Shawn's POV
Shawn Gold was a man who liked to keep lists, and right now he was keeping one on Tiffany Dion. Here were the things he'd discovered about her since meeting her.
He liked to divide his lists into pros and cons afterwards, but it seemed that everything on his list was a con. She was a child, crass and uncouth, stuck up and rude and took other people's health as a joke. A rich socialite who had probably grown up on daddy's money, and had never known a day of work in her life. And now, she was probably going to be jumping at the opportunity to marry rich as well, even though there was nothing of substance she could possibly contribute to her husband.
Shawn allowed his eyes to rove over her, and decided to add one more item to his list.
It seemed his father knew his type, afterall. She was slim, not too much to appear sickly, but somewhere in the balance between curvy and thin. Her fair skin looked well cared-for, as if it would be supple to the touch, and the shade of green she'd chosen perfectly complemented her skin tone.
But still, Shawn had seen a lot of beautiful people in his life. Gold Enterprises had an Entertainment Industry subsidiary, and since his teenage years he had found many aspiring models, actresses and singers alike throwing themselves at him in the hopes that he would help them secure a spot their talent, or the lack thereof, wouldn't have gotten them otherwise. He'd since developed a distate for such beings, and had also gained the strong mentality that looks weren't everything. In fact, hed found that people who thought they had the looks often saw it fit to put much investment in little else. She may be pretty, but Shawn needed his wife to be more than that.
Throughout the dinner, he watched her very closely, maintaining a stony exterior so as not to encourage ny delusions she may be having.
He had to admit that she at least sounded intelligent. The questions she asked were thoughtful and precise, but then again her father was a businessman and could have told her what to say. She addressed all her questions to her father and his, and hadn't tried to make eye contact with him since before they'd ordered their food. Was that a tactic? Acting uninterested to pique one's interest?
Shawn scoffed internally. He'd seen that before, and it wouldn't work on him.
"So, miss Dion," Shawn's dad was saying, shifting their conversation from business to more personal matters, "How's school?"
Tiffany smiled pleasantly, no doubt just an act. "It's fine, sir, thank you."
"I heard you were on the school student body committee?"
What? Shawn thought, sitting up at once. The what committee?
"I am," Tiffany said again in her soft voice, "Though not for long. I'm graduating this year, afterall."
Fuck. Me. Thought Shawn. She's still in fucking highschool. He couldn't believe it.
"I'm sorry?" Shawn said, dropping his fork. Everyone at the table fell silent and looked at him. Tiffany's brow went up. "Did you say you were still in high school?" He laughed. What the fuck was his father playing at?! A bloody highschooler? "You can't be serious." This last part was directed at his father, but the man pretended as if he didn't know what was happening. He only sipped his soup nonchalantly, making Shawn's anger flare up even higher.
It was Tiffany who answered him, instead. Her voice had taken on a different, harder tone, momentarily surprising him, and she looked him straight in the eye and said, "So what if I am?" Daring him to judge.
"For fucks' sake, you're still a child!" Shawn hissed, angry at everyone seated at the table. He made sure not to raise his voice enough that the people seated at neighbouring tables would hear.
Tiffany, however, seemed to have no such qualms and slammed her fork down loudly on the table. The plates and glasses clattered. "I am not a child, for your information," she said, "I am nineteen years old, Mr. Gold. That is adulthood by many laws, including ours, in case you didn't know."
Shawn scoffed. "Oh please, age has little to do with maturity."
"Clearly," she spat, and they both sat glaring at each other from across the table.
Shawn's father acted as if nothing was happening, but Mr. Dion laughed nervously, looking from Tiffany to Shawn and back to Tiffany.
"Shawn, calm, down," he said, trying to placate the matter. But Shawn was done listening. He had wasted enough time here today, and he was a busy man.
He threw down his napkin and got up. Tiffany frowned at him, and he stared down impassively at her. Hopefully he wouldn't need to see her after today.
"Pardon me," he addressed the table, "But I think I'll take my leave. Mr. Dion, Dad," He nodded briskly at the two men, ignoring the young miss Dion totally, and with that, he strode out of the restaurant without a single glance backwards.
Tiffany's POV
What the fuck had just happened?
Tiffany walked Shawn leave the restaurant, and she was almost glad to see him go, before she remembered why he was important in the first place and the weight of the night's events came crashing down on her.
She looked at her father anxiously, and he looked back at her with worry. Only Mr. Gold seemed to be calm at the table.
