4 years later
"Babe, I have to invite her to our wedding! She's my fucking cousin, for Christ's sake." Audrey yells at her fiancé, who was having a hard time accepting the fact that aa certain member would be joining their wedding.
"Your cousin, my EX best friend!" Jesse yells back as he walks around the shared apartment, trying to find his car keys with Audrey on his tail.
"Jesus, Jesse she left 4 years ago." She says while fishing out the keys from his back pocket and holding it out to him.
"Yeah, and she never came back to meet me." He says with a scowl and grabbing the keys and making his way to the front door but Audrey steps in front of the door, preventing his exit.
"She phoned you like a hundred times and texted like a million times, you never replied to any of her texts or calls or voicemails." She says calmly and placing a hand on his chest, which softens him up and he relaxes and sighs.
"I know, babe. I guess it's just that I'm not ready to face her. I've held that stupid little grudge for so long and now I'm embarrassed and I guess that embarrassment just prolonged for years."
"Yeah, and you can fix that when she comes." She says, while pecking his lips.
"Ugh, fine you can invite her." He says giving in and pecking her again.
"Good, because I already have." She says with a grin as Jesse gasps. She moves out the way and opens the door and pushes him out as he's still in shock and waves bye with a giggle and shuts the door in his face.
Inside, he was actually quite happy to see his best friend, well Ex but still. He couldn't wait.
Chloe's POV
"Audrey, I've cancelled all my appointments for the next few months, don't worry!" I tell her through the phone as I walk into my house.
A couple of years ago, I decided to use my psychology degree to good use and told dad that I wasn't made for the business world and that it suited Jesse better, which it actually did. Jesse and Dad continued to carry on the family business which was nationally famous, it wasn't internationally successful like the Mitchell's Co.
Every week, I would hear about how the business was booming and how the new owner, Beca Mitchell, was in control of everything. It made me proud that she was doing something well in life and I wished the best for her. I haven't seen her in years, obviously I could just google her but I couldn't bring myself to do so. Every time I hear about her, it's due to the radio or dad. Jesse didn't like talking about her, which I never understood.
"Chlo?!" I hear Audrey yelling through the phone and I snap out of my thoughts.
"Yeah, sorry I got distracted."
"Okay, so just get here when you can."
We say our farewells and I hang up and look around my apartment to see the mess that was caused by none other than my three and a half year old daughter.
"Arabella Beale!" I shout with amusement as I see her painting the nanny's face, who is sound asleep.
"Mommy!" She screams in delight and runs towards me with paint all over her hands and face. There goes my grey skirt.
"Baby, what are you doing?" I ask as I lift her up.
"I don't like her, she was being mean to me." She says with a pout which I adore.
"You said that about the last one too, Bella" I say before sighing at her ridiculously cute face. "Alright, I'll fire her." I say and chuckle when she starts doing a happy dance in my arms.
Beca's POV
"I don't fucking care, when I want last week's stock reports I fucking want it!" I shout in the phone at an irresponsible employee, who would most likely be fired within the next hour if the reports weren't delivered on time.
I slam the phone down angrily and close my eyes while relaxing back in my seat. Exactly 10 seconds later the phone rang again. Which was quite expected actually.
Ever since my father passed away from heart failure due to stress last year, all the pressure and stress was passed down to me and within a few months, I had to adjust to everything myself. My father's stress came from his disloyal business partners who betrayed him while he was going through a business crises which the world wasn't informed of. After he died, I done everything in my power to get the business back in its place and to get rid of any those unfaithful bastards, which just added more stress on myself. Everything was on me. I decide who goes left and who goes right. I hated it. I hardly had time for myself. I made no friends in London, I had no companion; other than my secretary who I occasionally slept with. Life was actually quite shit for being a millionaire. I lacked happiness, security and most importantly family, which I really craved for now.
With my father dying, I realised why he was always so busy in life, why he never could make time for her. I regret everything I've ever said to him and I can't forgive myself for that. It also made me realise that with such a business, there wasn't time to have a family. So, I decided that I will never have a family, I will never kids because I won't be able to give them the love and time that I yearned for from my father.
"Yeah?" I answer the phone.
"Someone sent this invitation, which happens to look like a wedding invitation..." I hear Molly, my secretary, say.
"Open it and tell me whom it's from." I say, pinching the bridge of my nose.
"Erm... are you sure?" She asks with a nervous chuckle.
"Molly, if I weren't sure I wouldn't have fucking told you to read it!" I say, frustrated already.
"Jheez if you wish ma'am. It says," she coughs to clear her throat before continuing "'Dear, you fucking bitch of a cousin who hasn't cared to contact me or ask about my wellbeing in the last few years, I have invited you to my wedding, which you WILL fucking attend and there's not ifs or buts in this. You have to cancel everything for the next few months because I want everyone to bond again before the wedding takes place because I want the best wedding ever and you're my favourite cousin so you have to attend or I'll not get married... well that's exaggerating it now but yeah, you get the point. So I expect to see you in a week's time. Yours truly, Audrey.'
So the letter was from your cousin." Molly says which causes me to roll my eyes.
"No really?" I ask sarcastically and she just says "uh huh."
"Come inside." I order and hang up the phone.
I hear a knock as soon as I end the call, almost as if she was standing outside. Or she must've ran.
"Come in."
She walks in with a smirk. To be quite honest, I picked her to be my secretary because she's quite good looking. She's not much of brains but she is beauty. She's got red hair, pretty fit body and is really fucking beautiful. She could pass out for a model. She's wearing a black pencil skirt with her white shirt, with the top couple of buttons open which reveals her cleavage, tucked inside her skirt.
"You're always dressed to kill." I say with a chuckle as she walks towards me and swivels the chair to face the glass window and sits on my lap.
"Only for you, Beca." She says, while smirking at me. I get distracted as she's about to lean in but it quickly fades as I hear Audrey's voice in my head to get there as soon as possible.
"Right, so I called you here to tell you to book two tickets for Georgia." I say moving my face away so she only kisses my neck.
"Two?" She questions and I nod at her and grin.
"You're coming with me. I'll obviously need a date and I can't go home looking like a loner."
"Oh, but you are." She says as a joke and playfully push her as we both laugh.
"You've been really stressed out, I think this little break would be helpful." She says and stands up and walks behind me to squeeze my shoulders.
"This won't be a break though, I'll just be working from another location." I tell her, knowing that if I leave the business on its own for a day, something will most likely fuck up.
"You know, Randy is really trustworthy..."
"No one is trustworthy in this world, Mols." I reach for her hands to stop her and turn and she looks down and strokes my face.
She wasn't such a bad person to be with, but she has had history of being disloyal to her exes. It's hypocritical of me to say but I do despise disloyalty now.
"I suppose so." She murmurs and sits back on my lap and leans in, this time I allow her to kiss me.
Chloe's POV
I had just picked Arabella up from her last day before the summer break, she was excited as we were going to Georgia tonight to spend the rest of the holidays there. She was quite attached to my side of the family and loved Jesse and Audrey and she was ecstatic when she found out about their wedding taking place soon.
"So when is the wedding?" Arabella asked, while I was buckling her into the airplane seat.
"In two months." I answer and and kiss her forehead as she grins in excitement.
"Will everyone I know be there?" She asks, trying to squirm out the seatbelt.
"Yep and probably more." I answer, wondering if she will attend the wedding.