The Pretend Fiancé (23 page)

He straightened his tie and made sure to tug his sleeves down over his cuffs. He started in the opposite direction, walking behind a group of Finns speaking quietly to each other in their language.

He’d made inquiries and knew that his grandmother would be in the hotel parlor, so he followed the signs and arrows posted along the walls.

Lying to Gwen left an unpleasant feeling in his stomach. And he kept wanting to tug his tie loose in order to get out some of that frustration, but each time he started lifting his hand to do so he forced it back down.

Judith had always scolded him as a child if any part of his clothes wasn’t in perfect order. And maybe that was why he always kept his tie loose and top button undone whenever possible, as some small act of residual childhood rebellion.

Gwen’s voice popped into his head, telling him to stop with the psychoanalysis. He couldn’t though.

He hated lying to her.
But it wasn’t really a lie. More like only part of the truth.
That smacked of being disingenuous. Lying by omission. An excuse that Henry had been fond of as a justification for a number of things he did to various people.

However, if he’d told Gwen the truth, he wasn’t certain she would have let him go through with this. And this was something he knew he should do, should have done when all this first started.

This far away from the main lobby, the marble accents gave way to less expensive, but still impressive stained wood paneling. Wainscoting along each wall, the doors to various offices and amenities set into deep and massive frames. It all leant a warmth to the place that Aiden found himself wondering why the hotel didn’t just have this instead of the marble.

The flow of traffic tapered off here, too. The Finns he’d been following had broken off in the previous stretch to go into the spa.

Tension knotted the muscles in his back and shoulders, and he tried not to think of how nice a deep-tissue massage would be right about then.

Then he arrived at his destination. The word Parlor was engraved in the plaque above the door In three languages. Aiden forced himself to reach out and push that door open despite his apprehension. Which was another thing he’d been doing his entire life, fighting the fear and doing something anyway.

The parlor was decorated like some kind of classic study room. Overstuffed leather chairs, couches, and love seats everywhere. Enormous mahogany monstrosities of desks that rivaled the one Henry used to use before Aiden took over and had it replaced with something more sensible. Chic little accounting desk lamps with green shades serviced most of those desks. There were a few billiards tables here and there, as well.

Enormous bookcases with a sliding ladder for each section lined all the walls, floor to ceiling. All the walls except for the outer one, which instead consisted of a massive window of one solid pane of glass that gave the discerning viewer an amazing and uninterrupted view of the mountain range.

The sun had begun to set, splashing most of the room in vibrant orange light.

The large room was also mostly empty. It smelled vaguely of leather, tobacco, and uncountable glasses of gin that had been consumed in it over the decades.

Judith sat near the window in an overstuffed wingback chair, facing away from the view, that dwarfed her old body. That same butler Aiden had seen before stood at her side, ready to go and get her a fresh pot of tea if she demanded one.

The current pot sat on a small tray by her chair, as well as her saucer and cup. She’d seen him as soon as he’d entered.

“I wasn’t expecting you, boy,” Judith said, her voice carrying across the gulf between them. “Come here. Would you like some tea?” She snapped her fingers and the butler moved to go fetch another place setting for him.

“No, thank you. I didn’t come here for tea,” Aiden said, weaving his way around a billiards table, grabbing the back of a chair as he went around a station for playing cards.

“Oh, I think I might be able to guess, then,” Judith said. She motioned to an armchair across from her. Aiden considered standing, but decided against it. That line of orange sunlight caught him right at eye level. Sitting saved him from that, for the time being. He leaned back in his chair and let his arms relax.

No need for her to sense his mood. “I’m not sure you can, actually,” he said.

“So this is not about young Gwendolyn’s little indiscretion with that foppish Englishman?”

Aiden held his breath, his fingertips doing their best to press their way through the leather and into the foam of the chair. “No, it isn’t.”
How does she know?

“I take it then that you already know of that. I will also assume that your engagement is still on?”

“It is,” Aiden said.

