Shady

Chapter 4

COLLIN

Tonight was…interesting. The date wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, it was quite amusing. That girl had something about her that I liked, but I couldn’t figure it out. She was different from the other girls I’ve seen around campus. And I could tell these next eight months were going to be fun. I didn’t think it would be so easy to get under her skin, get her embarrassed. She was so innocent…it was kind of cute. But you could tell she wasn’t with the whole heels-and-dress idea, and she was probably stubborn as hell.

I walked into my father’s mansion with a smirk plastered on my face. I couldn’t wait to see the reaction on his face when I told him. He always thought I wouldn’t really do it. Well, here I am, striding across the beige, marble floors to his unreasonably oversized study. He wouldn’t like her, I knew. But that just made it all more amusing on my half. I wasn’t really on my dad’s side; I never was. He always praised my idiot of a brother, Matthew. Matthew and I were never on good terms with each other. He was completely different and shouldn’t even be a Delatorre, in my opinion. He always pissed me off by rubbing his “almost” position as the heir of the company in my face. He won’t anymore.

I entered my father’s study, not even bothering to knock. It wouldn’t take long. I just wanted the damn keys to the penthouse.

“I thought I told you to knock when I’m in my office,” my father said, scowling at my rude actions. He’ll do more than scowl in a minute.

I closed the door behind me and leaned against the wall beside of it, crossing my arms over my chest. I stared at him for a long minute as I felt a smirk tug at the corners of my lips. This was going to be too great. I felt I should get a camera, first.

I watched my father grow suspicious with every passing second. “How did the meeting go?” he asked, looking through papers on his desk. He sounded disinterested. “I assume you emotionally crushed her and left, like you do to the others.”

He looked up at me through his lashes when I didn’t respond. Those pale blue eyes reminded me of my brother. His dark hair, which I inherited from him, was all askew as if he had just gotten out of bed. My father was a busy man, I suppose. He hardly slept at all.

I couldn’t help but smirk as I said, “I’m going to marry her.”

My father stared at me for a long moment before he suddenly started laughing. His eyes were watery as he was trying to control his outburst, but failed greatly. He slammed a hand on his desk, wiping away a tear with the other. “I’ll admit it, you almost got me there, son,” he managed to say between laughs.

I stood straight and shoved my hands in the pockets of my jeans. I knew this was where the acting part came in. I was going to make him believe me, and he was going to accept it. I needed my freedom and my position, and this was the only way to get them. I didn’t see why he would get so upset. After all, I’m just giving him what he wanted. I wasn’t so sure about my mother, though. I wasn’t quite sure how her erratic personality would handle this situation.

“You think this is some kind of joke?” I said, making my expression as serious as possible.

He abruptly stopped laughing, staring me down, instead. “I don’t like games, son,” he warned, suspicion flashing behind his eyes.

“I don’t like my position threatened.” I shrugged and watched him as his expression changed to one of slight anger and great suspicion.

“You love the Cappello?”

I mentally smiled at this. He was going to believe me; I could see him losing the fight. I didn’t hesitate and said, “More than anything.” Of course it was a lie. I couldn’t possibly love a low-class girl like that. Now that I thought about it, she didn’t seem like a billionaire’s daughter. She just seemed like a normal girl, to me. And it was weird how she didn’t tell me anything about herself. She seemed as though she was trying to hide something. It just made me curious to know what it was. I knew it would be easy to get it out of her.

“You don’t even know her,” my father said, trying to get me to back out, obviously.

“I do. We go to school together. We’ve been dating for a while before, but we’ve never went public. Tonight, I guess I realized that...I love her,” I lied smoothly, never breaking eye contact. He knew he was losing this one, and I watched as he started to slowly realize it.

My father stared me down for a good, long minute. “You really think I’m going to believe this ridiculous information, coming from you?” He sneered. He shook his head and twined his fingers together, placing his arms on his desk in front of him. “I’m going to need proof of this.”

“What do you suggest?” I challenged, already knowing what he was going to say.

He was still smirking at me as he said, “I want to meet her.”