21. Chapter 21
My phone has been silent. No answer from Liam. Not even Emma.
I waited all morning for it to make some kind of noise, with no luck. So I continue to sit with it in my hands, willing it to ring.
A knock sounds on my door.
I open it to find my mother holding a designer dress bag and an entourage with hair and makeup supplies.
“Oh I’m just so excited for today!” She points to a spot by the window, “You can set up over there.”
“Mom, what is this?”
“Honey, it’s the biggest event for Larry’s re-election. You didn’t think I would let you do your own hair and makeup?” She scoffs and continues to scurry about my room creating an organized chaos that isn’t welcomed.
She hangs the dress bag on the door of my closet.
“Would you just look at this gorgeous dress?” she asks me while unzipping the bag and running her hands down the satin material.
I stare at the dress in front of me. It’s low cut, strapless, and a deep red. Nothing that I would ever be comfortable in. “I mean it’s—”
Mom grabs my arm and pulls me toward the spot that the hairstylist set up at. She pushes me into the chair.
“Now whatever she says, we don’t want. I want an elegant half up, half down. Glam makeup, dramatic smokey eye, and red lip to match the dress.” She demands of the makeup artist who nods in agreement.
Am I really just here with no opinions of my own? To be some doll for my mother and Larry to show off in front of cameras?
Twelve hours. I keep repeating the time I have left here. It’s the only thing that’s getting me through.
After hours of torture with hair and makeup, I am finally acceptable to my mother’s standards.
The dress on the other hand, is a struggle. It’s about a size too small, and worse than I thought before because it’s freaking backless. I still don’t know how my boobs are supposed to hold up these strips of fabric .
My question is answered when my mother walks in with double sided fashion tape. I groan to myself, not ready to enter this part of the world again. That shit hurts.
“Here, honey! This will help keep everything up!” She tosses the pack in my bathroom where I’m getting dressed. Instead of picking it up I just stare at the offending piece of fashion.
When I determine there is no other way, I open the package.
“What did you get yourself into, Violet?” I brace myself on the vanity of the bathroom and talk to myself in the mirror. “You can do this. Stick this tape to your boob, go mingle and make nice, then you can go home to Liam.”
Taking a deep breath I finish getting dressed and emerge from my room to find my mother waiting at the top of the stairs to make our grand entrance together. Excellent. I love being the center of attention.
We descend the stairs together, linked arm in arm like the happy family that Larry portrays.
Mom leans in to me, “Wait until you hear Larry’s announcement soon.”
She is beaming with excitement. “What is he announcing?” I ask her, weary of her answer.
“You’ll see soon!” She answers with a kiss on my cheek as we part ways into the party.
I steel myself with a fake smile, ready to play the happy doting daughter to Larry Archibault.
After twenty minutes of people congratulating me on my new job at Blue Manor with Christoff, I see the worst possible person walk through the front door.
Alexander .
He doesn’t look around for anyone, or try to mingle, he goes straight to Larry.
Fuck. I should have believed Liam from the minute he tried to warn me about him. I knew something was off the moment I saw him and I should have trusted my gut about the situation.
They whisper between the two of them for a moment before Larry rings his wine glass with a spoon.
I guess this is the announcement that Mom is excited for. But what does Alexander have to do with it?
“Good evening everyone, thank you so much for being here tonight with my family and I. We are thrilled to host you all. Could I please get my beautiful wife and daughter up here with me?” He smiles widely, gesturing toward the crowd for us to come up and join him.
I close my eyes briefly, willing my feet to move forward.
Just as I step up onto the stairs where Larry stands, I see Liam walk in the door, dressed up in a freaking tux of all things. If I could melt into a puddle right here from how amazing he looks, I would. The tux is a little tight, hugging the curve of his ass and thick thighs. His usually messy hair is swept over to one side, and he got a beard trim. His bright blue eyes shine against the all black tux.
His eyes find mine, and lock in with me. The intensity of his stare has me squeezing my legs together. His gaze roams down the plunging neckline, and circles around to my back where the plunge is even further to rest atop my ass.
Larry clears his throat, reminding me where I am, waiting for some big announcement. I’m acutely aware that Alexander is to my right, a shit eating grin on his face as he looks at me. I hope that Liam doesn’t think I’m in on whatever this is. I take a step away from Alexander.
“While we have you all here, Linda and I wanted to make an announcement about our family. A growing family,” gasps are heard around the room, including my own. “We are so pleased to announce the engagement of our daughter, Violet to Alexander Williams.”
Alexander steps over toward me, taking my hand in his and kissing my cheek. I’m frozen in place. I can’t move, I’m so shocked.
“Like hell she is!” A voice booms from the crowd.
The crowd parts letting Liam come forward.
“Excuse me, who are you?” Larry steps down to confront him.
“I’m Liam Keaton, you should know me since I own the inn you were trying to take from underneath my family by sending your little spy here to my inn for the last month.” Liam’s head is held high, and his shoulders squared back. I’m so proud of him for finding his voice.
“I have no idea what you are talking about.” Larry signals for his security team to come.
“You do. Don’t play dumb. And Violet isn’t going to marry that asshole, because I love her. And she loves me. And I’ll be damned if I let you con her into marrying someone you can control for the rest of her life.”
He turns to me, glances at my hand still laced in Alexanders, then steps toward him before punching him square in the face. He crumples to the floor in pain.
“That’s for trying to take my inn. ”
Then he kicks him in the balls, “And that’s for trying to take my woman. She’s mine, and you will never so much as have the privilege to look in her direction again.”
“Liam,” I whisper out to him.
He turns to me, security closing in. He grasps my face in his hands and kisses me like it’s the last time he’s going to see me. Two large men reach us and slap their hands on his shoulders pulling him away from me.
He shrugs them off. “I’m fucking leaving. Don’t get your tits twisted.”
He comes back to me, scooping me up into his arms and carrying me through the parted crowd once more. I look behind him at the scene we just left, Larry and my mother staring at us slack jawed. Security is helping Alexander off the floor, the pain evident in his scrunched face and inability to stand up straight.
All I do in return is wave goodbye, then wrap my arms around Liam’s neck like the knight in shining armor that he is.