One day he will understand how valuable you are, but by then you will be married to the man who already knew.
• • •
1 7 Y E A R S A G O
Evelyn's glossy eyes were set on the road, and the road only.
Her heart was hammering in her chest, thumping loudly with every thought, and every doubt that crossed her haunted mind.
Madison was whispering to Danielle in the backseat, something about leaving Evelyn alone for the moment.
Leon and Carter felt extremely guilty for Evelyn's state, because somehow they knew it was their fault.
If only they hadn't introduced her to him, she wouldn't be feeling like that right now.
The car was silent in every way, the only audible sound in the room was the sound of the uncomfortable shifting of Carter.
A strangled cry left Evelyn's throat, and she hated how her night ended.
Her make up was ruined, and as she eyed her reflection in the window of the car, she hated herself even more for changing herself.
She shouldn't have gone to that party, she shouldn't have put on make up.
At least not to impress some guy who was only interested in what's between her legs.
She wondered if such skilled liars were really living amongst her.
I love you.
You are worth the world Evelyn.
You mean everything to me.
Her heart broke a little at the foreign yet very familiar conversations.
He had fooled her.
He had finally gotten 'Evelyn Ross'.
Evelyn Ross.
She had never hated her wealth more, she hated that she was born rich.
She hated that she was born 'perfect'.
No one wanted to get to know the real her.
The girl behind all that money, the girl behind the photos.
They all wanted to use her for their own advantage, and she was quite thankful to have found her friends in that moment.
None of them were as rich as her, except Madison, but they still loved her for the person she grew up to be.
They loved her for her, and that's all she had ever wished for.
"Thanks for the ride, Leon." She mumbled, opening the door to the passengers seat.
"Hey, hey. Eve?"
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry about what that dick said about you. If I had known I wouldn't have-"
"I know. Thanks. I'll see you guys tomorrow." Strengthening herself up, she wiped away her traitor tears, and tried to walk comfortably in her painful heels.
She forced a smile as she opened the door because she didn't want her mother feeling upset about this.
"Hey, hon!" Her father greeted her, wearing kitchen gloves, prolly helping her mother in the kitchen.
"Hey, dad."
"How's the party?" He smiled, and so did she.
"It was great." She lied.
Her father bit his lip, seeing right through his daughter while she's clueless to it all however he chose not to comment.
"Howard and Maria are on a business trip, darling. Tony's upstairs, he's staying with us for a few days."
"Sure." She shrugged, having Tony around wasn't anything new to her.
Every month he's always around for at least five days, she kind of wondered if his parents missed him at all.
She slipped into her bedroom before he could get a chance to annoy her.
The stinging pain in her eyes didn't cease as she tried blocking back her tears.
How could she let him fool her.
Tossing her Gucci bag on her bed, she cursed everything around her.
She wanted to be normal.
She wanted to be her own person.
She wanted to be loved for who she was, not for what she owns.
"Rough night?"
Scoffing, she turned around to glare at her un-welcomed intruder, who was none other than Tony Stark.
"I must say, I have never seen you with make up-"
"Can you not?" Her tone was strained, she wanted to sleep.
She wanted to sleep and cry for the rest of the night.
"Not tonight, Tony. Please."
His shocked face wasn't masked, he let her see it.
Because indeed, he was stunned.
Usually, they would bicker all day, both not wanting to give up.
And so when he eyed her glossy saddened features, he frowned.
"What happened, Vee?"
"Nothing happened! Just leave me alone!" She curled into a ball on the floor, breathing heavily.
"What's his name?" He coolly answered her.
"What?" She snapped her head upwards, her face never looking more sadder and duller.
"Give me a name. I'll beat him up for you." He smiled at her, and for as long as she could recall, she had never seen him smile like that.
Not a teasing one.
Not a sarcastic one.
Not an apathetic one.
A genuine one.
"He's no one."
"Well, clearly he is someone. If you're that upset about it." He leaned on her wall, next to her bed, and he sighed.
And then he waited.
He waited for her to open up.
"William." She muttered under her breath, her feet begging her to remove her heels.
"I was sure that he was the one. I was so fucking sure, Tony-"
"Don't curse, kid."
"And then we all heard him say to his stupid friends that if I don't spread my legs for him soon, he'd throw me out like the rest of them." Evelyn gulped, humiliation engulfing her.
Tony's fists clenched uncontrollably, he almost thought that he would punch the wall.
"He said what?"
"That doesn't even matter, Tony. Look at me!" She snapped, motioning to herself, "I put on make up, I curled my hair, I wore a fucking dress for him. I never wear dresses. I'm not that kinda girl, Stark. I'm not one of them, I'm not like them, Tony." She buried her face in her hands, panting heavily.
"I don't want to be someone's trophy." She muttered, as he leaned down, and started taking off her heels.
"Thanks. They hurt, a lot." She mumbled, rubbing her feet with her hand.
"Here." He pulled her up with a small smile.
"You're not born to be someone's trophy, Vee. You're born to be you. Just be yourself. You don't have to wear a dress for someone, you don't have to change yourself for someone else. Because one day, someone will come to you, and he'd want you just the way you are. With your annoying laugh, and ugly sweatpants." Slipping her hair behind her ear, he gazed into her sad blue eyes, and he swore.
