Andy entered the consulate with a happy smile after having met Lily, Doug and Maria for coffee to give them their proper invitations to the Ball

She was met by the security team who had opened the door before vowing their heads slightly and smiled at the younger woman

¨Hey guys, is Miranda here yet? Where´s my grandma? ¨ Andy knew the twins were still at school so sadly she would have to wait to have some time with them

Mike, the front door security man answered swiftly ¨Madam, Mss Priestly has gone to Runway yet the Queen is at the library right this moment. I could let her know about your arrival¨

¨No, thank you though, I´ll just go right in¨ Andy said softly before turning back ¨Oh, I brought you guys this…¨ she continued before leaving 4 coffee Starbucks cups and muffins which had them grinning at the woman.

Even if the Queen herself had little details towards them they still enjoyed the fact that her successor was just as thoughtful. It made them proud of their crowd and gave them a sense of recognition which made them love the royal family´s heart.

¨Princess, it was not necessary but we appreciate it widely¨ Paul said. He was a red head man who could easily been mistaken by an Olympic weight lifting man.

¨I know, but I appreciate you all. It´s the least I can do after what you all do for us¨ Andrea said smiling before adding. ¨Now, I have a grandmother to annoy, if you excuse me¨ she finished making all four men chuckle at the younger woman´s antics.

They´d had been getting things like this one ever since Mr. Deveruox had demanded a personal audience. By now, they were used to having to yell their thanks to the brunet who obviously hated being thanks formally

It took a few minutes for Andy to reach the door to the library and had found herself about to knock when she realized the door was slightly broken next to the handle. She figured that had happened when Mary kicked the door so it must´ve broken more than they thought. She could hear her grandmother speaking with Charlotte and she did not like it one bit but stood still

¨Do you think it´ll work? I gave Elise my word and I cannot tell them or I'd be obstructing international matters¨ Andy could hear her grandmother´s frustration in her voice

¨I know your honor but the girl has agreed to it and we have no option but to follow their orders; I´ve tried to get them to understand the dangers for the girl andthe Royal family and yet I have not been able to appease them¨ Charlotte said professional but it was obvious that she was frustrated herself

¨It is not simply the Royal family; that reckless girl is part of our family now Charlotte and she´s getting herself in a huge danger¨ Clarisse said strongly

¨I know your honor but they´ve refused to acknowledge that fact. They have told me she´d be the perfect subject since they consider her the better suited person¨ Charlotte said huffing

Andrea heard her grandmother huff before whispering with a strain voice ¨A previous death wishes and being a good listener doesn´t mean she won´t be missed! What am I supposed to tell my granddaughter if anything happens to her Charlotte!? What would I do if anything happened to a woman who ensured my family´s safety died at their necessity of catching delinquents? ¨

The silence in the room let Andy realized that everyone who she considered family had been hiding vital information from her. She stood paralyzed at the door with silent and unknown tears running down her eyes with the sole thought of running away from everything

Just run

No one would notice

Just run

Andrea´s mind kept telling her and yet she tightened her jaw and walked into the room startling both women who stared at her as if having been caught with their hands in the cookie jar

Andrea walked in with purpose before shutting the door forcefully and staring at both of them

¨I believe the three of us would better have this talk elsewhere and we should get the door repaired. Though, apparently, it´s the most truthful thing here…¨ Andrea finished before adding to both women who had not moved an inch

¨Am I speaking Japanese? The three of us have to talk; lead the way¨

¨Andrea…¨ Clarisse started but stopped at her granddaughter's narrowed and angry stare

¨Do not Andrea me Clarisse!¨ Andy whispered strongly as if keeping a scream inside making her grandmother shut up and stand with a sigh

¨Let´s move to the meeting room, shall we?¨ Clarisse said defeated before leading them since Andrea was apparently waiting for them to lead so as not to miss anything nor have them speak on their own in fear of them agreeing to hide anything

Once inside the wide meeting room on the second floor Clarisse and Charlotte sat while Andrea stood on one end while Andrea stood at the other end with the tips of her fingers touching the table. At that moment Clarisse saw much of herself in the younger woman making her proud yet conflicted.

¨Explain¨ Andrea said angrily with tears in her eyes

¨Darling, I can´t….¨ Clarisse started but stopped at her granddaughter's raised hand

¨Everything¨ Andrea said angry and with a death glare that she would´ve never used towards family; which had Clarisse sighing helplessly

¨They are going to use Maria to get international looked after criminals at the Annual Ball…¨ Clarisse started with tears in her eyes while staring at her granddaughter who had tears running down her eyes before she added ¨And I can´t do anything against it; It´s their jurisdiction darling¨

¨Why? ¨ Andy started raising one hand towards her mouth before letting the actual question out ¨Why wouldn´t she tell me?!¨ she hiccupped before continuing ¨I just spoke to her!¨

Clarisse stood to hug her baby while Charlotte answered with a strain voice

¨She´s already agreed and she cannot give information on the operation even if she wanted to¨ Charlotte said

¨My sweet granddaughter I will get Joe to put more security on her during the Annual Ball but we cannot interfere¨ Clarisse said with silent tears while hugging Andrea who was crying

¨Why would she do that grandma? Why wouldn´t she trust me? ¨ Andy said showing her resignation

¨Because she wants you happy and fulfilled darling; We will get her safe¨ Clarisse said strongly

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.

