THE BILLIONAIRE NOBODY

supplying the progeny demanded by Lord Westinghouse to sustain the family's coveted nepotism. Tethered f

burning into the back of his head. For all her frosty courtesies to date, he sensed a kinship blo

f obligations insisted they face this unprecedented madness as sworn partners, perhaps they could seek anonymous c

ealties. The poor chit had been reared since footling days to perpetuate this entire big bloody matrilineal circus at a

s palms dampening already. The rich velvet drapes with their sinisterly baroque swags. The crystal chandelier ref

m with unsmiling scowls. Cousins, second cousins, nebulously connected amphisbaenic tree shakers clustered in self-impressed judgement

ed his fingers in a silent summons. "Do proffer our splendid honorees into the heart of our sacred familia

nto the parlor's epicenter. The disapproving glowers slid

all just wished to lay final portensive eyes upon your provenance's selection before proceedings officialize his

l bounds of propriety. "Oh marm no, marm no - you mustn't succumb to such mercurial Tellings before they're j

elicitation is set to anoint our cradling future's everly peace? With this spectacle's

emisms. When realization struck, his mouth dropped open in abject ho

o swell in direct proportion to Nicholas's burgeoning distress. Clearing his throat pio

ous promenades down frocked aisles -- whereupon ceremonious legalities shall bind o

ty - this mummer's pantomime was merely the raw uncooked prologue to his impending legally consecrated nuptials to Elizabeth! Lor

cut loose with some primal keening screech to shatter the parlor's sepulchral still

milial crosshairs. Ever so slightly, her gloved hand brushed against

las did, condemned to forever shackle themselves alongside his blundering soul fo

nough. Whether by ironic twistings of Lord Westinghouse's byzantine grandplannings...or through the scorched-eart

emonial captive one final time before those rapturous

sweat trickle down his temple. The old tyrant seemed to revel in punishing them all with his bombastic euphe

ered with relish, "our intervening spectacle shall commence with chastening solenities! Why, even now the

tting gamecock. Nicholas cringed, bracing for whatever new blast of polysyllab

with such unrefusilable s

rangled off as the parlor's rear doors swung open with a resonant boom. All heads w

. "Beggin' your ineffabilities honored sirs, madams, and most esteemed as well as disc

yatids now erupted into a clamorous fluttering. A smattering of dowager aunts broke into agitated t

ore sphinxian and inscrutable than before. Rising to his full imperious

iated cachement? No more dallittled portunings nor stayapant hesitabilities, mark you! For

fied, milord, I filize to your precence. Master Farrier avows he's just wrambled in

. "Then let him wheel his consignments in posthaste for our edifications! And you, c

the footman's wake. The air seemed to decongest a fraction as the tension dissipate

matron, bedecked in fluttering plumage and escorted by an older gentleman, swept towards Lord Westinghouse in a whirlwind of pom

of Westinghouse lionsirs, rejoice on this tumefied eventide! For your most woundilized brevet herald has finally m

Grace, we all revel in the prospendurous auguries to inflame upon this evening's unrepressed a

assemblage, bringing the parlor's focus arcin

nces to our most hallowed of family missiliations!" The old man's gaze seemed to bore straight into Nicholas's soul. "For once the finalties com

any more nephriatic franchisements or their fullmostly p

sweating as they lugged a sizable oaken chest between them. Their cargo seemed to weigh more

der her end of the burden. "But we mustered with all pliably haste to presen

ord Westinghouse could appraise it with a critical squint. Dabbing a monogrammed handkerchief across his fur

ted kindreners. Now let our immosted espousalogies grati

al its mysterious interior. Nicholas felt his breath catch in his throat as he strained for a gli

folded and nestled among rustling swathes of sanguine velvet. Every matriarch and patriarch leaned in to ooh and ahh w

iturgies in their tracks. His gaze swept across the parlor,

ir Nicholas and Dame Elizabeth in their holiondried enchastements. Before which,

owered by the absurdity radiating in every syllable. Oh, he would surely go t

his doddering Westinghouse regime assumed to maintain permanent hegemony over him. For tonight onl

r full-fledged glorious an