Darkly Deceived (Darkly Devoted Series, Book 2)

Chapter 4 - A Secret Admirer

Chapter 4

ON THE day before her wedding, Vivienne received a package in the mail. It was a giant box from Manna City. Vivienne had a sinking feeling that it would eventually arrive. The wedding dress she had picked out with Julian, the order he didn't cancel even after their awkward encounter, was here. As Vivienne dragged the monstrous box into her house, she just didn't understand why he paid for her dress, which cost quite an enormous amount, when he couldn't bring himself to answer her calls.

Julian had gone completely silent in the days after that night. When she managed to reach him, he was busy with work and couldn't talk. It was as though she was being ghosted by a vampire she was bound to. Vivienne wondered if she should call him to thank him for the gift, even though she had no intention of wearing the crystal-laden ballgown to her simple wedding. A couple of days ago, Vivienne had already picked out a modest creme-colored satin dress that fell just above her knee. It seemed to exemplify her practical marriage to Daniel, just the basics, nothing frilly or fancy.

Vivienne went back and forth on it. She finally decided she should just call. It would be rude not to thank him for such an expensive gift, especially since he was always complaining about his money problems. They had slept together, yes, but to act like a jilted ex-lover would be precisely what he expected her to do. She didn't want him referring to her as one of his psychotic female bed buddies.

Finally, Vivienne dialed his number on her phone and waited for him to pick it up. The phone seemed to ring forever, as was the norm during her contact with him these days. She wondered why he was that afraid of her. Was it all just because he had hammered away at her leg for a few minutes?

As she waited, she opened the box and hung the dress up on the back of her door. It wouldn't fit inside her closet. The ethereal ball gown glittered with the light of a thousand diamonds. It was truly fit for a princess. There was a card attached. There was a short typewritten message — Remember that you will always be loved.

Vivienne frowned. The note was unsigned, but she didn't think Julian wrote it. The last thing Mr-Commitment-Phobia would ever say would be to tell her on her wedding day that he loved her.

After about twenty rings, Julian finally picked up.

"Hey, Vivienne," he said, sounding tired. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to thank you for the dress," Vivienne said. "And oddly, a card saying you'll always love me."

Julian laughed loudly and awkwardly. "My assistant wrote that. So sorry, she's new and terrible at her job, but she's a hot piece of ass. I'm dating her, actually."

"You are banging your secretary? It's good not to be a public servant anymore," Vivienne noted.

"Yeah, my new job pays much better. It's great to be in the private sector."

"You're not working for Tercel, are you?" Vivienne asked. She had done some cursory internet search on the name on Julian's phone. They were one of the biggest distributors in Manna City of pharmacological products. She wasn't able to find out much more than that, other than to know their influence stretched to every continent and government on the globe.

"I am," Julian said. "What's the matter? Are you micromanaging my life now? I have a girlfriend. You need to move on."

Vivienne rolled her eyes. "You do? Girlfriend of the week? Or just of the night?"

"Hey, princess," Julian said, sounding progressively more and more tired of the conversation. "I'm sorry the card got your hopes up and made you think I cared for a second. I'll have a word with Susie, but you got to stop stalking me. We're never going to be a thing, and it's getting embarrassing."

Vivienne sighed. "Okay. You know, I was planning on doing the nice thing and returning this dress so you could get some of your money back. But now I think I will just burn it in my backyard." Vivienne paused. "On second thought, maybe I'll just burn this gold chain on my wrist. You need to move on too, Julian. Go find yourself someone else to feed off of."

"You won't end our bond, so just stop it," Julian said, chuckling. "You're just like him, so needy, so emotionally stinted that you can't let go of the past. We both know I'm your last connection to Manna City, so stop threatening me. I'm so sick of this predictable crap. Go ahead, burn it, I dare you."

Then he hung up on her. Vivienne felt her heart pounding fiercely in her chest. She needed to yell at someone, so she called the boutique which sold her the dress. At least the saleswoman answered her call much faster than Julian had answered.

"Hello?" Vivienne said, trying to keep her voice calm. "I just received a custom dress with an unsigned note. I was just wondering if you could tell me who the sender is so I can write them a thank-you letter."

Vivienne read out loud the shipping number of the package and the woman clicked away at her computer. There was a pause. After what seemed like forever, the saleswoman came back on the line.

"It's no one."

"What do you mean, no one?" Vivienne asked. "There's a note here; it must have come from someone."

"It's just a corporate account; there's no one attached to it. I'm sorry, I can't help you." The woman hung up in a hurry.

Vivienne was left standing in the darkness of her bedroom, with the dress as her only source of light. She wondered how much the boutique had been paid to buy their discretion. Somehow, Vivienne doubted it was Julian who had forgotten to cancel the order but a far more powerful figure at work.