✿ Aileen's POV

I descend the stairs with Camari on my hips.

“Morning” I greet when we get to the kitchen.

“Ouu don't you look pretty” Bonnita grins, taking Camari from me. “What's the occasion?”

I shrug and fix my shirt.

“Nothing. Just work” I lie.

“Hmm” she hums suspiciously. “Okay.”

“Morning, morning, morning!” Sophie sings coming in with Natalie.

“Don't you two have a home?” Nora asks, setting the table.

“What's her problem?” Sophie whispers to Bonnie.

“Menopause.”

My phone dings.

“Lee, where are you all dolled up to?” Natalie asks.

Sophie whips out her phone.

“Smile for the camera!” and begins to take pictures.

“What are you doing?” I ask with a laugh. “Stop it Fifi.”

She chuckles.

“And I always dress like this.”

“For work? Not by a long shot, Lee” Sophie comments. “Where are you going?”

“Nowhere, jeez!”

“You've been sneaking around a lot lately” Sophie tells me.

I give her a look.

“Is it a boy?” Camari giggles.

Natalie scoffs.

“Well if it is, I know for a fact that it's not Geoffrey.”

I chuckle and Sophie frowns.

“Geo is a nice guy, Lee. Why do you keep giving him such a hard time?”

“Because it's never going to work Fifi. We've been over this a billion times. Geo and I are never going to be together, okay?”

Sophie sighs.

“Whatever you say.”

She sulks off into the dining room and I shake my head.

“Lee will you drop me off at school? I can't take the bus today” Natalie smiles at me when I reach the dining room.

“I can't” I say as I take a seat.

Everyone looks at me.

“Why not?” she asks.

“It's on your way to the bakery, just drop her off, Miha” Nora says.

“I would, but I'm not going to the shop... at least not this morning.”

Bonita arches her brow.

“I knew that outfit wasn't for work. Where are you going?”

“Spill” Natalie adds.

“It is for work” I say again. “But out of town work.”

“Aha!” Sophie exclaims.

Nora narrows her eyes at me.

“You're going out of town? What for?”

“Work. Now will you all stop with the questions? I'm not a criminal.”

“Well it's my day off so I'm coming with you” Sophie smiles.

“I'll come too” Bonnie adds. “I don't have anything to do today.”

“No way” I chuckle.

Sophie pouts.

“Why not?” Bonnie asks.

“Because it's a two people job. Me and the person I'm going to see.”

Sophie gasps.

“You're going on a date!” she exclaims.

“Busted!” Camari and Natalie sing.

“No” I say. “And who goes on a date at seven in the morning?”

“The suspicious friend named Lee” Bonnie answers. “And Love doesn't work with a curfew.”

“I'm not being suspicious. It's just work. Full stop. End of discussion.”

The questions stop and we find something else to talk about. After breakfast, I drop Natalie off at school and drive out of town to Paragon Scapes.

✯✯✯✯✯✯

✿ Reid's POV

“Reid?”

I open my eyes and groan.

“Hernan, hey” I sigh and sit up. “How'd the meeting go?”

“Good. All I had to say was yes or no. They asked about you though.”

“Mm” I hum.

“When did you get here?”

I stand up.

“Wait, did you spend the night here?”

“What do you think?”

“Why?” he asks.

“I'm hiding from my mother” I say.

He raises an eyebrow at me.

“And you can't do that at your place? Just lock your doors.”

“She has the keys, Hernan.”

“Change the locks then.”

“She'll have keys,” I say, shaking my head. “You know how crazy she can get.”

Hernan gives me a look.

“Why are you hiding from her anyway?”

I plop onto my couch and check my phone.

“It's none of your business” I tell him.

Tsking, I toss it away from me.

“You look like your prom date ditched you,” he comments from across the room.

I give him a moody look but realize I'm just proving his point and so I look away.

“It's none of your business, Hernan. Get out of my office.”

“You know I know, right?” he asks.

I groan.

“Why the hell would you get engaged and not tell me?! I'm your bestfriend. I don't keep anything from you!”

“Sometimes you should” I mutter.

He frowns.

“Look” I sigh. “It wasn't planned, okay? It just happened.”

“What? Falling in love or getting engaged?”

I give him a look.

“When did you start seeing someone, bro?”

I stand up, about to tell him everything was a lie when I catch sight of my employees looking at us through the glass walls of my office. I groan.

“What I do with my personal life is no one's business! Now if you want to keep eating three squared meals a day, I suggest you mind your business and get back to work before I fire all of you!” I yell.

Hernan frowns.

“You realize the glass is soundproof, right?”

I gesture with my head.

“Yet it always works.”

He looks outside and everyone is scurrying off to their positions. I sigh and check my phone again.

“Why hasn't she called?” I mutter.

“Who?” Hernan asks.

I shake my head.

