AMB~she~OUS

CHAPTER NINETEEN

"I don't know, Alex. I don't like the idea." I mumbled.

"You're overthinking this. What could possibly happen between you and your gorgeous stepson on a holiday in the city of love?" She mocked, her hands reapplying the pink lipstick for the tenth time tonight.

I rolled my eyes at her and plucked myself from the sofa in my best friend's dressing room. We were in Milan for fashion week and Alex's collection was up next. She had so much confidence in herself, instead of fussing over the models like the rest of the designers, she was busy concentrating on how she looked.

She was no Donatella Versace but she was very gifted and was going places. But right now the place we needed to go was outside this room.

"We need to go or we will miss the whole thing." I urged, grabbing one side of my long black gown, a piece from her collection.

"Yeah, just a sec." She said checking if all her hair was in one place.

"Right. Ready."

"Where is Craig by the way? Is he getting too old for fashion shows?"

I wanted to know the same thing. I had known my husband for a while but something had changed with him. He was barely ever home or at work, which was very odd, Craig was obsessed with working, it was either work or golf but lately, it had been neither.

Was that why he had been so quick to hand the company to Nick? Thinking more about it, his retirement had come sooner than expected. I had been so busy in my own world that I hadn't noticed much of what was going on with my husband.

"Earth to Kate!?" Alex's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you go and take a sit, imma head out backstage and see if everything is running smoothly."

I nodded silently and moved through the crowd to the front row. There were a few familiar faces in the same row, none of which I was friends with. Most of them were here because of daddy's money, they never raised a single finger for any sort of dime. I involuntarily rolled my eyes and looked towards the stage where the models had begun strutting back and forth.

Half an hour later, I was mingling with a few of Alex's fellow designers. They seemed better company than the rest of the population in the room.

"You should come to visit Zimbabwe. I have a new collection I'm showcasing in Harare, I know you will love some of the pieces." Tino, a Zimbabwean designer who like Alex had gotten a big break in fashion.

"I would love to, maybe around December? I hear the weather is lovely that time of the year."

"Absolutely, I look forward to it, Mrs Daniels."

I just smiled at her before excusing myself.

It had been a long night and there was still the after-party which I really didn't want to attend. I had an afternoon flight to Paris the next day, the dreadful business trip with Nick.

"Fancy seeing you here."

And speak of the devil. Seriously, could I go anywhere without his suffocating presence? And Milan fashion week of all the places, he just had to be here.

I gritted my teeth before facing him. He looked good as always, he had a new undercut that just made him look better than any other male model in the building.

"Here to run after a bunch of models huh?" I gave him a tight-lipped smile.

"Hmmm tempting, however, it's not the models I'm after..." he let the sentence hang and gave me an intense look that had me sweating in the middle of fall.

A waiter passed by with some glasses of wine, I quickly grabbed two, I was going to need them if I planned to get through this night.

"I'm surprised to see you here, so far from your husband." He said coolly giving me a once over with his eyes. I didn't miss the insinuation in his words but decided to ignore it.

"Alex."

"Uh Miss Lopez, I should've known. Your partner in crime." He said with a snicker.

And of course, he knew Alex, he still lived around here when she worked for Craig. This man was already dampening my mood, nothing good ever came from his mouth. He seriously needed to get over the idea that I married his dad to get to the top, it wasn't exactly news, everyone knew that and I really didn't care.

"Look here Nic-"

"There you are, Nick."

My sentence was cut off when his so-called fiancee appeared out of nowhere. It was weird how quickly I had forgotten that he was engaged. It now made sense why Nick was at a fashion show in Italy, this didn't seem like his scene.

"Oh, Mom!"

I nearly choked on my drink when those words left her mouth.

Hitting my chest I asked.

"Mom?" my voice came out more incredulously than I intended.

"Yeah. Since you're Nick's mother, after he and I get married you will become mine too." She said excitedly.

I deadpanned at her. I was going to need a stronger drink for this. It wasn't before she started ranting about everything uninteresting in the world. Nick always seemed so quiet, I seriously didn't know how he kept up with her. His face looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here, it was a bit comical really.

After what seemed like forever, Stella left us to go talk to some of her model friends and I couldn't be happier to relieve my ears.

"Looks like you got your hands full with that one." I mocked.

"Anyway, it's been lovely but I have to go." I was slightly tired and I couldn't forget about that long flight tomorrow. I didn't wait for his answer but passed by him, my nose getting whiff of his delicious smelling cologne.

"3.30 pm." He spoke.

"Excuse me?" I asked stopping in my tracks.

"Be ready by 3.30 pm. I will come pick you up and we can head to the airport together." He said his eyes never leaving mine.

"I had already booked a flight."

"Cancel it. It doesn't make sense for us to go separately to France."

I was slightly baffled then I felt angry. Who the hell did he think he was, ordering me around like I worked for him, which I technically did but still.

There was nothing more said between us. I walked away quietly, I didn't trust my mouth not to shout profanities to him.

-------------------------------------

An update to celebrate hitting #1 in the affairs category. Sheesh, I'm so grateful.🥰🥰🥰

Look out for the next chapter, it's finally coming together guys. Pls leave a comment and hit that star⭐

Do check out my other book on my profile 😘