The Calculated Reunion

My family went bankrupt. Then my best friend's brother decided to force my hand.
My best friend was fighting for me. Sebastian! How could you do this to my best friend?
Her brother's expression was calm. You have a crush on her brother, don't you? I had him brought here for you.
My best friend's face changed in an instant. "Oh! Well, in that case!"
Me: ?
My brother: ?
1
My family's business collapsed.
My younger brother, Liam, and I were handling it with a grim sort of calm. The one person who wasn't calm was my best friend, Isabelle Thorne.
She called me, practically screaming into the phone. "Chloe! Are you okay? Are there loan sharks camped out on your lawn? Did they splash red paint on your door or something?"
"..." I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "I'm fine, Izzy. And maybe you should watch a little less TV."
"Can you even afford to eat?" She had already pictured me begging on a street corner. "Quick, give me your bank details, I'll wire you some money!"
"It's okay, really," I reassured her. "I'm fine. Don't worry."
After another ten minutes of dramatic wailing, she suddenly switched gears. "Chloe! I've been thinking, and I've come up with three possible solutions to save your family!"
Thinking she was finally about to be serious, I sat up straighter. "I'm listening."
Isabelle declared, "Plan A! I'll beg my brother to marry you!"
"..."
I knew I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up.
Before the bankruptcy, my family's business had been successful. But compared to the Thorne family, we were small-time. Theirs was old money, an empire that had only grown more formidable in recent years.
And that was all thanks to Sebastian Thorne.
Liam, Izzy, and I were the creative types, none of us with an ounce of business sense or any desire to take over our family companies.
Sebastian was the complete opposite.
In the business world, he was ruthless, decisive, and terrifyingly brillianta true titan of industry. I'd only met him a few times, but each time, he was like a walking glacierimposing, cold, and radiating a chill that dropped the room temperature by ten degrees.
Even though Izzy was his sister, she'd been on the receiving end of his lectures more times than she could count for her wild antics.
She would often come to me, crying. "Everyone else's brother is so sweet and gentle! Why is mine so scary?"
But for all his scolding, their bond was strong. When Izzy's chatter got on his nerves, Sebastian's go-to solution was to throw money at her until she went away. Izzy would instantly transform, snatching the cash with a grin. "Thanks, Seb! You're the best brother in the world!"
If even his own sister was a little intimidated by him, what chance did I have?
Besides, despite his frosty demeanor, Sebastian was tall, devastatingly handsome, and had a line of admirers stretching from New York to Paris.
Why would he ever choose me?
I immediately vetoed her first plan. "What's Plan B?"
Izzy's voice jumped an octave, clearly thrilled with her next idea. "Plan B is"
"I'll marry your brother!"
2
I have a younger brother, Liam, who is two years my junior.
Liam is a lot like mequiet and reserved. He's also incredibly good-looking, the classic cool, aloof campus heartthrob all through school. Girls were constantly asking me to pass love letters to him.
Izzy and I met during our junior year of college. As we grew closer, we started visiting each other's homes.
The first time Izzy saw Liam, she fell for him. Hard.
Her jaw dropped, her eyes lit up, and she grabbed my hand, her voice a dramatic whisper. "Chloe, I think I've just met my Prince Charming."
"...This is my brother, Liam," I introduced them.
"What!" She got even more excited. "This is perfect! It's fate, Chloe! Fate!"
Liam just gave her a weary look and walked away.
I tried to gently warn her. "Izzy, are you sure? Liam is... a tough nut to crack."
I had seen him turn down more girls than I could count.
But Izzy didn't listen. She launched a full-scale, no-holds-barred campaign to win him over. So far, it hadn't worked. But she was nothing if not persistent, her spirit commendable.
I couldn't stand it anymore and asked Liam myself, "Do you really not like Izzy? She's amazing. She's beautiful, and she's so fun and cheerful."
Liam just handed me a freshly peeled apple. "Eat your apple, and stop asking questions."
So, I shut up and took a bite.
Deep down, I really hoped they would get together. Liam might not be a man of many words, but he was the best brother anyone could ask for.
When I first heard about the bankruptcy, I was terrified. Liam, an architect, was out of town for work, but he rushed back overnight. He found me sitting in a daze and put a steadying hand on my shoulder. "It's okay, Chloe. I'm here."
Instantly, I felt a surge of confidence. "I know."
I could tell that while Liam hadn't been interested in Izzy at first, she was slowly getting under his skin. The last time I'd casually mentioned that some guy was asking Izzy out, Liam had been in a foul mood for the rest of the day.
But a crush was one thing. With our family's current situation, he was under immense pressure. Marrying Izzy was out of the question.
So, Plan B was a no-go.
Izzy sighed dramatically. "Well, that only leaves Plan C," she said, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.
"Maybe we should just elope!"
3
As ridiculous as it sounded, it somehow seemed more plausible than the first two options.
But I still turned her down. "Why are all of your plans about one of us marrying one of you?"
"To make us family, of course!" Izzy said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Besides, my family is loaded. We could pay off all your debts in a heartbeat!"
She had a point.
Then she suddenly gasped. "Wait! Don't you have a childhood fianc or something?"
She meant Noah.
Our families had lived next door to each other when we were kids. Noah was my shadow, following me everywhere. Our parents used to joke that we should just have an arranged marriage when we grew up. It was just talk, of course, nothing official. I'd always thought of Noah as a good friend and never took it seriously.
Until my family went bankrupt.
Noah showed up at my door, looking frantic. "Chloe, I told my parents we have to honor our engagement, but they won't agree!"
"I'm still trying to convince them! Just wait for me!"
