𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐄 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐎𝐑 || 𝐋.𝐌 ✓

➢Chapter 7- Play date

Note: H/c(hair color)

             M/n(middle name)

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Y/n turned around in time to see a owl drop a small envelope on her table. A letter. That woman was fast. What was she supposed to tell her parents about tonight when a broom arrived? I have a date with the billionaire Lucius Malfoy. Yes, turns out he loved when I went over there to challenge him. He finds my trucker mouth irresistible.

Sigh.

This would be so much easier if she could tell them the truth: that she was marrying to get the L/n Hotel back. That a six-month trade-off would secure her future, and theirs. Granted, the moment her father learned Lucius was blackmailing her, he'd take a ball bat to Lucius's gonads. So maybe it was better that she had to lie.

As much as she hated lying. Deception in general. She thought of William and her lip curled.

How'd the saying go? You can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs. A few white lies told over the next half year, and then she could go back to being herself. It was an act. That's all.

She'd have to convince her parents, as well as the press, that she and Lucius fell in love. Opposites attract? That was one way to go. Enemies to lovers? That was another.

Still, a ripple of resentment came at how perfect this solution worked out for everyone.

Suddenly, she sympathized with her parents' hiding their financial worries from her. They loved her and likely did it to protect her, much in the way Y/n was doing this because she loved and wanted to protect them.

But even with that justification, she was having a hard time forgiving them for hiding this from her for so long. She was an adult; she could handle bad news. Hell, she had handled financial challenges both on a business and a personal scale. Didn't they trust her?

Well.

They would.

After the divorce, they could relax knowing the L/n Hotel was back in the family's "portfolio" rather than a square on Malfoy's giant Monopoly board.

At her desk, she flapped the letter open. Just as expected it was from Emily: a bullet list of items, including the location of the restaurant, make and model of the broom coming to pick her up, and a list of places where Y/n might procure a manicure, a dress and shoes, and have her hair styled. The personal care items were marked with an asterisk and at the bottom of the list she saw its meaning.

*Each of these services will be billed to Malfoy company at no cost to you.

Be still her heart.

"I'm not having my nails and hair done," she said to the piece of parchment. "And I have great shoes." Decisively, she closed the letter and, for good measure, burnt it. She would agree to the dinner and to the broom picking her up, but she knew damn well how to get ready for a date at a nice restaurant. Could Lucius Malfoy be more insulting? More controlling?

"Goodness. What's happened to you?"

Y/n looked up to see her mother leaning into the office, her hand resting on the knob of Y/n's open door.

"You look positively ferocious."

"Uh...small overcharge on new linens," Y/n lied, transforming her snarl into a smile. "Nothing a quick note won't fix."

"All right, then." Her mother returned her smile but Y/n saw suspicion resting behind it. Lying wasn't something Y/n did on a daily basis, so it was understandable she was bad at it.