“Do you think that is wise? She kissed another man. Who’s to be sure she won’t kiss him again. Or different men?”

“She won’t,” he replied. He could feel himself closing off, retreating behind the wall he’d put up to hold Henry and Judith off. That wasn’t conducive to his objective, and he struggled to keep himself rational.

“Again, how can you be certain?”

“Ben kissed her, not the other way around. There is a difference there, a big one. Unlike you, I can actually bring myself to trust and believe other people. Especially when that other person is the one I love and intend to marry, whether you approve of that or not.”

Judith didn’t respond right away. She took her tea cup, another one of those bone china things that the hotel must have a whole stash of somewhere, and held it up to her face, the steam curling in front of her nose. She sniffed it, then took a sip.

Aiden stifled a sigh. He could feel the line of sunlight had descended to the top of his head, his scalp warming from the touch of its rays. He wouldn’t be able to sit there much longer without being blinded. He wondered if that was what Judith waited for, in order to keep him in the most uncomfortable state she could.

Henry must have gotten that little tactic from her, he realized. Aiden didn’t budge from his seat, and he rejected the idea that he could slouch in the chair to delay the inevitable a little longer.

“You always think you know a person until they do something you didn’t think them capable of,” Judith said. “Take your Gwen for example. Are you sure she’s telling you the truth about that other man? Are you sure she still doesn’t have a few secrets tucked away?”

“I am.”

Judith shook her head slowly, her eyes never leaving his. “Just like your mother. She always expected too much of people.”

Some part of him knew that Judith wanted to wheedle her way into his head, under his skin. However, he couldn’t help the way her words made him feel. They made him hate her. One, for what she insinuated about Gwen. Two, and this one went back his entire life, that a woman like this had been able to know his mother when he never got that opportunity.

He balled all that anger and hate up and smashed it down deep inside, deciding to deal with it later.

“Frowning so much will give you premature wrinkles, dear. Though, I think that a few wrinkles might give you the sense of dignity and wisdom you’re lacking...”

“I don’t care anymore,” Aiden said, pleased at the way her eyes widened in irritation at his interruption. “You and Henry always had your games, your gambits and intrigues and wagers. Enough of them to run circles around the Byzantines, I would bet. And I just don’t care about them anymore.”

“I’ve heard enough self-obsessed ranting for one day, boy. Can you do an old lady a favor and get to your point before I dry up and blow away?”

Aiden leaned forward, his elbows pressing into his thighs. “Yes, I can. I want you to back down. I want you to tear up those contracts you have with Gwen and leave us alone. You can have Carbide Solutions.”

“So she told you about our other agreement, as well? She does have a problem doing as she’s been told, and doing what she wants, doesn’t she?”

“Fine. You’ve won. You defeated us in this titanic battle of willpower. Now take Henry’s company and leave us alone.”

Judith set her teacup back on its saucer and then leaned forward until her eyes were on level with Aiden’s. “Why?”

“Because you won. I just told you why. Because I can’t stand what all of this is doing to Gwen and to us because of that. I can’t stand by and watch it all happen, so now I’m ending it. There’s nothing else in this for you. So I’m asking you as your own flesh and blood to be an honorable winner and go enjoy your prize.”

The sunlight had spilled into the room to such a degree that it completely bathed the back of Aiden’s chair in its glow. The only thing keeping him from blinding himself was leaning forward as he did.

It also had the effect of casting everything in front of him in silhouette. He could make out almost nothing of Judith or the butler but human-shaped lumps of shadow.

“No,” Judith said.

“Why not?” Aiden asked, incredulity roiling in his stomach. The knots in his back and shoulders tightened, threatening to complete their evolution into cramps.

“Because I’m the one with the contract. I’m the one who makes the rules. And that means I’m the one and only person who can truly say when this is finished.”

“What else could you possibly want? You have everything already. Henry made sure of that. Do you want my shares of the company, too? Because I’ll sign them over if that’s what it takes.”

