Page 11 of Accidental Fiancé

Chapter 5

Maggie

Julian Black was my knight in shining armor on a white horse. I couldn’t believe he did that for me. It was something out of a fairy tale. But when we reached the dance floor, I knew I couldn't keep up the ruse.

I let go of his hand. He turned around, a question forming in those haunted eyes. I explained, “What you did back there, that was amazing. I appreciate it so much. But I'm letting you off the hook here. You don't need to dance with me.”

He replied by pulling me into his arms and assuming a dancing position. “They're still watching. I'm willing to keep going if you are.”

“I can't ask you to keep this up. I mean, are you even single?”

“Yes. You?”

“I am, but?—"

“But nothing. Why not have a little fun tonight? What's the harm? Besides, did you see Chloe's face? I haven't seen her that angry in a long time.”

I laughed. He was right. “She was pretty pissed that she didn't already know.”

“So, are we dancing or not?”

“Yeah, I like that. Let’s do it, we can catch up.”

Julian started to sway to the music, and I followed his lead. “So tell me, Maggie Bryant. How has life treated you over the past fifteen years?”

A nervous laugh escaped me. “Not as good as you.”

He shrugged. “I had a leg up. Not exactly a fair comparison.”

“If I remember right, your dad was wealthy, but nothing like you are now.”

“We were comfortable.”

“That's what wealthy people say.”

He laughed easily, shaking his head. “The truth is often a lot uglier than people realize.”

“What does that mean?”

He took a deep breath and smiled as though debating whether or not to tell me the whole story. “The truth of the matter is my family had started to struggle right around the time I was going off to college. If I hadn’t had my trust fund from my grandparents, there was no way I would have been able to go.”

“But you grew up in a mansion.”

“A mansion that was falling apart because we didn't have the money to maintain it. The roof in the east wing had caved in right before my freshman year of high school. There was mold in the walls. We even had bats in the attic and bees building an enormous colony in the chimney in my bedroom fireplace.”

I couldn’t believe it. “You’re kidding. Tell me you’re kidding.”

He shook his head. “It was my grandparents’ mansion. Not ours. We inherited it, but my father made some bad investments when I was young, and things fell into disrepair. Really, that's all it takes for generational wealth to fall apart. A few bad choices, and boom, you're just like everybody else.”

We were friends back then. I was shocked he hadn’t mentioned any of this before. “You never told me.”

“I was a proud teenage boy. What was I going to say? Especially after you told me about how you and your mom wereliving in a one-bedroom apartment after your dad left. Hell, I wanted to offer for you two to move in with us, but I knew that we didn't have a safe space for you. With the amount of mold in the mansion, we were moving from wing to wing for years, trying not to get sick.”

“Is that why we always studied at my place or the library?”

He smiled and nodded. “I was too embarrassed to say anything. I felt awful that we couldn't help you.”

“That wasn't your fault.”

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