The party was more extravagant than I had assumed it was going to be. Apart from all the rich men and women from the business world, the venue was packed with renowned movie stars, celebrities and models. The men were dressed in tailored suits while the ladies in elegant dresses, looked graceful. It reminded me of Lahaina's comment on my appearance back at home. It had not bothered me then, but for some reason, it made me nervous now.

We joined the party only a few minutes ago but Lahaina had already greeted more than a dozen people by now. She seemed to know everyone and had not burdened herself with the task of introducing me to them—not that I minded.

Everyone here seemed to know everyone. The look of pleasant surprise whenever they greeted someone new, followed by a bright smile and sickly sweet words was somewhat heartening but it made me wonder how much of it was real. I followed Lahaina, staying a couple of feet behind, as she made her way to dad, complimenting and embracing people as she went.

Dad, with Juliea standing beside him, was talking to a few men. One of them, I recognized, was his old friend, Max. Watching us come towards them, Juliea turned to give Lahaina a side hug accompanied by a shower of compliments. I was not even spared a look.

"You look lovely, Caro," Max said with a smile and gave me a fatherly hug. I had known Max ever since I was a kid. Before he moved to Britain, along with his family, shifting his entire business there, he used to visit our home regularly.

"It's good to see you again, Uncle Max," I said.

"James was just telling me about your mother," he said, turning to dad and giving him a sad smile, "I'm so sorry for your loss, Caro. Isabella was a wonderful woman."

My mother? Loss? What?

I looked at dad with confusion as he nodded his head at Max's words. The melancholic smile on his old, wrinkled face scared me for a moment until his eyes turned to me. The sadness that he had put on show for his friend was replaced by a threatening glare, daring me to do anything to mess up his lie.

Juliea, who was standing beside him, placed a comforting hand on his arm and sighed. I shook my head in disbelief. It was him who had treated mom so badly all her life and literally thrown her out of his house. And now, after all these years, just to hide his true self, he was lying about her death.

"She indeed was," I smiled at Max. The smile was more sardonic than genuine.

"So, Max," dad said, drawing his attention back to himself. "I hope you'll give thought to us working together again."

"I'm looking forward to it," Max said and took dad's hand for a shake.

Max said goodbye to all four of us then walked to the other side of the room. Lahaina, who had been looking around the hall subtly till now, dropped the act and turned to dad, "where the hell is he?"

"He better be here, James. You said he would be," Juliea gave dad a hard glance and patted her daughter's arm in reassurance.

"He is. Now, come on," he said, leading the way. Juliea and Lahaina followed whereas I walked ahead of them and next to dad, intending to get answers.

The identity of the 'he' they were searching for, so desperately, was fairly obvious but my mind was still muddled with the topic of the previous conversation. He had just lied about his ex-wife's death to his friend without any remorse.

"Why did you lie to him?" I demanded, trying to match his strides as he made his way towards his prey for the evening.

"Do not think you can talk to me like that here just because there are people around," he warned.

"You told him mom died!" I said, trying my best to keep my anger away from my voice. Asking him questions was already something he despised and I did not want to dig my grave by shouting at him. After all, he had just put his ex-wife in there a few minutes ago.

"Shut the fuck up, Caroline," he stopped in his tracks to look at me. "No one cares about her. Maybe I didn't lie. Maybe she is already dead. Oh, how I hope she is."

I was stunned by his words. It was not just the words but the intensity with which he spoke. He actually wished she was dead. He felt nothing for her. It should not have come as a surprise to me, considering all the years after she was gone and even those when she was here, but it did. She loved him, with all her heart. She had given up everything for him, her career, her life and he felt nothing.

I was about to turn around and leave but he stopped me, "you'll stay here, Caroline."

There was that fire in his eyes and the threat in his tone that forced me to stay with them. I knew I was going to get hell for my behavior once we got out of the party. There was nothing I could do to improve the situation but walking away when he told me not to, would make it so much worse.

I followed the three of them to a man who had his back facing us. He was talking to a group of men, who gave him their undivided attention. He had broad shoulders that were covered with, obviously, a very expensive suit. Even from behind, it could be seen that his hair was neatly combed and gelled back.

Lahaina came forward to stand next to me. She was staring at him and urged dad to go ahead and start the introductions.

"Now watch and learn how I make him drop to his knees for me," she whispered to me. "If you ever find a man— nevermind, I don't think you will."

Dad cleared his throat and shifted nervously in his place. It was the first time I had seen him act this way. "Mr Woodwords," he called the man.

The man in question turned around at the mention of his name. And what the hell?

Everything, ever since I stepped inside the party, has been going wrong for me. I had started to think it was turning into one of the worst evenings of my life but seeing the man just solidified it for me. It was officially the worst evening of my life.

My eyes were wide open, not in shock, but in horror. My heart was about to jump out of my mouth any moment and drop to the ground. My mind had gone totally blank. I was frozen at my spot and I was pretty sure this was the last evening of my existence.

All day I have been regretting my actions of the previous day, thinking I had humiliated a man for something that was my fault. Oh yes, I still think it was my fault. Also that I had totally humiliated him. But it was not just any man. Given my incredible luck and remarkably fortunate life, it was not just any man. It had to be the great Aaron Woodwords himself. The one man my father and step-sister were after.

Since he was still greeting my father, and Lahaina—all smiles—had moved closer to him, waiting for the introduction, he was yet to see me. I took a step back, intending to merge with the crowd but my father had other plans.

