The FaceTime call to Allison takes a bit of time to connect up. I lay down on the bed on my side, propping myself up on my elbow and holding my phone out with the opposite hand. It feels like it's been forever since I've seen my best friends face but not since I last spoke to her.
I did phone her saying I was engaged before she got the text message from myself or heard from someone else. She was happy and said she knew Luca was going to ask me to marry him because he not only asked my dad for his permission, but he asked her for hers. It was sweet of him to include her because he'll have no choice but to put up with her more now that we're to be married.
Although, if I'm being honest, I wasn't sure if she'd be all too happy for us considering how fragile her breakup with Greg is but she was beyond happy. She knew from the off that things with Luca and I would go down this path and I can't say I disagree because I had an inkling they would at some point down the line. Just not this quick.
"Baby girl," Allison's voice booms to me as soon as she answers the FaceTime call. She blows me a kiss and I smile brightly at her. "Show it to me."
I don't waste time in showing her my engagement ring because I know that's what she means. I also knew that that is what she would ask to see as soon as I decided to contact her.
"That it?" Her face screws up in disgust. "He's worth so many billions and that's what he buys you?"
"Hey, he did buy me a very expensive ring but I chose this one." I defend. I look at my engagement ring and smile. "This has more meaning behind it. This was the ring he was going to propose with when we were first together."
"That can't be the same ring. I remember that ring and that doesn't look anything like it."
"It most likely is but you can't really see it on this. You're better off seeing it in real life then make the judgment call."
"Yeah, you're probably right." She takes a drink from her cup and points to me while swallowing. "When are you coming home?"
"I, uh, don't know." I look past my phone and flash Luca a small smile as he walks out of the dressing room while doing up the cuffs of his black shirt. "There's a lot happening at this side of the pond in both the business and personal sense."
"Oh, gossip. Tell me more."
I can see Luca nodding away in the background, giving me the go ahead to tell Allison about Nadia and everything else that's happening.
I clear my throat. "Do you want the long version or the short version?"
"Is there a difference?" She shrugs.
"Not really when it comes down to it."
"Alright." She sits back further on the dark grey couch, crosses her legs, and grabs her cup of coffee from the coffee table. "I'm all set to go."
"The day Luca and I got engaged, Nadia turned up out of the blue." I inform, getting straight to the point.
Allison splutters her coffee and coughs. "His ex that left him to look after Louisa?"
"Yes," I confirm.
"Shit."
"And that's not the worst thing that's happened."
She raises a brow. "And what is the worst thing that's happened?"
"She's filed for custody of Louisa."
"Holy shit!" She screams. "You're kidding me, right?"
"I wish I was."
"But how? I mean, I know how. But can she even do that? She's been off the scene for years. She voluntarily walked out of her own child's life. Can she even do that without Luca being the one to grant it?"
I run my free hand down my face. "She's also taking Jane to court."
"Fucking hell." She discards her cup to the side. "Although come to think of it, a side of me is happy someone is finally taking that evil witch to court."
"Careful," Luca warns. He moves to sit behind me on the bed, a hand falling onto my hip so he can come into view of Allison. "She's still my mother and Kaylee's soon-to-be mother-in-law."
"My thoughts and feelings towards her will not change. The verdict isn't even out on you," she fires back.
"Nice to see you, too, Allison." Luca pulls back a little and kisses me on the cheek. I look at him as he stands. "I need to get going. I'll see you tonight."
"See you later." I smile.
"Jones will be by soon to take you to work," he reminds while walking out the bedroom with his suit jacket over his arm.
"That's fine."
"Don't forget what I told you."
"I won't." I roll my eyes and look back to the screen. Allison is looking at me with raised brows. I shrug. "What?"
"I may be so many thousand miles away but I can tell when I'm missing something. What's up?"
I take a deep breath and sit up straight. "I had a panic attack yesterday morning."
"Over everything that's happening with Nadia?"
"Yes," I admit.
"Oh, baby girl, you need to come home. This is Luca's fight. Not yours."
"Yes, I know." I sigh heavily. "I know."
"Then come home." She pleads. "You've never had a panic attack before going over there and I've seen you stressed out before. And I mean really stressed out to a point where I physically slapped, shook and screamed at you to snap out of it."
My free hand moves to rub the side of my face where Allison slapped me years ago like she just did it again. As much as I don't want to remember that day, I still do. She has some force behind her left hand despite being right-handed. "Yeah, don't remind me."
"The one and only time I've felt the need to properly slap you and I don't want to have to do it again."
I laugh.
"Kaylee, I love you." She comes closer to the screen and I can see the pleading look in her eyes as she speaks. "I class you as my sister. I'd do anything to help you. Please, come back home."
