Chapter Six: Mother Knows Best

Evening after evening of interviews and meetings led to this moment: Lola meeting Mrs. Blackwood for the first time.

“Mom, this is… Lola,” Adrian said, voice carefully neutral, though his hand lingered on her back a little too long.

His mother’s eyes scanned her slowly, deliberately. “So,” she said finally, lips curling, “you’re the fiancée.”

Lola forced a smile. Fiancée. For three weeks. Fantastic.

Adrian leaned in, whispering just loud enough for her to hear, “You’ll be staying in the same hotel tonight. The interview ran late.”

Her brain immediately did a somersault. Same room? Same bed? This is absurd. Absolutely absurd.

They moved through the lobby in tense silence. Adrian’s mother, a vision of calm authority in pearls and cashmere, barely blinked as they followed her to a small, elegant conference room for last-minute post-interview notes. Lola felt like prey being sized up, and every glance from Adrian’s mother felt like a subtle verdict.

When the meeting ended, Adrian’s mother offered a polite, almost imperceptible nod, and Lola nearly breathed a sigh of relief. Then Adrian leaned in again, voice low.

“Follow me. We need to grab some dinner before the evening winds down.”

Dinner. With him. And now the added terror of sharing a hotel room. Lola didn’t even know whether to laugh, scream, or hide under the table.

The ride back to the hotel should have been simple. It was just the two of them, a quiet hum of city lights outside the car windows. Lola stared at the passing streets, trying to calm her racing mind. She reached to adjust the air vent and froze.

There it was. A small, velvet-lined box tucked in the console. She couldn’t help herself. Her fingers brushed it open and her heart did a somersault. Inside lay a sparkling ring. A wedding ring.

“Adrian…” she said, voice sharp. He glanced over at her, curious, his hand resting casually on the wheel.

“Yeah?” he said, casually.

“That… this… ring,” she gestured wildly, eyes blazing. “You were going to propose? To someone else?”

He sighed, a slow, calculated exhale, like he had all the time in the world. “It’s complicated,” he said evenly.

“Complicated?” Lola snapped, holding the box between them like it was a grenade. “You’re telling me I’ve been pretending to be your fiancée while you… you were planning to marry someone else?!”

“Whoa, wait, hold on,” he said, his hands raised in mock surrender. “You don’t understand the situation. She’s… she’s gone. This was supposed to happen last year. Before anything with you.”

“Oh, so now I’m the convenient replacement?” Lola shot back, voice rising. “The stand-in while you clean up your mess of a love life?”

Adrian’s jaw tightened. “It’s not like that. You agreed to help me—”

“I agreed to fake it, Adrian! I didn’t sign up to be anyone’s emotional Band-Aid!” Lola’s words flew faster than her racing thoughts.

Adrian pulled over to the side of the road, the car’s engine humming quietly. He leaned back, running a hand through his hair. “I know. And I’m sorry. I really am. But listen, that ring? It means nothing now. She’s out of my life. Completely.”

“Out of your life,” Lola repeated, voice low, incredulous. “You say that, but here we are. In your car. With the ring. I can’t even begin to pretend I’m not seeing it. It’s right there. Between us.”

Lola had clearly caught feelings because why is she pressed about the ring ?

He softened, leaning closer, just enough for her to feel the heat radiating off him. “I get it. And I hate that you found it. But you need to trust me trust that this… whatever this is between us, it’s real.”

Oh the feeling is definitely mutual.

Lola looked at him, frustration clashing with something she wasn’t ready to admit. Anger, jealousy , and a flutter of something dangerously close to attraction tangled together in her chest.

“I’m not sure I can just… forget it,” she whispered.

“You won’t have to,” he said quietly, voice lower now, almost vulnerable. “I’ll prove it. I’ll make it right. Starting tonight.”

Her stomach did a flip, but she resisted looking at him. She wasn’t going to make it easy. Not tonight.

By the time they arrived at the hotel, Lola was a mix of nerves, anger, and reluctant curiosity. Check-in was a blur, and Adrian handled it smoothly, as if this was normal. As the elevator doors closed, he gave her a sidelong glance.

“Same room,” he reminded her casually.

“Yes, yes, I know,” she muttered, wishing she had a helmet, a shield, and a dramatic exit strategy all at once.

And yet, as the elevator hummed upward, she realized it was strangely exhilarating. Adrian Blackwood had a way of making disaster feel like… temptation.

And Lola, much to her annoyance, was already caught.