It´d been two hours into the Annual Ball and Mary found herself with her beautiful suit along with the sling on her arm accompanied by Elise who was pretending to be her partner. Even if her wounds had closed and her ribs were healed she was using it for prevention

¨You know…¨ Mary said smirking softly and leaning into Elise´s ear who turned towards the woman ¨the fact we´re pretending does not mean you may not actually try to be my partner darling¨

Elise chuckled and held Mary with both her arms wrapping them through her waist while hugging her and kissed her cheek

Unbeknownst to Elise, Charlotte stared angrily towards Mary who shook her head discreetly and mouthed ¨fake¨ to ensure the woman know there was nothing there before seeing realization on Charlotte´s face and a discrete nod of her head

They found themselves surrounded by council members trying to get to know them.

They were truly amazed and happy to realize that most of them were truly curious about their fake family and their children's studies

Both Elise and Mary had decided to make up a story where they had two beautiful boys who where 9 and 11 years old who were happy to be in the US. They were having a lot of fun making up Michael and Sebastian whilst describing their babies.

It´d been a few hours before Charlotte, Elise and Mary stood together where they started speaking about their ¨ supposed kids¨ when Mary said simply

¨Sorry but I need to go to the washroom and get my shoulder case fixed and I am sure you two will know what to talk about¨ Mary said lowly before leaning towards Elise to kiss her cheek and saying both lowly and rapidly

¨Go for it¨ Mary said before leaving making it look as if she was going to the bathroom

It took Elise a while before she got the courage to turn slightly to Charlotte and ask softly and quietly since they were surrounded by people ¨would you go to a date with me? ¨

Charlotte smiled at the brunet before clearing her throat and schooling her features and mumbling a quiet ¨Yes, excuse me¨

Elise was left speechless but happy before smiling to the floor a few seconds and was brought back to reality by the cat calls that came from her earpiece. She rolled her eyes and left to try and find her date and yet found herself being hugged by Caroline and Cassidy while Miranda made her way towards her to greet her with her famous air kisses

¨Well hello beautiful ladies! I have missed you two so much! ¨ Elise said bending to kiss each of her god daughter´s heads

¨We missed you as well, do you like our dresses? ¨ Cassidy said while turning to show her god mother clearly proud of her dress and was followed by her twin.

They spoke happily before Elise realized Mary had not come back from the bathroom and excused herself to try and find the Latina.

She spoke through her ear piece swiftly and with well practiced movements to not raise suspicions

¨Luke, status¨ Elise said rapidly

¨Gardens, we´re having her conversation recorded. Third door to the right, move fast¨ Luke said

She was confused to find her in the gardens speaking with Christian Thomson so she walked closer quietly but stopped the moment she saw Nicholas get closer and spoke in her ear piece before signaling discreetly towards Kyle so he would get Joe.

Gardens

Mary had made her way to the gardens to give Elise and Charlotte some time to talk and stared out at the beauty outside but was brought out of her thoughts by a strange voice.

¨What makes such a beautiful woman to be out on her own? ¨

Mary turned to see a blond and well built man. She recognized him from pictures she´d seen when speaking with Miranda but decided to play dumb

¨Well, it´s a beautiful garden¨ she answered making it clear she did not want to speak

¨How´s your shoulder? ¨ Christian said trying to keep the conversation going and gave her a flirty smile

With a sigh the Latina turned with a fake smile to answer ¨Oh it´s doing great, thank you. I´m sorry but I failed to hear your name¨

¨Oh, I apologize, I was so shocked with your beauty that I forgot my manners¨ Christian said with a flirty smile and held out his hand ¨I'm Christian Thompson, writer and journalist and you are? ¨

Mary smiled back and held out her hand also to shake the man´s ¨Oh god! I failed to know you; It´s such an honor, how come you´re here Mr Thompson? I didn´t know you wrote about international events! ¨

Flattering him worked like magic since he didn´t insist in knowing who she was

¨Oh I am merely here as a plus one to a dear friend of mine; I´m sure you might know him¨ Christian said smugly

¨Oh, do I? I fail to know who you´re speaking about¨ Mary said while shrugging and turning back to the gardens yet still seeing the man through her side sight

Christian stepped in front of the woman blocking her view of the gardens and making her take a step back since she´d been right in front of the balcony before narrowing her eyes at his action

¨Well i´ve been well informed by Nicholas about you madam¨

¨Nicholas? ¨ Mary kept on playing dumb ¨I believe you have me mistaken sir¨ she finished and felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise.

