CHAPTER 4: THE UNINVITED GUEST
724 Words
The chandelier lights in the penthouse were still blazing when Lexy kicked off her heels in opposite directions.
Her feet were blistered, and her head throbbed from forcing a smile for four straight hours in front of cameras.
“Unzip this, please, Dante. I can’t breathe,” she muttered, turning her back to him.
Dante glanced at her before stepping closer. His cool fingers brushed the bare skin of her back as he slowly pulled down the zipper of the red gown.
Lexy held her breath, not because the moment was romantic, but because Dante’s dominant presence always felt suffocating.
“One night down. Seven hundred and twenty nine more to go,” he murmured near her ear.
“Don’t remind me about that. I need a shower and sleep.”
Just as the dress loosened at her shoulders, the private elevator chimed.
The doors slid open.
A middle aged woman stepped out, dressed in a flawless cream couture gown, her hair styled to absolute perfection. Behind her, Marcus—Dante’s assistant—looked pale.
“Dante, you haven’t answered your mom’s calls all day!”
Dante froze.
Lexy instinctively grabbed her dress to keep it from slipping and spun around, panic flashing across her face.
“Mom? What are you doing here?” Dante’s voice turned flat—colder than usual.
The woman, Victoria Maverick, stopped mid-step. Her sharp, hawk-like eyes scanned Lexy from her slightly messy hair to her half unzipped gown.
“Oh? So the rumors are true?” Victoria approached, ignoring her son and standing directly in front of Lexy.
“This is the photographer you’re calling your fiancee?”
Lexy cleared her throat, gathering what little dignity she had left.
“Good evening, Mrs. Maverick. I’m Lexy.”
“Alexandra,” Dante corrected smoothly, stepping forward and wrapping an arm around Lexy’s shoulders in a possessive gesture.
“You should have informed me before coming, Mom.”
“If I had informed you, I wouldn’t have witnessed this intimate little scene, would I?” Victoria smiled faintly, but her eyes remained sharp on Lexy.
“Marcus, take my luggage to the guest room. I’ll be staying here for a week.”
“What?!” Dante and Lexy exclaimed at the same time.
“Why? This is my son’s penthouse,” Victoria said, settling onto the velvet sofa and crossing her legs elegantly.
“And I’d like to get to know my future daughter-in-law better. Considering how sudden this engagement was, I need to ensure she isn’t just… a gold digging opportunist.”
Lexy felt her jaw tighten.
“I’m not that kind of woman, Mrs. Maverick.”
“Prove it to me over the next seven days, Alexandra,” Victoria challenged, then shifted her gaze to Dante.
“And since you two are a loving engaged couple, I assume you’re sharing a bedroom. I don’t want to see anyone sleeping on the sofa.”
Dante paused.
Lexy could feel the muscles in his arm tense against her shoulder.
“Of course,” Dante replied calmly.
“Lexy was just about to go to my room.”
Lexy shot him a look of disbelief.
The same room? Absolutely not.
“Good.” Victoria rose to her feet.
“Good night, kids. Don’t let my presence interrupt your youthful passion.”
The moment Victoria disappeared down the corridor toward the guest wing with Marcus, Lexy shoved Dante’s arm away.
“Are you insane?! I am not sleeping in your room!” she hissed.
“My mom isn’t stupid, Lexy. If she sees you in another bedroom, she’ll figure out this marriage is a contract within five minutes. And if she knows, the board will know.”
“That’s your problem, not mine!”
“It’s our problem. Remember the agreement? No secrets. And right now, my mom is your first test.”
Dante walked toward his double doors.
“Grab your pillow. We don’t have a choice.”
Lexy stared at the closed elevator doors, then toward the hallway where Victoria had gone.
She was trapped between a lion and a hungrier lioness.
“I’m going to kill you in your sleep, Dante,” she muttered, picking up her heels.
“Go ahead,” Dante replied without turning around.
“Just make sure you’ve signed my life insurance policy first.”
- Writer
