"You can't make me marry Davis. I'm already in love with Kayden, my boyfriend," I said, looking up at my father with a mix of surprise and shock. "How do you think you will pay for your deadbeat boyfriend's surgery without Davis' money?" he asked me, smiling like someone who had just hit a jackpot. *** As I walked down the aisle with tears in my eyes, I had to remind myself of why I was doing this. Kayden needed me. Standing in front of the altar, I saw Davis, the man I was to marry, and froze. He was...handsome. Even with the scowl that covered his face as he lifted my veil, his entire features seemed perfectly handcrafted by God himself. But, he didn't look pleased… "I know I messed up, but making me marry this ugly clown is too much punishment," he said, staring with displeasure into my mascara-smudged face. This was going to be much worse than I thought. *** Torn between having to save her critically ill boyfriend, Kayden, and saving her greedy family from impending poverty, Cassie is forced to marry the rude and domineering Billionaire, Davis Monroe, who does not even remotely love her. Being married to him is the most difficult thing she's ever done but strangely, even when she has the chance to leave, something compels her to stay. A few months later, her boyfriend Kayden returns healthy, extremely wealthy and ready to make her his wife. How will she make her choice? What will she do when she discovers the secret that will break her? The fact that her entire life has been a lie, spun by her father.
View More"Are you guys seriously demanding I marry a man I've never even met before?" I asked my parents in disbelief. This had to be some kind of joke. "Are you seriously trying to sell me off?
That was basically what they were doing, asking me to get married into the Monroe family just so they could strike up a partnership and make a ton of money."Try to understand, Cassie," my mother consoled me in her singsong voice, lightly touching my shoulders. "You can leave him after the partnership is over, you know. If your father loses this opportunity, everything we've ever worked so hard for will all be gone in an instant. Don't think of it as us trying to sell you off. Think of it as a way to repay us for all we've provided for you."I pushed her hands away from me in both surprise and disgust. I knew my mother was shallow, but hearing her say those words out loud just angered me to another degree. "All you've provided for me? Last I remember, you're my parents and I'm your responsibility. I never asked to be here. If I'm a burden to you just send me away, not use me to gather some extra cash like a slave. I can't believe you can be this selfish.""Why are you blowing this out of proportion?" My mother asked in a bored voice, sitting down. I could tell she was tired of trying to convince me. She just wanted me to get married into the Monroe family already, and procure the partnership, so that she could get started on planning her next vacation cruise already."Your father and I got married the day we met and look at the beautiful life we've been able to build together."Beautiful life? How could she even say that with a straight face? My parents were the most detached people I ever knew. Seeing them in my room together was already a rare occurrence. It didn't help that they were always either one business trip or vacation away from each other.Was that the kind of marriage they hoped I'd have?When I realized arguing with my mother was going nowhere, I turned to my father, who I perceived to be more reasonable in general. He'd remained quiet all this while, the guilt of his abnormal request eating him whole. I planned to use that guilt to my advantage."You won't let me sign my future and happiness away to a man I don't know, just because of some money, will you Dad?" I asked in a quiet voice, even though he was the one who'd thought up the idea in the first place. He glanced around for a few moments before his gaze eventually settled on me."Who knows, Cass. You might end up falling in love with him…" he said, shattering my last resolve."I'm already in love with someone else, Dad! His name is Kayden and he's my boyfriend!""A boyfriend who's nothing but a dead weight!" my father countered, raising his voice back at me. "A boyfriend who can't even take care of himself not to talk of you. Do you even think about your future at all?"His words pierced me like a dagger. So just because Kayden was not as wealthy as they had once been, they were willing to toss me to the next available money well. As I stared at my father, the man who'd treated me like a princess all my life disappeared, and a selfish ogre who valued money more than his daughter replaced him. My mother was smiling at something on her phone screen, already done with the conversation."He just needs to get better," I say quietly, trying not to think of Kayden in that hospital bed. "I just need a few million dollars from you so he can get a new heart and we'll both be out of your hair for good."Kayden was suffering from a coronary heart disease which had slowly begun eating him up over a year ago. My parents should have been able to help since they'd had the money back then, but because they didn't approve of our relationship, my father instead made a dumb investment in an importation business which sucked up all his fortune. And now, he wanted me to bail him out of potential poverty, by using my boyfriend's health as bait."Look on the bright side. If you marry the Monroe heir, you'll be able to pay for Kayden's surgery and have a lot left to give him and at the same time, you'll never have to suffer financially ever again."I shook my head, a sick feeling crawling into my stomach. I didn't like this. I wished I could just disappear."Have you ever even stopped to wonder what parents would be willing to pay someone else such a huge amount of money just to get married to their son?" I asked, tears