He swore that he would make his life a living hell.
"How poetic." She chuckled, and he grinned.
"Yeah, I try. Go ahead and change out of your dress, and no you cannot borrow one of my shirts." He raised an eyebrow, last time he 'lent' her a shirt, was the last time he ever saw it.
"Fine." She groaned, stepping inside her dressing room, and slipping on one of his old shirts that he had kept here last year.
She smirked and walked outside just in time to see him groan in annoyance.
"How do I look?" She giggled, spinning around to tease him.
The look in his eyes however showed that at the moment, he truly did not care about his shirt.
"Happier," He opened the window and pulled out his hand, "Come on, cutie. Let's go watch the stars."
It was their thing when they weren't in the mood to fight, they would sprawl out on a warm blanket on Evelyn's roof, and they would watch the stars together.
Tony always claimed that he hated it, but even she knew that it calmed him down.
"Look, rabbit." She pointed upwards with her finger, and he nodded, linking the stars.
"They gone again?" She whispered, hoping that she wasn't overstepping her boundaries this time.
Last time she had mentioned his parents, he stood up and told her that it was none of her business before leaving her alone.
"What do you think?" He scoffed, moving away from her to stand up.
She grabbed his hand before he stood up, which made him snap his head towards her.
"I'm sorry. Really, I didn't mean to pry. I just thought that you'd like someone to talk to. I apologise for being nosy." She smiled guiltily, and he exhaled, resting his head on the pillow, feeling just slightly cold.
"Yes. They left this morning, the minute I got back." He nodded, and she decided to change the subject quickly to avoid hurting him.
"So, make any new friends at MIT?" Giggling, she rolled over to face him.
"A few." He nodded, playing with the edges of the blanket.
Looking up again at the magnificent view, Evelyn smiled, oblivious to Tony's gaze.
Truly, the realisation stunned him, because he had never once seen her as beautiful, sure she was pretty, but never that attracting to him.
Gulping, he looked away for a second before moving his gaze back to her.
He had always known that she was very good looking, but he had never seen her looking this gorgeous before.
Her hair flying everywhere, her eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of the cold wind on her face, her plump lips just slightly parted, her face glistening beautifully under the night sky.
The word beautiful never described her in his dictionary, but as he gazed at her relaxed form, and small sweet smile, he realised that beautiful was the only word on his mind as he eyed her.
"Do you think he thinks I'm pretty?" She mumbled out of nowhere, forcing him to let out a sigh.
"I think...I think he thinks you're the most beautiful woman to ever walk the face of the earth." Was his response.
"Now, you're exaggerating." She chuckled, but then frowned.
"Do you think under different circumstances we would have worked out?" She asked again about William, and he gulped, looking away silently, before looking at her again.
"Maybe, Vee. Maybe. Someday." Mumbling incoherently, he looked back at the stars.
"I think I loved him." She shook her head, feeling pathetic.
"No, you didn't. What the hell do you even know about love, Evelyn?" He scoffed, feeling slightly agitated.
"What do you know about love?"
"That I have never been loved." He bit his tongue, and he hated how open he was with her, he hated this version of himself.
The free one.
He needed to be closed off, to focus on his work to finally make his father proud.
He didn't want distractions.
She pouted at him for a second, gazing at him from under her lashes, an action that he found extremely attractive.
"Well, I love you, Tony." She giggled, and bumped him on the shoulder, and for a second he hoped that she really did.
She was still 18, and she still needed to have her life experiences, ones that he wouldn't be a part of.
"I'm sleepy. Night, Vee. You coming?"
"I think I'll stay for a little while. I'm feeling down." She shrugged, looking back up at the stars after he nodded and left her.
T H E N E X T D A Y
"That was the funniest thing I had ever seen!" Madison howled, clapping her hands.
"Yeah! Karma is a bitch ain't it?" Leon high fived her, and Evelyn couldn't stop herself from laughing.
They were all gathered around the parking lot, watching William Andrew run around in nothing but a towel, threatening everyone and forcing them to go find his clothes.
An engine roared behind them, and she would be stupid not to recognise it, he had built it after all, she had heard it several times before.
Spinning around instantly, she spotted Tony's red Porsche in the far corner of the parking lot pulling out, stopping a few metres away from her.
Stepping outside of his car, Tony Stark shot Evelyn a sexy wink, and moved towards the naked boy, ignoring all the teenage girls ogling at him.
He tossed him his clothes, earning a murderous glare from the blonde.
"Now that you learned your fucking lesson, I suggest you stay as fucking far away from my girl over there alright? If I see you so much breathing next to her, I'll do much more than cutting off your family's blood line."
"Wha-"
And with that Tony kicked him in the balls, not minding the fact that his towel had fallen off with the kick.
"Stark!" The principal's angry voice boomed at the former student, forcing Tony to run back to his car.
"Nice to see you too, Principal Elgort!" With one last smirk, he drove as far away from the school as possible, leaving a trail of laughing students, and a grateful blushing Evelyn.