Amelia was a secret from birth because she was illegal; she was not included in the family book and was home-schooled all her life. When it was time to get married, her father wanted her to remain a secret from the world. She had promised herself that she was going to take charge of one thing in her life – her marriage. Regardless of how her life had been controlled so far by her father and stepmother, they won’t pick her husband for her. So, when her father had arranged a marriage for her with her friend’s son – one they have never seen, he lived abroad all his life. Again, they wanted a secret marriage. Amelia swore to run away before the marriage. Would she succeed? Mike cared nothing about marriage. But, when it was time to inherit his family business, his father made marriage to his friend’s daughter compulsory. He was ready to obey, so he could disobey later. He would get married to her, inherit his legal property, and divorce the wife – finally gaining his freedom back. But when he saw Amelia, all his plans changed.
Lihat lebih banyakHer footsteps moved slowly on the tiles, while she moved her head in every direction to make sure no one was following her. It was normal in her house to be exempted whenever they were having any important discussions, but this time around she was going to listen to everything they had to say. She was part of the family, so she had the right to know what was going on in the family.
The family sitting room was silent at first and she thought she had the wrong room, but then, she heard her step-sister's voice, which was so loud that anyone would have thought she had swallowed a speaker."Why will she be getting married before me? I don't like that."Getting married. Who? As far as Amelia knew, there were only two young ladies in the house, her and her sister, and she had no betrothed, yet someone in their house was getting married. She pinned her ears to the door to listen to them better. Her stepmother's cold voice was what she heard next. "How many times do I have to tell you that she is getting married so that your father could secure the contract he needed?""But the Afonso's are very wealthy. I want to be married into a family like that." Ava complained, her voice like a toddler whose favourite toy was collected from her. But that was what Ava's voice was always like when she was displeased by something or when she wanted something so bad. It was as if she knew that their parents could not resist that voice, but this time it wasn't working out."That's because you have no idea that she is marrying the black sheep of the family. Have you ever seen Michael or have you seen his picture anywhere before?"Amelia couldn't hear Ava's response but she was certain it was negative. Michael Afonso was a face unknown to everyone, not even the press. The reason his family was against people knowing what he looked like was unknown to everyone. He studied abroad from a young age and had always been a secret to the world. Just like Amelia."Exactly. He must be so terrible that his father is trying to arrange a planned marriage for him. Is that what you want for yourself? To be forced into a marriage with someone you have no idea about?"Another silence followed. Then, "Good. I want you to meet someone you love. Fall in love and have a happy family."Isn't that what everyone wants? To meet someone they can relate with. Someone they would love, and build a family with. Amelia knew that was what she wanted for herself, and she wasn't going to settle for less. But again, who was going to be forced into a marriage? She couldn't hear anything for a minute, then there was a murmur. She strained her ears to the door trying to get the juicy details coming from inside, but there was nothing. Then she heard a bang on her head. She felt as if she had left the world and come back. The pain she felt at that moment was intense. She looked up to see what or rather who had caused her pain. Ava gazed at her with a smirk on her face – just like every time she looked at Ava, she was in full make-up and expensive designer clothes. Although she was so curious about what was going on, she didn't have the guts to ask Ava about it. Ava smiled at her and moved in the direction of her room.Amelia knew it was the end of the discussion, so she moved to her room too. Lying on her bed, she picked up her phone to see what was happening in the world. That was her only means of communication with the outside world, even her usernames were false. All the world knew, her father had only one daughter. No one knew about Amelia, and no one had to know, according to her father.Yet, she had managed to find friends online who she believed in more than the family she sees every day. A knock on the door made her drop her phone under the pillow so fast. Her stepmother hated it whenever she was lying and pressing her phone. She took that time to remind her that she was useless in the house. She sat upright and adjusted her clothes. "Come in."She smiled when she saw Loveth come in with a breakfast tray. "Good morning, miss". She retrieved her phone from under her pillow, "Good morning, Loveth. How was your night?"Loveth smiled, dropping the food on her bed. "It was good. How was yours?" She took the seat opposite her. "You are looking beautiful as always."Amelia blushed, "Stop this and let's eat. I hope you took enough for us both."Loveth nodded.Loveth might be a maid, but to Amelia, she was a sister. They were the same age and close because she was supposed to be the maid attending to Amelia, especially when there was a visitor that they didn't want Amelia to find out about or find out about Amelia. They were busy eating when Loveth spoke, "I heard a rumour today while dishing out our breakfast."Amelia had a feeling what the rumour might be. "Is it about someone getting married in the house?"She nodded. The curiosity Amelia had tried to bury resurfaced immediately, "Do you know who that person is? Who is getting married so suddenly that my parents are keeping secrets?"The look on Loveth's face was the response Amelia needed. She stopped eating, and her eyes got wider. It can't be true. They wouldn't treat her this way, no matter how illegal she was. That didn't change the fact that she was their daughter. She needed verbal confirmation. Maybe she was just thinking wrongly."Who!"Loveth sighed. "I am sorry, miss. All I heard was that you are the one getting married. I thought you knew about it."She was the one getting married to an unknown face. She laughed, dropping her spoon on the floor and rolling over the bed. Loveth also stopped eating to stare at Amelia. She was convinced that the lady had gone crazy from hearing about her impending wedding. "Miss. Are you okay?"Amelia didn't stop laughing. She held to her stomach and let out un-lady-like sounds. Her behaviour was beginning to bother Loveth, who wasn't expecting such a reaction from her. She was expecting her to be angry, not laughing