The Alpha King's Obsession

10.A Hurricane In High Heels

Lilian’s POV

The sound of Alexander’s footsteps retreating up the floating staircase echoed like gunshots in the vast, empty silence of the penthouse. Then came the heavy thud of a door closing, followed by the distinct click of a lock.

And then, silence.

Absolute, crashing silence.

I stood in the middle of the foyer, clutching the strap of my canvas bag until my knuckles whitened. I felt small. Not just physically, though standing in a room with twenty-foot ceilings will do that to a girl, but existentially.

I was a speck of dust in Alexander DeLuca’s pristine, marble universe.

“Okay,” I whispered to myself. My voice sounded thin, swallowed instantly by the space. “Okay. Guest Wing. Left.”

I turned to the left.

The ‘Guest Wing’ was a misnomer, because that was an apartment. A full-blown, three-bedroom apartment that just happened to be attached to the main house. I was in awe as I walked down a hallway lined with abstract art that probably cost more than the entire neighborhood I grew up in, trailing my hand along the cool, cream-colored walls.

I found the first bedroom and assumed it was mine. One wall was entirely glass, looking out over the Hudson River, and the bed in the middle of the room was the size of a landing strip.

It was breathtaking. It was luxurious. And it was freezing.

Not literally. The climate control was set to a perfect seventy degrees, but the energy of the place was ice cold. It lacked…life. There were no photos, no knick-knacks, no stray coffee mugs or dog-eared books. It felt like a showroom, not a home.

As I set my bag down on a velvet bench at the foot of the bed, my mind drifted back to the car. To the office.

To the kiss.

I touched my lips on instinct and I felt them throbbing and I could still taste him. Coffee, mint, and that dark, spicy flavor that I couldn’t seem to place invaded my senses.

It was a performance, he'd said.

Liar, my brain whispered.

You don’t kiss like that for an audience. You don’t make a sound like that - that low, animalistic growl he’d made against my mouth - just to fool an old man in a suit. That had been real. The hunger had been real?

And the way I’d melted into it? That was the most real, terrifying, and ridiculous thing of all.

I shook my head, trying to physically shake the memory away.

“Rule number one,” I mumbled as I kicked off my worn-out boots. “Business only. No touching. No tongue.”

I walked over to the window. Outside, the sky was a bruised purple as twilight settled over the city, and snow had started to fall, fat white flakes swirling in the wind, and sticking to the glass. It was beautiful but it made the isolation feel sharper.

I was trapped in a glass tower with a man who terrified me and attracted me in equal measure.

I needed to distract myself. Right now. Because I couldn’t be attracted to him.

I opened my bag and pulled out my meager belongings. A few sweaters. Jeans. My toiletry bag. And my comfort read. I placed the worn book on the nightstand and it looked pathetic and out of place against the sleek furniture.

Ding, came the sound of the elevator in the main foyer and my movements halted.

Alexander was upstairs. River had said he was going to park the car and bring up the rest of my boxes. Was it him now?

With great caution, I walked back out into the hallway, peering around the corner into the main living area.

As the private elevator doors slid open, I noticed it wasn’t River bringing my books, and it definitely wasn’t Alexander.

A woman stepped out. A whirlwind of energy and expensive fabric.

She wore a white faux-fur coat that looked softer than a cloud, paired with knee-high designer boots, and a bright red beret perched on a tumble of honey-blonde curls. In each hand she was carrying four different shopping bags while supporting a venti cup in the crook of her elbow.

I tried not to make a sound as I watched the woman step into the penthouse like she owned it, kicking the elevator door with her heel to make sure it didn’t close on her coat.

“Alex!” she shouted and her voice rang out clear and bright. “I know you’re lurking! I saw the lights! Don’t pretend to be brooding!”

I stayed hidden in the shadow of the hallway, my heart hammering. Who was this? A girlfriend? A secret wife?

The woman dropped her bags on a white leather sofa, set her coffee on the table, and then spun around, scanning the room.

“I brought cannolis!” she announced to the empty room. “And I heard the news about the engagement, you absolute lunatic. You can’t just-”

Her eyes snagged on me.

I hadn’t even moved or made a peep, and yet she had spotted me with astonishing speed. One second she was looking at the stairs, the next, her gaze snapped to my hiding spot.

We stared at each other for what felt like hours, until she blinked. Her hazel eyes, flecked with gold, doubled in size as she took me in, and her look went from my messy hair to my socks, then to the guest wing hallway behind me.

“Oh,” she said and her mouth formed a perfect ‘O’. Then a slow, mischievous grin spread across her face. “Oh my gods! You’re real!”

Gods? What the hell? Have I gotten myself involved with a cult?

Before I could even finish my thought, she moved. Fast. Not the blurry, supernatural speed Alexander had used in the office, which I hadn’t let myself look at too closely yet. But fast enough that I barely had time to flinch before she was standing right in front of me.

Up close, she was stunning. She had the same sharp jawline as Alexander, the same aristocratic nose, but where he was shadow, she was pure sunlight.

The mystery woman leaned in, inhaling deeply. It was a weird invasion of personal space, but she did it so casually I didn’t step back.

“You’re tiny,” she stated, pulling back to look me up and down, and I refrained myself from snapping that she was even tinier than me. “And you smell like…rain? That’s new. Usually, Alex’s flavor of the month smells like expensive perfume and desperation.”

“Excuse me?” I managed to squeak.

“I’m Maddie.” She ignored my bewildered state and thrust out a hand for me to shake. Her nails were painted gold. “Madison DeLuca. Alexander’s cousin. And you…you must be the mystery fiancée who has the entire Under - I mean, the entire family - in complete panic.”

