If life were a fairy tale for kids, black clouds would gather above our heads, there would be a flash of dangerous lightning somewhere in the background, nervous gusts of wind would arise and a rumbling thunder would sound, announcing an armageddon.

Instead, we all stopped a short distance from a large, round table reserved for us, and my gaze automatically fell on Vincent. This is because, firstly, the sight of Charles brought back, as I feared, unpleasant memories from the past. Secondly, no one informed me that Maya's ex-fiancé would also be here. I had nothing to do with this man, but the mere fact that somewhere there was a momentary idea of ​​marrying me to him now made me feel uncomfortable around him.

Vincent looked at the company that awaited us with his cool gaze, probably making some quick calculations. His face was literally carved out of stone, but his eyelids were a little narrowed. I noticed Will, Shane, and Tony glance at our eldest brother too. Everyone waited for his instructions.

Everyone but Dylan, who was staring with raised eyebrows at Charles and the stranger man next to him. And except for Uncle Monty, who was staring at the latter man too, clenching his jaw so tight I just waited for the sound of cracking teeth. And Maya, who quickly stepped forward, tearing her hand out of her lover's grip.

"What is he doing here?!" she snapped sharply, raising her hand at the man who was staring at her like at an interesting exhibition in a museum.

"Maya, sweetie, it's not polite to point a finger like that," her father admonished her, and he shook his head, clicking his tongue in dissatisfaction.

The girl lowered her hand and clenched it into a fist.

"I don't give a shit, whether it's polite or not!" she cried. She looked really angry and these emotions combined with her elegant, stylish outfit and generally sophisticated appearance made her look like a real diva. I wouldn't want to get in her way now.

She was surely stealing all the attention of both gentlemen at this point. Charles stared at her not happy with her choice of words, while a faint smirk began to wander on the lips of her ex-fiancé.

"Where's mom?" Maya asked imperiously. She'd mastered the art of self-confidence, or at least of making such an impression. Had it not been for her rapid breathing and the light flushing on her face, the fact that she was so angry at the moment might've been easily overlooked.

"At home."

Maya snorted.

"And instead of her, you brought to the meeting HIM? What is this!" Here she pointed her finger at the man again, proving that she doesn't control herself as well as she'd like.

Charles sighed and first slowly moved away from the table along with the chair, then rose, holding his tie, which anyway was already pinned to his shirt with an elegant hairpin. Then I also saw that on the same ring finger he had two rings - a gold wedding one and another, equally gold signet ring with a blood-red stone. He looked very dignified, which is exactly how I remembered him. His hairline could just be slightly more receding, or maybe it was my imagination. His shirt was white and classic, and his tie was plain and black, but his pants and jacket were definitely distinguished by the unusual pattern of navy blue and gray plaid.

The man sighed and lowered his head in concentration as he needed a second to think through what to say, then raised it and shared his look with all of us. I was glad to be standing next to Vince because I didn't like how lazily his eyes moved over me.

"Maya, I believe you agree that Adrien should be invited here. He has the right to hear your explanations like nobody else," he said, glancing pointedly at his daughter, then looked at me, my brothers and Uncle Monty again. "I'm sure the Monets understand that."

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed two waiters standing nearby, whispering to each other. They seemed a bit nervous and kept glancing at us. Besides, they weren't alone. Even though our table was situated in a discreet place and a very reasonable distance from other ones, we were standing instead of immediately taking places, so we were attracting too much attention from our surroundings. Maya's raised voice wasn't helping either.

Maya glared at her father but fell silent. Finally, she looked at Vincent too. Charles caught it immediately and turned to my eldest brother as well.

"Vincent, I assure you that I have no bad intentions. I feel obligated to Adrien, and I wanted him to hear from my daughter why his long-awaited marriage isn't going to happen. This way I can show him my respect, I'm sure you understand me," he said, halfway through his speech, spreading his hands. Something about this man was making me distrust him, I just didn't know if it was my intuition or just a prejudice I'd developed when he tried to kidnap me.

Vince watched him for a moment before speaking.

"By showing your respect to him, you forgot to give it to me and inform me about his presence."

