The Royal Contract

Alex and Dani were gone for quite a few minutes now, Jacky decided to excuse herself from Nick's company. The situation in their circle was getting awkward as Nick stayed quiet, eyeing the couple who went to the other end of the ballroom.

"It was nice meeting you both. If you'll excuse us, we have things to do." She grabbed Marcus and dragged him with her when Nick just gave them a curt nod, while the girl at his side just ignored them.

She could not believe what she just witnessed a while ago. It was liked she was in an alternate universe as she watched Alexander kissed Dani. It was not farfetched that a man would find Dani very attractive because she was stunning, in her opinion.

But her friend was a fire-breathing dragon. She did not go on dates unless she forced her to. She did not do a relationship. Therefore, seeing her friend allowing Alexander to kiss her like that in front of all these people without getting violent was a shock to her.

"What just happened in there? Do you know anything about that?" She accused Marcus who appeared to be as astonished as she was.

They ended up in the bar and ordered themselves some drink. When she got hers, she quickly took a sip to calm herself down. Marcus did the same, but he was more amused than anything else with the display Alex just did.

"I am as clueless as you." Which was slightly true. Although he knew that Alex was considering Dani as a candidate for his fake fiancé, he never suspected that there was already something happening between them.

He knew his friend was picky with it came to girls and quite a bit on the conservative side. Doing this was very unusual behavior coming from him. He could not wait to hear what he had to say to this.

"Are you saying that they kept their relationship a secret, even to us, their best friends?" Jacky was starting to feel slightly annoyed and disappointed that Dani did not trust her enough to share her secret with her.

"Probably. I'm not sure." Marcus just stared at the couple who was in a deep conversation. He was trying to figure out if he was missing something from this situation. It was not like Alex to keep something this big from him.

With all the things they had gone through, this was the first time that he felt left out. But he was sure that there was a good explanation for this and he would find out later what it was.

"Well, she better have a very good reason for keeping this from me or else." She had no idea what she would do, but she was certain that she would get to the bottom of this later.

"For the meantime, why don't we just dance while we wait for them?" Marcus suggested as he dragged her along the middle of the dance floor.

"Oh! I like that." There was no use in wasting this perfectly great party to mope around, she mused to herself as she tagged along with Marcus.

Their relationship was still unknown. They enjoyed each other's company but they were not yet committed to each other. Which suited them both, just fine.

On the other side of the ballroom, Nick was still fuming with the turn of events. He was supposed to rile her up until she lost her temper and made a scene. something her father would never condone. But things did not turn out the way he planned.

He was not expecting that she was now in a new relationship. Based on the report he got from his investigators, she was still single and very much devoted to her profession. He was blindsided by this new development.

The intriguing part though was that she was involved with his new competition. Alexander Princeton was a growing name in their circle and his company was a threat in his position in the business world.

Nick had already his eye on one company he was after, having more competition would be more exciting, but much more difficult. But he thrived in challenges. He was not afraid to face them because he knew he had more tricks up his sleeves.

"Don't worry. I'm sure you can still get what you want easily." Cassie followed his gaze and knew exactly what he was thinking.

She was sure that his heavily inflated ego was bruised by what just happened, so she needed to reassure him that he still got his plan on the bag.

She was not just a dumb bimbo like everybody thought. She just acted like one because she needed Nick's participation in her ulterior plans without him knowing about it.

"I knew I can always count on you." He hugged and kissed Cassie, savoring the softness of her lips. Afterward, he looked around him and decided to mingle with the crowd. It was time to start with his other plans.

On another side of the ballroom, another man was heavily invested in the scene that just happened. He was silently analyzing what he just witnessed and was quite intrigued by what was going to happen next. He continued to watch the couple who moved to the end of the hall.

From another perspective, it would just seem that the two were just merely conversing, but he knew her. From her expression, she was silently fuming and barely containing her temper.

The man, on the other hand, was still a mystery to him. The lad was more amused than anything else.

He was seriously curious about what they were silently arguing about. He just had to know. And he had to meet this man who had his daughter twisted in a vine and boiling in anger.

"Mr. Hamilton, I heard that you…" The man at his side blabbered on about his new acquisition, but he only listened with half an ear. He was not particularly interested to hear his praises. His mind was already busy thinking of all the possibilities with what was happening to his daughter.

He was not sure that having all of them in this one event would be quite fruitful. On the contrary, he was expecting that his daughter would create mayhem upon seeing Nick. However, seeing her react differently with this Princeton guy was something else.

"Thank you. But, if you will excuse me for a minute, I just need to talk to my daughter." He walked away from the group and made his way to the other side of the ballroom.

He could not wait to know the rest of the story, as he decided to meet this new man in his daughter's life.