Chapter 204

Liam’s POV

The exclusive banquet hall where we were holding the engagement event had a few side rooms for potential brides and grooms to prepare if they were getting married there.

I stood in the groom’s room, looking at myself in the full length mirror. Dressed in a tuxedo, I could have been a groom tonight. Thankfully, I wasn’t. I’d never let this ruse get that far. This engagement farce was already overdoing it.

After tonight, I would wash my hands clean of this entire plot. Markus could think whatever he wanted afterwards, I didn’t care. Joanna could do what she wanted.

I’d done my part, and I wanted free. Before I pushed Aria too far and lost her for good.

Stepping away from the mirror, I walked toward the door and opened it a crack, enough to see out into the hall and the main room beyond. The guests were beginning to arrive, but there was no sign of Markus yet.

It wasn’t like him to not arrive promptly. If he wasn’t the first one at an event, he considered himself late.

Perhaps his ailing health was the reason for his tardiness, but that was a frustration on its own. If Markus wasn’t here to see it, then what was I doing any of this for?

When I saw Joanna heading toward my door, I returned to the mirror, pretending to adjust my tie. Joanna entered my room without knocking and then walked over toward where I stood. From beside the mirror, she looked up and down at my outfit, and nodded in approval.

“You should wear this more often,” she said.

The tuxedo was too tight in the collar, and all these layers were hot. I was sweating bullets underneath. The last thing I wanted to do, other than this event itself, was think about attending another one where this sort of apparel was required.

I wasn’t going to even bother entertaining her whims. “Markus isn’t here yet.”

“So he’s running late,” Joanna played it off like it wasn’t a big deal. She knew better.

“He’s never late.”

“Maybe he’s ill.”

“He would have called.”

Joanna rolled her eyes. “Maybe he had car trouble. Not everything has such an easy answer, Liam.”

I looked her dead in the face. “I’m not doing this if he isn’t here, Joanna.”

Her lip twitched as her eyes narrowed. “Did we not have an agreement? It’s not just Markus we need to fool, but my parents, as well. My parents, who are on the way. I’ve done a lot for you, agreeing to this, arranging this event, keeping everything together. Are you rescinding on our deal now at the last minute?”

I certainly considered leaving her high and dry here. Our agreement had been twofold: her parents and Markus.

Joanna must have been able to tell that I wasn’t as convinced as she wanted me to be.

“Even if he isn’t here, Markus will hear that this occurred,” she pressed. “He’ll also hear if you don’t go through with it. That’s something to consider.”

She was right, unfortunately. Even if Markus was too weak, or whatever else, to attend, he still had ways of finding out about literally everything that happened around me. Through spies, maybe, or Joanna herself. There’d probably be video tonight for the news tomorrow.

One way or another, Markus would find out if I backed out tonight.

That alone was the reason I had to go through with it.

I certainly had serious reservations about tonight, but there was too much at stake to back out now.

“Our guests are waiting,” she said. “We should be out there to greet them.”

Not seeing any choice, I offered her my arm. “Let’s get this over with.” I still felt sick to my stomach, and that nausea was only getting worse.

She beamed at me.

Aria’s POV

When the taxi I was in turned onto the street of the event, we were immediately greeted with heavy traffic.

“Big event tonight, seems like,” the driver said.

Two minutes later, we hadn’t even moved an inch.

“This is close enough. I can walk the rest of the way,” I said and took some cash from my wallet.

“You sure?”

“Positive,” I said. My nerves were making me twitchy. I couldn’t sit still anymore. I had to get out of this tight space. Sitting still this long was making things worse.

After paying the cabbie, I stepped out onto the sidewalk. Following the trail of red tail-lights, I eventually walked the two blocks up to the front gate of the event venue.

There, a security guard was checking people’s invitations. A long line had formed. In that line was the man from the restaurant, Chuck.

When he saw me, he laughed and laughed. “Liam truly has no shame does he? I tried to warn him.” Looking right at me, he said, “Try to enjoy tonight, sweetheart, but don’t be surprised if he has to drop you after.”

I froze. “What are you talking about?” I asked.

But at that same moment, the line shifted and Chuck stepped forward to talk with the security guard. Another stepped forward, approaching me.

“Move to the back of the line, ma’am. Let’s keep things orderly.”

“Right,” I said, and after one more curious and worried glance at Chuck, I turned and headed for the back of the line.

The line moved fairly quickly, at least. Within five minutes, I was back at the front again.

“Your invitation?” the guard asked me.

I handed it over.

His face immediately scrunched up, his brow lowering over his eyes. “What the hell is this?”

“Am I in the wrong place?” I asked, somewhat hopefully. I wanted this to all be a big mistake.

Ignoring me, the security guard called to one of his co-workers, who came over. Together they inspected my invitation. This one seemed more informed that the others.

After whispering something to his co-worker, they both looked up at me.

“You must step to the side, ma’am,” the new security guard said, directing me to move out of the way of the others behind me in the line. “Please allow others through.”

I was still confused. “Am I in the wrong place?”

“No,” the security guard told me. “You are in the right place. We were simply not expecting you so soon. The hosts are not ready to accept you yet. You understand, everything has to be perfect.”

“I suppose,” I said, though I didn’t understand at all. Why would the host need more time to prepare for me, when all these others were allowed entry without issue?

The security guard gleaned no further insights, leaving me consistently confused. They stayed with me, though, even though they remained unspeaking, like they were concerned I was either going to try to sneak in or sneak away, I wasn’t sure which.

“The invitation didn’t give me a special time,” I said, half to make conversation to soothe my nerves, and half to probe for information.

The security guard said, “We were told when to allow you.”

“I don’t understand why I get so much special treatment,” I said. “None of the other guests seem to have this problem.”

“The hosts just want to ensure everything is ready for you,” the security guard said. “After all, you are the guest of honor.”