Chapter 50🌜 Wont Wait Forever
William's POV
Everyone around is just so disgusting that it makes me want to puke and punch someone at the same time. The same ol' topics of the same ol' hags with millions in banks and humanity in bins.
As the giant the Big Ben inspired clock ticked 9:28, Enzo and some of the people in his gang sneaked out of the door like some ninjas.
Only drawing attention when one of the ninjas made the waiter drop her tray.
Combined shattering of glasses and no other sound-well, apart from the "sophisticated" live classical music.
Because of the attention they have drawn, now Zane and I would have to wait for a while for things to cool down and the ladies to release their clutched pearls.
I stab the floor a millionth time while glaring at the woman's bun who just asked me where I am from.
And when I replied, 'Urm, America?' she literally had the audacity to ask, 'No, I meant where you are from-from? Not the nationality,' followed by her laughing like she just cracked the biggest joke in history.
I mean she kinda did, her fellow bitches laughed.
Damn it! I just wanted to run out of that huge exit, and now I gotta see these unbearable faces a little longer.
"Hey?" Never in my life have I ever been this happy after seeing his face.
He points a finger on his lips and continues in a hushed tone.
"We can leave now. Just make it as quiet as possible."
I give him a thumbs up, to which he smiles, catching me off guard.
But here's not the time for giving the knocking overthinking the permit to my brain.
"Our dads are busy talking with their business partners, so if we try to be as invisible as we can, we can sneak out. First you go, and then wait for me near the fountain. I will be there as fast as I can."
"Why can't we leave together?"
"It would draw unnecessary attention. Now make it quick, and just give me one call if something feels off, okay?" His thumb brushes my shoulder as his hand reaches out to cradle it. "I'll be there in the first ring."
"O-okay," I bite the bottom of my inner lip.
"Now go."
I stand up from my seat and look straight ahead while walking towards the gates. My feet suddenly feel heavy. I turn around just once, "Come faster. You know I won't wait forever." I collect all the sass in me for that one sentence.
"I will," Zane's eyes on mine pause the scenery around, pulling me back to him. For a second, he isn't the man who killed my girlfriend and I am not the one who wants to kill him. He's Zane and I am just William.
With a heavy intake of breath, I turn around on my heels, and walk with my mind lost somewhere I don't know.
I pull out my phone. It's 9:40 now.
Hmm...
I flop down on the stairs of the fountain, listening to the water rippling out of it. The moon has a unique glow today. Tint of rose petals floating on a bowl of milk placed on a dark countertop. I flip my phone again, pressing on the Power button.
9:44
I flip it back. Intently listening to the water only. Where I am sitting, it's kinda hidden, so can it be that he wasn't able to find me? Should I go somewhere more visible?
"...wait for me near the fountain."
I shouldn't, I think.
9:47
SAB??????
9:48
I stare at the text cursor blinking alone in the text box, but nothing appears from that side.
I stand up with the intention to hunt his ass down, but just as I turn around a whistle behind me blocks my moment.
"Hey, gattino. Missing me?" He's leaning over the bark of a tree, one foot crossed over the other. His bow tie is gone and the first two buttons of his shirt are open.
"Missing you? My ass!"
"I wish..."
"Huh?"
"Huh?" He pulls back his open jacket to remove it. Hanging it on one of his arms. "It's humid today, isn't it? Let's just go inside; we are gonna be so late."
"Oh, so now you care?" We both start walking towards the gates of the main reception hall. "What took you so long?"
"Ah, it's nothing. Dad just pulled me into a conversation with his colleagues." The doorman opens the door for us, bowing his head specifically for Zane. What a bastard.
"Aren't they your colleagues too...?"
"In a way, yeah." He presses the button, and the arrow lights up, pointing down. "They are his business partners, not mine."
"I don't get it..." The doors of the lift open with a ding. "You are literally his heir. His business is literally yours...or at least it will be yours."
"It's not that black and white," Zane says, his eyes lighting up as he steps into the lift.
He looks less like a ruthless heir and more like a professor about to give a favorite lecture.
"The Belladonna business is locked inside an irrevocable discretionary trust. Vance is the sole trustee. He manages the assets and operations, while I'm just a named beneficiary."
I blink, staring at him. "Translate that into English, please? Even Hindi would work."
Zane chuckles, leaning back against the handrail with a casual smile.
"It just means my brother handles the corporate paperwork, while I'm legally tied to the assets. But since my own firms are entirely separate, I don't touch his business, and he doesn't touch mine. It keeps our capital perfectly detached. It's actually a pretty elegant legal loophole."
"I need aspirin and some vodka. 'Cus damn..." The doors slide open as our floor arrives.
"Don't you have business as your minor?" Zane asks, stepping out behind me.
"I do. But my professor doesn't talk gibberish."
"Ouch." He pulls out the master key card, waiting for me to step inside after unlocking the door. He walks behind me but texts someone in the way. "They'll be here soon."
"Okay." Before I can even finish saying that simple word, there's a knock on our door. We both look at each other, waiting for the other to go open the door.
I don't make a move.