"Richard," Tiffany's dad said, frowning at his friend. "You didn't tell him she was still in school?"
Richard Gold grunted in amusement. He waved a hand nonchalantly as if it was no matter. "Don't worry," he said, flagging down the waiter for dessert. "That boy will find any excuse to not do what he doesn't want to do."
"If he doesn't want to–"
"I said don't worry, old friend," Richard said, "I have my ways." He picked up his wine and sipped it as if he had no care in the world.
Tiffany only frowned to herself and said nothing.
Later, after they had eaten dessert, they walked outside and waited for the valet to bring their cars around. Apparently, Shawn had taken a taxi. Tiffany left the two men to their conversation about business while she pondered the night's events.
She knew she had agreed to go through with this, but that was before she had actually met the man. She now realised that all her original impressions of him had been correct. He was every bit as insufferable, arrogant and childish as she had first thought. He was the type of person she would normally give the widest of berths in other circumstances, but unfortunately, they needed him now.
Their cars arrived, and Tiffany and her dad said goodbye to Mr. Gold.
He kissed her hand again as they parted, promising to have a talk with Shawn.
"You're a very lovely lady, Miss Dion," he said, "He would be lucky to have you."
"No, it's me that would be lucky," said Tiffany, even though she didn't really believe it. Richard laughed, showing that he didn't believe it either. Then he said goodbye to her dad and got into the passenger side of his black Chevrolet Volt, and soon Tiffany was left standing with her dad.
They got in their car and drove home, and she was silent for the entire ride, looking out the window the whole time.
When they got home, her father held her back.
"Tiffany, I want you to know that I'm so proud of you," he said, "So proud."
Tears welled up in Tiffany's eyes, but she quickly blinked them away. The night hadn't gone like she'd expected it would, and she felt she just needed to sleep it off. Tomorrow was school, and she would need to focus her energy on that for now.
"Thank you, dad. I appreciate it. Good night."
Her dad hugged her, and kissed her forehead. "Night, Tiff."
Tiffany walked up to her room, while her dad went into his home study to do more work. She switched on the lights, taking off her shoes, then her dress, and taking her hair out from it's bun. She shook it out, letting the thick, blonde curls breathe, and then she got into her night things and climbed into bed, getting out her phone to check her messages.
There were a few from her friend group chat, asking her how the night went, but she didn't have the energy to discuss it now, so she simply closed her phone without replying.
Tomorrow, tomorrow she would deal with all of it.
Shawn's POV Shawn sat at the minibar in his penthouse, tipping whiskey from a decanter into his glass, swirling it around to let it breathe, then sipping gradually. His mind was still reeling from the night's events. It wasn't like he had had any high expectations for the night, no. On the contrary, he had expected to go there, meet whatever shameless social climber his dad planned for him, politely reject her, and leave. But what he hadn't prepared for was how infuriating and bratty the woman would actually be. And woman? He didn't know if 'woman' was even the right word. More like 'girl'. Shawn took another sip in frustration. The worst part is he didn't even know why he was so angry. She was young, yes, but younger had gone after him before. There was just something about the hard set of her chin, and the look in her eyes that just seemed to spark something in him. He couldn't read her, and he didn't like people he couldn't read. It was just better to stay away from her from now
Tiffany's POV The next day, Tiffany decided that it was best if she put all Shawn Gold business to the side. As she lay awake last night, she had come to the decision that she would tell her father she couldn't marry that man. The company was important to her, yes, but if the price was demeaning herself and condemning herself to a life full of misery to do it, she didn't know if it would be worth it at all. There were more things important to her than money in life, such as dignity, love, and family, and when there was a will, she believed there would always be a way. She could take a break from school, and join her father in the office. They could merge with a lesser company, and put in the work to bridge the gap. Or they could ask Mr. Gold for help that didn't involve a marriage. Even if they didn't fully merge the two companies, they could still become partners. Mr. Gold hadn't seemed like an unkind person, and afterall he was a friend of her father's. She was sure he would unders
Tiffany's POVTiffany left Freya to go for her classes alone, and made for the Principal's office. It had to be important if they'd called her right before classes began.When she got there, she greeted the secretary, a young woman in her thirties who told her to knock. Tiffany did, and a voice from inside answered her, telling her to come in.The principal, Mrs. Campbell was relatively young herself, in her forties or fifties. She always wore her dark brown hair in a low bun tied tightly behind her head, with a pair of emerald green glasses perched low on her nose. Tiffany had always liked her, and she'd liked Tiffany in turn, as a star student who was talented in other areas as well. She'd always had a smile for her in the past, but today she wasn't smiling."G-good morning ma'am," Tiffany greeted, the cold demeanour making her nervous. "You asked to see me?"The principal didn't even look up from the documents she was going through. "Yes," she said, have a seat."Tiffany sat down e
