1927: Redemption

My Fiancé?

“If love weighs you down

and casts a shadow on your life

then it isn’t love.

Love

is light

and makes you light.”

-Kamand Kojouri

22 DECEMBER 2021- SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO

The drive to the hotel was long and hot, to judge from the noise the streets were as quiet crowded as could be. She heard conversations, yelling, and cursing in what she assumed to be Spanish, but she could not see a soul. William had closed the curtains down and she was too apprehensive of the reasons to ask him to open them again.

Spies? Snipers? Something worse?

Finally, that car came to a halt. Opening the door, William revealed a fancy looking hotel.

It certainly looked like one starving above them almost as high as any other fancy hotel, with finely crafted pillars giving it a bit of ancient Egyptian look and blooming gardens all around. But the words ‘Lux Hotel’ over the entrance, and the uniformed butler already waiting to take the luggage, indicated something other than a marginal hotel to spend ONE DAY!

“You spent enough money to rent rooms in this place for just one night?” She raised an eyebrow at Ace. “Are you sure you are feeling well?”

Surprisingly, he did not try to bite her head off. No, he simply nodded and said: “It was necessary.”

Suspicion rose in her like a firework rocket, when Ace deemed luxury necessary, something was fishy. “Necessary? For what?”

Without answering her, he turned towards William and said: “Handle her, I shall see the arrangements.” And with that, he left her and her questions hanging in the air.

Nodding, William looked at her and said: “For our disguise, we have to fool Archers’ agents, remember? We have to make them believe that you are not Adeline Martinez, not the girl they have been instructed to look for. Come.”

“I don’t see what that has to do with-”

“Come, I said.” And taking her by the hand he pulled her from the car, steering her up the steps of the hotel. The driver was left looking after the luggage. They entered a luxurious lobby filled with marble columns and chandeliers, at the end of which stood a man behind a dark wood counter. He did not have the same bored expressions as a bored face back home, preferring instead to pester the world with an integrating smile, but she mediately recognised him as a colleague of the sour man that greeted them in the front hall. This was the receptionist.

“Welcome to the LUX hotel,” he proclaimed, rubbing his smarmy little hands. “Where we fulfil your every fantasy of an exotic holiday while providing every comfort we can offer. Might I inquire after your name, Sir?”

“Theodore Langford,” Ace lied with a cool ease whilst introducing William that Adeline just had to admire. “There is a suite reserved in his name here.”

“Ah! Yes, yes. There is a suit in his name reserved here, Mr Langford, and who this young lady might be?” He eyed Adeline, and his pig eyes sparkled with curiosity.

She sighed. How staying in a luxury hotel under a different name would keep her out of Archer’s eyes. Unless of course, she happened to be…

Adeline froze, horrified realisation washing over her. Her eyes flew down to the rings on her fingers- the ring Ace had insisted on putting on!

“This,” William said, taking his mask off as the glasses shielded his eyes when he took her by the hand and planted a gentle kiss on her cheek, “is Elena, my lovely fiancé.”

Adeline showed admirable self-restraint. She actually managed not to kill him right there in the hotel lobby.

It’s okay, Adeline, be strong, she told herself, while a jabbering boy in hotel livery led them through the hallways of the LUX, while another boy took Ace to another room on a different floor.

Just a few steps, you can keep a grip on yourself until they reach the hotel room and the door is shut.

They reached the door made from the same dark wood on the front desk. A large and ornate number 43 was shown on the polished surface, with more jabbering, the nervous boy opened the door for them and showed them in. She hardly glanced at the magnificent hallway of the suite, her focus was all on the man who had entered before her and was not turning to face her.

The boy said something else in Spanish. She did not listen but instead kept her full focus on Theodore Langford aka William the beast.

“Ask him to leave!” She growled at him. Maybe it was not the wisest thing to try and give William orders, but right now she did not give a penny about being wise.

William nodded to the boy and jerked his head, coolly. The youth did not need any more encouragement. He was out of the door without trying to get a tip.

How could this warm person change into this cold-hearted beast? Thought Adeline.

For two or three seconds, there was a heavy silence in the room- at least ten tons and seven hundred and eleven dollars worth of silence. She stared at him, he stared at her.

“Fiancé?” Adeline repeated.

He just c****d his hand and shrugged.

Shrugged!

“I,” repeated very slowly and clearly, “am your fiancé?”

What was their plan?

Why didn't they tell it to Adeline?

Why did William name her Elena?

And, most importantly why did he introduce her as his fiancé?