Alex pulled up to this gate way out away from the city . I couldn't help but notice the long driveway before stopping in front of a beautifully massive home . My jaw dropped slightly . I always thought my parents' place was was grand, his home puts theirs to shame . This is a whole estate , a modern castle.

"I hope this is okay? My parents are in Europe for another week so I figured that this would be private enough." He says , breaking me out of my stupor .

"Yes, this is perfect."

His door opens and he gets out first before giving me his hand . We walk up and see this nice elderly woman standing by the door , "Good evening , sir. We were surprised to hear that you were stopping by. We put out some tea and cookies in the entertainment room like you requested."

"Thank you Sara, that'll be all for tonight . I'll take care of everything else," he smiles gently at her.

"Very well, welcome home."

He leads me through the landing and into one of the many rooms that were downstairs. The entertainment room was spacious and most of all cozy . It's like a supersized version of my livingroom .

"Is this okay?" Alex asks me .

"Sure, so how should we do this? This wasn't actually my idea...." I begin nervously.

"Oh?"

"Why don't I start from the beginning and why we're here," I feel myself fluster. I can't believe I got the most sought after billionaire willing to help me out . Rumors are true about him , he really is a nice man.

After I was done telling him about Dylan, his slimy new fiance and the wedding he just sat there , quietly. I wanted to break the silence but he beat me to it. "I'm in , like I said before. So how are we going to play this up?"

○○○

I didn't get home until well past 1 am . Alex and I formulated a background story and then got to know each other a little bit more . He is nothing like the other rich men I've encountered . Definitely the opposite of every man my parents tried to set me up with before I started dating Dylan.

I told him about my upbringing . We tried to be as normal as any family would like to be, but after my father hit it big with his business normalcy was no longer something we could maintain . It was a dog eat dog world and my mother had to adjust with her new surroundings. She used to be this sweet woman, from what I remembered as a child . But now, she's about appearances . The only thing I clung to for a decent upbringing was Delilah .

Alex asked me who my father was and when I told him , he was surprised . Apparently his business and my father's are well acquainted with one another . Which led me to wonder why I hadn't run into him before . He answered my question as I was thinking it by telling me that he didn't live in the U.S. for the last few years as he traveled the world and helping the impoverished.

To say I was swooning was an understatement but one I remedied quickly as I reminded myself that Dylan started off similar , only to end up being a total jerkwad.

At the end of the evening we had our cover . At first I was going to tell Delilah but Alex convinced me that the more people believed "our" story the better. So here I am , getting ready for brunch about to introduce my family to my new boyfriend .

He picked me up but rather than come with a driver he decided that he'd take his Tesla instead . When I came down to meet him he had a smirk on his face .

"What?" I asked.

"I'm surprised that you live here , knowing that you could've had your own house," he says amused.

I sucked in some air , "I'd rather be successful under my own merit instead of using my family name . I know , I'm going the harder road but I prefer the feeling of satisfaction for my hardwork."

"I admire that about you Aria, you'll make our ruse easier to believe," he says to me . I don't know what he meant by that but whatever helps .

As he began to drive I took a good look at him. He really is handsome , probably the most handsome I've ever had the pleasure of keeping me company. He looked over at me and smiled and I could've sworn that I felt a little flit , not a full flutter but a flit ,in my stomach. Or maybe it's my hungry stomach .

He parked his car behind the others in the drive and we walked right in . I can hear everyone already settled in the backyard so I stopped Alex before we went further, "you ready?" I ask.

"I am, the question is if YOU are," he casts a concerned look.

I nod and he takes my hand and interlocks our fingers . This alone made a heat rush through my body and almost made my knees buckle . He quickly holds me up and I wave it off like this is normal.

"Aria , darling, I'm glad you're--" my mother stops mid sentence as her eyes dramatically focus on our hands and then scans her way up to his face . She pauses and brings her hand up to her chest and then clears her throat,"ahem.... and who is your handsome companion?"

Everyone looks over , including Dylan who has a scowl on his face . Brittany , the homewrecker, sitting to his left has a look of shock . Yup, take that you witch! I curse her in my mind as I squeeze Alex's hand .

"Mom, dad and everyone else, this is Alex, my new boyfriend," I beam at them as he leans over and kisses the top of my head . I felt warmth rush through my body again.

They all stand up, including Dylan who tries to size Alex up . Sit down little man, Alex has a good 5 inches on you , I smirk at him .

"How?" Brittany says with disbelief .

"How what?" Delilah asked.

"Her?! With him?!" Everyone is staring at Dylan and his mistress .

"Do you have a problem?" My mother grits through her teeth . Oh , as much as she likes to be a part of high society, she definitely still had our backs and she really really hates those two .

Brittany doesn't answer. Dylan however, "She didn't mean anything by that. Apologize, " he demands her.

Before she can say anything , Alex swoops in , "I know , it's totally unbelievable that this beautiful woman even gave me the time of day . I'm so lucky," he squeezes me into him tightly.

Delilah was next to speak, "Dylan, if you don't control her mouth, I will throw you out . I can't do it for the wedding but I will here . I do not tolerate trashy people being condescending when we all are wondering HOW you and it happened. "

I stifled a laugh as Brittany's eyes protruded . She was steaming mad and said to Dylan, "You're going to let them talk to me like that?"

He shrugged, "You started it . She's going to be my sister soon, so you'll have to get used to it."

"Pshhh, whatever you think."

Dylan rolled his eyes and gave me an apologetic look. I didn't want to give him an inch of satisfaction so I focused on the man next to me and my family .

"So dear, how long have you two been together?" My mom asks as she tries to home in her delight at Alex.

"A little over a month," I say.

Delilah turns her attention to me , "How come I didn't know about it?"

"Because this is all so new . We didn't want to announce anything until we were certain," I say to her.

Just then my father spoke up , he had been eyeing Alex during the whole commotion . I squeeze Alex's hand to let him know it's time to hammer in the nail , "You look familiar, son."

Alex smiles at him and then looks at me for reassurance, "The other reason why we hadn't said anything was because of my family."

"What do you mean?" My mother asks.

"I go by Alex, but I believe you know my father as Callan Wells."

Everyone went silent as my father's face changed into a look of recognition, "Christian , my boy! I haven't seen you since you were still a child."

He gets up and hugs Alex, "But why don't you go by your real name?"

Rubbing his hand behind his neck, "I like to keep a lowkey profile."

"That totally makes sense!" Delilah shouts as if she discovered a cure for something simple, "Aria is the same. She doesn't like people knowing who she really is either . Something about making it, by her own merit."

He turns to face me, "that's one of the reasons why I was so attracted to her . One, she's stunning and two she's humble."

I begin to blush at his words , "if you ask me , she's the total package," he finishes.