Charles folded his hands and sighed loudly.

"Ahh, Vincent, it wasn't my intention at all. I swear."

"Mhm."

"I didn't think that way. Really. Please sit with us. I don't want conflicts," Charles promised, and in one smooth gesture, he pointed to the empty seats in front of us, tilting his head a little.

Now we were all looking at Vincent, who finally made up his mind and nodded stiffly. As per command, we all headed for the chairs, though the atmosphere was still tense, and it certainly wasn't one of those nice, family evenings at the restaurant, I'd had with my brothers in the past when they were totally relaxed and ready to have fun.

Wherever I was going to sit, I wanted it to be as far away as possible from these two unknown men, and preferably somewhere around Will, so I got a little confused, and when I saw that this whole Adrien was staring at me, my heart skipped a beat. I shuddered when I felt a hand on my back, but fortunately, it belonged to Vincent, who subtly but firmly directed me to a seat next to the one he was going to take. I saw how he was moving his eyes from Adrien to Dylan, who glared at Maya's ex and tensed his huge muscles.

"Sit next to me," Vincent growled barely audibly at him, gripping his arm much less gently than when he was handling me.

Will himself decided to sit next to me, which made me very happy. With these two on either side of me, I felt so much more confident...

"I missed you, sweetheart," Charles said, glancing at Maya from above the menu he'd just picked up.

She returned that look with her skeptical one.

"After I ran away, didn't you tell your people to immediately drag me home by my beautiful, golden hair?"

"I don't recall it," Charles muttered, concentrating on the menu. The waiter who handed it to us seemed a little tense as if he couldn't decide if he should be happy that with no more trouble we finally politely took our seats, or regret that we just simply didn't leave the place. Of course, he didn't dare to ask us to do it.

I found myself unconsciously peering from time to time at this whole Adrien as the sight of him flooded my body with a strange feeling. He was as handsome as Maya had described. He had brown hair a little lighter than mine, and also brown eyes in the shade of milk chocolate. They were a bit lazy as if they didn't take what they saw seriously, but deep down there was a kind of sharpness that I saw in Vincent's eyes too, and, surprisingly, also in Charles's ones. Maybe this is one of the things that characterized people with their power and positions?

Adrien's gaze met mine unexpectedly, and I quickly stared at the description of one of the salads, suddenly very carefully analyzing the word "tomatoes" as if it were completely unfamiliar to me. I stiffened and pleaded my cheeks not to turn pink.

We placed our orders without excessive enthusiasm. Everyone was careful and no one felt at ease. Shane threw a small joke to the waiter that made Tony laugh, but most of us were serious. I'd never seen Uncle Monty like this before - he was sitting visibly irritated and not in a good mood, unnaturally close to Maya, and probably under the table, he had a protective hand on her thigh. Or possessive, it depends on how to look at it.

We sat for a while in the silence that Maya finally broke, sighing with exaggerated drama at first.

"Okay. Listen, Adrien..." she began, turning to face the man who sat next to her father. "I know that we had a deal and that I failed to fulfill it. I'm sorry, okay? It's a real pity, we could've been a good marriage... But I fell in love with another man," here Maya put her hand on Monty's chest, still looking at her ex-fiancé.

Adrien stared back at her, and there was nothing to read from his face, but Charles rolled his eyes.

"Maya, baby, life is not a soap opera. You don't want to be guided by a feeling in your life that is so impermanent. Love is an excuse that fools use to justify their mistakes in life. To take the easy way. I thought I raised you to be above that nonsense."

The woman's hand, still lying flat on Uncle Monty's shirt, now clenched into a fist, her eyes narrowed.

"You're talking nonsense. You yourself are stuck in a loveless marriage, and now you want to trick me in the same one."

"But I love your mother. It is true that I only fell in love with her after we got married, but this only confirms my point," Charles leaned back in his chair, folded his hands in front of him, and tilted his head slightly to the side. "Maya, sweetheart, be smart. Marrying Monet will not bring us any new benefits. We are already working together. Adrien, on the other hand, is someone new who will help us in our business. This is how you expand the power of your empire. Taking steps forward, not back."