"Mr Woodwords, this is my wife, Juliea, and my daughters, Lahaina and Caroline," he introduced, pushing Lahaina a little forward to grab his attention.

Lahaina had told me to watch her and learn the womanly tricks from her but when she went closer to him and smiled flirtily at him, I was not paying attention. Neither was he because his green eyes were staring into my soul.

There was a little—almost insignificant—frown on his face as he watched me. If there was any doubt of him not recognizing me, it was gone when he moved forward, his eyes scrutinizing me.

"Pleasure meeting you, Ms Caroline Marshall," he said, the frown getting a little deep when he said my name.

"Nice to meet you too, Mr Woodwords." My voice quivered as I spoke. My hands were trembling and I clutched them together, trying to remain calm. Calm, at least on the outside. The inside was like chaos during a storm.

"Mr Woodwords, may we go and have some drinks?" Lahaina offered him. I noticed the death glare she gave me but it did not matter. In these 8 years of knowing Lahaina, it was the first time that I felt grateful to her. I would like you two to go far away and have some drinks as well, Lahaina.

"May we have a dance, Ms Marshall?" Mr Woodwords said, staring at me. I looked at Lahaina and she looked like she was planning my murder in her head. Fair enough, the man had not given her any attention at all. But then I looked at my father and by the way he was standing there dumbstruck, it was clear he was planning to assist Lahaina in the crime.

Mr Woodwords was still waiting for my answer. I had to decline. My family was not pleased by what was happening and even though the man standing in front of me had a placid look on his face, there was no way he was not mad after our last, very eventful, meeting. I wasn't even supposed to meet him for the second time. Dancing with him was totally out of the question.

I nervously shook my head a little and was about to say no when he took my hand in his bigger ones. "Wonderful," he said, guiding me to the middle of the hall. I had not said yes.

Slow music was playing in the background as we went to the center of the hall, with dancing couples all around. Mr Woodwords placed his hand on my waist, pulling me a little closer as we swayed to the music. I was aware of the three pairs of very angry eyes watching us but I did not dare look back at them.

"I tried to search for you," he said, drawing my attention to him, his voice silky.

"Why?" I asked. It was obvious. To put me in jail for my act just like he had threatened to yesterday. I just needed confirmation.

"You don't think I'll let someone who threw money on my face get away so easily, do you?" His tone was calm. Why was he calm?

"I'm very sorry for yesterday, Mr Woodwords. I didn't mean-" he cut me off. Clearly, he loves cutting people off.

"You didn't mean to crash into my car or you didn't mean to throw money at my face?" He asked, emphasizing the last five words.

"I didn't mean to do any of the things I did or said yesterday," I told him. I could hear the regret in my voice. I really hoped he could too.

"But you already did, Ms Marshall. By the way, the money you threw at me was not sufficient for the harm you caused," he said. Was he teasing me? Of course, he would be. I could not, for the life of me, imagine him actually collecting that money and counting them to reach that conclusion.

We slowly danced to the music for a while in silence. I could feel Mr Woodwords' gaze on me while I looked around at anything but him. There was something in his eyes that made me unable to hold his gaze for long. Maybe it was his emerald green irises that did the trick or maybe it was just the way he looked at me.

"You work with your father, Caroline?" he asked, my name sounding different when he said it.

"No, I used to work in a cafe but it was bought-" I gasped when I realized he was the one who bought the place. This was the same Aaron Woodwords!

So much had happened since yesterday evening that the details had started to get blurry in my head. Crashed into a car, threw money at a person, got to know my sister was planning to seduce a billionaire, lost my job because someone bought the entire freaking area and here I was, dancing in the arms of the one man who was somehow connected to every single one of those events.

"You bought my cafe!"

"You worked at a cafe?" He asked. For a moment I thought he was being sarcastic with that question but the confusion on his face was obvious.

"Yes, and you bought it. The whole area!" I exclaimed.

"Why did you work at a cafe? Your father runs his own company, a very successful one at that." It was a genuine question but I noticed how he had avoided talking about him buying my cafe coincidentally the very next day I crashed into him.

"I'm not into business," I told him and that was the truth. Dad's work had never interested me even as a child. But then, I rarely spent any time with him. My days were spent with my mom and it was why I had picked up on the things she loved. I had picked up on her passion for art until my father had one day decided he hated it and threw every canvas away.

I was looking away lost in my thoughts when the hands that were resting on my waist, moved ever so slightly, making me tremble under their touch. The little action startled me, forcing me to meet his intense gaze.

"You have very pretty eyes, Caroline. Why do you keep looking away?" I felt my face heat up with that comment. It was hard to maintain eye contact and hold his steady gaze, especially when he was complimenting me that way.

"Why are you not mad at me?" I finally asked.

"Do you want me to be mad at you?" He questioned in return.

I gave it a little thought then nodded my head. Seeing him raise his brows in surprise, I let out a chuckle, "because that would make more sense," I explained.

"I'm not mad at you, Caroline. I'm only trying to figure you out," he said and there was that little frown on his face again.

I never considered myself a complex person so I had no idea what he was talking about. "I'm a fairly simple person, Mr Woodwords."

"I don't believe you."

"Why not?"

"Because you're a Marshall."

The music had changed to something a little faster and Mr Woodwords took my hand to walk me back to my family. They all were glaring holes in my head, I had expected it to happen. He turned to my father and gave him a brief nod. With a last look at me, he turned around and walked away.

Because I'm a Marshall? What did he mean by that?

- Analia