"Don't worry," he declared, puffing out his chest. "I won't break things off just because your family is broke!"
I stared at him, completely baffled.
Break things off? We weren't even together.
I tried to explain. "Noah, uh, I don't think we ever had a real engagement..."
"Of course we did! My dad said so himself when I was five! Our families were going to be joined!" He wouldn't listen, his eyes wide with conviction. "Chloe, wait for me! You just have to wait for me!"
He ran off, shouting "Wait for me!" over his shoulder, leaving me utterly confused.
I kept meaning to sit him down and explain things properly, but after the bankruptcy, life was a whirlwind of paperwork and phone calls.
Thankfully, most of it was sorted out now. After liquidating our assets, we were still in debt, but it was a manageable number, not an insurmountable mountain. Liam and I were both working overtime to pay it off, bit by bit. I was a freelance illustrator, and I had taken on a flood of private commissions. Liam was constantly working late or traveling for business.
Seeing how exhausted I was, Izzy insisted on dragging me away from my endless pile of sketches for a weekend getaway.
"Come on, please!" she begged. "It's my brother's new mountain villa! We can watch the sunset, it's gorgeous, I promise!"
I couldn't say no. "Okay, fine."
So that weekend, we drove up to the villa. It was perched on a mountaintop, lavishly decorated, with a breathtaking view.
"What do you think? Isn't it amazing?" Izzy said, pulling me along excitedly. "I begged my brother to let me throw a party here, but he always said no. This time, when I told him I wanted to bring you here for a vacation, he had a rare moment of mercy and actually agreed!"
On the second floor, there was a huge observation deck overlooking the lush, green mountains. Izzy and I lounged on recliners, and watching the scenery, I felt my stress begin to melt away. After a while, Izzy went downstairs to get the desserts she'd been baking.
I was lying there alone when I heard footsteps behind me. I turned my head.
And froze.
Izzy hadn't mentioned Sebastian would be here.
I fumbled for a moment, not knowing what to call him, and just stared up at him dumbly as he approached.
He stopped beside my chair and spoke first. "How have you been holding up?"
His voice snapped me out of my trance. "I'm... I'm okay."
A breeze swept across the deck, making the trees sway like a green ocean. It was so beautiful, I let out a soft sigh of admiration.
He caught it. "You like it here?"
"I love it," I nodded, then joked, "The view is so incredible, it's completely cleared my head. If only I could live here forever."
I was just making a casual remark, but Sebastian replied without a hint of hesitation. "You can."
I didn't understand. "What?"
"You can live here forever." He looked down at me, his usual intimidating aura softened by the serious look in his eyes.
"All you have to do is marry me."
4
For a second, I was sure I'd misheard him.
After a few stunned blinks, I quickly waved my hands. "I was just kidding."
But his expression didn't change. "I'm not."
Now I was completely lost. I remembered Izzy's joke about getting her brother to marry me and wondered if she had actually asked him. But Sebastian wasn't the type to do things just because his sister asked.
"Marry me," Sebastian repeated. "You can name your terms."
I started to stammer. "I-I don't think so."
A frown creased his brow, a clear sign of his displeasure.
He was about to say something else when Izzy came back up, carrying a plate of cake.
"Seb?" she said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"
"Just passing through. I'm leaving soon." He turned to go, then paused and looked back at me. "Think about it."
"Passing through what? The middle of nowhere?" Izzy watched him go, confused. "What were you guys talking about? I swear my brother looks even angrier than usual. His iceberg face is extra frosty."
I didn't know what to say, so I asked her cautiously, "Did you, by any chance, ask your brother to marry me?"
"Nope!" she said, shaking her head. "I was going to, but then I saw his face and chickened out. I was afraid he'd tell me to get lost, so I dropped it."
That only made me more confused, but I didn't press the issue.
After that, Izzy kept dragging me on "getaways," sometimes to a resort her brother had invested in, other times to one of his properties. "I don't know what's gotten into my brother lately," she'd say. "He's suddenly being nice to me! He says yes to everywhere I want to go. I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth!"
I tried to refuse, but she was relentless. I only agreed to go after making sure Sebastian wouldn't be there.
Our fourth trip was to a beach house he'd bought a year ago. Izzy said she'd only been allowed to stay there once since it was renovated. We ended up just curling up in the home theater to watch a movie. Halfway through, Izzy complained of a stomachache and ran to the bathroom.
I paused the movie to wait for her.
But she wasn't the one who came back. It was Sebastian.
Before I could even think of some polite small talk, he cut straight to the chase. "Have you made your decision?"
I just stared at him blankly. "Huh?"
"Marrying me," he clarified. "I can pay off your family's debt."
I didn't answer right away.
To be honest, I was tempted.
But my hesitation must have looked like a refusal to him. His brow furrowed. "Why not? Is it because of that childhood fianc of yours?"
I was shocked. Izzy had even told him about Noah!
"No, that's not it," I tried to explain. "That whole thing was..."
He didn't seem interested in my explanation. "Forget it. It doesn't matter."
He produced a glass of milk from somewhere and handed it to me. "Drink."
"Oh, okay." I took the glass obediently and took a sip.
"Finish it," he commanded.
I dutifully drank the rest of it. "It tastes a little bitter," I remarked.
"Mm," he said, taking the empty glass back. "Are you tired?"
Now that he mentioned it, a wave of drowsiness washed over me. I rubbed my eyes. "Yeah, a little."
My thoughts suddenly felt fuzzy, and my eyelids grew heavy. In the last few seconds before I lost consciousness, I heard his voice, low and soft.
"Go to sleep."

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