'My fake boyfriend isn't nearly hot enough for this.' Is the only thought floating through my head. People who remind me way too much of my cotillion, gala, charity event filled childhood swirl around me, sipping on champagne. None of them have any idea about the ruse I've kept up, they're only here to make business deals and outshow each other, all under the guise of a beginning of winter party.
Beginning-of-winter party, it doesn't even make sense. Hunter named it that because 'surprise propose to my girlfriend' party doesn't have quite the same ring. Speaking of, the man I've been fooling for months catches sight of me.
"Darling, come here." Hunter says and I flit over, immediately latching onto him. The intimacy with him has become, sickeningly, normal.
"These are some business colleagues of my sister-in-law's." Hunter says.
"Oh, Megan?" I pretend like I've forgotten which sister is which. The ditzy act is almost second nature to me at this point.
"Alice, darling." He corrects. I giggle and hold out my hand.
"Alexia Collins." I say, grinning at the woman who takes my hand first. After over six months, the name didn't even feel like a lie to me. That fact disturbed me enough that I had to start my mornings by mouthing my own name at myself in the mirror. It was weird, but it kept me sane.
"Brittany Dal." She says and something feels weird about it, but I move on. The man and other woman introduce themselves as Gary Walsh and Marissa Pippin. They have the same weird feelings, like their names are unnatural to them. 'Not everyone is sketchy, Sawyer.' I remind myself before listening to them explain what they do with Alice. I feel Hunter's fingers squeezing my hip gently and I just let him, focusing on how it'll all be over in less than an hour.
"Uh, Mr. Davis?" I look over my shoulder to see Carlos there, posed as one of the servers. His name tag reads 'Johnny' and I want to laugh.
"Yes?" Hunter sounds annoyed. He'd shown me over and over again how he disliked those underneath him and made a point to be rude to them. The classist facet of his personality has never appealed to me. Well, none of the parts really had, but the superiority complex really stuck out.
"We have a problem in the kitchen. Mr. Mijaha said I should talk to you."
"What is it?" My soon-to-be fiance sneers.
"You should probably come look."
"Baby, I'll take care of it." I say, flashing Hunter a grin. "I'm sure it's nothing. You stay and talk to your friends." I let the smile fade from my face as I head out of the ballroom, completely skipping the kitchen. Carlos nods at me as I pass and I make my way upstairs as discreetly as I can. Luca, a tech analyst back at White Collar, had disabled the security cameras remotely beforehand. They were set to repeat an empty scene of the upstairs hallways and most importantly, the bedroom Hunter and I shared.
Stepping into the master bedroom, I close the door and let out a huge sigh. Hunter had increased security for the party, after a server had been caught snooping at a different party. The security he had hired hadn't stopped me on the way up, a fact I was glad of.
The closet lights buzz slightly as I flip them on and rush to the safe. I key in the code I'd watched Hunter put in and it clicks as the lock disengages. Ignoring the documents and other valuables, I pull out the box with my engagement ring in it. Hunter had asked me to marry him earlier than expected, and as part of the long game, I accepted. However since he was more like a circus clown than an actual human being, he'd insisted on making a spectacle of our engagement. That meant a huge party, and a ring he picked out, that he wouldn't let me see until the night of. Which just so happened to be this very night.
I slide the black box out and I can immediately tell there's more than just a ring in it. I'd counted on him hiding the phone in here, the one place he knew I wouldn't look. If only he knew who I actually was. I go to open the box, but I stop as a voice comes from behind me.
"Ms. Collins." I whip around to see Gary Walsh and Brittany Dal, Alice's colleagues, standing in the doorway.
"Excuse me? What are you doing here? Don't you know this is a private house?" Almost nothing in my life has ever shocked me more than the actions of both of them as they pull out FBI badges just like mine and flip them open.
"What the fuck?" I say incredulously.
"Agents Hotchner and Greenaway. We're from the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI." The man says.
"You're fucking kidding."
A/N- A bit short, I know, but more is coming soon! If anybody is reading this, a comment to let me know how it is would be greatly appreciated!! -sasha