"Allison," I start, "I would and you know I would."
"But?" She draws out, knowing fine well that I'm not done.
"But after Luca and I get married, New York is going to be classed as my home just as much as London is."
She groans loudly and flops back against the couch. "Fucking hell! You really are killing me slowly with your high-flying relationship and morals of sticking by your fucked up fiancé."
I smirk. "What can I say? I guess I got lucky and I love him too much to let him go through this on his own."
I glance at the opened bedroom door where Jones is now standing, hands clasped behind his back as he waits patiently for me.
"I miss my girl," Allison's whining voice cries to me. I look back at the screen. "Can you at least try and come back home soon?"
I get off the bed and slide my feet into my ankle boots. "I'll see what I can do."
"Great. Sooner rather than later." She blows me a kiss and waves goodbye. "Love you."
I copy her actions with a smile. "Love you, too."
I slip my phone into my bag and put my coat on.
"All set to go, Miss. Fletcher?" Jones asks.
"As I'll ever be," I sigh.
My eyes are fixated on the pen I'm tapping and clicking on the arm of the chair I'm sitting in. I've been doing this for the past twenty minutes since Jackie announced it was time for a late lunch break. The meeting room, much smaller than the one we were previously in at Bailey Tech, is filled with the smells of different takeaway foods and soft music from the radio that has been turned on at the other side of the room from where I'm sitting.
"How are you holding up, Miss. Fletcher?" Jones quietly asks.
I look up at him.
He's been standing off to the side in the meeting room since we came here, something Nadia was dead set against when she saw him with me. I didn't want him here in the room but I've felt safer with him here. Calmer. Nadia hasn't tried anything and I don't think she will when Jones is around.
"Jones, there is no need for you to be here." Nadia's voice states. I don't look up because I know it's not said to me. "You can wait in reception when our work is over."
"I am under strict orders to look out for Miss. Fletcher." Jones retorts.
"Surely not in her workplace, though."
"I will not be moving from my station until we leave."
"Well, clearly, someone doesn't trust the two of us to be around each other."
I stop tapping my pen and look to my left where Oscar has vacated the chair in a hunt for free food. Nadia sits down and crosses her legs, making a show of it as she always does. Even more so today as she's wearing a tight-fitted lace dress with an oversized cardigan hanging down off one shoulder.
God, I wish she would fix that damn thing already. It's been annoying me since I walked in here. The whole on one shoulder and off the other with cardigans and jackets is annoying as fuck to me. I want to scream at everyone who does that to wear the item of clothing properly and not making it look like they're a slob.
"How may I help you, Nadia?" I politely ask.
She flutters her lashes at me. "I'm merely making conversation with my daughter's soon-to-be stepmother. That's all."
I look at Jones who narrows his eyes at Nadia. I take a deep breath and continue to tap and click my pen. "With all due respect, Nadia, but I don't want to make conversation with you."
"Not even about the trial I'm taking your fiancé to in the coming weeks?"
"Nope."
"He's not going to win. I hope you know that."
"It's nothing to do with me."
"Neither is his mother."
I shrug. "Again, it's nothing to do with me."
She's fishing for me to take the bait she's laying out but I won't fall for it. I don't want to be dragged further into her war with Luca and Jane than I already am.
"Hmm, maybe I should make it about you, though."
My head snaps round to look at her. "Excuse me?"
"Let me put it in simpler terms: just because you're engaged to my ex, doesn't mean I'm going to go easy on you like I am here."
I stare at Nadia.
Her eyes widen and she gives me a tight nod before getting to her feet. "Having something to eat, Kaylee. I insist."
She walks across the room to join Jackie. I watch her as she walks away, clearly pleased with herself that she's planted yet another thought into my head.
"Mr. Madden won't take that threat lightly," Jones tells me. "I'll inform him of what she said. Excuse me."
Jones leaves the meeting room with his phone pressed firmly to his ear.
"Oh, kill me now." I comment to myself.
"Why? What was that about?" Oscar asks around a mouthful of food, reclaiming his seat next to me.
"Idle threats," I answer. I look at the large slice of pizza he's eating and frown. "Where on earth did you get that from?"
He takes another bite, chews a few times, and points to the table that's covered in various types of food. "It was set up for us to see us through the rest of the day." He takes another bite. "You got to hand it to Nadia but she sure knows how to put on a spread. Most of the time it's all healthy meals in fancy restaurants that are so fancy you begin to sweat after seeing the price of a glass of water."
I continue to watch him as he devours the slice of pizza before moving onto downing a full can of Coca-Cola in the one go. I screw my face up in disgust at what I just witnessed him doing. "Oscar, what is wrong with you?"