“It’s a good thing you were born with such good looks, boy. Though they only make up partly for what you lack in certain other aspects. This game isn’t over until you finally see the woman you think you love for what she really is.”

“We’re done here,” Aiden said, realizing that he could make no headway against this woman. She had to be certifiably insane.

“Aiden, one more thing before you make your dramatic exit,” Judith said.

Aiden stopped, but he didn’t turn around. Not that he could have if he wanted, what with the sun glaring in so brightly.

“Carbide Solutions is not the prize for winning this game, nor any amount of money. You are the prize, Aiden, the one and only prize. You always have been...”

Aiden ground his teeth together so hard his jaw ached. He didn’t understand how some people could not see reason, no matter how many times you pressed their face against it. Even dogs could learn something that way. He started forward again.

“Aiden? Boy?”

Again he stopped.

“I look forward to seeing you tonight at 10. Please share the sentiment with Gwendolyn. You may leave now... And you! My tea has gotten cold during all this pointless talking...”

“Yes, madam,” the butler said.

Aiden forced the rest of his anger into that ever-growing ball of it he kept stored deep inside himself, slamming the door to the hall open and letting it swing on its hinges behind him.

G
wen stopped at an intersection, peering up the street at the mountains. The way the sun set over their peaks wreathed them in fire, and it captivated her for a few moments.

Switzerland had to be one of the most beautiful places she’d gone with Aiden over these last few months. She started off down the street, glancing occasionally in the windows of the shops on either side of her. At this hour, many of them stared back at her with Closed signs. Or signs that she thought said that (if that’s what
Geschlossen
meant, anyway).

She wasn’t really interested in shopping anyway. Her walk also took her down the lanes of recent memory. Finally getting to see Big Ben, going through the Chunnel and seeing all of the artwork in the Louvre, wandering the grounds at Versailles... And all of that in the first few weeks! Since then, Aiden had taken her through Belgium, Holland, Germany, up into Denmark and Sweden and Finland.

There had even been a layover in Moscow before Warsaw, down into Greece and then across the sea into Italy and Sicily. And finally up through the Alps into Switzerland. And the beauty of this place kept getting to her, kept sticking in her head.

The trip had been a dream come true, Aiden taking her places and doing things with her that she and tens of millions of weekly lottery players only dreamed or fantasized about.

And she couldn’t help the melancholy deep inside her from spreading itself in a numbing coldness through her veins.

She thought of one of the things she’d told Aiden the day they got engaged. Of that conversation where she wished they could buy a place here and settle down, because it held no bad memories for either of them, just the promise of a great future.

Judith took that from her, from them. And now this beautiful place would always be tainted by it all.

That night, after whatever shenanigans Judith put them up to, she intended to tell Aiden that she wanted this to end. That she wanted to go home with him, back to New York. She’d had her fill of beauty and travel and awful relatives. And now she just wanted him.

The street lines came on then, the one directly above her buzzing to life. Gwen continued on for a few more blocks, trying to clear her head with all this fresh air. She met a few other pedestrians, some of whom nodded and smiled at her in universal greeting.

She went until when she turned around she could no longer see the mountains or the hotel outlined against them.

The street led to what looked to be a small parade square, a fenced off statue of a sword-wielding man astride a horse in the center of the space. More closed storefronts stared blindly out into it. And there were benches along the outer perimeter, which was also ringed by a thin garden.

Gwen sat on the nearest bench and then leaned forward, looking off into nothing with her chin resting on her knuckles.

“Is this seat taken?” She didn’t immediately recognize the voice.

“Plenty to go around,” Gwen said, tilting her head toward the row of empty benches next to hers.
Why do people always have to interrupt what is obviously supposed to be a moment of quiet contemplation?

“That’d be a no then, I take it?” he sat down beside her.

“I’m actually trying to be alone here... Oh, you,” Gwen said.

Ben sat beside her, his arms crossed and a grin on his face. Seeing him immediately reminded her of the feel of his stubble against her face, the insistence of his lips against hers. Gwen pushed back against those memories.