Her Substitute Groom

Dinner from Hell Part 1

Carys

Once all the ceremony details are handled, Belinda sends me to find Vincent, Lorenzo’s family attorney. He has all the paperwork drawn up for us to sign detailing the terms of this contract marriage. As I step in, Lorenzo stands up. “How did it go with Belinda?”

“Great. She’s so helpful.” He nods smiling.

“Vincent will be here in about five minutes. Do you want anything to drink?”

I shake my head and Lorenzo sits down. “Sorry Carys I need to answer a few texts. Is that ok?”

“Of course.” I wave my hand dismissively. While he does that I study him, the man who will become my husband in two days. Lorenzo is tall not as large as Maxim. He has that leaner athletic build. Maxim is more muscular though I’ve only seen the guy fully clothed. But you can see how big his biceps are. Lorenzo’s hair brushes his ears in shaggy waves and he isn’t as tan. They both have the same warm brown eyes and similar bone structure. They definitely look like cousins, might even be mistaken for brothers.

The gentle rap on the door breaks me from my study and I watch the tall auburn haired man enter. “Hello Carys, I am Vincent the Taylor family attorney. How are you?” He gives me a friendly smile.

“I am fine. Nice to meet you.” He lays out three papers in front of me.

“These are the agreements with all the terms you two sent me. I’ll let you read over them and make sure I didn’t make any mistakes or omit anything.” I start reading carefully. After signing each one, I hand them over to Lorenzo who also reads and signs them. His reading is more like skimming and I am guessing he trusts Vincent implicitly.

“I will get these notarized and filed away.” He stands and Lorenzo says “I hope you are joining us for dinner tonight.”

He smiles “Certainly. I need to speak with Maxim about a few business issues and that will be easy to do.”

“Ready Carys? Do you need anything from your room? It’s time to walk over to the restaurant.”

“No I’m ready.” I shake internally a bit. I am nervous. I will be in a room with his parents and mine too. Hopefully my mother doesn’t embarrass me too much. She doesn’t have much of a filter and I’m pretty sure she’s been trying to think of ways she can capitalize on my marriage herself. One of the reasons I changed some of the terms in my agreement with Lorenzo. It will protect him and his family from Mom.

We walk into the private dining room of the seafood restaurant attached to the resort and the air is instantly charged with hostility. Gabriella narrows her eyes as we walk in. Lorenzo has my arm tucked into his and she sends angry daggers our way. Mr. Landon looks bored quite frankly. I see my Dad smiling at me. Annis gives me an encouraging wave and my mother looks up with a huge grin. She waves a little unsteadily. She’s got a huge martini glass in front of her and dread rolls through my stomach. I was hoping Dad would keep the alcohol away from her.

Maxim and an older man walk in together and head for the two empty chairs on the far side of the table. I see the older man who is probably Maxim’s father, stop suddenly and take a deep breath. He lowers his head shaking it and moves quickly into his chair.

My mother cackles suddenly and I glance her way alarmed. She is looking across the table and holding her chest as she laughs. I already feel like dying of embarrassment. Annis gives me an annoyed look. I look away as if that will make my mother disappear or act better. Let’s see how the rest of the room is faring.

Then there’s Mrs. Gabriella who seems to despise me now. There is no trace of the woman who would pinch my cheeks and tell me she liked me coming over in high school. She is glaring equally at me and my mother at this point already.

Lorenzo quietly leads me to the table and pulls out my chair for me to sit. I do and thankfully Annis is across from me. Maxim is next to her and I glance at him to find him staring at me pensively. He meets my eyes for a second and something flashes in his before he looks away to his father sitting on his other side. “Hello Carys. I’m Jonathan Taylor, Maxim’s father.” His voice is tight and his body rigid. Does he already dislike me too? I never met this man.

I smile and say hello regardless.

Lorenzo had told me the food was preordered to make it easier on everyone.

Faster too hopefully I think as my insides crawl the longer I sit here. I feel like half the table wants me to drown in the ocean.

The first course is brought out and I hear Gabriella say something in Italian to Lorenzo. I look up finding Maxim frowning. Lorenzo responds with irritation and I see his father close his eyes shaking his head. Maybe I need to take Italian language lessons as soon as we get home. Otherwise I might never know what they are saying about me. It’s annoying honestly.

Surprisingly, Maxim suddenly says something. And in English. “Are we really going to sit and do this tonight?”

His aunt gives him a fiery look and starts yelling at him in Italian. He shakes his head and leans back. She switches to English when he doesn’t answer her diatribe. “We should not even be here. Talk some sense into your cousin. He needs to marry an Italian girl from a good family.”

Maxim shakes his head and looks at Lorenzo quietly. Lorenzo slams his hand on the table. “That is enough Ma. This is happening and you need to get over it.”

“She only is in this for the money!” Gabriella screams. My father looks furious and Annis scowls.

I fiddle with my napkin unsure of what to say or do.

Before I can make any decision, my mother decides to open her mouth. “Your son is making her sign a damn prenup so it’s not like she can take him to the cleaners or anything.”

Gabriella turns her angry gaze on my mother “And it’s a good thing she signed it otherwise I would be getting rid of her!”

My father jumps to his feet now “And what the hell is that supposed to mean?! Getting rid of my daughter?”

Gabriella eyes him with disdain “I wouldn’t harm her you moron but she wouldn’t be allowed to marry my son! Gosh these people are so stupid. Seriously Lorenzo how can you decide to marry into this?!”