AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Your mom sent me four of them to choose from last month,” I told him, nodding. They were hiding out in the dark corner of my closet along with the ankle-breaking heels my feet cried about when I even thought about putting them on.
“Have you even tried one on?” Nasir asked.
“Hey, you don’t get to use the judgmental voice on me when you get to throw on a simple suit like you wear every single freaking day of the year for these events. Until you have to wear a stupid gown you trip over with heels that make your feet blister and half a pound of makeup on your face, you can’t judge.”
“Fair enough,” he agreed, nodding. “I’ll see you then,” he added, since we were closed the following day. Every single employee got the same two days off because my aunt and uncle thought it was good for morale that we all got to take a break at the same time, and would all come back refreshed and ready to hit the ground running.
It was quirky of them in this day and age where almost no companies or stores closed down entirely for two days straight, but that was what I loved so much about my aunt and uncle. They didn’t necessarily care what the trends were, or if it mildly impacted their bottom line. They actually cared about their employees since they had once been employees just like them once.
“Try to take some time to relax while you’re off, Nazzy,” I demanded, getting a tight nod from him that made me think his time off would be spent in the gym, dealing with household issues, and very little downtime.
As for me, though, that jet lag caught up with me something hardcore.
Meaning that once I got home and gobbled down some freezer pizza with a side of freezer fries, I climbed into bed and slept for sixteen hours straight.
Then I got up, ordered Chinese, ate it, showered, and passed back out.
I was dead to the world for almost two full days.
And by the time I remembered that I was supposed to be researching this Bellamy guy, it was a couple hours before the damn gala, and I had to do the whole “make yourself a respectable representation of the family” thing.
Let’s face it, that was a lot of work.
But, eventually, I picked out the gown. I fiddled with my makeup. I strapped on the cursed shoes.
And I made my way to the gala.
To rub shoulders with the rich folks.
I never could have anticipated that I would be rubbing shoulders with one particular rich person.
But that was exactly what happened.
CHAPTER TEN
Bellamy
I was pretty sure I owed all my coworkers and their wives an apology after all.
I figured that because I’d always followed the drugs with the trip of a lifetime that all was forgiven.
But when I woke up on the floor of the villa with a sledgehammer slamming in my temples with an absolutely horrified Adnan to try to calm down as well, and then his frantic wife when she showed up, I decided everyone deserves flowers and expensive liquor for putting up with me.
Then I spent a couple hours with my face over a toilet and added on a first-class ticket to a luxury hotel of their choosing.
And then after a full day of muscle weakness as I made my way back to the States and tried to sleep off the jet lag, I went ahead and decided they all needed college tuition for all their children.
I hadn’t even made my way back into the office to fill in Quin on what happened, despite having a dozen or so angry texts from him demanding that I check in and tell him what was going on with the case.
The only reason I managed to get myself together to head to the gala was because the organizer specifically asked me to be there since I’d put the money up for the new wing or the new lab or whatever the hell I’d put the money toward.
Shawn might very well have been right about how wasteful I was with my real estate and my money in general, but I never turned down an organization that asked something of me. I guess it just never really occurred to me to go out and make my own opportunities to help people more directly.
Shawn.
That woman.
I hadn’t been able to think of anything but her since I’d woken up after she’d drugged me.
First, because what a power move. You had to respect the woman’s brains and balls in pulling that off.
I had no idea where she went to, and I’d tried throwing some money around to figure that out, but aside from some sightings of her, no one had any information on where she’d gone.
I’d found myself worrying about her more than seemed characteristic for me, not sure how she was going to get herself back to the States without any form of identification on her.