"What? It's not every day I get told that I'm allowed to stuff my face with all the fatty foods that I love." He covers his mouth and belches. "Excuse me." He looks back over to the table full of food and gets to his feet. "I think I may take some food for the road. I mean, hotel food is good and all but it's so expensive despite the company covering the bill."
He takes a few steps before turning back and grabbing my hand.
"Hey!" I protest, being pulled to my feet in the process. "Oscar-"
"Come on. Time for food." He pulls me over to the food then lets my hand go. "Eat. It's free."
I roll my eyes.
No, it's not.
"Not having something to eat, Kaylee?" Jackie asks, coming to stand next to me and filling a plate with chicken and some chips.
I look at the array of food, the sight of some of the things making me feel nauseous. "Not today. I've not been feeling too great recently."
"Oh, Kaylee." Nadia abruptly says. One of her hands falls onto my forearm and she squeezes it slightly. "Please tell me that you're not coming down with something. You look fine but we all put on brave faces even when we're faced with adversity."
The way in which she speaks is said with concern. Like she really doesn't want me to be unwell and that she's truly worried about me. If I didn't know what she was up to, I'd say she was being sincere but I know it's all part of her plan.
She doesn't care if I'm feeling under the weather. She would most likely love it if I was and would pray it was serious enough to get me out the picture. Then she'd be able to check me off her list of people she needs to get out of the way for her plan to work.
"Adversity?" I repeat with a shake of the head.
"I know you must be finding it difficult working on this event considering everything that's happening between your fiancé and I." Nadia pats my hand and smiles. "Don't take it to heart, Kaylee. Everything will work out the way it's supposed to."
"Am I missing something here?" Jackie interjects. "Kaylee, what has Luca Madden got to do with Nadia?"
"Oh, I've put my foot in it, haven't I?" Nadia covers her mouth with her free hand and looks at Jackie. "I'm sorry, Jackie, but I thought you knew."
"Knew what?"
"Luca is my ex," she reveals.
Jackie blinks rapidly and shakes her head. "As in your daughter's biological father?"
"Yes. We haven't been on the best of terms until now but things are looking up. We're talking more and our daughter is-"
"Nothing like her mother," I butt in.
"Yes, well, I have been off the scene for a little bit for medical reasons. We ended our relationship because I didn't think it was fair to ask him to wait for me until I got better. I knew our daughter would be in great hands and I was right. I simply can't wait for all of us to celebrate my little girl's birthday together for the first time in a long time as a family."
I don't want to show my true reaction to Nadia's lies. They've come rolling off her tongue too easily to be made up on the spot. She's clearly been rehearsing them for a while, waiting patiently for the day she would have to use them in this exact situation. It just so happens that today is that day.
She's cunning, I'll give her that, but who knows how far she's still got to go until her master plan comes into play.
"I see." Jackie looks at me. "Are you alright with this? I mean, there's no bad blood here I should be aware of, is there?"
"No," I answer. I look at Nadia and smirk. Two can play at this game."Not in the slightest despite the fact that I only found out yesterday that Nadia was Luca's ex and the mother of his daughter. But I'm not one to hold a grudge that's not as old as my relationship with Luca."
Under this lighting, I could swear that the colour in Nadia's face has drained away inch by inch. She looks paler than she did seconds ago when she dropped the news I was worried about that led to me having a panic attack yesterday. I don't think she was expecting my response to her lie and neither was I until I said it.
My smirk falls away and it's my turn to turn into a fake caring person towards someone I can't stand. "Nadia, are you alright?" I step closer to her. "Luca just thought I should know the full story about who you are now we're going to be working closely together over the coming weeks."
"I'm fine," she brushes off. She flashes me a quick smile. "I am absolutely fine. Just wasn't expecting to hear that Luca has told you everything about his past."
"We all have a past, Nadia. Luca and I are big parts of our pasts considering the fact we did date for two years before splitting up. We know everything we need to know about each other during our time apart. Nothing is a secret anymore."
Nadia doesn't respond.
The feeling of triumph washes over me and I smile to myself. I've shut her up even if it is for the time being. I've managed to get one over on her and it feels great. I don't have to listen to her snide comments for the rest of the day and I couldn't be happier.
"Are you sure you're alright, Nadia?" Jackie reaches a hand out to feel Nadia's forehead. "You feel like you're burning up."
"I'm fine. I-" She points to the door behind her. "I'm just going to go and get some air. I'll be right back."
She looks at me once more before leaving the room, rushing down the hall and into an office that I can only presume to be her husbands.
"I don't care what she says," Jackie begins before eating a piece of chicken, "but she is not alright."
I nod in agreement. "She sure isn't."