Althena

37. Engagement

After a few hours of spending a massive amount of money, we look amazing. The boys have new suits and I have a new dress. We look royal. Then we ride the elevator to the top of a skyscraper.

"I can't believe how much this suit cost. And people actually pay for it."

Mike nods at Jax. "We like spending other people's money. And I love a new custom fitted suit."

"I love these heels." I stare at my feet.

The elevator dings and we step out into a room the size of an elevator. There's a door in front of us. "Where the hell are we?"

"You have 10 penthouses in this building. I wanted to see one, we're running early." Chris gets the door open.

It is beautiful. The door opens into the living area. A comfortable looking couch faces the biggest entertainment center I've ever seen. The screen is huge. There are shelves and tables with fancy things on them. But the best part is the floor to ceiling windows over an entire wall. We are so high up, and it looks over the city. I can see so many skyscrapers. It's a different world from up here.

Mike smiles. "Could you live here?"

"No. But I could watch this view for a long time."

Conner laughs. "I took her to a skyscraper before. It takes a certain kind of person to live in one of these. But the view is amazing."

I nod. "I could stay here sometimes."

"Look at this kitchen."

I follow Chris's voice. "It's a full chef's kitchen. I can make anything in here."

"Nice dining room." Conner comes out of another room.

"Bathroom." Chris turns a corner.

"It's 3 bedrooms. Come check out the master suit. You'll like that."

I follow Conner into a room. The bed is huge and looks relaxing. There's a sitting area beside the huge windows. He presses a button on the bookshelf and the window tints.

Mike smiles. "Won't have to worry about the sun when you're trying to sleep."

"THE BATHROOM IS PERFECT."

I run in with Chris. The tub and shower are huge. The shower has so many jets in it.

"Every light dims in this place." Conner is messing with the light switch.

Jax nods. "Probably a lot of little things like that. You'll find them eventually."

We go back to the kitchen because I'm in love with it.

"There are 10 penthouses in this building?"

"Yea, the top 10 floors are hers."

Mike nods. "I guess you all have an apartment."

"That works. It'll make getting ready for the events easier. We'll have somewhere to put our stuff. I'll make cinnamon rolls in the morning."

"Thought you couldn't live here?"

"I can't. I need to be outside. Obstacle courses. Gardens. Space to run. But the view is amazing, and the place is beautiful. I could definitely stay here a couple of nights a month without problems. Do some shopping and go out for a fancy dinner. I'm sad there's no balcony though."

"Yea, that is kind of weird."

"Safety issue for royals." Jax shakes his head. "Someone could try to sneak onto it. They avoid them unless the area is secured 100% of the time. This can't be secured because of the shopping down below. Other people are allowed in the building and outside it."

"I guess now we can have our..."

Someone knocks on the door.

We stare at each other for a minute, then Mike opens it.

A man in a suit walks in. "Welcome, I'm the building manager. My name is Rex. Anything you need, do not hesitate to call. We are fully staffed and are here 24 hours a day. Keypads are located beside the doors, in every room. Press 1 on any of them and let them know what you need. It will be taken care of immediately."

"What?" I scratch my head.

He presses one.

"Good afternoon, Miss Dark. How may I assist you?"

"Can you get stuff to make cinnamon rolls?"

"Of course. It should be there in 10 minutes."

"ADD CREAM CHEESE."

"You don't have to yell at it, Chris." Conner rubs his ear.

"Can you send up the basics for a couple of days, or they're going to be calling you every 3 seconds."

"Of course, sir."

"Cottage cheese."

Mike shakes his head. "Let's go to dinner. You're all getting hungry."

"I'll leave a copy of the paperwork in each of the penthouses. It does include a map of the building. There are common areas such as the restaurants and fitness facilities."

"Thank you, sir."

Chris grabs me. "Wait. The groceries are coming."

"They will put them away if you're not here."

"Nice. Can you send the helicopter to the roof? That's a long trip down the elevator."

"Of course." The man pushes the 1 again. "Send the royal helicopter for pickup on the roof."

"Yes, sir. ETA 3 minutes."

We follow him to the hallway, and he opens a door beside the elevator. "The fire exit also has roof access if you don't feel like waiting for the elevator."

We get into the helicopter and fly 2 blocks to another building. We land on the roof of this one too. From there, we get escorted to a nice dining room. It has a 12-person table. Mike sits on the end and puts me beside him. Then he has Jax sit on the other side of me. Conner and Chris are across from me. I'm in a nice tight box.

Clayton comes in and sits beside Chris, then he smirks at me. "I see you figured out the list started today."

"You could have said that. We nearly had to come with river mud on us."

"That would have been hilarious." He cracks up laughing.

I throw my fork at him. "No, it wouldn't have. I'll throw you in the damn river."

Chris looks at Mike. "They're like real brother and sister already."

The asshole and the w***e come in and sit on the other end of the table. "I'm glad we can have dinner. Did you get the account and the condo building set up?"

"Yes, thank you." Chris checks his notes. "We're good. Let's eat before I get smashed by auras."

"I have a gift for Althena first." The w***e stands up. I glare at her.

Clayton cracks up laughing. "Her eye is twitching."

I scream out, "I AM GONNA TWITCH YOUR HEAD."

"What does that even mean?" He laughs harder.

