CHAPTER THREE: HEAVEN IN A CLOUD.
1357 Words
NORA
“My fiancée”
Gabriel’s words hung in the air; my face instantly snapped to his, and he didn't even bother to look at me. Right. This was not because he liked me; this was to get out of a marriage to Evelyn, and I was just the right choice because I was nothing like his ex-wife.
Not polished enough, not rich enough, not beautiful enough. I was just functional and professionally efficient.
“Gabriel!” Her eyes widened. “I am sorry; I didn’t know you were engaged.” She sounded more amused than shocked.
“I didn’t think I had to tell you.”
“We have history; I think you at least owe me that much.”
Her eyes fell on me. My five-thousand-dollar dress paled in comparison to the one she wore. Her eyes raked my body like she was searching, and then she snapped back to Gabriel.
“Forgive me, Gabriel, your fiancée… I don’t seem to recall her face in any societal column.”
Of course, this was the kind of woman she was. This was the kind of man that Gabriel was. They ate truffles for breakfast and owned horses and unicorns.
‘Much like your family,’ my mind chimed almost immediately. I shook off the thought; I could never call the Thorne my family. I was a Rhodes now and forever.
“Isn’t that all you care about?” Gabriel’s voice was strained. From the corner of my eye, I could see the twitching of his jaw.
“For a man of your status, it is only…” She trailed off, once again her eyes searching me, this time filled with enough venom to make me self-conscious of my looks. “...appropriate that whoever stands beside you fits,” she finished.
I sighed. I hadn't agreed to this madness, and I hated being in the centre of it all. I was about to pull away when Gabriel’s grip tightened on my hand.
“Nora isn’t picked because she is fit; she is picked because I love her.”
Gabriel throwing the word 'love' out there without thinking about it left a bitter taste in my mouth. Did he know the meaning of love?
“Very well, darling, you know, however, that love isn’t for those of us in high society,” she pushed and sighed with a distinct eye roll. “We only have such feelings for the lowly born,” she finished; her eyes stopped on me.
“Why are you here?” Gabriel snapped.
I wanted to defend myself, but there were no words I could say that wouldn't plunge me further into the mess. Why didn't Gabriel say anything to defend me?
“To discuss father’s deal”
She finally let herself in through the door, closing it behind her as her eyes ran over the room. “Always the workaholic, I see.” She stopped and laughed. “Wait, are you the new hire to play his game?” she asked, as if I were some kind of stand-in girlfriend.
How did she see through us that easily? I guess I was not a good match for him. I stood out like a sore thumb.
“You are oddly focused on things you have no business with,” Gabriel cut her off. “What do you want?” He asked again; this time his voice sounded more like a warning than a question.
“I guess we’ll just have to see at the King family holidays.” She turned to the door. She snapped her fingers and turned back to me, her lips pulled into a destructive smile.
“I hope you’ve parked appropriately for the King’s holiday; it’s quite opulent, and with a wardrobe like that, you won’t fit in.”
She let herself out before any of us could say anything, and we were left in the silence. I pulled out of his grip and turned to him. Did he expect me to go through all of that on my own during the holidays?
“I am sorry, Mr King, but I can’t act as your fiancée,” I said with a shake of my head.
I might be an ordinary assistant, but I still had some kind of pride left. I didn't wait for him to speak before I pulled open the door and disappeared. He should at least understand I was going to spend my holidays with Chloe; I didn't need the King family drama.
Chloe had a suspicious look on her face when I flopped onto the couch at home. “You are awfully late,” she murmured.
“There was a…” I stopped contemplating whether it was right for me to tell her. I decided to since I was not going to take up his offer after all.
“Mr King asked me to be his fiancée.”
Her head whipped to me, almost snapping off her neck; her mouth stayed open as she gaped at me. “What?” she finally managed to say after a minute of processing.
“Well, fake fiancée,” I said and explained the situation to her.
“And you aren’t going to do it?”
“Nope.”
“Are you crazy?” She screamed, startling me. I shook and turned to her. “You are going to be paid twenty times your salary, and you get to live in your fantasy for three weeks, and you are refusing?”
“I can’t…”
“You have to; one of us has to live out our fantasies,” she sighed. I rolled my eyes at her and shook my head. There is no way she was serious about this.
“I can’t; it is only going to make things awkward between us by the time we come back,” I explained, and she pretended to yawn.
“Girl, all I hear are excuses. You’ve had a crush on this man for three years, and now you get a Christmas miracle, and you are doubting.”
“I thought you didn’t believe in Christmas.”
“Well, if Santa Claus delivers such a fantastic present to my roommate, why would I doubt him?”
She got up and pressed her hand into a prayer stance, and lifted it into the air. “Dear gods of the universe, thank you for hearing my plea. My friend is finally going to be happy,” she chimed happily.
“You are getting ahead of yourself,” I murmured and dropped to my side on the couch. “I am not going.”
She pulled me into a sitting position and shook her head. “You are definitely going.”
I was almost convinced by her words, but I shook my head almost immediately. My phone chimed with a text, and she happily took it out of my bag, scrolling through it.
“This must be from Gabriel.”
“I guess the heavens are giving you a chance to choose.”
She turned the phone to me, a message from my grandfather, Alfred Thorne.
‘Come home for the holidays; I am reading the will. If you refuse to come, then I might be forced to take action’
I stared at it; my grandfather was the only one who ever thought of me as a Thorne. Even if he left me anything, the family would never allow me to inherit it, so why did he bother?
“So what would it be? A three-week hell at the Thorne family or fantasy living at the King family?”
No matter my decision, it was going to hell, and I knew that to escape my grandfather, I needed a valid excuse. Being at the King family mansion was the perfect excuse.
“Good choice.” Chloe clapped before I could say anything.
“But I haven’t said anything.”
“It’s the King’s mansion,” she exclaimed, already planning every detail on her own.
I knew this was a dangerous path, yet I was treading on it so easily. Nora, what the hell are you doing?
- Writer
