affecting my best friend.
Anthony threw his arm around Isabella.
"Definitely true. Ask Isabella, when she got engaged to Jason, everyone wanted to know about her; from the clothes she wore down to the toilet paper she used."
It was weird how I never noticed Isabella and Alex on the media. Sure I have never been the type of person who worried herself about the rich and famous. But since I found out about them, I had started to notice the little things that should have been apparent before.
Like how even in Florence people would come up to them and ask if they had seen them somewhere. Even now as I checked out the popular gossip sites, there were plenty of pictures of Jason with both Alex and Isabella by his side.
I can't believe I had chosen to be so ignorant to not notice these little things.
But even I had to admit that I wanted to be ignorant. Alex and Isabella had come into my life at a time when I really needed friends.
"How am I going to pull this off?" I asked in frustration.
"Don't worry, Katie-Kat, Jason will be by your side the whole time." Anthony reassured me.
I saw Isabella look away.
This must have been hurting her much more than I presumed. She was just reconnecting with the man she loved and now she had to watch him parade me around as his girlfriend.
"Talking about me again, brother? You know, I'm starting to think you're a little bit obsessed with me."
I watched as Jason walked into the room with his hands in the pockets of his pants closely followed by Alex.
Holy mother of pearl! The Lord really did bless the Callahan genes.
"Oh Jason, get rid of that big head before I come and do it for you." Anthony told his brother as he walked up to him and gave him a playful punch in the gut.
I couldn't help but admire the three of them. They all wore perfectly fitted designer tuxedos except Anthony's was black, Jason's a royal blue and Alex looked incredibly hot in a white jacket and black pants.
"I have to admit, you boys do look dashing." Isabella spoke as she stepped forward and smiled at the three of them.
Jason smirked at her. "And you look so sexy, Bella."
He turned to look at me and he did a double take. For a minute he just stared and as usual I felt uncomfortable under his lingering eyes.
"Unbelievably gorgeous, right?" Anthony spoke up bringing Jason out of his temporary daze.
"Um... yeah... you clean up well." He muttered before moving to Isabella and putting an arm around her waist.
Anthony rose a brow. "Why aren't they trying to murder each other?" He asked seeming as weirded out as we had.
"Didn't you hear?" Alex asked. "They're back to ripping each others clothes off any time they get."
"Well hate to break it to you but there will be no ripping off of clothes tonight." Anthony spoke as he pulled Jason away from Isabella by his collar. "We need you on your best 'fake boyfriend' behaviour tonight."
Jason glared at his older brother obviously not happy about being taken away from Isa.
"Now are we all ready to put on the best performance of our lives?" Anthony exclaimed as he put his hands together. "Oh and by the way, if we fail the Boss will probably murder us all slowly and painfully... but no pressure." He spoke.
"That's quite the pep talk, brother." Alex muttered.
Anthony shrugged and patted his back. "Just telling it like it is, brother. Now if you'll excuse me, I am going to pick up the bundle of joy that is my wife." He said the last part dryly.
Before he left the room, he turned around and pointed at us. "Do not be late."
Jason looked at his watch then back at Isa.
"Looks like we have about twenty more minutes until we have to leave. Wanna sneak away?" He asked her in a low voice.
Isabella smirked at him. "And disobey Anthony's direct orders?" She let out an exaggerated gasp, putting her hand on her chest. "I'm in." She spoke as she grabbed Jason's hand and led him away.
I didn't miss the look Jason gave Alex as Jason. I couldn't quite figure out what it meant but it looked urgent.
Speaking of Alex, he stood away from me. It's then that I realised that he hadn't touched me since he left earlier with Jason.
"Hey Harry." I greeted him with a smile making sure to use his proper name.
He gave me a smile that I could tell was forced.
"That's going to take some getting used to coming from you."
"Tell me about it." I let out a sigh. "But it won't be as hard as getting used to being without you." I spoke in a small voice.
He kept up that strained smile.
"You really do look beautiful, red is really your colour."
This time he didn't even try to force a smile.
Alex and Isabella were scheduled to leave after the Boss's party tonight and the fact that I would have to say goodbye to them soon was becoming more and more real and I fought the urge to just break down and admit to Alex how scared I really was.
"Katie, we need to talk." He spoke in a small voice.
There was a look of utter sadness on his face that worried me.
"What's wrong?" I asked as I took a step forward but to my surprise he flinched and I immediately froze in my position.
He has never reacted like that to me.
"Alex." I whispered.
He shut his eyes and I knew he only did that when he was trying to get himself together.
I frowned. Had I done something wrong?
He opened his eyes and let out a deep breath.
"I need to tell you something..." his voice cracked. "It's really important."
I hated seeing him like this, I wanted to run into his arms right there and then but I didn't want to upset him even more. He had made it clear that he didn't want me anywhere near him.
