Chapter 18

Already dressed and dolled up for their date, she did a three-sixty turn in front of the large vanity mirror. She smiled to herself as she remembered how romantic he was last night.

Ann was clad in a short v-neck black dress paired with a glass dress that she ordered in the morning and for her makeup, she went for a natural look complimented by her hair which she had packed in a loose bun at the top with loose curls caressing her forehead and stopping at her cheeks.

She was a bit nostalgic despite the butterflies in her tummy. She couldn't believe that she was actually following her heart instead of her mind. She kept paced up and down.

"Why is he late ?", she muttered to herself and couldn't help but get scared. Calli was never one to be late to any occasion.

Was he going to dump her ?

Did he forget about their date?

She wanted to call him earlier but didn't want to give him the idea that she was desperate but she discarded the idea and called him.

After calling for the seventh time, it went through.

"Hello", a female voice came through.

"No this is not my Calli", Ann tried comforting herself despite the heart wrenching pain she felt at a female answering the call instead of his.

"Who are you? Huh.... Give the phone to Calli right now!", Ann screamed angrily in a trembling voice. She couldn't withstand the ladies outburst of laughter.

Calli couldn't do this to her!! but her thoughts were broken through by the shameless woman answering Calli's phone.

"What do you want?", the woman asked rudely.

"How dare you ask me that, I'm Cali's woman", Ann blurted out in anger while she prayed in her heart that the rude woman should just be Cali's rude secretary.

"You must be sick, Cali is my man , my boyfriend. Oh I get it now. I was out of the country to a trip in England so my Cali must have found a new toy. Sorry you've been toyed with but I won't let you near him. We made out Last night and ohh you should have seen the way he...", and Ann immediately disconnected the call.

She could not take all the information in.

So she was his play thing?.

She was being toyed with?.

She broke down in tears at the fact that that morning was supposed to be her engagement but she disregarded it despite her father's threats that she was sure he would carry out and what Calli could do was betray her in the most brutal way ever.

She was slumped in a heap until she heard a knock, "maybe that woman was lying, maybe that's my Cali knocking at the door", she stuttered happily before rushing to open the door only to see Josh, her to be fiancee.

She walked back devastated and slumped crying on the couch. Josh's emotions flickered as he walked towards her and consoled her,

"I'm so sorry", he apologized, "your mom and dad called, they said that.... That our introductory engagement party was already scheduled today. Maybe I should call and cancel the engagement since you're in good shape", he said as he made for his phone sadly.

Ever since he found out that Ann was head over heels for his brother, he had been sad and envious. He also loved Ann but he cared about her happiness. Even if they're not engaged today, they will some other day but he wasn't ready to give up on her yet.

He just had to show her that he was a hundred and twenty yards better than Calli.

"Wait, don't do that?. If he abandoned me today, it's his loss and I won't kill myself over that. It's time to move on but let me confirm one more time before deciding on what to next", Ann said before grabbing her phone with both shaky hands, she redialed Cali's phone number again.

"Hello b!tch, stop calling my man no more, you are disturbing us", the shameless woman yelled over the phone.

"What's your name?", Ann managed to ask despite her tear filled voice.

"I'm Natasha Steve", the woman answered. Ann remembered her name, she was the famous model that Cali had dated whose picture was hung all over Cali's wall. Her fears were confirmed and she happened to hear his familiar husky deep voice in the background.

"Come baby", he said.

"That man ..... That ... that's Cali's voice", Ann whispered in tears while stomping her feet loudly on the floor.

"Yeah he is MY CALI SO F#CK OFF", Natasha yelled before disconnecting the phone.

"Josh let's get engaged", Ann said in a fierce voice. At least if she gets engaged she would achieve so many things for example her status in the underworld will be elevated because with Josh's influence she would be more powerful, she could also escape her dad's dubious threats and keep Cali at arms length.

"Do I need to change or is this dress okay", Ann asked him, avoiding eye contact.

"The dress is beautiful but are you sure about this?", he asked her.

"Yes I am, I am very sure of this. Just don't lie to me ever or I will break you limb by limb", she said before walking into the room to adjust her mascara smurged face.

"Your acting was perfect, you did great. I sent you five million dollars. Get yourself out of this city this moment!!", Josh ordered through the phone. He no longer looked like the cute Josh he portrayed to be.

He Loves Ann and no one, no force on earth could stop him from getting her and he didn't care what means he used besides there's a popular adage, ALL IS FAIR IN LOVE AND WAR.

"I'm done, we can go now", Ann said emerging.

He found her beauty breathtaking.

Ann decided to slip out of the black dress and into a green sleeveless bodycon dress and let her hair down in wavy curves and clipped the edges with silver pins. She did the smokey eyeshadow and dabbed the hot mocha red lipstick, some single eyelashes and pale pink blush.

Calli was mesmerized and Ann had to close him mouth playfully before picking up her purse and headed towards the door. He followed suite while whistling to himself making Ann blush.