Chapter 22

Book:The Billionaire's Bartered Bride Published:2024-6-2

“Do we really have to go for a honeymoon? We can just stay in Florida, I honestly don’t think there is any need for us to leave the country,”
Nicole said as their car left the venue, Rafael had just told a man he greeted a while before he got into the car that they were heading out of town for their honeymoon, she didn’t like the idea of leaving Florida, not only did she not want to be left alone with Rafael, she didn’t want them away from where she knew.
“Why are you asking like you are just hearing about this? You suggested it and picked the location. Honestly, did you hit your head and lose your memory because you have been acting as if you did and I am beginning to worry, do we need to see a doctor?”
Rafael asked, he sounded like he meant what he was saying, if only he knew that this was more than a memory loss.
“No, it’s fine, I am just stressed out that’s all,”
“Are you sure? First, you had a problem with the photographers you requested for, then the cake wasn’t of your liking but you are the one that ordered it, then you didn’t know who Caleb was and now you don’t remember booking hotels and making plans for our honeymoon that you strongly suggested even while I said I didn’t want one, woman you are not okay,”
Rafael said touching her head as if to check if she was okay, his touch on her made her jump and she shook his hand off and moved away from him even more.
“Now you are running away, should we really go and see the doctor?”
“Shut the fuck up please,”
Nicole yelled and his eyes opened in shock, he hadn’t expected her to say that and she hadn’t expected it either, he was talking too much and she had so much on her mind.
“Have you lost your mind?”
He roared, okay that was scary, he was scary.
“I told you I am stressed out can’t you just leave me alone?”
Nicole responded, she was really stressed, her brain was working on full mode, she and Natalie hadn’t thought this through properly, there were a lot of conflicts already and it hasn’t even been a day, how was she going to last a week? And how can she be sure that Natalie will return after one week as she promised, Natalie has broken a couple of promises that made her scared that she might not keep to her words, everyone was going to know she wasn’t Natalie real soon because she didn’t have the class that Natalie had, she hadn’t even been able to interact with her bridesmaid Anita even though she had met her before, everything was upside down plus her mom talking her down in her presence and she couldn’t even defend herself, she hated everything and just wanted to hide from it all, it was all Natalie’s fault.
“It’s your fault too, you let her talk you into doing this, so you take the blame too,”
The voice in her head said.
“I am just going to let it slide since it’s a first time thing, next time I might not take it, you have to know your place, I won’t have you talking down on me,”
Rafael said, making her roll her eyes and turn away from him, he was acting exactly as she had expected him to, a macho male who thinks the world revolves around him and no one could talk him down.
“You just ignore me and it’s all good,”
She answered him, if he thinks she would bend to his fucked up rules then he should get ready for disappointment because no matter how scary he looks she wasn’t ready to bend to any rules, not when she had tried hard to get her freedom from her parents, even Natalie would not be submissive. Speaking of Natalie, Nicole wondered where she would be by now and what she would be doing, maybe partying or sleeping or maybe still on the plane, she couldn’t tell as she didn’t know where she was traveling to.
“Aren’t you going to check if the wedding is trending?”
Rafael and she turned to look at him.
“Why will I do that? I hardly use… Wait never mind, I will just check,”
She said, she really needs to stop acting like herself and start acting like Natalie or their cover will be blown, as she expected the internet was filled with photos of her and Rafael, of course, her name wasn’t mentioned because no one knew her, no one even noticed that she wasn’t here, even her husband hadn’t asked, not like she was complaining, she liked how her name wasn’t there, how she wasn’t included in the family’s spotlight, after looking for only a few minutes she closed her phone, she was never going to get used to using social media.
“By the way, I didn’t see your sister,”
Rafael let out catching her off guard, she hadn’t expected him to ask.
“She is not in the country,”
She replied
“Too bad, I thought I will meet her today, how come nothing of her is anywhere,”
“You looked her up? She is a very private person,”
“Yes I did and I didn’t find anything except rumors that didn’t look true,”
“Yeah, no one knows my sister and she prefers it like that and we try to respect her decision to remain out of the spotlight,”
“Cool, I hope I can get to meet her soon, I wanna see the normal version of you,”
He replied.
“Are you trying to say I am not normal?”
She asked even though she knew he was talking about Natalie, she still needed to defend her sister.
“Do you think you are normal then? I beg to differ, you act weird a lot, today you were snubbing everyone that’s not a normal behavior,”
He said and she resisted the urge to tell him that’s exactly how she behaved when people she didn’t know try to talk to her but what would he know?