ADRIAN'S POV
I stared at my watch for the thirteenth time in the last hour, and cursed softly.
I'd been waiting for over two hours, and Elizabeth fucking Sanders still hadn't shown up to the meeting she'd scheduled.
I bounced my foot against the floor and crossed my arms, if she didn't show up in the next thirty minutes then I was leaving, future mother-in-law, be damned.
Thirty minutes later, and I was done, if she wasn't showing up, then I was out of here, I had more important things to do than sitting around waiting for someone to show up late to their own meeting.
I called James to bring the car to the entrance of the lounge and walked out of the room, slamming the door behind me and making my way to the exit.
"Tell Mrs Sanders to contact me when she's ready to have an actual fucking meeting." I slid the key card across the reception desk to a shocked Ellen and made my way to where my car was waiting.
"To my house, James." I proceeded to call Mr Tanaka on the drive home and over the next hour, we discussed his new project idea and decided to finalize our plans in our next meeting.
"Sayonara, Tanaka-San." I ended the call and leaned my head on the headrest, loosening my tie. I was exhausted and was ready to get home and relax with a good glass of whisky.
"Everything alright, Mr Kingsley?" James asked, keeping his eyes on the road.
"Yeah, I'm just tired" I smiled at the old man even though I knew he couldn't see me.
I relaxed into the chair and closed my eyes, deciding to sleep through the traffic that surrounded us on all sides until I got home.
I was just drifting off when my phone rang, waking me.
"What?" I barked into the phone, not bothering to check who it was.
"Hello to you too, cousin." The familiar voice of my cousin Alessandro Bianchi chuckled over the phone.
"What do you want, Sandro? I'm way too tired to deal with your shit right now." I rubbed my eyes and gritted my teeth, I could feel a migraine coming.
I was definitely more tired than I realized, especially since I hadn't slept in over 34 hours. I was practically running on fumes at this point.
"Well, forgive me for checking up on my favourite cousin." He huffed, and I rolled my eyes at his tone.
'Drama queen' I muttered under my breath.
"Sorry, I'm just exhausted right now."
"When was the last time you slept, Luc?" Alessandro sounded concerned.
"Worried about me, Sandro? You going soft on me, Al." I laughed.
"Nah, never." He laughed, and I relaxed, knowing I'd distracted him. "So what's this about you getting married? I mean, I never thought I'd see this day. What's she like, how did you propose? Hurry up and give me all the details."
"Fucking pettegolo (gossip monger). I ain't telling you shit." I laughed and he joined in.
"Well, it's too bad you can't hide the tea for long, huh." He sounded smug.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, when I heard my favourite cousin was getting married without even telling me first, I had them get my plane ready, and now I'm currently on my way to.... drumroll and pause for dramatic effect."
"No, no, no, absolutely not. Do not tell me you're coming here."
"Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner. I'll get there early tomorrow morning, but I'm staying at a hotel for the night, and then I'll come to your home later in the day."
"Fucking hell." I groaned into the phone.
"And when I get there, you are going to tell me every single detail, you hear me? And don't think I forgot about you not sleeping, we're gonna talk about that too."
"See you later, Luc."
"Yeah, see you." I cut the call and threw the phone on the seat.
"How much longer, James?"
"A few more minutes, we're almost there, Sir."
The rest of the way was a blur and the next morning, I woke up in my bed with no memory of how I'd gotten there. Best to assume, James had carried me in.
I rubbed my eyes and stretched, then I made my way to the bathroom to wash my face. Hopefully, there was something around that I could eat for breakfast, I brushed my teeth then decided to go downstairs.
I sniffed the air when I came out of my room, and then did it a second time to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. Something smelled delicious, I should've probably been worried that a stranger was in my home, but then, no one could get in except those who knew the security code and whose fingerprints were registered in the security system, and since there was only one person besides me whose finger was registered, Alessandro fucking Bianchi.
But I could've sworn he'd said he'd come in later today and definitely not by, I squinted at the wall clock, 7 a.m. I rubbed at my eyes, I'd slept for 10 hours, but I still felt freaking exhausted.
"What are you doing here?" I walked into the kitchen to see Sandro at the stove, cooking.
"Making breakfast, obviously." He rolled his eyes.
"Smells good." I muttered, taking a seat at the island and resting my head on it. "I'm guessing you're the one who changed me." I said, staring at the comfy hoodie and joggers I was wearing.
"Yep. You looked pretty uncomfortable in your monkey suit, so I thought I'd do you a favour."
"Thanks weirdo. Around what time you come in?"
"Probably around 4, while you were sleeping like a baby." He dished the food into two plates, placed one in front of me and kept the other for himself.
"I thought you were coming in layer, why'd you change your mind?" I asked, but Alessandro just shrugged, grabbing a coffee for himself and passing me a Greek yogurt parfait.
We spent breakfast joking and catching up while we ate.
"So, tell me more about this fiancée of yours." Alessandro said, taking both our plates to the sink. "How come I never heard about her before her today?" I picked an apple from the fruit bowl and threw it into the air needing something to keep my hands busy, then I shrugged and sat on the counter next to the sink.
"Grandpa, arranged it." I said, throwing the apple into the air again.
"What!!" Alessandro turned, dropping the dishes in the sink.
"Yeah." I chuckled humourlessly, "I had no idea I was getting married either until it came out in the news."
"Who still does that these days?" Sandro yelled. I bit into the apple, staring hard at the wall.
"Her name is Rachel Sanders, she's 21, and she's in medical school at NYU, her family's pretty high up on the social ladder" I bit into the apple.
"You say it like you memorized some file"
"I did." I said and stared him dead in the eyes, Sandro's eyebrows rose.
"Damn." He mattered. "Have you at least met her?"
"Yeah, once. Grandpa and her mum arranged a 'date' so we could get to know each other and so the press could get some good pictures of us together. I proposed we have a contract marriage though."
"You what?!" Sandro yelled.
"We get married to appease our parents, but live separate lives and then finally go our separate ways after 2 or 3 years."
"Damn." Sandro whistled. "And she agreed to that?"
"Yep."
"So what was she like?" I stared at the ceiling, thinking.
"She was different, I guess, a breath of fresh air, you could say. Speaking of which, I need you to have one of your people look into her."
"Sure. What do you wanna know?"
"Everything, and when I say everything, I mean every single thing about her." Sandro patted me on the shoulder.
"Enough talk about this, now come on, let's go watch some movies, while I raid your wine cellar." I shoved his arm off laughing as we made our way to the wine cellar.