Epilogue – Annaliese
The chink of cutlery on plates punctuated the soft drone of conversation.
The smoked butternut squash sorbet and roasted duck was fast disappearing from my plate.
The waiter stopped by to refill my glass of Barolo.
I was perfectly capable of reaching for the decanter myself, but that wasn’t how things were done at upscale restaurants.
I bit my tongue, refusing to ask for a second helping of this for breakfast tomorrow.
He should just give me the recipe....
I could eat this every day.
“What time is your flight in the morning?” David’s voice interrupted the delicious haze created by the scrumptious gourmet food.
“We board around nine,” I said with a smile.
As far as boyfriends went, this one was a gem. He’d come back to Munich to see me, even though I was finally returning to the States, where the long distance wouldn’t be quite so far.
“Well, I have a bit of news on that front.” David wiped his mouth, pushing his half-eaten food to the side.
The waiter swooped from the wings to take his plate.
I would have finished his portion. Hell, I was minutes away from licking my own plate clean. It was that good!
“I’ll be working from Chicago for a month,” David continued.
I paused, duck breast hovering on my fork. “Really?”
“Of course, that’s where you’ll be.”
Sweet, this man was impossibly sweet.
“Okay.” I laughed lightly. “That will be fun. Together in the same city for more than a few days.”
“Precisely, and—” David flicked at the waiter, who appeared a third time and reached for my plate.
I swallowed a scream of protest as the remaining bites were scooped away.
“And I’m prepared to stay longer,” David added once there was only us at the table.
Distracted by the disappearance of the food and his micromanaging, I hid my annoyance behind a gulp of wine.
“Oh, big merger?” If my words held a bite, it was his fault. He took my food.
“Something like that. It depends on you, Annaliese.”
I looked at him. Really, truly looked at him. There was a sensation prickling along the back of my neck that I was suddenly aware of. It’d been there, but I’d been ignoring it, heavily invested in my dinner.
Oh, good lord, no.... “What’s the merger?” I whispered.
“Us.” David opened a box and pushed it across the unfortunately empty table. “I think we should get married.”
I blinked down at the shimmering diamond. It was huge, set in a halo of smaller rocks. Elizabeth Taylor would greedily pluck it from the velvet and shove it on her pudgy little fingers.
Not me.
No, the duck threatened to make a reappearance.
“Why?” I blurted out.
If my rude question perturbed him, David didn’t show it. “We’ve been dating a few months. And I can’t think of anyone better to spend my life with. You’re perfect, Annaliese.”
Perfect—that was what this poor sap thought?
Me, the master manipulator. The author, with a wicked sharp pen, who was finally released from purgatory and returning to the life I was banished from, fully prepared to write the ending I wanted to my story.
David wasn’t the end game. He was a chess piece. A pawn who was sent to make the opening attack. The beauty behind long distance relationships was that I could hide behind the cover he provided while I worked my moves. And when his usefulness ran its course, I would cut him loose.
It wasn’t as though I planned for things to grow serious. To me, they hadn’t.
“We haven’t even slept together!” I hissed.
David shrugged. “I find your traditionalism refreshing.”
I closed my eyes briefly. Was that what he thought? Didn’t he realize there wasn’t a drop of chemistry between us? No passion! Hell, he hadn’t even dropped to his knee to pop the question. This was a purely pragmatic solution. A business deal.
Which...was exactly the energy behind his proposal.
Looking into his soft brown eyes, I had a big decision to make. “Are you sure?”
“Absolutely. There’s plenty of time to explore a more intimate aspect of our relationship. Or if you’d rather wait until spring, I’ll survive,” he said with a smirk.
The man rarely teased. His seriousness was part of what made him so perfect.
No, no, no! I was supposed to show him off as a boyfriend, then count on him to return to LA. Where he would eventually receive a phone call telling him it was fun but we were done.
“Wait, why spring?” I started suddenly.
“Our wedding.” He gave me a funny look. “Unless you want to marry this fall. Spring gives ample time to set our affairs in order, move you to LA, and make any other necessary arrangements.”
He spoke as if it were all decided.
My throat constricted. This high-handed maneuvering was exactly why I wanted to return to Chicago in a relationship. David was my pseudo-beard. My cover story. I had my own plans, and here he was, scripting the next chapters. I spent my life being told what to do. It was toxic and oppressive.
Forcing air into my lungs, I refused to be manipulated.
A refusal formed on my tongue, but my brain screamed to pause.
Engagements could be broken.
David could still serve his purpose—to keep my parents from arranging an equally atrocious match for me.
“Alright, David. Let’s get married...in the spring.” That gave me almost a year to write the ending I wanted.
The ending I should have had five years ago. The one that was ripped away from me.
As David slid the massive rock over my finger with the precision of a surgeon, I forced myself not to jerk from his touch.
He wasn’t the one.
No, the one my heart ached for was back in Chicago, ruling the city from his ivory tower. And in just a few hours, I was returning, armed with a plan to win him back.
David was a complication, but I was the master of plots. I would play this twist to my advantage. If that made me a monster for playing with men’s hearts, then heaven could damn me. I knew what I wanted. I was taking it.
If I had to burn the king’s city to the ground to make him see me, I would.
Flickering my finger in the light, I added a stipulation to our deal. “We’ll keep this quiet for a while.”
“I don’t see the need for that.” David held his card to the waiter.
He’s not letting me get dessert. I ground my molars. The chocolate torte here was one of the best in the city!
“My grandmother just died. I need to return to my family, to see how things are. I don’t want to spring this on them,” I insisted.
“Oh, of course.” David’s matter-of-fact tone grated. “Very thoughtful of you.”
Yes, well.... Thoughtfulness as to my parents’ feelings was the last reason.
“You didn’t...ask my dad when he was here for the funeral, did you?” I pressed, already knowing the answer.
“Annaliese, this is the Twenty-First Century. It’s not an attractive quality for men to treat marriage as an archaic bartering.”
Fair point, but a girl should also feel swept off her feet. She should be blown away by a grand gesture. Not handed a half million dollar ring across the table as though sharing a photo on a phone.
I rose. I knew what love was, and this wasn’t it.
I’m taking that back.
***
To Be Continued in Vicious Kingdom
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