“Your fiancée?”

I look at him.

“Bro, what the heck is going on with you?”

I'm about to answer when I catch sight of the perfectly styled brunette as she struts inside the office.

You have got to be shitting me!

Hernan follows my gaze and his mouth drops.

“What's she doing here? And that's her fiancé?”

I roll my eyes and walk out of my office. Hernan follows me.

“Anika. What a great surprise to see you" he greets, hugging her.

“Mate! It's so good to see you again!” Ethan beams at me.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, colder than intended.

Anika looks at me as she steps away from the hug she was sharing with Hernan.

“Well, we were on the block and we decided to see if you and Lee would like to go out for brunch or something.”

“No. We're doing our own thing this morning” I reply curtly.

Silence follows till Hernan clears his throat.

“Oh, congratulations, Anika. I would have been there but someone had to stay back here” he says and pats my shoulder.

Ethan's eyebrows furrow at me.

“Everything alright, mate? I recognize that look.”

I look away from Anika.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Did you two get into a fight?” he asks. “You look like your prom date ditched you for a college grad” he chuckles.

“Exactly what I said” Hernan adds. “Seriously bro, what's going on with you?”

I roll my eyes.

“Nothing. And I don't appreciate how you're all suddenly interested in my personal life.”

“Anika?!” I hear Ellen chirp.

Oh great.

I pinch the bridge of my nose and take in a deep breath.

Why?

“Oh it's so good to see you. You must be Ethan. It's nice to meet you” she greets. “Sorry I couldn't be in California to celebrate with you. I'm sure you've heard... my daughter is also engaged.”

“That's great. Congratulations!” Ethan beams.

“Your cousin's engaged too so it's very exciting that there's good news all around” Anika chimes in, diverting the attention back to me.

Ellen looks at me.

“It is” she smiles. “Where is she anyway, Reid?” she asks.

Anika scoffs.

“You're keeping her away from your best friend and your cousin? Wow Reid. How special is this Lee girl?”

I give her a look and she smiles wider. I frown.

“Stay out of my personal life... all of you” I warn.

Ellen frowns.

“You know you have to tell us something, right Reid? Your mother had been at my house five times this weekend. Five. You can't expect us to not want to know what's going on.”

“Nothing is going on, Elle. Just let it go” I sigh exasperatedly.

She folds her arms.

“Where's Lee?» she asks.

“Ellen—”

“No, no, no, Reid. You've been acting weird since word got out about your engagement. And yet we haven't seen any sign of this Lee person” Anika cuts me off.

“She's right, bro” Hernan adds. “What's up?”

“Was the fight that bad?” Ethan asks.

“She called off the engagement didn't she?” Anika smiles.

There is no engagement! There I said it!

I huff.

“Lee is—”

“Right here” I hear her voice.

My head spins towards that direction and there is she... wild hair and all 'I'm not going to change my mind'. She smiles at me.

“Hi babe.”

Relief washes over me and I move up to her to wrap her in a hug. I feel her tense up but she hugs me back after a second.

“Oh I owe you one, Lee” I whisper, squeezing into her.

“You owe me a lifetime, Armani” she whispers back.

I chuckle and pull away from her, my hands resting on her shoulders.

“You're Lee?” I hear Anika's stunned and pained voice.

I smirk and turn, slipping an arm around my fiancée to tug her closer to me.

“Yes. She's Lee” I smile.

Her face falls as she looks away from me and at Lee.

“Hi Lee. I'm Ellen, Reid's cousin. It's so good to finally meet you.”

She smiles.

“We already met Mrs. Madden.”

“Really?” Ellen asks glancing at me.

“Yes. I catered your daughter's engagement. The cupcakes.”

Ellen gasps.

“Oh, my goodness. How Reid got sprinkles all over him makes so much sense now!” she laughs.

I chuckle.

“You and sprinkles?” Anika asks.

I smile.

“Story for another day, Nikki,” I tell her.

She makes a face.

“If you'll excuse us for a moment,” I say and take Lee's hand, tugging her to my office.

“Why didn't you tell me you were related to the host of that party?” she asks.

I look through the glass and they're looking at us.

“Smile. It might be soundproof but they can still see us.”

She exhales and puts her purse on my desk.

“We need to talk.”

I nod.

“Okay. I'm listening.”

She makes a face.

“You're not going to ask what made me change my mind?” she asks.

“So you can change your mind again? No, thank you Lee” I chuckle.

She rolls her eyes.

“I want something in return.”

I nod.

“I'll sign a blank check. Put in any figure you want.”

“No I don't want money,” she says.

I cross my arms.

“A jet?”

“No.”

“A better car?” I chuckle.

She throws a pencil lying on the desk at me and I duck out of the way and laugh.

“My car is perfectly fine, thank you.”

“Okay, so what do you want?”

