Page 48 of The Revenge

“No.”

Syn stares at me. His expression remains strangely blank, and the elevator door pings open. Keeping the silence between us, he steps out, already unfastening his wool coat.

I follow, only taking a few steps before I stop.

We walk straight into an entrance as grand as the one in Denali House.

No. That doesn’t come close to giving this room justice.

Under my feet is an immaculate, cream carpet. The entrance is bigger than the bedroom I briefly slept in back at Denali House. In front of me is a double staircase curling up to the next floor. In between the two is a Christmas tree that’s so tall, the star on top is inches from the ceiling. It looks like a tree from a department store, where every ornament has been carefully placed.

Curiosity gets the better of me, and I walk up to it. Much to my surprise, the tree is real. There’s no way someone got it into the elevator I just used. As I’m trying to figure out how it got here, Syn steps beside me.

“I suppose this is as good a place as any to propose.”

My attention is fixed on the star on the top of the tree, and with my mind occupied with trying to calculate the height of the tree, it takes me a moment to process what Syn is saying.

Slowly, I turn to look at him. “What did you say?”

“Put this on.” Syn holds out his hand. In between his index finger and thumb is a ring with a diamond that’s almost as big as my nail.

I don’t move. “Are you seriously proposing to me?”

Right now, one of us has to be high.

And I cannot confidently say who.

XVIII

Tori

“Just put the damn ring on, Victoria.” Syn grabs my left hand.

Quickly, I jerk my hand free and step back. “Did Gemini give you something on the way here? Because it wasn’t candy.”

“The plan was to lie low until tomorrow. Getting yourself suspended a day early means we’re improvising.”

“And improvising means proposing?”

Syn’s eyes narrow. “We need to spend the night here. Right now, my father is at the office, and my mother is in the other room preparing for guests that will be arriving shortly. The only half-decent explanation I can give them as to you being here, is to introduce you as my fiancée, Victoria Anderson. The ring might not be to your taste, but I assure you, the diamond is real. And it’s yours to keep.”

I arch an eyebrow. Given their insistence at me staying at Denali House, I know I’ve got a fight on my hands to stay at my place, or even a hotel—a fight I don’t have the energy for. “And the best solution is for the two of us to pretend to be engaged?”

“Would you rather be engaged to Royal?” Syn’s expression doesn’t change, but there’s something about his tone that almost makes him sound jealous.

Before I can stop myself, I roll my eyes. “Changing my name didn’t fool you. How is it going to fool your parents?”

“Can you trust that I know my own parents better than you? If it makes you feel better, they’ll disapprove of you and insist we break up anyway, before they even find out who you are. Please stop being difficult and put the ring on.”

There are probably worse things than being in a fake engagement to Synclair Keyingham, but at this moment, I can’t think of any.

Unfortunately, I also know that the person who’s going to understand their parents better than anyone is also Syn.

“With such a romantic proposal how could I possibly say no?” I ask dryly as I reach for the ring.

Syn watches me carefully as I slide the ring on my finger, before holding my hand up to look at the ring.

“Remember: for the next two days, we’re supposed to be in love. Try to act like it.”

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