"You can tell me anything, baby. You know that." I told him softly.
"I don't think you can forgive me for this one."
A tear, an actual tear slid down his cheek.
This time I didn't waste time in running up to him and wrapping my arms around him in a hug.
He didn't hug back.
"I did something really bad, Kate."
He never called me Kate, it was always 'Katie' or 'babe'. Never Kate.
I pulled away and looked up at him.
"Whatever it is, you can tell me, I won't be mad."
He looked down at me and I saw guilt and remorse written on his face.
"I'm so sorry." He muttered as he shook his head in sadness.
I took his hands in mine. "Sorry for what baby?"
He refused to meet my eyes, he opened his mouth but nothing but a choking sound came out. He took in another deep breath to calm himself down before opening his mouth again.
"Kate, the truth is I-"
"Harry!"
He was interrupted by Isabella who came storming into the room not looking happy at all. Jason was right behind her looking somewhat irritated.
Alex turned to face her.
"What do you think you're doing?" She whisper/yelled.
Alex still had that sombre look on his face.
"Elle mérite de savoir." He told her
I looked at them in confusion not understanding anything that they were saying.
Isabella suddenly pointed furiously at Jason.
'Tu ne vois pas ce qu'il fait? Il essaie juste de la tourner contre toi pour qu'elle parte''
Jason just stood in a corner with his hands folded looking unfazed by the whole ordeal.
Alexs' eyes flashed to his cousin and for a minute I saw hatred in them before they melted back into sadness.
He looked back at Isa.
"Quoi qu'il en soit, il a raison. Elle mérite de savoir"
Isabella surprised me by shoving Alex a little.
"Idiota! Voulez-vous réapparaître? Je sais que tu aimes Kate. Vous l'aimez plus que vous n'avez jamais aimé personne et sûr qu'elle devra découvrir finalement mais pas maintenant, pas quand vous partez de ville ce soir!"
I perked up at the sound of my name.
I had been silent because I thought this was family related but as I heard my name I knew it had something to do with me.
"What's going on?" I spoke up.
All three of them looked at me as if they just realised that I was in the room.
It was Jason who spoke.
"Nothing." He muttered. "We should get going."
He walked towards me and grabbed my arm.
He gave one last look at Alex. "My condition still stands."
Jason dragged me away before I could say anything else.
Fear from how Alex had been behaving and from not understanding what the conversation that had transpired among the three of them had been sparked inside of me.
Alex had seemed remorseful, Isabella angry and Jason... well aside from a little anger and irritation he seemed emotionless and that led me to one conclusion.
"Where are you taking me?" I gasped as I started resisting his force.
"The limo." He spoke in irritation as he tugged on my hand with more force.
"Then what are you going to do with me?" I asked as I tried to put in more resistance which proved useless because he was much stronger than me.
"Then we're going to go to the party." He spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Where else would I-"
He suddenly stopped and turned to look at me. There was an amused look on his face combined with shock. "You think I'm going to kill you." There was almost a laugh at the end of his sentence.
I finally managed to pull out of his grip.
"I wouldn't be surprised if you tried to." I muttered as I took a step back.
A smirk grew on his face. "Relax. No one is going to hurt you... at least not in the way you expect." He spoke.
I turned around to look in the direction of the hallway we had come from.
"I want to talk to Alex." I spoke. He couldn't blame me for not trusting his word.
Jason rolled his eyes. "I think we can both establish that Harry" he put emphasis on the name. "Isn't exactly in the right mood to talk to anyone." He muttered bitterly.
"What happened in there?" I demanded. "What was all that about?"
"Nothing." Jason spoke in a tone that suggested he didn't want any further questions on the matter.
But he was stupid if he thought I was going to accept that.
"That was not nothing!" I yelled shocking him.
Wow, he must really not be used to people talking back to him.
I felt my hands start to shake. I hardly ever yelled at anyone and the whole ordeal was overwhelming.
"Just tell me if he's okay." I spoke in a shaky voice.
What was going on with Alex? What had disturbed him so much? He seemed fixed on the idea that I wouldn't forgive him.
Nothing he ever did could ever make me hate him. I loved him. Didn't he know that?
I was taken by surprise when Jason slowly walked up to me and took my hands in his.
I looked up into those hazel eyes, those cold hazel eyes that seemed locked up.
"He's going to be okay. Right now, all you have to do is put on a brave face and make it through this night. Do it for him." Jason told me.
I looked back hoping to at least catch a glimpse of Alex.
"Do you promise?" I whispered.
"What?" Jason asked in confusion. I knew that he had heard me.
"Do you promise that he's going to be okay?" I spoke, this time with more force.
Jason hesitated before nodding firmly.
"He'll be okay."
I didn't know if I should have believed him. Alex seemed really sad, what had he done that was so bad?