Chapter 189 ONE-HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-NINE

Chapter 189 ONE-HUNDRED AND EIGHTY-NINE


⚜Two months later⚜

“What do you think you're doing, Alessandro? You're starting a war unprepared. You're not thinking straight at the moment, you're probably blinded by rage but it's still not a good excuse to go on a freaking war,” Sergei explained, his voice holding a bit of concern.

Sergei was the most calm and collected amongst them, always had the best advice. He wasn't like Luciano that could spend his entire time getting bathed in blood or Marco and Nicholas who made a joke out of every situation, he was the sensible one. He was also the mysterious one.

But for the first time since having Sergei on his side, he didn't really feel like taking up on his advice.

“I still won't end it. Their shipments will continuously be stolen, and their warehouses… I'll burn them all.”

“They're coming for ours too.”

“It doesn't matter.”

“Over my dead body, Alessandro. I won't let you get into something this… irrational. Starting a fucking war? Are you insane?!”

Alessandro clicked his tongue. “I am insane. Look, end of discussion. I've chosen the path I want to follow, and all you need to do is to execute it, that's all.”

“You’ve lost your fucking mind.”

“I have, Sergei. I have.”

Nicholas walked in, interrupting their conversation.

“Okay, you two don't look good.”

Sergei didn't say anything, he only shook his head and squeezed his temple. 

“O…kay?” Nicholas murmured, eyes shifting from Alessandro to Sergei. 

“Any updates?” Alessandro asked, keeping his focus on Nicholas. 

“She hasn't called us ever since. Not once, but she resumed work at the gallery. I’ve been checking on her like you asked. She's good and… she's planning on opening her own gallery.”

A feeling of pride washed over him. “That's my firecracker. She does whatever she wants, and she’s doing this one without my help.”

“There are posters. She's setting up an art exhibition to introduce investors to the business. She's receiving help from her friend… Sophia.”

“What's the date of the exhibition?”

“Not released yet, but I'm guessing it's soon. I'll check and give you the information later.”

Alessandro stroked his jaw, giving him a nod. “Alright then. When you find out the date. I want you to invest in it, buy every single fucking art she makes and make sure you're investing nothing less than millions. Got it?”

“Noted.”

“What about men? Anyone new?”

Alessandro noticed his expression change a little bit and Nicholas didn’t respond immediately. “Nicholas?!”

“There's someone. But they're not serious yet. I just noticed there's a bit of closeness between them.”

His chest tightened as he imagined who the fuck the new guy could be.

“Look up on him. Find out who he is.”

Nicholas nodded, leaving the study afterwards.

⚜~⚜~⚜~⚜

~One week later~

Isabelle stood in the middle of her new gallery, a feeling of fulfillment overwhelmed her.

She did it.

She freaking did it. She opened her own gallery even when it seemed like it wasn't going to possible.

And the investors were so much more than she needed. Everything was going well as planned. There wasn't any hindrance so far and it made her feel so good.

Today was the sales exhibit, and someone has already bought all her paintings anonymously.

“Izzy, Izzy, Izzy,” Sophia called out, spinning her around in the midst of the ongoing crowd.

“We're almost sold out! It's unbelievable. And your paintings? Someone bought all of them! This is a good reason to celebrate!”

“I know right?” She smiled, letting Sophia spin her around.

At that point, she let herself think. What if, just what if the anonymous buyer was him? Did Alessandro buy all her paintings?

But as quickly as the thought came in, she pushed it aside. She did promise herself that she wouldn't think about him, and there was no way she could stick to that if every minute of the day her mind still strayed back to him.

It wasn't him—she concluded, focusing on Sophia.

“Once this sale exhibit is completed, all other galleries will be nothing compared to us,” Sophia exclaimed, her face radiating with happiness. “Did you hear what the French investor called it? He said…” Sophia coughed dramatically, starting off by imitating the French accent “And I quote… this gallery is rather too exquisite! I'm spending all my money here on good art!”

“He did not sound like that!” Isabelle said, laughing. 

“He did. Trust me. I'm the best mimicking queen there is.”

Isabelle held her chest, laughing even harder.

“Incoming! Incoming! Mr nice boyfriend is approaching.”

Isabelle didn't need to look back to know who she was talking about. 

“He's not my boyfriend. I've told you so many times.”

“Until you push him away and finally admit you still have feelings for your ex-husband, then I'll stop calling him your boyfriend, but until then… he's Mr nice boyfriend.”

“Urgggh! Sometimes you make me want to strangle you.”

“It would have been weird if you didn't,” Sophia laughed, trying to walk away.

“Don't you dare leave me with him,” Isabelle said, holding her back.

“He's your boyfriend not mine. Besides, he's cute and nice. You can make it work but that's not going to happen if I'm standing in between you two, so… goodluck!”

Sophia managed to take her hand off Isabelle's, running off.

“Don't you dare… don’t you… and she did!”

A guy who looked like he was in his late twenties stopped in front of her.

“Hey, Isabelle. How are you doing? This… this is a success. I'm proud of you,” the guy whose name was Derek said, leaning in to hug her.

She didn't reciprocate the hug because she felt really weird.

She met Derek last month from one of her shopping trips and he also happened to live in the same estate as she did. She didn't even realize, he was the one who told her how he always sees her every morning —picking up art equipments, going to work or taking out the trash.

When he told her that, she felt awkward knowing that someone—a male had been watching her. They became friends afterwards even though it was quite obvious Derek wanted more from her, but she always told him she was still recovering from a failed marriage and needed to take things slow. Sometimes, it did seem like he listened and the other times, he ended up getting her flowers, which was definitely not in the list of taking things slow.

“Thank you,” she replied, pulling away from him. “You made it.”

“I wouldn't miss this for anything. It is your big day.”

“That's really… nice,” she muttered, taking a good look at him. 

Derek was really a nice guy. There's been a lot to show that. He was also the kind of guy that would get chewed out and spit out by a man like Alessandro.

Again, with thinking about him.

Stop it, Isabelle—she reprimanded herself.

Maybe Derek was what she needed to forget about him.

“Everything okay?” he asked, interrupting her thinking. 

She nodded. “Yeah, it's just been a very long day.”

“I’m really sorry about that. What if… what if I say I have something that could make you feel better?”

“Yeah?” 

“I don't know how it might come off, but I was thinking… if, you know, we could go on a date. You know just something to celebrate. Tomorrow. My friend has a music gig coming up. We don't need to pay for tickets. I got two tickets for you and I. You don't mind if we go there on a date right? It's like a club concert.”

“No, it's perfect. I'll be happy to come along.”

“Alright then. I'll come pick you up by seven pm tomorrow.”

Isabelle managed to pull a faint smile. “I'll be waiting.”

Derek smiled, leaned in and pecked her on the cheek. “Bye, Isa,” he said and then he turned, leaving her at the spot—stunned.