**Fallon**
I can’t believe this. He is also being forced to marry me? Is this just his father, or are my parents in on this? Are they getting something out of this? Whatever, I thought to myself as I picked out an outfit to wear to dinner. I had already showered, shaved, dried my hair, and put on my makeup. I decided to curl my hair. I wore a full face of makeup. My classic winged eyeliner, full set of lashes, highlighter, and a red lip. I opted for an orange jumper. The neckline dipped so low you could see my naval, I added a bright red lace bralette and red stringy high heels. I sprayed my favorite perfume at the base of my neck and on my wrists. I tried to smile, but my smile looked fake. How was I going to get through this night?
I opened the door to see James waiting for me. He looked handsome in his dark suit. He looked so sad, a look I have never seen on him before. It broke my heart.
“You look beautiful,” he smiled when he saw me. He placed a small kiss on my cheek and pushed my hair back over my shoulders. “Perfect.”
Maximo was waiting by the front door. His back was turned towards me but when he heard my high heels hitting the floor, he turned around. He looked gorgeous. He wore a black fitted suit with a dark blue button-up underneath. His top few buttons were undone, this must be his look. He had a huge gold Rolex and a thick gold chain on. He oozed money. Someone that looked like this back in the states would be a target of being robbed, but he didn’t care, he was proud of it. “You look, wow.” He smiled softly, almost forced. He wrapped his arm around me, and his guard opened the door. “Tonight, we will drive ourselves.” Maximo called over his shoulder to his guard and James.
We had only ever taken the black SUV’s anywhere I never noticed the garage to the side of the house. Maximo led me to the garage. It was filled with cars, trucks, bikes, SUVs, four-wheelers, and a side-by-side ATV. Maximo led me to what looked like the most expensive vehicle in the room, a red Lamborghini Huracan. He opened the door for me and helped me ease into the car. It was so low to the ground. He hopped in the driver’s seat and started the engine. It felt like 1,000 horses roaring to life. The seats vibrated with the car’s power. We pulled out of the garage and gate and headed towards the city for dinner.
We rode in silence to the restaurant. I couldn’t read the name, so I just followed Maximo inside. The aroma of delicious food entered my nose, I inhaled sharply to take in the smells. The hostess ushered us to a small table in a private room. Of course, he has a private room here. I looked around at the room taking in the décor. Beautiful paintings hung on the wall. The tapestry over the windows was classic with florals and paisleys. The single table in the room was round with four chairs. There was a private bar in the corner filled with top shelf alcohol. Maximo walked over to the bar, “drink?” he asked while pouring himself a bourbon.
“Bourbon on ice, please.” I responded. He raised his eyebrows and grabbed a glass of ice and poured the bourbon over it.
“I assumed you would have chosen a more ‘girly’ drink.”
“Well, you assumed wrong, I actually like the good stiff drink occasionally. I do own an agave farm and have my own line of tequila.” He seemed surprised.
“Tequila?” He questioned like I was lying.
“Yes, tequila. We call it Velvet, in honor of my clubs The Velvet Room.” He brought over our drinks and sat down.
“What else don’t I know about you?”
“Well, my favorite color is blue, my favorite movie is The Superstar, I have an MBA and a minor in psychology that I obtained at Harvard, I technically should wear glasses because of my astigmatism but I can’t stand how they look on my face, and my left boob is bigger than my right.” I joked.
“Tell me something I don’t know, Fallon.” He said dangerously. “Tell me your darkest secret, your deepest desire.”
“I don’t really know my deepest desire, I want success. I want people to know my name when they hear it casually. I want to rule the world.” I answered honestly.
“And your darkest secret?”
“I’m really not as gun shy as I let on.”
“Oh? So, your maniac screams in Carlos’s basement were for show?”
“No, they were real, I thought you were going to kill me next, actually.” He laughed casually.
“I don’t just kill someone for no reason.”
“Well, I did.” I answered quickly. His eyes met mine, questioning if this was true. “When I opened my first club there was another person trying to buy the building. He was a real asshole, he wanted to tear the building down for a skyrise hotel. The building was a classic, historic. He had overridden the historical society ruling to make it a saved building by bribing the city council. It made me so mad. I was standing outside of the building one night and he pulled up next to me and asked me out for a drink. I hesitated at first, but when he told me that we could settle our dispute over dinner and a drink I couldn’t refuse his offer. He drove me back to his place instead of a restaurant and tried to force himself upon me. I pushed him off and grabbed a knife out of his butcher block and plunged it into his chest. I hired a couple of Russian gangsters to dispose of the body and in return gave them a share to my club so they can run their whores through it. That’s why I am so against giving a part of my business to you and your father, I have already given some of it away and don’t want to lose more of it. My blood, sweat, and tears have gone into these clubs, and I would hate to see them fail because of a gang war.” He looked down at his hands.
“You killed in self-defense, you killed for a reason, Fallon. You are no more of a monster than me.”
When the waitress came to take our orders, Maximo told her to bring an array of foods. We talked, civilly until our food came. It was actually kind of nice getting to know Maximo, he was a real person under his ruthless asshole outer shell. When our food came, we ate peacefully, maybe I could do this, maybe we could learn to get along after all.