7_Alliances

Aiden could feel the tension crackling in the air like electricity. His parents were going to kill him, he could sense it underneath their fake smiles and vicious gazes. He sat exactly where he had been told not to be, in the dining room, occupying the chair placed at the right side of where Alexander sat at the head of the table. Alexander’s mother sat across from him, watching everything with sharp, elegant eyes.

“The marriage will happen next week,” Alexander said, his voice low and final, leaving no room for discussion.

Aiden’s stepmother smiled wildly, barely able to contain her excitement. His father’s face looked pleased for the first time in weeks, like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Emily sat beside Aiden, smiling shyly and playing the part of the perfect bride to be. Alexander’s mother looked shocked, her perfectly manicured fingers tightening slightly around her wine glass. And Aiden… he kept his face blank, completely neutral. He could feel Alexander staring at him or maybe at Emily, since she sat right beside him. Definitely Emily, he told himself.

The rest of the dinner passed in a haze of forced conversation and clinking silverware. Aiden barely touched his food. Every time Alexander spoke, the deep timbre of his voice sent a strange shiver down Aiden’s spine. He kept his eyes lowered most of the time, focusing on the pattern of the tablecloth rather than the powerful man sitting beside him.

Several days had passed since that tense dinner, and Aiden hadn’t seen any of them. They were all too busy preparing for Emily’s wedding. The mansion was no longer peaceful, not that it had ever truly been peaceful for him. Maids rushed through the halls constantly, chattering excitedly about flowers, dresses, and guest lists. Their voices echoed everywhere, sincerely hurting his ears with how nonstop it was. The wedding was now all over the news, thanks to his stepmother’s desperate need to show off. The only thing they hadn’t revealed yet was the face of the bride.

Aiden had kept to the edges of the house, slipping in and out like a ghost. He was just about to enter the mansion through the side door when his stepmother stopped him at the entrance, blocking his path with her perfectly poised stance.

"What does she want now?" Aiden thought, already exhausted.

“Ohhh Aiden,” she called, her voice dripping with false sweetness.

He sighed in despair. “Yes?”

“I see you’re still breathing since I haven’t seen you around.”

“Well, what do you expect?”

“I expected you to be with your mum in hell by now, seeing you are of no use to anyone.”

Aiden clenched his fist tightly at his side, nails digging into his palm. “Do not speak of my mum.”

She laughed, a sharp, cruel sound that echoed in the grand entryway. “Your mum was only taking my place until I came back to your dad. And when I did come back, she was tossed aside like a useless sweet wrapper, just like the way you are useless now.”

“Do you think so, step mum?” Aiden shot back, his voice steady despite the anger burning in his chest. “If my mum was alive, you wouldn’t be here. The only reason you’re in this house is because Father was searching for someone to warm his bed. And he found you. And bought you… cheaply.”

Aiden smirked, the expression feeling foreign on his face, then walked away without waiting for her response. He bet she was fuming right now, her carefully maintained mask cracking behind him.

He made his way upstairs to his small room, the confrontation still ringing in his ears. The mansion felt even more suffocating these days. Everywhere he turned, there were preparations for a wedding that wasn’t even his. Bouquets of flowers lined the halls, delivery trucks came and went at all hours, and the air smelled constantly of fresh paint and expensive fabrics. His stepmother had turned the entire estate into her personal circus, determined to make the union with the Costello family the event of the year.

Aiden closed his door behind him and leaned against it for a moment, letting out a long breath. He wasn’t supposed to be part of any of this. He was the secret. The replacement. The parasite, as they loved to remind him. Yet Alexander had pulled him into the light that night, forcing everyone to acknowledge his existence. That single moment at the dinner table still replayed in his mind constantly, the way Alexander’s fingers had tilted his chin up, the shock in those deep blue eyes, the low whisper that had made his knees feel weak.

He wasn’t foolish enough to think it meant anything. Alexander was here for Emily. The wedding was set. Next week, his sister would stand beside the Ice King, and Aiden would fade back into the shadows where he belonged. Still, a small, dangerous part of him wondered what it would feel like if things were different. If those eyes had looked at him with something more than curiosity or surprise.

Downstairs, the chaos continued. He could hear his stepmother barking orders at the staff, her voice carrying up through the floors. His father was probably locked in his study, making whatever shady deals came with tying their family to the Costellos. Emily flitted around like a princess, getting fitted for gowns and dreaming of her new life as Mrs. Deluca.

Aiden moved to his window and stared out at the sprawling grounds. The seven black cars from that first night were gone, but their presence still lingered in his memory. Alexander King Deluca had changed everything just by walking through their doors. And now, with the wedding so close, Aiden felt like he was standing on the edge of a cliff, waiting for the ground to crumble beneath him.

He wasn’t sure what hurt more, the way his family treated him like he was nothing, or the quiet ache of knowing he would have to watch Alexander marry someone else. Someone who wasn’t him.

For now, he stayed hidden. It was what he did best. But deep down, he wondered how long that would last. Alexander didn’t seem like the type of man who forgot things easily. And Aiden had a feeling the Ice King was far from done with this family or with him.

The days leading up to the wedding stretched on, heavy with anticipation and dread. Aiden kept his distance, moving like a shadow through his own home. But no matter how hard he tried to disappear, he couldn’t shake the memory of that dinner. The touch on his chin. The whispered word. The way Alexander had looked at him like he was seeing something no one else ever had.