“No, silly. Declan’s my fiancé.”
18
ZAHRA
“...Declan’s my fiancé.”
Fiancé.
Fiancé?
When the hell did that happen? Unless I wildly misinterpreted the situation, I was fairly certain Declan was flirting with me not even ten minutes ago. Granted, he wouldn’t be the first man who blatantly tried to get with me when he had someone waiting for him at home. I’d encountered lots of scum in my line of work, and cheaters ranked close to the top in my personal list of men who didn’t deserve to breathe.
Declan turns to me, wide-eyed. “I promise it's not what it looks like.”
Gross. “Jesus Christ. At least get some new material. It's a bit pathetic how predictable this all is.”
“We’renotengaged?—”
The blonde, I believe her name is Natalie, if my memory serves me correctly, interjects, “Well, not yet, but that’s why I brought Daddy here so we could work out the details of my alimony.”
Ah. Okay. Now I understand. “This is a business arrangement,” I summarize.
Declan winces. “Sort of…it's a bit more complicated than that. Do you think we could talk…privately?”
“Sure, but if I was your soon-to-be-fiancé I’d be pretty pissed that you were straight up ignoring me for another girl.” I offer him a piece of advice, which he doesn’t take and he quickly excuses himself and leads me into his office.
Whether to make us look better or because they can’t help being nosy, Azula and Aidan follow behind, refusing to be left out of the conversation.
Declan scratches the back of his neck awkwardly as we all enter his office. “Sorry for the mess. I planned on cleaning up this morning, but I had to deal with a Maura-related issue.”
I blink, taking in the nearly immaculate room in front of me, sans a few scattered books on his desk, and a jacket thrown haphazardly on the loveseat close to the bookshelf. If this is what he considered messy, he’d probably have a heart attack if he ever saw my room.
“God, that poor woman. I’m surprised she hasn’t quit yet, having to put up with you two,” Azula snaps, picking at her nails while glowering at the younger McAlister brother.
“Hey. What did I ever do to you to make you so snippy?” Aidan asks.
“The both of you have dragged our meeting on long enough. Throwing frivolous distractions our way?—”
“Breakfast is literally the most important meal of the day—” Aidan scoffs.
“And now you’ve made us a part of a whole circus with Natalie and her father practically preening all over Declan and his money?—”
“Natalie…that’s her name.” Declan sighs with relief.
My head snaps in his direction. “You don’t even know thename of your fuckingfiancé? Are you insane?” Arranged marriages were certainly still a thing among the various mafias, but at the very least, most organizations had the sense to run a background check on who they were marrying.
“Again, she’s not my fiancé?—”
“Well, you want her to be, don't you?” I cut him off.
“That’s a complicated question. Do I want a fiancé? Yes. Well, really, I would say I need one at this point more than anything. Whether it ends up being her or anyone else…doesn’t really matter to me.” He shrugs, shoving his hands into his pockets.
Damn. This was the cold and calculated Declan that Cyrus had warned me about. The one that didn’t care about anyone else’s feelings so long as he got his way. It’s what makes him a great boss, I suppose, the ability to turn off enough of his humanity to be able to think about the betterment of his organization.
“What exactly do you need this engagement for? More access to customers? Expanding trade roots?”
“To officially put an end to my uncle’s power.”