Eventually with an eye roll he turned around to open the door.
"Hey-hello-and-good evenings. We don't have time for all that. Here you go-" A flamboyant man enters our room as if a personified storm.
"Take a side!" The man in a crop top pulls inside his rolling makeup cases.
After successfully finding a place where he could stop the rush, he pulls out a vibrant tumbler from the tout bag hanging on his shoulder.
He takes a sip from its straw. Meanwhile, me and Zane just stare. "What? You haven't changed?"
"Urm... we don't have them, yet?" I tell him. After choosing what we would wear, Meera took them with her for some minor adjustments and customisations. Seeing she isn't here, so aren't the fits.
"Oh my god... why does nobody want to work these days? Ugh!"
He slams the tumbler back in. His acrylics aggressively click on the screen of his phone as he types a message and then calls someone.
"Where the hell is their stylist? And where the fuck are you, Sasha?"
The way we can hear two other voices, it sounds like a conference call.
"Sorry-sorry! I am here!" A panting Meera stops on our threshold. She's looking even more baffled than she looked earlier today. "It's just I knocked and no one really opened, so I went back to Enzo-Mr. Belladonna's room." The rack is back and so are the struggle lines on her face.
"Yeah, we are sorry for keeping you waiting," Zane apologizes, and to which Meera just blinks.
"Uh, yeah...urm, now you can change into these." She gives me one garment bag and the other to him. "I'll be here; call me if you need any help," she says professionally.
Somehow that unsettles me-
"Urm, Meera can you help me with my pants? These buttons are wild," asks a half-naked Zane.
"Of course, sir," replies Meera as she-
What the fuck! I need to clear my mind as soon as possible.
"Oh, hello, is this your first time? Things don't work like that. First of all, you two change into some bathrobes. Meanwhile, me and my very late partner would set up the vanity into your wardrobe area. Then once the glam is done, you can change into your outfits."
"I am here!" A lady walks into our room, her eyes sparkling with glitter and pearls.
"Go away, lazy bitch!" The man screams.
The woman who I think is Sasha points him the middle finger as she rolls in another rolling case like his. "Wait, you two are still here?" The man asks and we both realise it's for us. "We don't have the whole night, you know?"
"Yeah-yeah," I run inside. "Okay, so I'll change first in the bathroom and then you go."
"Why can't we change together to save time?" He smirks, raising his hands when I just stare at him. "Just kidding, Jesus!" I shake my head and then walk into the bathroom.
After I have changed into a bathrobe and washed my face, I come out. Zane is standing there scrolling on his phone, "You go now."
He looks up, "as you command, master." He says it like a joke, but something in me freezes for a second.
He doesn't close the bathroom door as he goes inside, so I just run into the wardrobe as fast as I can.
Things are tidier now, the clothing rack is set up neatly on one side of the room.
On the dressing room's multi-panel mirrors, Sasha and that man have set up their lighting rigs, brushes, and skin-prep kits side-by-side.
Meera just stands awkwardly near the rack, while he and Sasha appear to be arguing with each other.
"Hey, what was your name again?" He asks, pointing his brush at me.
"Urm, call me William."
"Yeah, so William, call me Remzy-pronounced as Rem-zie not zai." He clarifies, making Sasha roll her eyes. "Now sit down and let's make you the sexiest bitch of the night."
"Oh, you wish," she sasses. "No offence to you William, but the best here is me."
"None taken-"
"Who's talking to you, lesbo! Shut up." He waves dramatically with his hand. "Now will you sit down?" He questions me, and I fumble my ass down. "I have seen your outfit, and seeing the theme and your proportions, I have just the right glam in mind."
After we are fifteen minutes in, Remie asks me after he's done with the eye shadow, "Open your eyes." With a hold on my chin he rotates my face side to side. "I love it," he snaps his fingers, "This would eat so hard with your mask on."
"Step aside loose bitch, you are blocking my way!" Sasha says, making me gasp.
"Urm... are you sure you can say that? Isn't it kinda homophobic?"
"Nah gurl, we both gay. I mean you would know." Remy waves his hand, tapping the brush in his other hand on the blush.
"I...would?"
"What's up with the pause, hmm? Like gurl, of course you would know, like zest attracts zest?" I just blink. Zest? What's that doing here?
"Sucks. At least tell me you know gaydar." And the way Zane's cheeks puff, it finally clicks.
"Wait, I am straight!" I scream, like it's a reflex kicking in.
"Hun, straight men don't have husbands. But sure... none of my business," he puts the brush down, "Now you can go change into your suit, and then we can do some final touch ups."
I stand up to leave before Meera stops me, "Hey, take this with you." She gives me one of the garment bags. "I would attach the final probe once the base is ready."
I nod, taking it from her to leave and wear it in the en-suite bathroom.
Coming out of the bathroom feels heavily exposing with all the chills on my torso. God, why did I even choose this one?
I walk back to the dressing room, and as soon as I enter, I feel all of their eyes on me at once. The ones that replace the chills with a sudden heat are the same olive eyes that make me shiver. "So you did choose that huh, gattino?"