I start to laugh, because this is unbelievable.
“Great joke, really.” I glance at the both of them. Mother appears anxious. Winston seems frustrated—and even sympathetic.
And he’s never sympathetic. Especially toward me.
My laughter dies, and I sober up fast. “You’re serious.”
Mother nods at Winston who picks up a slim black folder I didn’t even notice and offers it to me. “All the details are in here,” he says.
I snatch the folder from his fingers and drop it on the table with a loud slap, flipping it open to find a thick stack of papers full of legal jargon and a bunch of bullshit. I see my name.
I see the name of my…
Future fucking bride?
Charlotte Lancaster.
“Oh hell no.” I lift my head to find them already watching me. “The Lancasters are fucking lunatics.”
There are a bunch of Lancasters all over this city, but if she’s the one I’m thinking of, I’m not too far off the mark. Blonde—they’re all blonde. Pretty—they’re all that too. Sheltered.
Batshit crazy thanks to her overprotective father who won’t let her out of his sight.
Or maybe he keeps watch on her because she’s batshit crazy? I’m not too sure.
“They are one of the oldest, most established families in the country,” Mother says, putting on her dignified airs. “The Lancasters are extremely wealthy, and very well connected.”
“They’re also a bunch of assholes,” I mutter.
The Lancaster men are notorious for their rude behavior. They just flat out don’t give a shit—and they don’t have to. They’ve been running this world for hundreds of years.
Mother doesn’t acknowledge my statement, which I’m sure she knows is true. “It’s a power move, merging the two families.”
“Why do I have to be involved with this power move?”
“You’re all that I have left. Everyone else is taken. Your younger brother has his fiancée. Winston is married. There is no other male in this family who is single, and when Reginald Lancaster came to me with the idea, I couldn’t resist.” Mother smiles warmly, as if she hasn’t a care in the world. As if she hasn’t asked me to completely change my life and marry some woman I don’t even know. “You’re going to marry her.”
“What does she even look like? How old is she?” I can’t even believe I’m contemplating this. And from the sharp glance Winny just gave me, I’m pretty sure he feels the same way.
“There’s a photo of her in the back of the folder, behind the contract,” Winny bites out. “She’s twenty. She has three brothers, and they’re all assholes.”
“Winston,” Mother chastises.
“What? You know it’s true. Even that youngest one who’s still in high school. I hear Crew Lancaster is the biggest asshole of all. As bad as Whit,” Winston says.
Everyone knows Whit Lancaster. He’s a complete dick who’s the oldest of Augustus Lancaster’s children. And Augustus is the oldest son of the oldest Lancaster of many generations. They’re the elite branch of the family.
Charlotte and her asshole brothers were born to Augustus Lancaster’s younger brother. Reginald. Reggie. The heir and the spare analogy didn’t just apply to royalty. It also works for generationally wealthy families. They all want that heir and spare.
In our family, for instance, Winston is the heir.
I’m the spare.
Keaton is the bonus.
I shuffle through the papers—damn this contract is thick—until I come across a photo. I pull it out and stare at it, trying to come up with some sort of feeling I might have toward this Charlotte Lancaster person upon first seeing her.
Nothing. I feel nothing.