"I agreed to marry Adrien because he was good husband material, not to help you in your business. But I changed my mind," Maya snapped.

"You agreed because I forced you to. Only now someone messed up with your head, and you've begun to rebel against something you committed yourself to years ago," her father replied, also sounding less and less pleasant.

"Look, I don't know what you expected from this meeting, but if you think I'll change my mind about my marriage to Monty, you'll be bitterly disappointed. I wanted to invite you to the ceremony that's going to be held in two weeks' time, but I won't if you're going to nag all the time!" Maya shouted, leaning towards her father and scowling at him. She looked like some mythical goddess in this dress and beautiful, perfected makeup.

"Two weeks? You weren't in such a hurry to marry me," Adrien noticed, not hiding an amused smile. This time, Maya turned her attention to him.

"And mostly whose fault was it? It was you who wanted to finish your studies first, and then you wanted to party for all time. I only agreed to this because I wanted to finish mine myself, and I wasn't going to be one of those wives who find a woman's lipstick on her husband's shirt collar!"

Charles raised his hand in a reassuring gesture.

"Come on, calm down, hush. Adrien's right, why the rush, huh?" he asked, apparently trying to control his voice and his daughter as well.

She raised her head proudly, her eyebrows raised.

"Because I'm pregnant and I want to look good in my wedding dress before my belly grows as big as your ego."

With this news, she managed to shut the mouth of both men for a moment. Adrien leaned back in his chair even more, and Charles stared at his daughter with an unreadable expression on his face, then finally, with a sudden agitated movement, he took out a cigar and shamelessly lit it.

"Yes, you'll be a grandpa, aren't you happy?" Maya chirped, forcing a sweet smile. She also put one hand to her flat belly, which didn't even bear the signs of pregnancy yet.

Charles took a long drag on his elegant cigar, now avoiding all the eyes because everyone seemed to be looking at him, curious about his reaction.

"Sorry, sir, it's not allowed to smoke here," the waiter who approached our table with the tray of drinks we had ordered said kindly, and with dignified, practiced movements began to serve them to us. Apparently he smelled smoke as he stood next to Charles and, unfortunately for himself, decided to speak.

Charles looked up at him with humility.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. If it's not allowed, then it's fucking not allowed," he said politely, then put out his cigar on the pants of the poor waiter, who almost immediately screamed out of pain and surprise. He dropped the half-full tray from his hands, and the bottles and glasses that were set on it, broke, making a lot of noise.

I stared open-mouthed as the waiter put his hands on the charred hole burnt in his elegant uniform, his shocked and teary eyes widening at the view of the broken glass on the marble floor.

Of course, the thud caught the attention of probably all the guests present in the restaurant, including the staff. The two waitresses quickly ran over to help and were left speechless with horror as they understood what had happened. One of them immediately ordered the other to take the injured worker to the back, and she looked with undisguised reproach at Charles, who took a sip of his amber drink from the glass the waiter had placed in front of him before dropping the tray.

"Please, excuse us. We will, of course, pay for the losses. After all, accidents do happen," Adrien said eloquently, addressing the waitress, who looked as if she was barely stopping herself from exploding like a bomb. She even turned red on her face. But in the end, she didn't say anything, just walked away from us and delegated her subordinates to clean the mess and serve our table again.

God, they should kick us out of here and never let us back in again. Of course, nothing like that happened.

Maya's head was lowered and she was supporting it with her palm, perhaps not having the strength or desire to watch the damage done by her unpredictable father. Vincent observed the whole incident with pursed lips but remained silent, and Shane, Tony, and Will's reactions were like mine for once in a lifetime.

"What the fuck is wrong with you? Calm the fuck down," Uncle Monty criticized him with a disgusted look.

Charles immediately shot him an exasperated look.

"Oh, I will definitely listen to the guy who fucks my daughter," he growled.

"Dad!" Maya groaned, looking up to that beautifully carved ceiling.

"This guy is going to be your grandson's father, so you can start learning tolerance," Uncle Monty replied.