and acting as if she had just heard the joke of the century. "Miss."Amelia stopped and the look on her face was the opposite of what she had previously worn. She looked so angry that she could burn anything that touched her. Her mood swing was confusing Loveth, who moved back a bit. She had never seen Amelia change her appearance so far. Well, Amelia had never been told she was going to marry a stranger, so in a way, she could understand what Amelia was going through. Okay, maybe she could not understand it, but she was trying to understand her mood."Are you okay, miss?" She made sure to put a distance between herself and Amelia before asking the question. Who knew what her next reaction was going to be?Loveth didn't get a response back from Amelia. She was just staring at nothing."Miss! Miss! Are you okay?" Loveth was already getting tired but there was no one to help her out there. Finally, Amelia responded to her. "I think I am going to run away, Loveth."Epilogue Amelia had slept all through the trip; being pregnant only makes her wants to sleep all the time. By the time she felt a little nudge by her side they were somewhere far from home. She could barely pinpoint exactly where Mike had taken them to, but the bright sun and the beach side felt strangely familiar. The air was different too. More natural and makes her lean more into him. She felt like she had seen this numerous time, but it also felt like she hadn’t seen it before. Mike assisted her from the car, and it all hit her like a wave. She had the picture of this in her room for a long time. She had sigh looking at him and thinking it there was heaven, this would be it. It seemed so out of reach then like she could never get here no matter how much she tried, but here she was with her husband. She jumped on Mike. “Are you serious?”He nodded, “Of course, I am serious. I bought this place for you.”Her heartbeat raced. It was a different thing visiting the place she had
The whole room was silent as everyone anticipated the next word out of the newscaster’s mouth. In front of the newscaster, in the left corner of the television was an old picture with five young men and women, with some children sitting on the floor in front of them in a chain. It was easy enough to tell the relationship of the children with the adult. They looked so good while the children looked like they could barely stand without falling. They looked malnourished. The headline was the most captivating; Child Trafficking exposed.They had exposed the names of everyone involved in the trafficking and declared them wanted. Apart from those in the pictures, the journalists were able to fish out more people backing them up behind the scenes. It was a bigger syndicate than Mike expected. It might be one of the reasons; that it was easier for Alfred to cover up the death of his parents.The picture made it easier for Mike’s man to find out a lot about Alfred and to get more vital infor
The news spread faster than Mike had expected, and his wife’s phone had continued to ring non-stop since the announcement. It was mostly from her foster family. He was certain there would be more calls from the company, but there was no finding out because he had forbidden them from reaching out to him. If they couldn’t handle those calls, they don’t deserve to be paid the amount they were. The families were spread out in the main mansion, all seated on the couch listening to the news. Every station talked about the sudden appearance of ‘Anne’ and the ownership of D&D, which suddenly brought back the hidden fraud cases. No one could get closer to the Afonso’s mansion, so they were perfectly at ease at home. Mike held Amelia’s phone, thinking she would be tempted to pick it up if the call was too much. If there were something Mike would thank the journalist for, it was their speed of linking up gossip. In a short time, they were able to figure out about Amelia’s identity and link her
Florence had displayed different emotions with her eyeballs within those few minutes, and at last, she settled for fake tears as she gripped the edge of his table, “I’m sorry, sir, but I don’t know much about him. He barely says important thing in front of me.”Mike narrowed his eyes at her, barely moved by her tears, “Seems you just decided your job isn’t precious to you. I’ll ask the HR to type your…”“No sir,” she screamed. Mike raised a brow at her. “I’m ready to talk.”And she did.She split every little thing she knew about Alfred; most she had gathered illegally, maybe hoping to threaten him when they had a misunderstanding. Anyway, it would work well for Mike without putting much effort into finding things about Alfred.After she had split her gust out, he dismissed her and called the H.R. to fire her. Someone who could be so greedy was of no benefit to the company; she could easily tell others their company secrets to gather favors for herself.Glad from all he had gathered f
As Mike checked his phone, he shared a look with Steve, and they both smiled. It was time to go home. Mike made a call to get a new car before they went home.Amelia couldn’t hide her anxiety after waking up and she didn’t see Mike by her side. He had just gotten hurt, and she knew he might be on one of his dangerous missions. If only he could tell her about it; he keeps trying to protect her.She stood beside the door and called him numerous times, but he wasn’t picking up, which only scared her more. Her mother had tried peeling her away from the door, but it was useless.When Amelia heard a car moving into the mansion, she ran out with Anne hot on her leg. She was super excited until she saw it was a different car, and her legs faltered on the way. The car stopped directly in front of the main mansion, and Sharon came out before Mike’s aunt.Guilt filled her as she watched his uncle come out of the car. Ever since she had gotten her mother out of the hospital, she hadn’t gone back
Mike woke earlier than the previous day, and although his hand hurt like crazy, he unbound the bandage and tried some hand exercises he had seen online last night.Amelia was sound asleep, which was the best. He knew she suspected things, which was one of the reasons he needed to act faster. Thankfully, her foster father had fallen into his trap after his short visit to his house, and the accident was somehow a blessing in disguise. To them, he was in a serious accident. They thought he was still unconscious. He had made sure that the hospital said that if anyone called to ask of a Michael Afonso apart from his wife.It made it easier for him to carry out his operations without them suspecting him. He dressed quietly and called Steve to join him.During their previous investigation, they found out that most of the children would be shipped out of the orphanage today because they already suspected Mike was up to something. Now, it was up to him to save the children, and recuperating
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