Chapter 5 CHAPTER FIVE: JUST WHATEVER YOU BUY

AIDEN

“I guess we would leave you two to talk.” Sera finally stood up, pulling her husband with her. They glanced at each other, the unspoken words loud and clear as they pulled each other out of the room.

She gave me a look that I could oddly decipher. ‘Don't mess this up.’ I didn't need a reminder from her to know that I had just one shot at this.

I let out a small sigh of relief. It was a good thing I had informed Zara’s parents about my plans; they had played along so well.

She had mistaken me for a bartender that night, and I had let her. I didn't think things were going to spiral into what they are now, but I liked just where I was.

I cleared my throat and shifted in the chair they had offered me. I was here with Zara, and she had no idea who I was. If she knew who I was, her reaction would be different.

I wanted her to fall for the man I chose to be, not the man the world decided I was.

“I will buy you a suit for the wedding.” Her sudden declaration cut through the silence.

I gulped and shook my head. I could afford my suits, but that was only going to expose me before I could even show her the real me.

“No need.”

“I just meant… I wanted the pictures to look good,” she said, avoiding my eyes.

I pretended to consider it; it won't hurt to see her try to play dress-up for the bartender she thought she was saving from poverty. I stroked my chin as if considering it.

“You can buy me a suit.”

“Great, I'd pick you up tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?”

“The wedding is only two days away, so we have to get to planning. The earlier we get the suit, the better.” Those words carried finality.

“Oh, I can just meet you there; text me the store address,” I said. She narrowed her eyes at me.

“Do you live far? I mean, I don’t mind picking you up.” Her eyes held more words than she had spoken. “Even if it is inconvenient,” she added.

I nodded with a smile and tilted my head. I wanted to buy her a gift for the wedding, but I was not sure how to disguise it. If it were too cheap, she would most likely never see it as a real gift, and if it were too expensive, it would plant seeds of doubt in her mind.

“There are a lot of things we need to go over, starting from…”

“Why don’t you want to marry Aiden?” I cut her off suddenly. Everything was a distraction. I wanted to know what lay behind the hate she had for me. “Why?” I repeated it like she hadn’t heard me the first time.

“Do you have to know?”

“I am curious…”

“Curiosity gets people in trouble,” she smirked.

“And I have been in worse situations with the truth.” She didn’t look half as convinced as I needed her to be.

“Zara, I am risking everything here; the least you can do is tell me why you are refusing Aiden.”

“If you must know,” she let out an exasperated sigh and rolled her eyes. “He thinks my family and I are leeches.”

“He does?” The words fall out of my mouth a little too quickly, and it causes her eyebrow to go up in suspicion. I pulled the lapel of my jacket gently, the material sliding over my fingers. “I mean, I am appalled that a man would say such a thing.”

“Right.” She seemed to be happy I was on her side, and that meant my sudden outburst hadn’t outed me yet.

“I know you are rich and can get what you want, but that doesn’t give you the right to look down on others.”

“That is correct,” I said, nodding.

This was all a misunderstanding on her part. I would never say anything like that about anyone – most especially about her. I would only want to get into her good books. I had to find out who she mistook for me.

“I would have married him without a fight, but not after knowing he’d never see me as a human…” She shook her head; that was her resolve, and she was right to have it. If I heard that someone said that about me, I would be pissed as well.

“So, now that we have had that cleared up, can we go back to the plans?”

“Yes, of course.” I nodded, and she smiled, clearly satisfied.

“Great, so I was talking about the guest for the wedding. Do you have any family or friends you’d like to invite?”

“I do not,” I lied. My family couldn't know I was doing this without their consent. “But maybe I can find someone to stand in as a witness.”

“Okay, good,” she nodded, making a mental note in her head.

“I would like to buy you something.” The words fell out of my mouth before I could control them. She looked at me for a minute before she pulled herself out of the chair.

“Oh, don’t bother.”

“Not something expensive, just for the wedding.”

“Okay then. Whatever you get, I will wear,” she declared. She didn't know it yet, but she had chosen the wrong stranger.

I felt a rush of heat travel through me. She hated Aiden Knight—the name, the power, the money—but she was already smiling at Michael Black, the poor bartender, and trusting him implicitly. It was perfect. It was dangerous.

“And you will be mine,” I murmured, watching her face flush.