Choosing Love

Chapter One

"So I'll see you tomorrow?" my fiancé Henry said absentmindedly as he pulled to a stop in my driveway.
"Yeah," I tucked a piece of my long blonde hair behind my ear subconsciously before continuing, "do you want to spend the night?"
He flickered his eyes between the clock on the dash and my hopeful green eyes.
"Sorry Addie, dad has me working all day tomorrow." His deep voice answered regretfully.

'So how were you going to see me?' I thought to myself.

I slowly nodded my head and leaned across the seat and planted a light kiss on his cheek before opening the door of his fancy car. I walked to the front door in the late summer breeze and unlocked it as his fast car drove away.

Stepping inside my empty house I sighed. Henry never wanted to spend the night after the first official week of being engaged. He always had an excuse for why he couldn't. What was his excuse going to be for when we were actually married?
Ever since I was 16 I've been in love with Henry, and we were arranged to be married before we were even born.
Both of our parents were old friends and when they found out of their pregnancies they arranged for us to be married, which would merge their multi-million dollar construction companies. Henry and I had been dating for a year and half before we leaned of the arrangement and at first I was weary, but Henry wasn't. He was ecstatic and couldn't wait for us to be married. He proposed to me about two months ago and we were set to be married in next years fall. Ever since then though, Henry's been distant and reserved. He wasn't the Henry knew and I was worried about our future. He didn't talk about anything that extended into the next month and never goofed around like he used too.

I made my way into my bedroom and undressed from my party dress and into some yoga pants and a hoodie. After throwing my waist length blonde tresses into a messy bun I grabbed my iPad from the bedside table and checked my schedule.
Tomorrow morning I had a photo shoot for a wedding dress designer. I've been modeling professionally for about two years now, and it's honestly the best thing I've ever done. I love meeting all the designers, photographers, and other models.
I closed my iPad and turned off the lights then laid down in my king sized bed. I quickly found a peaceful sleep and snuggled in for the night.

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"Adeline, darling come change into this one." Katie, one of the stylist, requested.

I got up from my seat at the make-up table and sashayed to the huge rack of white dresses. She handed me a plain simple one that looked almost like a toga. It had small beading around the top and lace on the torso. I shimmed into the dress and put on the simple heels and made my way to the photographing area.

After repeating that process a few more times I had finished and was walking to my SUV. I began driving down the busy streets of L.A when my phone rang and flashing 'Dad' on caller id.

"Hey dad." I spoke.

"Hi sweetie, are you and Henry still coming for lunch at Armani's?" My dad's deep voice filled the silence of my car.

"Uh, yeah I think. If Henry doesn't come I will definitely be there." I promised with a small smile.

"Okay, you've got about two hours. Don't be late because someone very important is coming."

Before I could ask who he had already hung up. I reached over to the stereo and turned the music up as I continued my drive home.

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Entering the dark scenery of Armani's I inhaled the smell of fresh bread. Armani's was my favorite Italian restaurant, and I loved that the scenery looked like a vineyard at Italy.

I found my dad and John, Henry's dad, sitting at a table as they both scanned over the menu.

"Sorry I'm late guys, traffic was a little heavy." I explained when I reached the table.

"It's fine darling, you look beautiful by the way." My dad said as he stood and kissed the top of my head. He pulled my seat out for me and pushed me in while he asked about my day.

"That darn boy. Sorry guys it looks like Henry is going to be late." John said scowling at his phone.

"So is our guests." My dad muttered under his breath as his eyes flickered to the entrance. We waited a few minutes until my dad rose from his seat with a business smile on his face, which John soon copied. I followed their actions and smoothed out the non existent wrinkles in my emerald green, knee length dress.

"Ah, Daniel and John long time no see." A deep voice joked. The man looked to be almost seven feet tall and had muscular build. His dark hair and tan skin contrasted with the white button up and light grey suit. He greeted my dad and John before his eyes moved to me.

"Who is this beauty?" He questioned my dad.

"Adeline is my daughter. Addie this is Andrew Ford." My dad introduced. Andrew Ford was John and dad's rival company. They are constantly battling for number one and it has yet to stay consistent.

Andrew stuck out his hand and I shook it saying "Nice to meet you." with a smile.

"This is my son Keaton." Andrew gestured to a curly dark hair tanned boy. He had his dad's height and strong build. He had sharp defined jaw line and light grey eyes. He was honestly the most handsome boy I had ever seen.

We all settled into our seats and soon enough a waiter had taken all the orders.

"Where have I seen you before?" Keaton spoke to me from across the table.

"Probably in a magazine. I model a lot." He nodded his head as he tuned into our parents conversation.

"I think we should do a complete combing of our companies." Andrew proposed.

"Daniel and I are already combining with the marriage of Addie and Henry. It's been arranged since before they were born." John spoke and gestured to me. Keaton's eyes glanced to me with an incredulous look and opened his mouth to speak when Henry came in.

"So sorry I'm late." He apologized. He took the empty seat next to me and kissed my cheek lightly before directing his attention to Keaton.

"Hey I'm Henry Knight."

"Keaton Ford." They exchanged the dude nods and held a stare that seemed almost challenging. I turned my attention back to the conversation taking place between our parents.

"Well, just think about how all pros to combining all three. We would definitely have number one and would triple the income and business of the companies." Andrew explained.

"Give us sometime to think about it." My dad answered before John could answer his mouth to object.

"That's all I can ask." Andrew answered.

We paid for our checks and left the restaurant. With his arm around my shoulder Henry walked me to my car.

"I'll come over later tonight when I get off of work, and we can watch some movies." He said as he opened the door for me.

'So now you want to come over?" Too late, I'm already mad at you.

I gave him a pout before climbing in my car and answering, "Sorry me and Cassidy already have plans."

"Why don't you just cancel?" He argued.

"Because we've had these plans for like three weeks and you're just now coming up with a plan." I shut the door and started my car.

I dug through my purse before finding my phone, and texted my best friend Cassidy.

'Hey what are you doing tonight?'

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