“Protection.”

I flick my eyes back and forth.

“Protection?” I question.

“Yes.”

I sigh.

“What did you do?”

She frowns.

“Nothing. Wait... it's not for me... well indirectly it is but I haven't done anything wrong.”

I nod slowly.

“Okay, Lee.”

She sighs.

“My parents didn't secure their property. I'm their only child and by right it's supposed to go to me. But it can't because there's no document securing the land. And I will not let Ravenside take what's—”

“I'm sorry... Ravenside?” I ask, unfolding my arms.

“Yes. I need you to help me so I don't lose my legacy.”

I smile.

“Consider it done.”

She blinks.

“What?”

“Yeah. You got it. I just need to make one phone call.”

She lets out a breath.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I hate Ryan Ravenside. Of course I'm going to help you—”

She makes a sound I would've never guessed she could make. She squeals.

Squeals...

She squeals and throws her arms around me.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!”

I chuckle.

“You're welcome.”

She pulls away from me and forces her smile away.

“We need to talk about how we're going to make this whole fiancée nonsense work,” she says.

I smirk.

“How about we do it over brunch?” I suggest.

She tucks a strand of loose hair behind her ear and the tiniest bling catches my eye.

“What are you wearing?” I ask, taking her left hand.

“I wasn't going to show up here without a ring, you know? It would have incriminated the two of us and unlike you, I don't put myself in uncomfortable situations where I have to tell ridiculous lies like getting engaged to someone I tried to kill earlier that same week.”

“So you got that?” I frown.

“Bought” she corrects. “I walked into the jewelry store and requested for the tiniest ring they had.”

I chuckle.

“Okay. So brunch?”

“Fine” she sighs. “But I'm paying for my own food.”

“And I'm getting you a better ring after that.”

✯✯✯✯✯✯

“And I said yes” I try that in the mirror, a cheerful and carefree end to my little speech.

My shoulders sag.

“This isn't going to work” I mutter.

I didn't expect my family to like my decision, but I did expect them to accept it because it had already happened. I sigh and nervously rub the back of my neck.

Why was I so nervous?

The bling from the new pink diamond ring on my finger catches my eye and my heart sinks.

This is real, isn't it? My life has become a movie.

I groan and check my reflection in the mirror of the visor, then run a hand over the top of my head.

“At least one thing is going right,” I mutter.

My hair was still in the braid I'd managed to put it in this afternoon. I take a breath, close the visor, and open the car door and head straight into the house.

“I refuse to touch that!” I hear Nora's youngest daughter Tracy scream.

I pause.

“It's today?” I whisper and check my phone.

We had dinner with Nora and her family once in every month. She remarried soon after divorcing my uncle and so we did dinner once in a month to prevent any 'bad blood'.

From the window, I see Nora swishing by in her rectangular glasses and colorful apron dotted with artichokes. She gives her daughter a friendly little pat on her bum.

“That's a little dramatic, isn't it, Miha?”

“A little?” I chuckle.

Tracy was twenty-four and could be over dramatic and a little too pointed in her comments at times. I step through the door.

“If you break that, you better pack your bags for China, because that's where you're going to have to go to replace it!” I hear Bonnie scream at someone.

“I'm home!” I call out.

“In here, Lee!” Sophie's mother calls out.

Yes, we invited them every month too.

As I walked into the kitchen, a can narrowly misses my head and bounces off the door frame. That near miss is met with a masculine chorus of “Oooh,” as if they'd just missed a three-point basket in the last second of the NBA play-offs. I chuckle and pick up the can before putting my purse away.

“Mm... what smells so good?” I smile.

“Bon's secret recipe eggplant parmesan,” Matthew, Nora's eldest son says. “Hey, we're just starting a new round. Are you in?”

“What's the prize?” I ask.

“A used Starbucks gift card with an unknown amount still on it.”

I grin.

“I'm in!”

“Yes! Fresh meat!” Landon, Nora's second son exclaims.

He sweeps by me and tries to tousle my hair, but I'm too quick for him, dodging out of the way of his beefy hand. Landon laughs. Nora's sons were both older than I was. There were both blonde, tall, and athletic. Sophie called them Norse Vikings and proclaimed them hot. Matthew and Landon were pale and blue-eyed, but Tracy's skin had a bit of an olive tint to it. Her eyes were brown, and she had a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. She took after her father, Joe.

“Ooohh Landon missed his shot. Come on, Lee,” Matthew says, handing me two cans. “Put your back in it.”

I chortle.

“I literally have no idea what that means” I say.

I close one eye, take an aim... and sink my first can into the basket.

“Two points!” I cry out, earning another boisterous chorus of 'ooohs' from the guys.

My heart sinks at the thought of ruining the evening.

How am I going to tell them?

Thank you for reading!
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Ciao
~the_atticwriter