Chapter 13
”Idon’t understand this itinerary,” Aurora said as she finally put down her fork for the first time that morning, caring enough about the events planned for her wedding.
”A week? An entire week?” she asked. Victoria immediately looked away from her glare, turning to me for help, but I was not in the mood to engage in any of this, so I returned my attention to my phone and continued working.
”Drake,” Aurora called, but I ignored her.
”Mom?”
”It”s not a week because we want it to be exorbitant,” my mom replied. ”It”s a week because?—”
Aurora cut her off. ”Let me guess, it”s some sort of business gathering.”
My mom gazed at her exhaustedly, and then she finally nodded. ”Yes, it”s a business gathering.”
”Ah, I”m spared once again, your royal highnesses,” I forgot that this has absolutely nothing to do with me. My bad.”
She flung the itinerary card aside.
”In fact, why do any of you even need me here? The way things are looking, I”m pretty sure you can have the wedding without me.”
She rose to her feet, and without bothering to finish her breakfast, she stormed off the patio and returned to the house. I was very aware of the entire episode; however, I kept my gaze on my phone, acting for all the world as if I hadn”t even heard a single thing. Even at Aurora”s departure, I could now see everyone”s eyes on me, as usual, looking for guidance and a conclusion.
I didn’t intend to say a word, but then I didn’t even have to because a few seconds later, Aurora returned still fuming.
“If this were reversed and this was Drake’s wedding, would you all disregard his wishes and treat him so blatantly disrespectfully in this way?”
I replied to this one without missing a beat.
“If this were my wedding, I would be more understanding and patient with my family and
understand their desire to use this avenue to strengthen their business ties and relationships.”
I looked up then and glared at her.
“No one stopped you when you decided not to work for the company, and that you would go your own way. But now you can”t even be slightly inconvenienced for us?”
At my admonition, she kept silent, but there had already been an underlying tenor of annoyance that had been plaguing me. I rose to my feet, ready to leave. On my way, however, just as she had done, I paused at the door.
“What”s bad about a vacation, by the way?” I asked her. “In as much as you didn’t care that this will be an appreciated provision and a much-needed break for the caliber of guests we are inviting, then what about me? I haven’t taken a vacation in at least the last five years. Given the chance now to do so because of your wedding, isn”t it a good thing?”
At my words, and just as I knew she would because she cared about me, she quieted down and then she stormed off.
My mom’s soft comment followed her departure.
“When did she get so impatient and disagreeable?” she asked, and I ignored this comment. I heard, though, Victoria”s laugh and something about it irritated me enough to look up.
It was polite and all, but it sounded so insincere I wondered if she was truly aware of it.
I understood that it was part of her job, like Aurora, to be agreeable, but to be this artificial. I rose to my feet then, unwilling to stomach any of this. It had been a bright and slightly cold morning, and so, as per the itinerary, we had met here for a beginning breakfast to discuss the week, any precautions to be taken, and any notes to be noted.
My father wasn’t present yet, so it felt a bit demotivating, but now that Aurora had turned it into a fight, it all seemed even more stressful.
“I really want to rest this week,” I told my mom. And then I glanced at Victoria.
“Is there a way to make this hassle-free?” I asked her. “And I don”t want to be involved in the planning whatsoever. Instead, I want to arrive when the guests are arriving. In fact, you should only contact me if needed and after you”ve reached out to my parents and assistants first.”
She looked at me, and I couldn’t help but notice the hurt in her eyes.
It was quite easy for me to read people, so this was impossible to miss. But what I couldn’t tell was if her distress was simply because of the resistance from Aurora or from the fact that I had just clearly told her not to reach out to me.
Besides the actual reasons I had listed in front of everyone else, I hoped that she understood
that it was also because of her constant attempts through my assistant to see me in the office or run into me in restaurants under the guise of discussing urgent issues pertaining to the wedding. Each time I had refused, reminding her that my sister and mother were present to handle this; however, she had remained persistent.
Throughout all, though I had been civil and patient, but then the last instance before we’d all arrived at the Hamptons for the ceremony, she had insisted, despite my receptionist”s rejection, to see me.
Under the guise of being very concerned and diligent about her work, she had waited nearly all day just to see me to discuss something urgent and crucial to the wedding. Only to mention, when she had finally cajoled me into giving her an audience, that she wanted Evelyn fired.
Her reasons were built on logic, seemingly, as she showed me different pictures taken by the magazine professional she wanted to hire for Aurora.
“He’s more refined,” she said. “More sophisticated. I want Aurora to have the best, but you know she’s already a bit attached to Evelyn, so I don’t know how to get through to her to make this happen.”
I stared at her quietly and sighed, truly wondering now if this was all out of concern or because, and for some reason, she just wanted Evelyn gone.
I wish I could tell her that Evelyn more or less felt the same about her, but I had instead given some sort of curt response or the other, and then I had continued on with the rest of the day.
Now, I had been hoping that she would take this cue as what to expect with our interaction but seeing her at the family breakfast as though she belonged here was quite disconcerting to me.
It had meant to be a private affair, but here she was again encroaching under the guise of doing her job.
Sighing, I headed straight to the library, which had always been my favorite place in the house. It was huge, sleek, and modern, with concrete walls and mahogany cabinets. I rarely ever read physical books anymore since I was always on the move and barely had the time. But coming here, I could ditch the audio I slipped into my ear when I wanted to discourage people from approaching me for whatever reason and browsed through a few of the titles I was interested in. It truly was a place I had my earliest memories along with Aurora, but while I had been drawn towards the books, she, on the other hand, had been drawn towards the art.
Recently, all I’d been involved in and learning about was medical research, but now with this current week, I decided to relax. However, and had been happening the second I sat down, yet another pesky woman came to mind. This one was the opposite of Victoria, and I couldn’t really understand why. It would be easy to chalk her large disinterest in me up to the fact that I had all
but kicked her out of my apartment, but I was very used to dismissing women at will, and them being willing to come back and ensuring to act that whatever previous tiff we had had been erased and forgotten.
With Evelyn, however, I was almost sure that I had made a mortal enemy. And it excited me. I wasn”t sorry about the way I had kicked her out. It wasn’t entirely her fault because, unbeknownst to her, she had hit a very, very sore nerve, and I couldn’t help but react the way I had. But now, knowing that she was still working with Aurora, I was quite curious to see how she would take it and how she would behave around me. I sighed then and called for a bottle of rare wine delivered to me from the vineyard. I hadn’t really cared much about this week, seeing it as business as usual, but as I relaxed in the quiet, a part of me, waiting for her arrival, knew that it was going to be one of the most thrilling times I had had recently.