Chapter 11 A NEW PLAN AND FRIENDSHIP.
11.
~KIMBERLY~
Shock strangles out of me in a gasp as Rita Williams stretches her hand out to shake me formally.
This is Rita Williams? The woman I'm supposed to give a show on how cordially me and my husband are?
Jesus fucking Christ. "Ummm,I..." I stutter but the words die right at my lips because what the fuck am I supposed to say?
I just let him curse Rafael in my presence? Oh,God! Rafael is going to kill me today.
I just ruined his plans.
"I...Fuck....oh, sorry,I..."
"It's fine, people always get shocked anytime I introduce myself, I don't expect anything less." She taps her diamond ring on the empty glass, laughing at her heels.
I expected her to be over seventy, she's a sucker for marriage and relationship,I'm expecting a homely woman, not Blaire's Mom, or this woman dressed in a sexy gown in front of me.
God, I'm such a poor judge of people.
"My name is Kimberly Sloane." I finally introduce myself, knowing I can't ruin things more, all I need to do is to tell her that I was drunk and my husband scolded me which made me angry.
"And, about earlier, I didn't mean to...I mean..."
"I know you're Rafael's wife, and this whole marriage thing is a facade." She cut me off with a small smile.
My eyes widen immediately, Jesus, she knows?
Then, why's she not overreacting?
"Will you buy the company?" I blurt, not knowing what to say.
God, I hate that I say the most strange words in dire situations. Why the hell would I ask if she's buying the company?
She laughs heartily, throwing her head back. "You're such a strange woman, I'm sure Rafael is never bored around you."
One thing I notice is how she addresses him in the most informal way even though they're business partners. What's this woman's deal?
"I just had to do this, I...I'm sorry I..."
"No, it's fine. I totally understand you, although, I don't know who you are but I'm well aware that people make the decisions that seem the most okay to them sometimes."
"Please don't tell him, I don't want to disappoint him and..."
I can't tell her that if she tells Rafael that she knows this marriage is a sham, Rafael will divorce me and I will go back to prison and Eliana will win over me.
"Oh, sure, I won't tell him."
"But you're not buying the company?"
She sigh, her brows joins together and she twists her mouth to a corner, looking quite confused."Honestly, Kim. I don't know if I'm interested in buying it."
"Then why did you approach him?" I press harder, I'm just too curious to not ask questions.
"Let's just say we have a history together."
My lips curl in disgust and I raise one of my eyebrows. Damn, Rafael is so dirty, how could he fuck both mother and daughter?
"Did he...oh my God." Rita snaps her head at me and her eyes widen.
"Not that, Jesus, you're such a weirdo." She shakes her head in rebuttal and I only nod.
"Sorry, I couldn't think of any other thing."
"I'm not telling you anything, but I will keep your secrets, it's up to you to impress me."
"I don't know what to do."I sigh.
"You guys have so much chemistry, I can't believe I almost got fooled, and for him to have this much effect on you, I will let you give me the benefit of doubt that I can do business with your husband."
I sigh in relief knowing that Rita won't out me, she knows my secret and I don't have reason to lie to her anymore, and I just need to impress her so she can buy the company, it seems doable and I can live with that.
"Thank you, Rita." I mumble, cleaning the tears staining my eyes, she chuckles ruefully and pull me into a hug.
She withdraws and place her hand in mine."Let's go."
"Sure."I mumble in a light tone, suddenly feeling less burdened by the whole thing.
Maybe this wouldn't end on a bad note like I'd thought.
Getting to the entrance, I try to wriggle out of her grasp so she can have the spotlight to herself but Rita only pulls me closer, her hands now warm and soft in mine as we both greet the guests while she introduces me as her friend.
I feel so damn good, even if Rafael doesn't feel proud enough to show me off, Rita is and I'm enjoying the show, especially the bitter look on Blaire's face.
She looks so jealous and red with anger.
I grin proudly at Rafael who looks shocked and totally surprised to see me hand in hand with Rita.
"Uhmm, meet my husband, Rafael." I introduce Rafael to Rita a little bit ecstatically, not ready to miss watching the expression on his face.
"Huhh....yeah...Hi, Rita,I'm Rafael Rollers."
Rita let out a fake "oh" pretending not to have any idea about who he is and it makes me so satisfied.
"Oh, your wife is such a darling, I can't believe I made a new friend already." She grins, flashing me a knowing smile.
"Uhmmmm,thank you."
"Please,make sure you bring her during the business meetings."
"Sure." Rafael nods immediately, my heart warms at her sweet gesture, suddenly feeling the urge to pull her into a hug.
Rita continues to greet other business personnel while Rafael makes small talks with them as well, they mostly want to get involved with him but he smartly turns them down or sets meetings I'm sure he wouldn't honor.
Rafael is probably a hot shot in the business pool for people to latch on him like this, I stay silent most of the time when they involve themselves in the business talks because I don't know anything and it dampens my mood again.
After what seems like an eternity, the dinner ended and Rita personally saw me off into the car.
I pretend to shut my eyes throughout the ride to prevent talking to him.
Getting home, I get down the car and walk inside without waiting for him but he pull me closer to himself the moment we get into the house.
"What the fuck just happened at the party? Did you mess something up?" He scoffs, glaring at me.
God, I hate how little he thinks of me, he probably thinks I'm just a side note who can't makes something good of herself and it fucking riles me up.
A normal person would have commended me for making friends with his most important business partner but not Rafael, instead, he finds every little fault in all I do and make sure to crucify me for it.
"Sorry to disappoint you, Rafael. I didn't do anything to embarrass you the way you did to me tonight."
His face softens and let go of me immediately and exhale harshly.
"About that, Kim,I..."
"Wait, don't tell me you're going to apologize for not standing up for me the way you should when Blaire ridiculed me?"
"Then what the fuck do you want me to do?" He lashes out at me in an exasperated manner.
"Go fuck yourself, Rafael Rollers." I huff, turning to take the stairs.
"Kimberly!"
"Oh, forgot to tell you, while you were busy flirting with your former fuckmate, I was busy enrolling myself to a university so, I'm going to school and I don't
care if you're comfortable with it. It's none of my fucking business."