I stared at her hand as if it was a foreign object.

DeLuca. Family.

After what was normally acceptable I took it and noticed how strong her grip was for such a small person.

“Lilian,” I whispered. “Lilian Jones.”

“Lillian,” Maddie tested the name, grinning. “I like it. It sounds soft. Alex needs soft. He’s so…” She made a rigid gesture with her hands. “You know. Prickly.”

“That’s one word for it.” Her grin widened at my dry tone. “I’m personally leaning more toward ‘terrifying.’”

Maddie threw her head back and laughed, a genuine, warm sound that instantly cracked the tension in the room.

“Oh, I like you,” she declared. “Come one. Let’s sit. Did he leave you down here alone? Typical. He probably went upstairs to stare at the wall and regret his life choices. He’s dramatic like that.

She grabbed my arm and dragged me to the kitchen, to the massive island in the middle of the space. I went willingly, mostly because I was too baffled to resist.

“Does he usually have family drop by announced?” I asked as Maddie hopped onto a bar stool and begun unloading the cannoli box.

“Only me.” She winked. “Everyone else is scared of him. Or they respect his territory too much. But he changed my diapers when I was a baby, so I don’t fear the Big Bad Wolf.”

She paused, her eyes widening slightly as if she’d said a bad word. “Metaphorically speaking, of course.”

I frowned. “Right.”

Maddie pushed a pastry in front of me. “Eat. You look like you haven’t had sugar in a week. So, spill the tea, Lilian. How did he rope you into this? Did he buy your family’s dept? Threaten to bulldoze your house? Or was it the old-fashioned ‘I’m rich and handsome, marry me’ routine?”

I hesitated. How much did she know?

“It’s…a business arrangement.” I was careful with my answer, picking at the cannoli. “A contract.”

“A contract,” Maddie rolled her eyes. “Of course it is. Alex wouldn’t know how to date if his life depended on it. He treats everything like a merger.” She looked at me and her expression softened. “But three million is a lot of money, huh?”

My whole body stopped moving. “How did you know the amount?”

She waved a hand dismissively. “Family gossip travels fast. We have a very…connected network. Let’s just say my dad sits on the Board, and he hears things. Don’t worry, he’s on Alex’s side.”

She leaned her chin on her hand, studying me with an intensity that reminded me uncomfortably of Alexander. “You don’t know anything about us, do you?”

“I know you’re rich,” I said. “I know you own half the city. And I know your cousin has a security system that calls him Alpha.”

Maddie chocked on her coffee. She coughed, slamming the cup down. “It does?” she wheezed. “Oh, that pretentious… I’m going to make fun of him for that forever. Alpha. God, his ego is the size of Texas.”

“He said it’s a corporate nickname.”

“Yeah,” Maddie wiped her mouth, her eyes dancing. “Let’s go with that. Corporate nickname. Very exclusive. Lots of…team building.”

She jumped of her stool, restless energy radiating off her.

“Anyway, we have a problem.”

“We do?”

“Dinner,” she said ominously. “Alex said dinner is at eight, right?”

“Yes.”

“And what were you planning to wear? Those jeans?”

I looked down at my faded denim. “They’re clean.”

“Honey, no,” Maddie said and shook her head. “This is the DeLuca penthouse. Even the toaster is wearing a brand. If you’re going to be the fiancée, you have to look like you belong here. There’s always someone watching. Especially if you want to survive dinner with Mr. Grumpy Pants without him giving you an aneurysm.”

In a flash of movement, she grabbed her shopping bags from the couch in the foyer and brought them into the kitchen.

“Luckily,” she beamed, “I have a sixth sense for fashion emergencies. And I figured Alex, being a man, wouldn’t have thought to buy you anything except maybe a stapler. So, I went shopping.”

“You…went shopping for me? You didn’t even know I existed until today.”

“I knew someone existed,” Maddie corrected. “Delilah - she’s this awful girl, you’ll meet unfortunately - she was ranting about a ‘brunette charity case Alexander picked up. I figured you might need back up.”

She dumped the bags onto the island. Silk, velvet, and cashmere spilled out in a riot of colors.

“Backup,” I repeated, feeling a lump form in my throat.

I’d been alone in this for six hours and I’d though I would get through this whole thing completely on my own, since I couldn’t even tell my best friend. I’d been scared. Overwhelmed. And suddenly, here was this girl, this rich, beautiful stranger, offering me cannolis and clothes.

“Why are you being so nice?” my voice was barely above a whisper.

Maddie stopped sorting through a pile of silk to make eye contact with me, and for the first time, the bubbly facade dropped, revealing fierce loyalty underneath.

“Because,” she started with a serious voice. “I know what this family is like. It’s intense. We eat the weak for breakfast, Lilian. And Alex? He’s the most intense of them all. He’s been alone in this tower for so long, both literally and figuratively. If he actually let you in, even for a contract, it means something.”

She reached out and squeezed my hand. Her skin was warm, radiating a heat that seemed to run in the family.

“Us girls have to stick together. Especially when the boys are being…” She glanced at the ceiling. “Alphas.”

Then, seemingly done with the seriousness, she clapped her hands, dispelling the moment.

“Now! Go shower. Use the good stuff in the bathroom. The expensive stuff, not the generic guest soap. I’m going to pick an outfit that says ‘I am the Queen of this castle and I will not take your crap, Alexander’.”

A laugh left me. It was a shaky sound, but it was real.

“I don’t think anything says that to him.”

“Oh, you’d be surprised,” Maddie winked. “Clothes are armor, Lilian. And tonight? You’re going to war.”