Anybody But You

4

Chapter Four

Vibe: Choke by I DONT KNOW HOW BUT THEY FOUND ME

Her father's palm striking her cheek sounded out in the study as Alice's nails bit into her palms. The sting lingered as she held her breath and closed her eyes.

The slap was nothing compared to the pain she had to endure before when she ended up leaving the estate after her coming of age party at 18.

"You insolent child!" The duke's voice thundered out as he shoved the papers off his large desk in anger.

Opening her eyes Alice released the breath she had been holding. "I'm so sorry father, please forgive me." She bowed her blonde head, her nails digging deeper into the skin of her palm. "You know how terrible I can be with directions—please father, excuse my stupidity."

"That's why Missy was supposed to join you!" His frustration bit out into the air, "Sebastian, call for the lady's maid!" He ordered, barely even glancing at the servants in the background while addressing them.

"Father, it's not her fault!" Alice looked up quickly, feeling her heart quicken in her chest as she defended her personal maid. "I wanted to show the guests that even the youngest daughter in the Arvel family was capable and well trained and no longer needed the help of a servant for social outings. I didn't want them to doubt the duke's competence in raising me and have that later reflected in the business between our families." Alice quickly spoke confidently, hoping her father might buy the lie.

In truth, avoiding personally escorting her father's guests was just a necessary action in avoiding her future killer. Godric was temporarily accompanying the sir and madame that was coming for a visit with the duke for business about the recently opened gold mines. If Alice had shown up at the train station to escort them around town, she'd have been introduced to the boy who was now only about 15 years old.

In her past life, she'd gone and was met with the silent, mysterious young man—his anger at the world visible even to an oblivious duke's daughter who had everything at her fingertips. It was from that meeting that with the simple exchange of words, his cheeks filled with colour and his dimmed reddish brown eyes finally brightened to reveal the red rubies that they were. Of course, that gentle and soft red, was nowhere as near as brilliant and terrifying as the red of his hatred was.

Even if her revenge didn't have plans for it, due to the horrifying memories that plagued her, she was unable to even think correctly about suddenly bumping into him. Her hands shook with just the imagination of seeing him again. She wanted to scream and cry like a child and ask him why.

So instead, after piecing together a valid excuse, she took this time to begin her quick ascension into her family's business. At this time, the duke's youngest daughter was known for her pretty doll face and childlike imagination. Unlike her elder siblings, she'd never shown interest in things such as status and business. While the outcome was a failure, the fact that the young daughter was finally beginning to think for her family would surely be met with surprise and possibly even a positive reaction by the duke.

Her father was silent, her shocking words playing over in his head as she knowingly continued towards her success.

"I realized my grave error, father. Before it was too late, I called for a family acquaintance that owed me a favour—they've gone in my place to make up for my clumsiness. The guests will not know of this dishonour."

Lucy Baldwin, the daughter of her father's closest business partner, just so happened to also be on her list. In her past life, the redhead was the one to first tarnish and destroy Alice's reputation—leaving her weakened to both mental and physical attacks that had eventually lead to her downfall.

However, at 17, Lucy was merely a young lady that pulled malicious pranks. With a little bit of bluffing and threatening, she was temporarily under Alice's thumb—her moves limited to helping her this time or being exposed to their peers by her. Social standing was everything in the Kingdom of Audovera. A damaged reputation meant trouble for the entire family name—which was why 17 year old Alice had never shown interest in such a cold and calculating world before.

But that was all changing. She no longer was the naive and childish girl from her past—she could not be fooled as she once was.

"...I will let your nativity go just this once, Alison." The duke finally responded, making Alice look up with a relieved smile on her face. His cheeks became infused with pink as he cleared his throat, gesturing for a servant to clean up his mess from his moments ago tantrum as he walked back to his desk chair.

The duke wasn't a man of many words. After his wife passed during an epidemic, the blond haired man was often found shut behind doors and hidden by stacks of papers on his desk. When he wasn't in his office, he was out meeting with advisors and future partners in the Arvel business and making his influence even larger than it already was in the political world. Alice could count the amount of sincere conversations she'd had with him on her fingers.

Smiling again, she gave the stoic man a curtsy, "Thank you, father. You won't regret this."

He nodded uncomfortably, "Whenever you're ready, please use any resources at your disposal to help you with your education into the family business—as an Arvel I expect great things from you just like the rest of your siblings. Perhaps by your coming-of-age party, you'll finally be considered as a true and deserving lady of this house."

It was clear the conversation was over as he picked up his pen and began reading over the papers. Even so, Alice couldn't hold back the twang of pride from showing on her face as her lips pulled up amusedly. Even though the family business was heavy on her thin shoulders, she knew that the responsibility was the first step in getting the power she needed to overthrow anyone who'd dared cross her in her past life.

Even the duke that threw her into the snake pit at just 18 years of age in exchange for power.

Her own father.

~*~*~

A.N.
I'm so sorry, Alice. Please live happily soon!
Also, you're so smart and quick thinking! You're truly a wonderful character.

Thank you for reading, do you love her yet? Man she's just so cute, how can you not?!