¨Well shit¨ Mary thought to herself. That ass faced was there as well

¨You wound me Mary, have you forgotten me so easily? It´s only been a couple of weeks¨ Nicholas said while he stood right next to the brunet and held the woman by her waist.

To anyone else he was hugging her yet the gun he had on his other hand was very real. Mary´s heart went to her throat but would never back down to this asshole and started getting angry.

¨Have you got a change of diapers for this next round Nicholas? ¨ Mary said strongly and didn´t even try to move

¨I´m sure you´ll be the only one needing diapers after this chat baby, there´s no security man here to help you now¨ Nicholas said chuckling

Mary chuckled, she needed to keep them talking and she might as well go all in given that she was already about to be shot

¨Oh hush now, I do not need security here to help me child; and yet you seem to need your boyfriend here; It´s sad truly ¨

Nicholas pushed the gun with more force against her side in anger ¨he´s not my boyfriend! ¨

Bingo! Mary thought to herself and gave a smirk

¨Really now? Then why does Christian look like you just kicked his puppy? ¨ Mary laughed lowly

¨What?¨ Nicholas said shocked letting the arm holding the gun fall and turned to stare at Christian who stood wide eyed

¨Aw, now I see why you hate Andy so much Nicky; Fear of stepping out of the closet boy?¨ Mary said smirking when Nicholas took a step back as if burned by touching the woman and staring wide eyed between her and Christian who was denying everything

¨I do not envy that dike! I deserve the throne! ¨ Nicholas whispered angrily so as to not make a scene or raise suspicions

Mary held her good hand to her chest and said with fake sweetness and said ¨It´s so sweet that you want to share the throne with your boyfriend Nicky¨

¨Stop calling me Nicky! I´m not sharing the throne with anyone!¨ Nicholas was angry as hell and got right into her personal space

¨Then why did you tell Andy you wanted to get married so you got the throne and she´d get her family? ¨ Mary smirked not backing down

¨Well she should´ve known better than to reject my offer! You had to get in the middle and ruin everything¨ Nicholas said so angry that he pushed the gun against the brunet´s stomach but was shaking

¨So you decided to try and get those girls? Yeah, that went well¨ Mary chuckled darkly

¨You just had to play hero, it was the perfect plan; ¨

¨It´s not my fault you hire idiots to do your job. You can´t do anything right Nicholas do you really think you´d even last if you ever got the throne? ¨ Mary narrowed her eyes and subtly neared her right hand towards the gun through its left side to push it away and got her stance ready

¨Josh and Max were great men! You just had to get Josh bitten¨ Nicholas stated

¨Aw, I'm sorry sweetie, I bet he was a good boyfriend; I´m sure Joshy is well isn´t he? I´m sure police has him well looked after¨

¨You are a pain in my ass, that´s what you are! ¨ Nicholas whispered strongly and angrily

¨I´m a pain in everyone´s ass boy so don´t feel special; though I thought Chris Chris here would make your ass fell better¨ Mary said chuckling darkly knowing the man was getting angrier by the second

¨You got my best man bitten you fucker; I´m sure those twins will be better partners for me¨ Nicholas sneered shaking like crazy with anger and hate

Mary stepped strongly on Nicholas left foot to keep him there while grabbing the gun with her right hand which now pointed towards Christian who stood still and started peeing himself and the sight of the gun pointed at him.

¨Touch them and I'll get your ass so broken you´d wish to have been born without one¨ she said darkly while holding him in place

¨Let go of me¨ Nicholas said trying to sound angry but shocked at the woman´s strength ¨I´m not scare of shooting him¨

¨I dare you; You either shoot him or I kill you with my bare hands for threatening my family¨ Mary whispered angrily

¨It´s not even yours! You really think anyone would bat an eyelid if you died? You give yourself too much credit you fucking waist of space! ¨ Nicholas said strongly

¨Even if they didn´t notice I'd die reassurde that a waste of space got near them. Do you thing anyone would even take you seriously outside of your lap dogs Nicky? ¨ Mary said angrily pulling the hand with the gun further away having it go off

¨I told you to stop calling me that! ¨ Nicholas said angrily trying to push the gun back to Maria whilst Christian stood paralyzed at the show with pee running down his pants

¨Make me! ¨ Maria said still gripping at the gun with all her strength before adding ¨You´re so week you have to threatened little girls because strong women would never bat an eye towards you¨ she kept going and leaned to his easy before whispering ¨You are a coward Nicholas Deveroux ¨

The statement made Nicholas find strength out of anger and fire the gun angrily shocking all three