Arranged

3

Danica

I watched a lovely blonde woman enter a car at the same time I got out of mine. She must be a new secretary of sorts. Fortunately or unfortunately, she left before I could get a second look.

The butler opened one of the large doors to the mansion for me as I walked in perfectly unannounced. William was in the foyer looking particularly out of sorts. Taking a deep breath, I put on the façade I had worked so hard at perfecting and ran over to address him.

"William! What do you say we go over to mine and have a lovely evening together?"

I was practically glued to him at this point, but unlike usual he hardly reacted to it.

"I can't right now, Danica, I've a lot to do."

"But darling, what is there to do but think of your fiancé?"

William paused long enough for me to think: Oh stop moaning, you sound so fake. He can see right through you! But in an instant I saw his gaze falter.

"Love, I'm terribly sorry if you've felt neglected lately. It's just that a lot has been going on. In fact, we need to discuss some particularly troubling matters. I'm afraid that this just isn't the right time."

I almost snickered thinking of how wrapped around my finger he was.

"William, if you've something to tell me then please do so immediately. I don't want any secrets between us before the wedding."

He shook his head and ran a hand through his onyx hair.

"Danica that's just it though, the wedding. I'm afraid that it must be postponed yet again-"

I left him hanging there by slapping him across the face and stalking off. As my heels clicked away at the marble floors I was shaking with a combination of rage and the thrill of finally slapping his pretty-boy arse. I was smiling to myself.

However, as soon as I caught sight of the door I was spun around to face a flustered William.

"Danica, you can't just run away from this."

Despite all odds, his voice was calm and unwavering.

"If we are not at the alter in three months as was scheduled earlier today, I will not marry you. It's that simple."

His gaze faltered while I took a moment to realize exactly what I had just said to him. I laughed.

"Silly, of course I didn't mean that. William I love you, I really do, but I'm so tired of all these postponements, whatever the cause."

He looked confused and speechless, so I did more talking for him by bringing him down for a full kiss. There was no magic, no spark. In fact, he was completely unresponsive to my touch. I pulled away, flustered.

"Really, William, what has gotten into you lately? I came here to say goodbye to my fiancé before giving my small tour in Russia. Remember that? I'm so sorry I can't make the ball tomorrow night, I really wish I could."

With that I turned around, leaving him frozen and speechless as per usual. As I was turning around I caught sight of the poor old Duke standing a ways behind his son, probably jsut as confused about the whole souiree. Well, the best thing to do is to keep them guessing like always. I laughed quietly to myself.

A while later while I was getting ready for my flight I got a call from William, which I promptly ignored. He sent a rather odd text afterwards. It read: We have to temporarily call off the engagement due to an agreement found in mother's will. It will be released in the press tomorrow. Please take off your ring.

After reading it I glanced at my naked finger. One step ahead of you, William darling.

---
Cosette

I unlocked one of the heavy double doors with mild disdain.

"Robert?"

My voice echoed sickeningly throughout the large home as I walked across the foyer and into his favorite of the ground-floor smoking rooms. I knocked twice before entering.

"Marie, is that you?"

I shook my head in disdain, even though he couldn't see me. Marie was his part time lover, although I'm not sure if he knew or cared whether I knew about it or not.

"Robert, it's me, Cosette."

Stepping into the small and intimate room, I made a move to sit down in front of him at the table. He smiled innocently at me and took a swig of his beer while I took a deep breath and prepared myself for what I was going to say.

"Robert, I'm afraid that we must call off the engagement."

He immediately started shaking his head, making a visible effort to keep his anger in check. I fought the urge to shrink as he began to visually shake in front of me.

"No, we're not calling off the enagement, sweetheart, all of the arrangements have already been made."

"Look, Robert, this is not about us, it's about an agreement that was found in the will of the late Countess."

His eyes immediately met mine.

"Countess Evernorth?"

I nodded solemnly.

"It seems as though I've been secretly engaged to William Evernorth for the majority of my lifetime. Until they sort the legalities out, I'm afraid that we must call off the engagement and the wedding."

I let out a small breath, suprised at how civilized he was suddenly being.

"Darling, this is excellent news. Do you understand how much publicity we could get from this fiasco? How much money we could get from a lawsuit?"

Choking on air, I got up.

"Publicity? Money? Robert, really? Do you need any more of that? Honestly, you could easily get as much publicity by asking Marie formally for tea. We are not making this public, and we are not calling for a lawsuit, and that is final."

I took off the incredible engagement ring and set it down on the table.

"Please don't make too much of an effort to contact me in the near future, although I'm sure that we'll see each other at the Times."

There was a soft knock at the door, presumably Marie.

"Enjoy your sinful evening."

---
And we meet again, dear readers, at the end of another inexplicably lengthy chapter. Can someone say character development? Parallelism? This has been so much fun to write so far, and hopefully fun for you all to read as well.

Finals weren't absolutely dreadful this year, which was super unexpected for me. I hope everything went well with you all as well:)

Until next time, lovely readers!!

-Alice