In Love With My Bully-Chapter 99: The Mask of Confidence

The Numero mansion was eerily silent. Which, given that the family specialized in being dramatic, was saying something.

Richard Numero sat on his grand leather armchair, holding his wife Nita’s hand. Their daughter, Queen, stood before them, her face a perfect mask of confidence. She had just dropped a bomb. Not a literal one, but in terms of family scandal, this was nuclear.

"I will be marrying Drake tomorrow," she announced, "and I hope that I won’t have to explain anything to both of you. I just need you to trust me."

Richard sighed, rubbing his temple. He had been preparing himself for this conversation for weeks, just not under these circumstances.

Of course, this was what he wanted.

Of course. Drake had been his master plan from the beginning. Richard wasn’t blind. He had seen the way Drake looked at Queen. That deep, almost worshipful gaze. The way his eyes softened when she spoke. It was the same way he looked at Nita. The way a man looks at the one woman he knows he’ll never be able to love less.

And he had hired Drake to work at Numero Corp for that very reason. Although he never knew Drake had a thing for Queen before then.

He hired Drake to get them together.

To create opportunities without pushing too hard.

And now, somehow, without his interference, they had found their way to each other. It was proof that love always wins.

Richard took a breath and nodded. "Alright."

Queen blinked, clearly surprised. "That’s it?"

"Yes," he said simply. "But now I have several expensive bottles of wine that I bought for the Falcos. That now seems like a waste."

Nita smacked his arm.

"What?" Richard frowned. "It is a waste! Some of those bottles are imported!"

Nita rolled her eyes.

Drake, who had been uncharacteristically silent, looked at Queen. "See? That wasn’t so bad."

Queen arched a brow. "Give it a few hours. My mother is still processing."

And she was right. Because Nita was absolutely processing. But not for the reasons anyone expected.

Her gaze flickered to the far corner of the room, where Chayara sat still as a statue.

Chayara’s eyes were red.

Wet. Her lips were pressed together in a tight, trembling line.

Her entire body screamed heartbreak.

Nita sucked in a quiet breath.

Oh. Oh no.

It couldn’t be. freewebnσvel.cѳm

...Could it?

Could Chayara be in love with Drake.

Oh, sweet Jesus. This was going to be a disaster.

Queen, her daughter, was about to marry a man she saw as a business arrangement.

And Chay, Queen’s best friend, was about to watch the man she was in love with marry another woman.

This was worse than a telenovela.

This was a soap opera written by Satan himself.

*****

The mansion was dead silent.

The kind of silence that made you feel like the universe was holding its breath.

Everyone had gone to bed, but Chayara’s mind was loud. Thoughts and emotions clashed in a full-blown war, and she was about to do something very, very reckless.

She wasn’t going to let the love of her life get trapped in a marriage that didn’t make sense.

Not without a fight.

So, like the crazy, lovesick fool she was, she marched down the hall, stopped at Drake’s door, and knocked.

Her heart pounded.

A few moments later, the door creaked open.

Drake stood in the doorway, shirtless, hair ruffled from sleep, looking unfairly hot for someone who was about to ruin her.

Great. Just great.

"Are you here to talk some sense into me?" he asked, voice thick from sleep.

"Yes..." she swallowed. "Drake, don’t do this."

He sighed, running a hand down his face. "Chay, you know Queen. If I don’t, she will go ahead and marry Liam."

"That’s her problem!"

Drake shook his head. "I can’t let her do it."

The frustration boiled inside Chayara.

"Why, Drake? Why?" But what she really wanted to ask was, why are you doing this to me?

Drake exhaled deeply and then said the words that punched her soul right out of her body.

"Because I love her, Chay. How could you not have seen that?"

Chayara’s brain stopped working.

Her heart? Shattered.

Drake loved Queen?

Since when? How? HOW? All this time she had been waiting for the perfect moment to confess, waiting for a sign that he felt the same way, waiting for him to see her.

And all this time?

He had already been in love with her best friend.

Tears burned in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.

This wasn’t the time for weakness.

Drake sighed again, rubbing his neck. "I know this marriage is crazy. I mean, none of my family is even going to be there. Marrying Queen doesn’t guarantee she’ll ever see me as more than a convenient choice, but I have to hope."

Chayara heard none of it.

She was too busy watching the man she loved make a stupid, heart-wrenching mistake.

Why did he even come back into her life?

She had been fine before.

She was moving on.

And then, bam! Here he was. Back in her world. Making her fall all over again. Only to crush her.

Drake took a step closer. "Chay... I promise you, I will protect Queen if that’s what you’re worried about."

She let out a bitter laugh.

Oh, sweetheart, no.

She wasn’t worried about Queen.

She was worried about herself.

Chayara nodded frantically and took a step back, forcing herself to keep breathing.

There was nothing else to say.

Nothing else to do.

She was going to be the chief bridesmaid in a wedding where she was in love with the groom.

Could the universe screw her over any harder?

She turned and walked away, praying she wouldn’t collapse before making it back to her room.

This ache in her heart?

It felt like she was dying.

Thirty minutes later, Chayara was in her room, sitting on the floor, drinking straight from a wine bottle.

"Alright, Chay," she mumbled to herself, "you have two options."

First, she could wake up tomorrow, put on a fake smile, wear her gorgeous bridesmaid dress, and pretend her entire soul wasn’t crumbling into dust.

Second, she could dramatically stand up at the wedding when the priest asks for objections, throw herself at Drake, and declare her undying love in front of everyone.

She took another swig of wine.

Yeah. No. That was insane.

She exhaled sharply, flopping onto the floor.

How the hell was she going to survive tomorrow?