Chapter 6: Impending chaos

NILAH

The cold air hit my face the second the glass doors shut behind us, cutting off the loud applause and the music from the ballroom. The warm chandelier light, less harsh to my vision now.

Darien let go of my wrist like my skin had suddenly burned him, He walked straight to the stone railing, his hands gripping the wet ledge so hard his knuckles looked white.

I stayed near the door, my heels digging into the damp stone floor. My dress felt too tight suddenly, making it hard to breathe as I watched him.

“Darien…” I started, my voice shaking a little. “I didn't know. I swear to you, I didn't know he was going to do that.”

“You expect me to believe that, Nilah?” His voice was completely flat, devoid of any of that teasing, casual tone he had used with me inside.

“You expect me to believe you just happened to pick my car to stand under in the rain? That you just happened to need a fake date to the exact gala where your father was planning to hand over my company?”

“It was an accident!” I stepped closer, my hands reaching out before I dropped them back to my sides.

“I haven't talked to my father in three years. I didn't even know he knew your family. When I asked you to come here, it was just to make Marcus leave me alone… I didn't want any of this corporate stuff.”

Darien finally turned around, leaning his lower back against the railing and crossing his arms over his chest. His grey eyes looked darker out here, completely cold as they scanned my face.

“Your father just stood on a stage and told five hundred people that our families have been planning this since we were kids. He clapped my shoulder like he owns me, Nilah. My mother is already inside calculating the stocks. Do you have any idea what happens to my company tomorrow morning when the news hits the papers?”

“We can just tell them the truth,” I said quickly, the words tumbling out of my mouth before I could stop them. The truth, why couldn’t everyone just be honest, why the lies and deceit.

“We tell them we aren't dating. We tell them it was a fake date for the night and my father made a mistake.”

Darien let out a short, bitter laugh that didn't reach his eyes at all. “Tell them the truth? Nilah, the Mariel Group and the Castellano empire just announced a merger through a marriage alliance. If I go out there tomorrow and say it was a prank because you wanted to annoy your ex-husband, my investors will back out by noon. They’ll think I’m unstable. They’ll think your father played me.”

He walked away from the railing, stepping right into my space until I had to tilt my head back to look at him.

“You wanted to use me to get back at Marcus,” he muttered, his eyes narrowing as he looked down at me.

“And your father used both of us to get what he wanted. So tell me… how much of this did your mother know?”

“My mother doesn't do things like this,” I whispered, my heart aching as I thought about her face inside.

“She looked scared, Darien. She was trying to stop my father”

“Well, she did an amazing job at it,” Darien shot back, his jaw clenching again. “And now I’m tied to the Mariel name whether I like it or not.”

I looked down at the stone floor, the tears finally burning the corners of my eyes. I refused to let them fall. I spent three years crying over Marcus Lawinston and his stupid lies… I wasn't going to start crying on a terrace in front of a billionaire who thought I was a con artist.

“I didn't plan this,” I said, my voice dropping until it was almost a whisper. “If I wanted my father's money, I wouldn't have spent the last three years working twelve hour shifts at a bookstore just to pay for a tiny apartment with a leaky ceiling. I wouldn't have driven a car that breaks down every time it sprinkles. I left that family for a reason, Darien.”

Darien watched me for a long time, his eyes moving over my face like he was trying to find a lie in my expressions. The silence stretched between us, “It doesn't matter what you wanted anymore,”

he said finally, his voice dropping low. “The damage is done. The second your father said your name on that microphone, our lives changed. Look behind you.”

I turned around slowly, looking through the glass doors.

Marcus was standing right on the other side of the glass. He looked completely unhinged… his face was flushed, his tie was slightly crooked, and he was arguing with a security guard who was keeping him from opening the door to the terrace.

Vanessa was right behind him, her hands flying everywhere as she tried to pull him back, but Marcus wasn't listening to her. His eyes were locked directly on me through the glass… filled with a terrifying mix of anger and absolute desperation.

“He looks like he’s about to have a heart attack,” Darien muttered, standing right beside me now. The coldness in his voice faded .

“He finally realized that the woman he treated like garbage is the only person who can keep his little company from drowning.”

“I don't care about his company,” I said, my hands tightening into fists. “I want him to leave me alone.” Something about still being associated with Marcus made me nauseous.

“He won't leave you alone now, Nilah,” Darien said, his grey eyes glancing down at me. “Every single board member in his company is going to be screaming at him tomorrow. They’re going to ask why he divorced a Mariel heiress to marry a woman who brings nothing to the table. He’s ruined… and he knows it.”

Before I could reply, the security guard finally managed to push Marcus back into the crowd, but Marcus didn't stop looking at me until he disappeared behind a pillar.

I let out a shaky breath, rubbing my arms to keep warm. “What are we going to do inside? We can't just stand there and pretend we are getting married.” I had had more than enough drama and pain to heal, from my marriage to Marcus.

“We don't have a choice tonight,” Darien said, his voice dropping into a serious register. “We go back in there… we smile for the cameras… and we play along for exactly one hour. If we cause a scene now, both of our stocks will plunge before the sun comes up. Tomorrow morning, I will meet with your father in his office… and we will figure out how to get out of this mess without destroying my life’s work.”

He extended his arm toward me again, just like he had done when we first walked into the hotel. But this time, it didn't feel like a fun game anymore.

“Are you ready, Nilah Mariel?” he asked, using my real name for the first time.

I looked at his arm… then up at his handsome, cold face. My head was still spinning, and everything inside me wanted to run down the fire escape and never look back. But I thought about Marcus’s face… I thought about the way he had sneered at me in the bookstore… the way he had told me I was nothing without him.

I wasn't going to hide anymore. I had gotten too used to hiding over the past few years.

I placed my fingers lightly on Darien’s sleeve, feeling the rigid muscle underneath.

“Let’s go back inside,” I whispered… “and let’s give them exactly what they want to see.”