Chapter 4 FOUR

CHAPTER 4

ANYA'S POV

I was shaking in my boots, literally. We had successfully, unintentionally stolen the show from the newlyweds, and we were not too excited about it. Everybody looked at us as if we were naked, even worse was the look on my father's face who practically ran to where we stood when the news reached his ears. His eyes burned with anger into mine, but yet, I could not look away. This was my message to him. I would much rather became one with our family's worst enemy than marry Baron, than marry anyone they tried to force me to.

"What do we have here?" Hans asked in his boisterous manner, trying to steal the spotlight back. "It is indeed a grand occasion!" One of the traits that made Hans unbearably annoying was how he forced a German accent that didn't quite exist considering he grew up in America, surrounded by Americans. At some point in his life, his parents had told him "you're from Austria" and he decided to make it his entire identity. He even became an apologist for Germany's actions in the 1930s and 40s at some point.

"Indeed!" Someone concurred with him, and the apprehensive crowd seemed to hold their breaths in anticipation. I prayed my cheeks weren't as red as they felt, but I'd be damned if I hid my face. Here I was, Anya King, hand in hand with Abram Astor. We were already rock bottom, how much worse could it get?

"What is the meaning of this?"

That was the deep, booming voice of Ethan Astor, Abram's intimidating, greyhaired father. Even though I was in the same social class as them, whenever the rarity of him looking at me occured, I felt small, inconsequential, like a bug he would squash at the slightest annoyance.

"Abram?" He asked again when he received no answers.

Abram cleared his throat and now I was even more afraid. What if he made a complete fool out of me?

"For close to a hundred years, our families have been belligerents in a war, a feud which none of us present here were alive to witness its inception..."

You could hear an ant whispering to his lover when he paused, that's how quiet it was. Abram spoke similarly to his father, in a way that commanded respect. I saw it happen so many times, sons becoming literal copies of their fathers who were copies of their father, who were copies of their fathers because change is considered inimical to legacy; we had to remain as close to our predecessors as possible.

"I have thought about it a lot lately, why we must continue to perpetuate the hate that has riddled us."

My father shook his head sadly and turned away from me. Adline's expression couldn't be read. I'm sure she was internally overjoyed by the situation I had found myself in but she dared not show any signs of it. Instead, she would try to carry a long face, go home with my father, and pretend to comfort him while she poisoned his heart towards me.

"I don't think this is the time or place to make such an announcement, it is rude to the newly marrieed couple, but we are here already, so..."

I felt his hand tremble slightly and I instinctively gripped it tighter.

"My union with Anya King will bring this age old feud to its long overdue end."

The crowd erupted into gasps and mutterings at the conclusion of his speech. The blood in his father's face was definitely hot enough to boil a pot of water.

For a while, there seemed to be a lot of quiet commotion. The media coverage at our events was always strict, but I knew we would be on every tabloid in the Western world and every other part of the globe with access to the internet.

"Cheers!" Hans said to fill in the void and restore sanity. I felt genuinely bad for him, and even more for Bridgette who maintained a pleasant smile throughout, but I couldn't miss the continuous twitch in her left eye.

"Cheers!" The crowd chorused awkwardly. I avoided the gaze of every member of the Astor household, as the contempt in those eyes could not be masked, and I needed all the support for my foolishness I could get.

"We have to sell it." Abram said through a smile without looking at me.

I looked up at him and tried to smile. "We need to get out of here."

He looked down at me, smiled and put an arm around me. Anyone looking would think we were truly doing a public display of affection. Growing up the way we did, acting came rather naturally to us. Having to keep up appearances for the cameras, having to pretend to like each other when we saw ourselves as competition made you Oscar-worthy. We were always in an act. Sometimes, I would try to pick my behaviour apart and try to separate my true personality from the alter ego I had formed... I often failed.

We held hands and said thank you to congratulations that rained from every angle, while our families kept their distances, except for my sweet Eleanor who defied my father and came to hug me.

"What the hell is going on?" She whispered aggresively in my ear.

"I have no idea." I said, still sporting my rehearsed smile.

Abram's brother, Cassius also came to our side. I expected him to ignore me, but he managed to give me a curt nod before turning to his elder brother.

"Congratulations." He smiled genuinely; it wasn't happiness about the news, it was amusement.

Abram returned the smile with a grin. I had never seen him smile, genuinely at least.

"Thank you." He pulled him closer to whisper, but I could still make out his words. "You can have Patricia instead."

The brothers laughed and I found myself smiling at their little exchange.

He turned to me, traces of the smile still on his face. "Let's get out of here."

"Way ahead of you."

We pushed our way through the crowd, walked out of the venue and stood outside wordlessly.

"Well, that was-"

"Incredibly fucking selfish of you." He completed for me. His demeanor had changed completely and the smile had left his face entirely.

"What? I-"

"I did not agree to your crazy plan, but you had to- you just had to put me on the spot."

"It worked out well, and you-"

"I said no and you just had to have your way. Classic King behaviour."

Okay, so he didn't mean a word he said in there.

I crossed my arms. "Then why did you go along with it? Why did you say yes?"

He scoffed and opened his mouth to speak but it took a while for words to come.

"It would have been unfair to Hans and Bridgette to create a scene like that."

"And yet look what happened? You gave a speech and everything."

"Well, whose fault is that?"

"Your father's. He couldn't just be quiet like everybody else."

His nostrils flared with anger.

"You are fucking crazy. Please stay away from me, King."

He said my family name as though it left a bitter taste in his mouth.

"How am I supposed to do that? I'm pregnant for you!" I called after him as he started walking away. He didn't say anything until he got into his car and zoomed off.

Now alone beside my car, I wondered what to do next, where I would go. One thing was for sure though; I could not return to the family home that evening, and so I settled on checking into a hotel.

I drove to one far away and when I tried to book a suite with my credit card, the lady behind the desk looked up at me with confusion written on her face.

"I'm sorry, Miss, but... it seems your card is blocked."