Shawn's POV Shawn couldn't believe his life.He was supposed to apologize to his so-called future wife, but here he was waiting for her to get off from fucking highschool. If it were any other person, he could have just invited them out to a business lunch to ensure that there wouldn't be any irrational behavior on their part. Social climbers were always so conscious of maintaining a good reputation, she wouldn't want to cause any problems for herself by making a scene. He could also use his lunch hour, and therefore make sure he didn't waste any of the time he needed to be productive on less important matters than soothing the pride of a spoiled brat.But no, she had to be a fucking highschooler, and now he was going to have to take out of his personal time to travel to her home in the evening."Fuck," he said out loud, into the silence of his office. He'd already had plans.Well, guess Rachel would have to do without him today.As if she had heard him think her name, his personal p
Tiffany's POVTiffany was going through notes of the classes she had missed, when a knock sounded on her door. Freya had helfully lent them to her after hearing from Timothy about what happened in the morning. Of course, neither of them knew exactly what was going on, but the mere fact that Tiffany was crying was enough cause for concern, even if they didn't know what was causing her to cry.She got off her soft bed and padded across the room in socked feet to the door. When she opened it, Mr. Gary James, the butler, was standing outside in his usual erect posture."Miss Dion," he said, "There is a young gentleman here to see you."Tiffany sighed, about to ask him for the millionth time to just address her by her name, but then the second part of his sentence caught up with her brain and she frowned in confusion."Someone is here?" she asked, "To see me?""Yes, Miss," said Mr. James.Was it Timothy? Had he come to see her because he was still worried even though she had kept telling h
Max's POV Max perked his car outside the estate, waiting.He had been following the little rich boy his boss always liked to have him follow, but there was a pretty rigorous security checkpoint at the gates that he didn't want to risk going through, so unfortunately he had to wait outside.Max lit up a cigarette while he waited, deciding he might as well use the time for recreation. He sucked in and puffed out the smoke rhythmically, all the while keeping an eye out for the black Chevvy he had been following earlier.He didn't understand what exactly was the observation his Miss had for the rich boy. So far as Max could tell, apart from being stinking rich and (unfairly, in Max's opinion) being blessed with the features of a demigod, he had nothing else going for him. He was incredibly boring and did nothing but work. Hell, in all Max's years of following him around, he had never even seen him interact with women. Perhaps he was one of them rainbow Rguys that Max had been hearing abo
Tiffany's POVTiffany followed Shawn into an Italian restaurant she had never been to before. Apparently, it was still really new, so they didn't need a long-wait reservation like most other eateries scattered around their high-end area.Aside from being annoying to her when she wanted to roll down his car windows for some fresh air, he hadn't spoken to her since they'd left the house.Now, she followed behind him, watching the taper of his broad shoulders into his narrow waist as he walked, being led to an unoccupied table in the far corner of the room by a cheerful waiter. The atmosphere was much better than the first restaurant she visited with Shawn. In fact, it was maybe a little bit too good.Tiffany looked around warily, feeling a shiver run up her spine. From the decor to the music playing, everything screamed romance. She almost cringed at how obvious it was. Almost every table they passed was occupied by pairs of lovey-dovey couples holding hands and staring into each other'
Shawn's POVShawn was actually interested in hearing these conditions his wife-to-be was talking about. Not that he was just going to take everything lying down, of course. He was going to shut it down immediately if it was something ridiculous."First," she spoke, her lips curving around the words, "If I am to agree to marry you, you are going to show me respect."Shawn sat up, a little taken aback. He had been fully expecting her to say something like 'half of your assets should be signed over to me' or something.She continued speaking. "That means no shutting down my ideas, no raising your voice at me, no belittling, no degrading comments, and absolutely no walking out on me in a public place like that stunt you pulled yesterday." The way she said 'stunt' sounded like she would like to use more colorful and less polite words to describe his actions the previous evening. Shawn almost felt like laughing again. If nothing else, then at least this girl was a bit amusing."Next," she s