"Clayton, do not antagonize the guest."

"Sorry, dad. She's not a guest though."

The asshole rolls his eyes. "Go ahead Mary."

She brings a box towards us and hands it to Jax. "It's a family heirloom. I never had a daughter to pass it down to."

Jax opens it, then he sits it in front of me. It's the most exquisite jewelry set I've ever seen. Necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings, so many sapphires and diamonds. I can't believe this set. I cannot remove my eyes from it.

Mike says, "What do you say?"

"Put it on me."

They crack up laughing. "Almost."

"I'm glad you like it." Queen w***e Mary goes back to my dad and sits by him.

I put my arms out and Mike shuts the box. "No. You'll end up breaking it tonight. Wait for a formal event."

Then dinner gets sat down. It's beef tips with vegetables. In a sauce I don't know. It's quite good.

"Where did you grow up?"

"She grew up on the streets." Conner glares at him.

Mike shakes his head. "It wasn't that bad. Her mom and her lived in my pack for 13 years. After her mom died, she went to live with her aunt. Her aunt decided she was fine on her own."

Then Conner takes over. I think he enjoys twisting the knife into my father more than I do. He makes everything sound 10 times worse than it is. The asshole and w***e are about in tears the whole time. An abused orphan living in a box with no shower or food does sound bad though.

I get some more vegetables and sauce while he exaggerates his way through when the demontail pack stole me, and I was beat up so badly they didn't know if I was going to make it.

"You poor baby." The queen puts her hand on her heart.

"I'm fine. I have a scar on my belly from the surgery, but that's it. I don't even remember most of it."

Chris laughs. "I remember the prince walking around with a knot on his head after that. You should do that again, Conner."

"Well, the i***t wouldn't get out of my way. I was trying to kick Mike's ass."

Mike burst out laughing. "He dropped so fast. I thought you killed him." Then he stares at Conner. "We should do that again."

Jax is all sorts of confused. "Why don't you like the prince?"

"UGH." I stare at the ceiling.

"I'LL TELL IT." Chris jumps up in the most theatrical way possible. He throws his hands up. "Imagine this..."

20 minutes later, we get to the part where we drive around the helicopter. Clayton is laughing so hard he's about to cry. My dad is bright red. The queen doesn't know what to do.

Finally, Clayton pulls it together. "You hit him in the head with the ring during his engagement party to someone else. Then you immediately came here? You didn't talk to him after that?"

"Correct."

"SHE DOESN'T NEED TO TALK TO HIM." Dad slams his hand down. "HE IS A..."

"Calm down dear. She handled it fine."

Chris nods. "And the ring was saved. We do have the ring."

"Why?" Mike stares at me this time.

"Chris saved it, love. I'm not arguing with that level of crazy. And I actually did like the set. He gave me a necklace for my birthday. It was gorgeous."

Clayton sits back and smirks. "You should wear it for his welcome party."

Chris bursts out laughing. "You are my favorite royal ever. Show it off in front of his fiance."

I shake my head. "Those 2 are going to get me in trouble."

Chris sits back down. "And you got the whole set from him. I checked. Thankfully, he was an i***t often."

I rub my face and Mike nods. "That was enough dinner for today."

Clayton cracks up laughing and tries to stand up, but he gets caught in the chair somehow. He ends up falling over.

I burst out laughing and clap. "Excellent job standing up."

Then my dad starts sobbing. "She laughed. I heard her laugh. It's precious."

Mary stands up. "Yea, that's probably good for dinner. Thank you for attending. Clayton, use your feet."

I crack up laughing again. Dad cries harder. The queen rubs her face. Then my brother starts laughing. Mike picks me up. "Thank you for a lovely dinner. See you next event."

Conner gets all serious. "That's why he blamed himself for you getting taken. He was spending nights with you before that. They followed him there. It wasn't about the meeting at all."

Mike stiffens and puts me back in the chair. "You're making it sound bad, but yes. He came over after I closed a few times, and we would work on the food for the next day. We would talk. We kissed a few times but nothing more physical than that. And he never spent the night."

"Did he take you on any dates, sweetie?" Mary smiles.

"For my birthday. He took me on a boat. We could see the city from it. It was beautiful. At the time, I loved it. I figured out later, it was his way of taking me out without being seen with me. I don't know if he was ashamed to be seen with me or didn't want his fiance to catch him. But either way, we weren't seen together."

"Royals have a way of getting locked into contract marriages before they're born. She could have been assigned to him for years. Who knows? I'll try to get some information when they come. I love good gossip." Mary smiles at everyone. "Everyone, enjoy your evening."

Clayton turns to her. "Is anyone assigned to me?"

Dad shakes his head. "No. We're not doing that."

"What about her?"

"They're going to try. But the decision is hers."

I smile. "I'm marrying Mike. Nobody has any say in that."

Chris cracks up laughing. "Even Mike doesn't have a say in that."

Conner nods and stands up. "Congratulations on the engagement."

Mike picks me back up and hugs me. "Little early, but yea, we'll get married."

Clayton bursts out laughing. "You've already got a ring. Wear that one."

"CLAYTON." His mom yells at him.

Chris laughs. "I knew I saved it for something."

I hug Mike. "They are gonna get me in trouble."

"Yes they are, babygirl. Thank you for dinner."

"Our pleasure."