Charles clearly didn't like what he heard.

"Okay, okay, gentlemen, we are here to talk, not to argue," Adrien put in amicably, glancing from the uncle to Maya's father.

"How can we not argue? He got your fiancée pregnant!" Charles grunted, looking contemptuously at Monty.

"Maya made herself clear. The engagement was broken. Tough," Adrien said with a shrug, then looked at the woman. "Too bad, we'd make a good match."

Maya smirked at him mischievously, wrinkling her little nose, something her present fiancé didn't like. He was definitely not laughing.

"This is absurd," Charles sighed. "What about our plans? What about..."

He paused as he looked at Vincent, who was listening to him politely and in silence, then his gaze fell on me sitting next to him, and I'd give up the gold and diamonds of the world, just to be able to blur in the air at that one particular moment. I knew exactly what thought crossed his mind before he even opened his mouth.

"You're gonna marry the Monets' sister."

Vince lifted his chin high and put a hand on Dylan's shoulder, who made a motion as if to jump up. It was probably the authority of our eldest brother that stopped him rather than his strength. Maya studied her nails, and Uncle Monty took a sip of his beer, examining the ceiling fresco with sudden interest.

Adrien, on the other hand, snorted loudly.

"She's like, what, twelve?" he said, staring at me wearily.

"Sixteen," I muttered out of habit. It just got quiet, so, unfortunately, everyone heard me.

"And where's the difference," Adrien replied, and as we made eye contact, I felt hot. The guy was intimidating me. Maybe it wouldn't have happened if someone hadn't been trying to force me into a marriage with him for a second time.

"What kind of an idea is it anyway?" Will asked, shaking his head.

"Very logical. My daughter for your sister. We'll all benefit from this transaction."

"Transaction! No, hold me back or I'm going to fucking lose it..." Dylan called out, his muscles tensed once more.

"Watch yourself," Vince hissed at him so quietly that I was the only one who heard him because I was just sitting close.

"I'm not going to wait more years," Adrien put in firmly.

"The girl will be eighteen in two years. With Vincent's approval, we could even speed things up," Charles planned, suddenly excited about his new idea.

"I want a relationship, not a kindergarten. I'm not marrying a sixteen-year-old."

"This is fucking pedophilia!" Dylan agreed.

Charles waved his hand dismissively.

"No pedophilia. And if you have such a problem with her age, we don't have to force her into his bed right away."

"Stop saying such things, especially in her presence!" Will growled. He was probably feeling my growing discomfort.

"Am I saying something wrong?" Charles asked, spreading his hands. This guy was really crazy.

"Yes!" Dylan, Will, and Shane hissed at the same time.

My gaze traveled from face to face, trying to keep up with the argument. I felt like I was watching some comedy-drama live. Oh, Lord.

"Charles..." Vince began as he found the right moment to speak. Vince wasn't the kind of person who yelled at the table like the street vendors at the market. He was able to use the one and the only moment when everyone was taking their breath for another exchange, and when no one expected to hear his cool, superior voice.

We all looked at him. Even Maya and Uncle Monty, who so far had been cowardly avoiding eye contact with the others, probably overwhelmed by a sense of shame that they were the first people who had this pathetic idea.

Vince stared firmly at his business associate, finally earning himself even his attention.

"I do not agree," he began slowly and clearly. "I don't agree with your plan. Don't forget you're talking about my sister. I'm not selling her because of your whim. I don't owe you anything. Maya made her own choices. And when the time comes, Hailie will make hers. You cannot influence everything, and not everything must always go your way."

I breathed a sigh of relief, making sure not to make it too loud. Vince was still on my side. It was great to have his support on such an important matter. Apart from the fact that it even happened that something like this was discussed here in public, which I personally consider being an abstraction.

Charles paused, though his expression was very dissatisfied.

Adrien nodded to show that he agreed with my brother.

"Besides, she's not my type anyway," he added aloud, glancing briefly at my chest, where the neckline of my dress formed a boat neck of a tasteful depth.

I really didn't care about this guy's opinion but it made me angry anyway. Did he really have to be such a lout?