I brandished the file that Elliot had handed to me, wielding it like a sword as I barged into my house, holding Rosalie's hand with the other.

I felt invincible.

I felt powerful.

I felt like nothing in the world could bring me down.

And nothing would.

I held power in my hands.

I held the power of information.

Rosalie looked timid.

She wasn't sure of this whole plan. She was worried.

I knew, though, that I wouldn't let anything harm her.

She gazed around the foyer, trying to take in the beauty of architecture like she usually did, but her worry wasn't letting her enjoy it. She was biting her bottom lip.

I didn't even get a moment to enjoy it.

"Aiden?" my mother's voice came before I saw her, "Are you still banging doors? You're thirty, Aiden."

When she appeared, her eyes were on Rosalie.

I smirked at her. "You'll let it slide," I told her.

She huffed. "I let you get away with far too much," she said and rolled her eyes. She then nodded to Rosalie. "Who's this, Aiden?"

Rosalie smiled at my Mom, who immediately smiled back. Rosalie had that understated charm which made everyone like her.

I took her hand and pulled her towards my Mom. "Mom, this is my girlfriend, Rosalie Darling."

My mother's eyebrows raised at me. I could see her making connections and calculations in my head. I could also see her thinking of the things that Gammy must have told her about me and my happiness.

She smiled at Rosalie. "It's so lovely to meet you, Rosalie," my mother said, always ready to accept people, without judgement, "What brings you both here at this hour?"

I shook the file in my hand at her. "I need to speak to Dad."

"Your father is in his study."

"Great," I breathed, pulling Rosalie in the direction of the study.

"Why don't you leave Rosalie with me?" my Mom asked, "I'll give her some lemonade. Would you like some lemonade, Rosalie?"

Rosalie, who was yet to speak, smiled. "I'd love some lemonade, Mrs. Carlisle," she said.

My mother waved her hand. "Call me Anne, please. Come on, darling." My mother stopped. "Oh, that's your name, isn't it?" She laughed, "What a sweet thing."

She took Rosalie's hand from me and walked away, the two most important women in my life were already laughing over something.

I walked into my Dad's study.

My father wasn't a big fan of insubordination, but I was powerful today.

I had the upper hand.

I threw open the door to his study and my father looked up, startled.

"Aiden," he said, confused.

I strode up to his desk, confidently.

I tossed the file on to his desk, towards him.

"If you think that Caroline and her mother will ever have the upper hand on your after you read this, you're sorely mistaken," I told him, firmly, feeling light with triumph.

My father looked up at me, confused.

"Read it," I told him.

He opened the file, like he wasn't intending to find anything interesting, but when he read the figures, his eyebrows raised.

"How did you find this?" he asked me.

"Elliot," I said, simply and my father nodded.

"So, the Baxter are broke and they were trying to piggyback off of you?" he grunted.

I nodded. "Caroline's mother took advantage of your weak spot. Caroline's clothing store has been 'under renovations' for weeks. Her online store, the same. Apparently no one wanted to buy her overpriced clothing, least of all her."

My father nodded, again. "I would have expected some financial difficulty, but this," he gestured to the figures in the file that Elliot had given me, "This is some clear lack of awareness. What have they been doing? Buying yachts every day of the year since Hugh died?"

I shrugged. "I guess they thought they could live the same way that they did when he was alive. Caroline's the last person to want to step away from her lavish lifestyle."

There was a silence as we both processed the information.

"I brought Rosalie here with me," I told him.

My Dad raised his head. "Rosalie?"

I nodded. "She's my girlfriend. She's the one I want to be with and I will make sure that Caroline stays the hell away from her."

"Rosalie," my Dad repeated, "Isn't that your wedding planner?"

I nodded, again. "And she is currently in our kitchen, having a glass of lemonade with Mom. I think you'll find her a much better addition to the family than Caroline would have ever been."

My father stood. "Aiden, I want to apologize. I realize that I was a fool to not have looked into their financial. I guess I was blinded by fear. I spent my entire life building this and the thought that I would have lost it for one mistake was too much. I was willing to risk my son for it and I am not proud of that. For that, I am sorry. It began to dawn on me after you left last time."

I sighed. "We'll work things out, Dad, but right now, we need to make sure that Caroline stays out of our business."

My father eyed me. "Your grandmother told me recently that when she saw you last, when you spoke to her while she was here, that you had a real spark in your eyes; the kind that you hadn't had since you were a child," he said. I was quiet. "She said it a lot, that you have the whole world at your fingertips, but you throw yourself into your work because that's the only thing that made you happy. She told us over dinner that you seemed happy, lighter than you had in years."

I sighed. "Does any of this have a point, Dad?" I asked.

"I'm going to venture a guess and say that it's not Caroline that made you happy," he said.

