3

"The Baileys will be here any minute Bianca! Hurry your ass up!" Blake yells from the other side of my door. I have on a red knee length dress. It covers the tops of my shoulders and fits my chest perfectly. At my waist it flows out slightly giving me the ability to actually move my legs. I curled my blonde hair into loose ringlets and put of blood red lipstick. My eyeshadow is a light brown on the inside corner and fades into black. My black eyeliner makes an almost perfect wing and my mascara makes my eyelashes larger than ever. Even though we are staying home for the dinner I still wear heels, they are black open-toed platform heels with a strap around my ankle. This is going to be my hair and makeup for tonight with Kay, along with the shoes.

"I'm coming, just stop yelling," I somewhat yell as I leave my bathroom. My phone is laying on my bed so I quickly pick it up before I open my bedroom door. Blake is standing outside in the hallway waiting for me. I'm guessing my mom picked out what he was to wear because he looks pissed. He has on a royal blue silk button up shirt, black dress pants, and a solid white tie. His shoes are black leather oxfords, that I know he hates. Mom styled his hair with gel. Blake's hair is somewhat long, long enough for it to be put back into a man bun. Almost everyone knows that this is becoming a style, except my mom hates it. She thinks that men shouldn't grow their hair out to do styles that a woman would do. I know a bit sexist but she is old fashioned. I don't mind them, if a guy wants to know the struggles of having long hair then I say you let him. Anyway his hair is gelled back and made into a perfect man bun. I bet mom wanted to chop it off while she was doing it. Blake only did it to make mom mad but he ended up really liking it. I don't like him having one because he steals all my neutral colored hair ties. I get stuck with the bright green and pink ones because of him.

"Looks like princess is finally done," Blake jokes as he pushes himself off the wall, "although I think she needs more time, she still looks awful."

"You are such a jerk," I say and shove his shoulder, "besides mom made this dress, I'll make sure to tell her what you said."

"I was talking about your face!" He calls after me as I carefully make my way down the stairs.

"She made that too!" I retort, "I don't think you need to know how, considering it's what you do every night!"

"Not every night," he defends himself as we walk to the front door. I give him a look and he rolls his eyes, "okay maybe a lot but-"

"Charlotte it's so good to see you!" We hear mom and we hurry to the door. When we get there mom is hugging a woman around her age. Her hair is a dark brown, you can tell its been dyed and her eyes are a bright green. She probably had men at her feet when she was my age. Dad is shaking a man's hand who has dark grey hair, possibly a little older than dad, and dark brown eyes. Behind them there is a man who is around 30, a little younger than Blake. His hair was a dark brown and slightly curly, his eyes were a deep brown, across his chin and jaw he had a stubble and separating the slight beard from the mustache were plump lips. He was in a navy suit and tie with a white button up. He was probably the hottest guy on the planet. And people said brown eyes were boring? Who ever said that clearly hasn't met him.

"This is our daughter Bianca and our son Blake," I hear my dad say and I look away from the man. I smile at the elderly man who was shaking hands with my father just moments ago.

"Hello Mr. Bailey," I say as I shake his hand, "it's a pleasure to meet you and your family."

"It's wonderful to meet you too Bianca," he responds before he turns to shake hands with my brother. After Blake and I both said hello to Mr. and Mrs. Bailey we were introduced to the man.

"This is our son Leon," Mr. Bailey says as he steps out of his son's way.

"Great to meet you Mr. Harrison," the man, Leon, says. His voice is deep and has a slight British accent to it. That kind of confused me because neither of his parents had accents.

"Nice to meet you Bianca," He says holding his hand out to me after he already met the rest of my family.I reach out and shake his hand before I offer him a smile, "you as well Leon."

"Now that we all know each other let's go to the dining room," mom smiles before she leads the way. Mr. and Mrs. Bailey walk hand in hand like my parents. Blake was walking ahead of me while I was in the back with Leon. He's a lot taller than I thought he was when I first saw him. Probably a little more than six feet. I reach five eight in these heels, usually I'm 5'4 or 5'5.

Dinner was going well. I found out that recently Mr. Bailey had handed off the company to Leon. They have another son, Charles, who lives in Los Angeles. He is studying to be a movie director, he's only twenty-two. Leon is thirty and just moved back to America. He went to university in England and lived there helping run the major hotels in London. That explains why he has an accent, he must've picked it up.

"Anybody up for dessert?" Mom asks after a good ten minutes. Everyone had been done with their meals. The two fathers nod their heads and mom goes to the kitchen with Mrs. Bailey.

"Bianca," dad says and I look over at him. Blake stormed out of the room, leaving me confused. Why did he leave like that, dad just said my name?

"Everything alright?" I ask him as I furrow my eyebrows.

"I love you very much bumble bee," he starts off and I know this isn't leading anywhere good. Mr. Bailey looks over at his son and Leon is staring at his father confused. "Liam and I had arranged this deal before the company was handed down to Leon. When you were nineteen or so, right after we bought the furnishing company, our profits started to go down. Mr. Bailey had reached out for me proposing a deal. He would give me the money I needed to get my company back on it's feet in return for your hand," he tells me and my eyes widen. Like hand in marriage? "So you will be marrying Leon in three months."

"What!" Leon and I both exclaim as we stand up. His chair squeaks against the ground as is slides back on the floor.

"This is not fair!" I argue and look at my father.

"This is the twenty-first century, arranged marriages are still a thing?" Leon asks his voice raising.

"Why couldn't you ask mom for money?" I ask and dad looks at his hands guiltily.

"She didn't know, I didn't want to worry her. That's the year she was expanding her company into Paris."

"Son, sit," Mr. Bailey commanded and Leon laughed humorlessly.

"Are you going to make me do that too?" He chuckles, "I'm like a piece in your fucking game that you can do anything with! Follow the damn rules for once father!"

I'm taken back by what Leon just said and I can tell both of our fathers our too. "Business is business," Mr. Bailey says in a monotone voice, "you two will be moving in together at the end of the week. The wedding will take place March 23. I expect you to be a gentleman throughout this Leon." I feel my eyes stinging with tears and notice my father still isn't looking at me.

"Excuse me," I choke out and run up to my room, hoping no one follows me.