SEDUCING THE BILLIONAIRE

Chapter Four; Aunt Brenda

I had seen parts of Duke's house on social media but when the car he had sent to come and pick me up finally pulled up in front of the gate I could not believe my eyes. First of all, he did not have any immediate neighbors, the mansion stood alone with an electric gate and security cameras. Upon driving in there was a driveway going around a water fountain then the driver stopped in front of the big front door. Just as I was stepping out of the car, the front door opened and Duke walked out wearing a black designer slim fit suit and of course, a mask and shades.

The drive pulled away to go and pack the car in the garage while I walked up to Duke.

"Your mansion is bigger than I thought," I commented. As far as I knew he was only living with his sister Lindsey, the house was way too big.

"Start thinking big, you're in my world now," he said as he offered me his arm and I took it, linking mine through it as he led me inside. His cologne was a perfect blend of floral, vanilla and woodsy scents and somehow it worked perfectly.

When the doors opened and we stepped into the foyer, my jaw dropped. Everything from the floors to the stairs going up and the chandelier made me feel like I had stepped into a different world.

"I would have given you a tour, but my aunt will be here soon so there's no time," Duke explained "I have to introduce you to my house management crew and my sister."

It wasn't surprising to find that he had a total of twelve workers because one person would not manage to keep that entire mansion clean. The damn place had twelve bedrooms and they were all self-contained. After introducing me to them he took me up to see his bedroom and how it was ad-joined to what would be my bedroom. As I was admiring the walk-in closet, which was as big as my bedroom, Duke disappeared for a minute then shortly returned with a velvet box.

"you'll need this," he said as he opened it to reveal a beautiful ring.

"Wow." I stepped closer "it's really beautiful, I didn't think you'd take the time to go ring shopping."

"I didn't, this one belonged to my mother" he responded.

"Oh... are you sure I should wear it?"

We were faking a relationship, maybe the ring should have been fake too instead of getting his dead mother's beautiful ring.

"It's okay, if Aunt Brenda sees this ring on your finger, she'll believe that I truly do love you because she knows I wouldn't give it to just anyone," he explained, and I felt a bit of warmth in my heart.

"If you wouldn't give it to just anyone, why are you giving it to me?" I asked him, trying not to get carried away and think he actually had feelings for me, he barely knew me and had made it clear that I wasn't his type.

"These are desperate times, mum would understand." He said and put the ring on my finger, it fit perfectly.

After giving me the ring, we went downstairs and I finally met Lindsey, she was seated in the library with a drawing pad and a pencil, drawing something.

"Hey kiddo," you could hear the smile in his voice "say hi to my fiancé Audrey."

She put away her drawing pad and smiled up at me, she was a really beautiful kid and I found myself liking her instantly.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you."

"It's nice to meet you too Lindsey."

"I thought Duke was going to be single forever, now I have an aunt."

"Yes, Audrey and I will be getting married soon and she'll move in with us." Duke told her. He didn't want anyone to know that the relationship was fake, not even his little sister because it would only take one slip-up for everything to come crashing down.

"Yay!" she celebrated "can I be the knife girl?"

"Sure sweetheart."

"Do you have small sisters?"

"Unfortunately, all my sisters are adults, but I do have a niece and a nephew if you like toddlers."

"I can't wait to meet them; Duke never brings anyone here" she complained.

I felt really sad for her, ever since the accident which took away their parents Duke had shut them in from the world and clearly Lindsey was lonely.

She was still asking about my niece and nephew when we heard one of the housekeepers welcoming someone.

"That should be Aunt Brenda." Duke let out a sigh and led us out to greet her.

The moment our eyes met I could feel the temperature dropping and a shiver running down my spine. Before even greeting me, this woman looked me up and down, taking in every single detail and making me want to pee in my pant.

"Aunt Brenda, so lovely to have you here," Duke spoke to break the tension "meet my fiancé Audrey..." he put his hand on my lower back and pulled me closer "sweetheart, this is my late mother's young sister, aunt Brenda."

"it's nice to meet you aunty" I spoke softly and offered my hand in greeted but she ignored it until I dropped it, embarrassed. She completely ignored me and turned to her niece.

"Lindsey dear, you look so malnourished, just skin and bones. Is your brother even feeding you properly?" she asked, and Lindsey moved closer to Duke.

"I'm fine am just naturally slim," she responded.

"that's nonsense, anyone can gain weight if they are being well taken care of," she brushed her off.

"Oookay, you're just in time for lunch so why don't we head on over to the dining area," Duke interrupted.

Aunt Brenda sat at the head of the table, just the look she was giving the servers as they brought the food made my stomach churn, this woman was something else. The maids avoided eye contact with her the entire time.

"So, Aubrey..." a part of me wanted to correct her but I bit my tongue "how exactly did this relationship start?" she questioned as she cut into her steak.

"Well, I was writing an article about him and the accident so while doing my research I reached out to see if I could get more information out of him," I told her the same story I had told my family "Unfortunately he was not in a good place and didn't want me writing about the accident, so the article was dropped but we continued communicating."

Under the table, Duke patted my knee, and I took that as a sign that my lie was good. He had taken off his mask but not the sunglasses and even then, I could only see one side of his face because of where I was seated.

"So, you targeted him, you knew he was rich and after the accident he inherited more money so when he was vulnerable you pounced," she accused.

"What? That's not true!"

"Oh really?" she took a sip of her wine, eyes staring straight at me "what do you like about him? Tell me the moment you realized that you were in love with him."

Oh shit. I had not really prepared for that question. It seemed Aunt Brenda was determined to either expose the relationship as fake or to brand me as a gold digger so that the marriage could not happen. In that moment my heart was racing, and my arm pits became sweaty. I did not want to disappoint Duke and have the spiteful woman take Lindsey away from him.