I eyed him silently, for a while and then, slowly shook my head.

"And it's this woman you've brought here today that has made you so happy?" he asked.

I nodded, silently.

"Well, I will be very happy to meet this girl, but right now, how about we phone the Baxters and ask them to pay us a visit? Georgia has been at my back ever since you gave that interview," he said.

"Call them," I said, "Let's show them who they messed with."

About half an hour later, our housekeeper walked in and told us that they had arrived. "I showed them to the living room," she said.

My Dad got up. "Come on, Aiden. This ought to be fun, don't you think?"

I followed him into the living room, where Caroline and her mother, Georgia sat, looking around. It seemed strange to me that the woman I may have married and the woman I wanted to marry were in the same house I had grown up in.

They stood up as we came in.

"Well, Caroline, Georgia, I must say that I asked you to come here to something that is of grave importance," my father said.

Caroline and her mother exchanged glances.

"What is it?" Georgia asked.

My Dad shook the file in his hand. "You know how businesses operate, Georgia," he said, "You watched your husband do it for years. I'm sure you've heard of a paper trail."

The two Baxter women exchanged another glance.

My father handed the file that he was holding to her. Georgia glanced at her daughter again, before taking the file.

She opened it and I could see it dawning on her pretty much instantly what it was. I could see her expression changing.

"Mom, what is it?" Caroline asked, trying to seem calm.

Georgia passed the file to Caroline, who also knew exactly what it was when she saw the title.

My father cleared his throat.

"I think it's safe to say that this wedding that you've been hounding me for will not happen," he said, with a simple shrug.

Georgia's head snapped in his direction. "You remember our deal," she began, but my father laughed.

"If you think any of your threats hold water after this, you're sadly mistaken," he said, "This information could ruin you way more than anything you say would do to me."

Georgia, intelligent as she was, knew when she was defeated.

"Now," my Dad said, "Georgia, since I know how to hold up business deals, I will give you the money that was owed to Hugh and you and Caroline can do whatever the hell you want with it, but you leave me and more importantly, you leave my son out of everything. Do I make myself clear?"

"The wedding," was the only thing that Caroline managed to say, pathetically, like she didn't already know we weren't together.

"Safe to say that that's off, isn't it, Aiden?"

I nodded. "Definitely," I said, airily.

"You'll never find a better woman than my daughter," Georgia spat, viciously.

My Dad laughed.

"Oh, I already have," I told her, simply.

Caroline flashed her eyes at me wickedly. "I know about you and that – that –"

"I'd be very careful with what I say next, if I were you," I said to Caroline, in a warning tone.

Caroline practically growled at me. "You're sleeping, with my own wedding planner!" she shouted, shrilly.

Georgia gasped and my father's eyebrows raised, but he said nothing.

I smirked. "And to think, Caroline, that if you hadn't pushed for this sham of a marriage, none of this would have happened."

She glared at me.

"And don't think I don't know about your little deal with that weasel, Ian," I told her, "I doubt he'll do anything for you ever again."

Caroline faltered. She hadn't expected me to know that.

"Caroline, what is he talking about?" Georgia asked.

I raised my eyebrows. "What? You didn't tell mother dearest about how you bribed Rosalie's ex-boyfriend to try and win her back so that you could try to slither back into my life. That was pathetic, Caroline, even for you."

"She'll never –"

"You will never lay a finger on Rosalie, do you understand, Caroline?" I asked, advancing on her. Caroline backed down. "If you try anything, I will make sure that you never see the light of day and I think you know that I can do it. If you try to touch a single hair on the head of the woman I love, I will make sure you regret it."

Caroline swallowed.

I heard the sound of footsteps and turned.

My mother had stepped into the hall along with Rosalie, who was staring at me with a strange look on her face.

I realized what I had done.

I wanted to go to her and tell her, yes, I do love you and I intend to love you for the rest of my life, but wanted to get Caroline out of here first.

When I turned back, Caroline was staring daggers at Rosalie.

"A hair," I said again, my voice shaking with anger.

Caroline looked back at me.

"Don't forget what I know about you," I told her, "Now get out of my house."

She picked up her Prada bag and threw her strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder. "Come on, mother," she said, savagely and stomped out.

I turned to my Rosalie who was standing between my parents.

There was a silence, in which we all just looked at each other.

It hit me that this was my family.

My mother was gripping Rosalie's hand and standing a little in front of her like she was trying to protect Rosalie.

Already, my mother loved Rosalie.

It made me happy that my mother loved Rosalie.

I looked at my Dad, who also seemed to notice that my mother loved my Rosalie.

I scratched the back of my head and smiled, sheepishly, knowing that this was the beginning of something great. "Uh, Dad, this is Rosalie. Rosalie, my Dad."