Hannah

As I made my way to the kitchen for a late lunch, I thought about how much Roman was amazing me. He had his assistant not only contact wedding vendors, but he also texted me for information to get a marriage license. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

He was really taking this wedding seriously, and I felt like I was just hanging on to the back of a ride that was going too fast.

I sat down at the breakfast nook table to eat my chicken caesar salad when the doorbell rang. After a couple of bites, I heard a commotion at the front of the house, like large items being moved around, and I frowned. What the hell was going on?

A maid appeared at the kitchen door. "Ma’am, there are movers here," she said, "with Lorianne Macalester."

"Lori!" I said, jumping up from the table and running down the corridor past the dining room, where I found the huge front entry. Lori was speaking with one of the men who were moving in large boxes. When she saw me, she squealed, and we ran into each other’s arms.

"I’ve missed you so much, Hannah!" she cried as we embraced.

"God, Lori, I’m so glad to see you," I said, feeling tears sting my eyes. We pulled apart and stared at one another with huge smiles. "Are these my clothes?" I asked her, indicating the boxes.

"Yes, and a few other things I knew you’d need," Lori said.

"Edward said I could come if I packed everything." Geoffrey approached us after giving orders to several footmen.

"I’ll have your things sent up to your room, Ms. Macalester," Geoffrey said to me before turning to Lori. "Will you be staying with us, Miss

Macalester?" he asked Lori.

"Yes," I said quickly, not wanting her out of my sight.

"Very well," Geoffrey said. "I’ll have the room across the corridor from you set up right away." I thanked Geoffrey before he moved

off and gave more orders.

"Hannah," Lori said, "I don’t know if dad will let me stay here."

I pulled her in for another hug. "Don’t worry about him. Roman and I will handle it," I said, knowing that Roman would do what he could to keep Lori safe here.

Lori pulled back and stared up at me with concern in her hazel-colored eyes.

"I can’t believe you’re engaged to the billionaire, Roman Thaddeus!" The disbelief was evident in her expression. "Tell me everything!"

A weight sank in my chest as I realized I couldn’t tell her the real details. I hoped that Roman’s enthusiasm for our story of how we met would work when I tried to tell Lori. I wrapped an arm around hers. "Come on, I have a salad to finish," I said to her, guiding her toward the kitchen. As we walked she gazed around in awe.

"This place is amazing," she said and I agreed as we turned the corner and entered the kitchen.

"Want anything?" I asked her, taking my seat in front of my salad. She thought for a moment, and asked the kitchen staff for an iced coffee with skim milk.

I smiled at Lori when she turned her attention back to me. "It’s so good to see you, Lori."

"I’ve been worried about you, Hannah," she said. "This Roman guy must be something special to make you leave us like that." I turned my attention to my salad and nodded as I took a bite. She waited for more of a response, but when none came, she said, "That’s it?"

I sighed and put my fork down. "No, that’s not it," I said.

"I knew something was wrong," Lori said. "What really happened, Hannah?"

I stared out the window at the garden, thinking of a way to explain without Lori freaking out. "Our father set me up," I said, and then I met her gaze.

"This has to stay between us, Lori." Her eyes were wide, but she nodded before I continued in a low voice. "Just a few days ago father was

completely broke. He told me that he arranged for me to marry someone who would pay into the business so that he could pay off his creditors." Lori’s hand flew to her mouth. "It’s true," I said. "Freddy and Edward denied knowing anything about it."

"So Dad set you up to marry a billionaire to help him pay off his debts?"

Lori asked with a horrified expression.

"Yes," I said. "I accepted the marriage proposal so that our father wouldn’t do the same thing to you."

"He said he would marry me off like that?" Lori asked, her eyes filled with hurt.

"He said if I didn’t do what he wanted, then you were next, and I couldn’t let that happen," I told Lori, and she covered her mouth again as her eyes became shiny with unshed tears. I moved to sit next to her and pulled her close for a hug. "I couldn’t let it happen to you, Lori, so now

I’m marrying Roman."

I was surprised to see Lori’s sadness replaced with anger. "Roman isn’t innocent in this, he’s just marrying you to get a piece of Father’s business."

I shook my head. "Roman’s not like that," I said. "He doesn’t need Father’s business. Roman is actually a good guy. He said he didn’t want to see my father pawn me off to some jerk to be

mistreated."

"Really?" Lori asked. "Do you and Roman even know each other that well? I mean I’m sure you’ve met at Dad’s parties, but you never mentioned him."

I shrugged. "It was either Roman or some other jerk that our father would pick."

"How could he do that to you?" Lori asked.

"He just took you to a club one night and came home to tell us that you were engaged, but he

didn’t tell us anything else."

I closed my eyes against the memory of being sold at auction. The truth would rock Lori straight to her core, and I never wanted her to have the knowledge of what our father really did. I opened my eyes to find Lori staring at me expectantly, sipping on her iced coffee.

I smiled at her. "None of that matters, Lori," I said. "Roman has been treating me well."

"He better," Lori snapped, and I laughed at her spark of fire.

"Actually, Roman Thaddeus is really hot in his pictures." She pulled out her phone and showed me a few pictures of him online. He really was hot in his pictures with that playboy smile.

"Is he that hot in person?" she asked

me.

"He’s pretty handsome," I said, feeling odd talking about

Roman to my sister. "But you can decide when you meet him."

Lori’s face went red, and I teased her about having a crush on Roman.

"You better not tell him that," Lori said, nudging her shoulder against mine.

"I won’t, I promise," I said laughing. Lori took my left hand and rubbed my empty ring finger.

"Where’s your engagement ring?" she asked. "And when is the wedding?"

I cringed inwardly. "The ring is in Roman’s court," I said. "As far as the wedding...soon."

Too soon, I thought.

"Come on, Hann, give me some details," Lori said excitedly. I sighed, pulling out my phone.

"I have some choices on flowers, invitations, and cakes, but I have no idea what I’m doing." Lori leaned over and watched me scroll through all of my options in the emails that I had received. She squealed in delight at some of the options, and a thought occurred to me while she was trying to describe the best wedding colors for the spring season and different flowers in a bouquet versus a decorative arrangement.

"Those are definitely details that a maid of honor would know," I said, and Lori jerked her attention away from my phone screen and up to me.

"You want me to be your maid of honor?" she asked in genuine surprise.

I smiled at her. "Of course," I said. "You clearly know what you’re talking about, and I desperately need the help."

Lori grabbed me and pulled me into a tight hug. "This is going to be so much fun!" she squealed before releasing me. "Forward everything to me and we’ll make a plan," she said.

After I forwarded the details from the florist, baker, and invitation company, I opened my text message thread with Roman.

’My sister arrived with my clothes.’ I sent the message, and a moment later Roman responded with a laughing emoji followed by a question.

’She’s staying with us, right?’ his message said.

’Yes, across the hall from me.’ I sent the message as Lori leaned over my shoulder.

"Was that Roman?" she asked me. "Did you tell him I said hi?"

I laughed at her little sister antics and truly realized how much I missed her.

"I can tell him you’re our wedding planner if you’d like," I said to her.

Lori reached for the phone. "I want to tell him," she said. I handed her the phone, rolling my eyes. She clicked the screen a few times and laughed when she received a message back.

"You two are already getting along and you haven’t even met yet," I said, truly happy that Roman was taking the time to text back.

"He said he would pay me to be your wedding planner, and also for all your embarrassing secrets," Lori said, and I grabbed the phone away from her as she laughed. Lori had a way of lighting up a room, and I felt such intense relief having her with me, away from our ruthless father.