Pretend to be mine

Chapter Five: The Briefing

Thursday arrived with a sky the color of pale steel and a wind that moved the trees in the park below the penthouse. Elena spent the morning reviewing the short biography Marcus had sent—Alexander’s education, the year he took control of Kane Industries, the handful of carefully neutral facts about his family. She practiced saying them aloud until the words felt less foreign in her mouth.

At three o’clock exactly the private elevator chimed. Alexander stepped into the living room wearing a dark suit and the same unreadable expression he had worn the day she signed the contract. Marcus followed with a slim folder.

“Sit,” Alexander said, nodding toward the sofa.

Elena sat. He remained standing.

“The dinner is at my grandmother’s house in the Hamptons. Small group—four board members, their spouses, and Margaret. She is the only person whose opinion matters tonight. The board will be watching how she reacts to you. If she accepts the engagement, they will stop pushing other candidates. If she does not, this arrangement becomes significantly more complicated.”

Elena folded her hands in her lap, the diamond catching the light. “What does she know about me?”

“That we met recently and that I asked you to marry me. Nothing more. Keep answers short. If she asks about your family, tell the truth without offering extra detail. She values honesty more than polish.”

Marcus handed her a single sheet of paper. “Seating chart and a few notes on the board members. You won’t be expected to carry long conversations with them.”

Alexander continued, “We leave at four-thirty. The drive is roughly two hours. On the way I’ll answer any remaining questions you have. Once we arrive, you stay beside me until I introduce you. After that, follow my lead.”

Elena looked up at him. “And if someone asks how long we’ve been together?”

“Six weeks. It keeps the timeline tight enough to discourage too many questions and long enough to seem plausible.”

She nodded. The number was a lie, but it was a clean one.

Alexander checked his watch. “Change into the green dress. We leave in forty minutes.”

Elena rose and walked to the guest suite without further comment. The emerald sheath waited on its hanger. She dressed carefully, slipped on the low heels Claire had left, and studied herself in the mirror. The woman looking back wore a dress that cost more than three months of her old rent and a ring that did not belong to her. She practiced one more smile, then let it fall.

When she returned to the living room Alexander was waiting near the elevator, phone in hand. He glanced up, and for a fraction of a second something unguarded moved across his face before the usual control settled back into place.

“Ready?”

“Yes.”

The car that waited downstairs was a black sedan with tinted windows. Alexander held the door for her, then slid in on the opposite side. The driver pulled into traffic without being told the destination. Silence filled the back seat for the first several blocks.

Elena watched the city thin and give way to the expressway. “Your grandmother,” she said eventually. “What’s she like?”

Alexander kept his eyes on the road ahead. “Direct. She ran the company with my grandfather for thirty years before he died. She doesn’t waste words and she doesn’t tolerate people who do. She also has a soft spot for anyone who refuses to be intimidated by the family name.”

“Is that why you chose me?”

He turned his head slightly. “I chose you because you needed the money and I needed a solution that would not require months of negotiation. Everything else is secondary.”

The answer should have stung. Instead it felt honest enough to respect. Elena looked down at the ring on her hand and turned it once with her thumb.

“She’s dying,” Alexander said after another stretch of quiet. The words were quieter than before. “Months, not years. The doctors are careful with their language, but I can read between the lines. This dinner is one of the last times she will have the strength to host anything. I want her to believe I’m settled. I want her to stop worrying about what happens to the company when she’s gone.”

Elena studied his profile—the hard line of his jaw, the scar that never quite disappeared, the way his hands rested too still on his thighs. For the first time since she had met him, the power imbalance between them felt less absolute.

“I’ll do my best,” she said.

He gave a short nod and returned his attention to the window.

The rest of the drive passed in near silence. By the time the car turned onto a private road lined with tall hedges, the sky had begun to soften toward evening. The house that appeared at the end of the drive was large and white, with wide windows and a porch that faced the water. Several other cars were already parked in the circular driveway.

Alexander stepped out first and came around to open Elena’s door. As she stood, he offered his arm. The gesture looked natural. The tension in his forearm under her fingers told a different story.

“Remember,” he said under his breath, “six weeks. We met at a restaurant. Things moved quickly.”

“I remember.”

They walked toward the front door together. Before they reached it, the door opened and a woman in her late seventies appeared, slender and upright despite the cane in her right hand. Her hair was pure white, her eyes the same clear gray as Alexander’s.

Margaret Kane looked at her grandson, then at Elena, and smiled with genuine warmth.

“So this is the woman who finally made you introduce someone to me,” she said. Her voice was steady and amused. “Come here, dear. Let me look at you properly.”

Elena stepped forward, feeling Alexander’s hand settle lightly at the small of her back. The diamond on her finger caught the porch light as Margaret Kane reached for her hands.

Behind them, the first of the board members stepped out of their cars. The evening had begun, and there was no longer any place to hide.