threatening to spill out of my eyes. "Have you ever asked yourself how horrible he'd have to be that even his parents don't want him?""These things are complicated," my father said, looking away.I couldn't stand them any longer. I'd never hated anyone like I hated my parents at that moment. Bending over, I picked up my handbag and began to leave."Where do you think you're going?""I'm going to see Kayden," I said, not like he even deserved to know.My father looked at me for a long moment before picking up his car keys."Alright, I'll drive you.""What?" I asked, confused at the offer."Well, I suppose it's only fair. You deserve to say goodbye to him. What better time to do it than on the day of your wedding."I froze."What is that supposed to mean?""You're getting married today…"***"If he doesn't get a new heart by the end of the week, he will have a zero percent chance of survival," the doctor said, reading Kayden's prognosis while my father sat a few feet away giving me a look that said, 'I told you so.""What can I do to quicken the arrival of the new heart?" I asked, pushing back tears, even though I already knew the answer.The doctor gave me a sorry look as she flipped through the papers in her hand."You have two options," she began, counting with her finger. "One is to wait for a new heart from any organ donor and that can take any time from a week to a year since the patient is not very high on the list of recipients. The second is more realistic at this point. To push him up the list and get a new heart as quickly as possible.""How much?" I asked, already knowing where this was leading."Two million dollars," she said, without lifting an eyelid.As I looked down at the love of my life, lying unconscious on the large hospital bed, I was reminded of our years spent together, before his very unfortunate sudden heart disease."I love you, Kay," I whispered in his ear even though I knew he couldn't hear me.As I sobbed, I slightly rubbed his bony frame and knew just what I had to do.***As I walked down the aisle, escorted by my father who was smiling at the crowd, I couldn't stop the tears that flowed down my cheeks.My wedding veil covered my face, so fortunately, no one could see just how unwilling I was to get married to this stranger, just to save the love of my life.I wished the aisle would go on forever. I had already imagined the worst about the Monroe heir who I didn't know and never got the chance to find out about.What if he was too old and dependent and his frustrated parents only wanted him out of the house because he was a disgrace to them? What if he had committed some grievous sin that they were only trying to cover up as quickly as possible? What if he was a very ugly, wicked violent person who would turn me into a punching bag?The moment of truth came when her father left my side and I saw the figure of a man place his hands on either side of my head to lift the veil. My heart pounded in my chest as I saw the face of my husband for the first time, and the world went still.He was handsome.Scratch that.He was breathtakingly gorgeous.Even with the scowl that covered his face as he lifted the veil, his entire features seemed perfectly handcrafted by God himself.But, he didn't look pleased…"I know I messed up, but making me marry this ugly clown is too much punishment," he said, staring with displeasure into my mascara-smudged face.Five years later: Cassie’s POV:I stared into the glittering eyes of my baby girl as she struggled to make them stay open while I read her a bedtime story. She was just as stubborn as her father, fighting sleep even though that was what she needed. “And they lived happily ever after, the end,” I said. By the time I was done with the bedtime story, sleep had won. Although my daughter was asleep, I couldn’t stop watching her I rubbed her head and stared into her face, smiling when I saw the close resemblance she shared with her father. “You’re lucky I married a handsome man,” I whispered, still not ready to leave my baby girl’s side. “I love you,” I said and kissed her on her forehead, before turning to leave the room. “Jeez!” I gasped when I saw Davis standing by the door with his hands in his both pockets, smiling down at me. I turned back immediately to see if I had woken Ivory up, but luckily she was such a deep sleeper. “You scared me,” I whispered. “Come,” he said, stretchi
Davis’s POV:Do what’s right. I knew what that meant, and I didn’t like it. But she asked me to do it for her. How could I possibly say no to her? There was nothing I couldn’t do for her. I realized that now. The fact both warmed and scared me. Never had anyone had this much power over my choices but I had to admit it did feel strangely good. Here I was, driving down to meet Kayden, but this time with a different intention from what I would have liked to do. I was quite surprised to still see him there, sitting on the same swing bench he had been sitting on several hours ago when I found my wife next to him. This was going to be extremely difficult. I took a deep breath. I had to be really careful not to flip out and ruin the whole plan. “This is for you, baby,” I whispered to myself before leaving the car. Kayden flinched a little when he saw me approach, but when he saw there was nowhere to run, he remained where he was sitting and pretended to look unbothered by my presence
Davis’s POV: I don’t know how long I was passed out for, but when I woke up, I found myself alone in a big bland room that had no windows. It didn’t take long for everything to click into place. Even though my head was pounding like it was about to explode, I could still put the pieces together. I had been kidnapped. It was a bit embarrassing though. I was supposed to be experienced and intelligent. How could I have let myself be tricked so easily? I remained on the floor where I was and hoped my head would stop hurting so bad. What happened to using chloroform to make me unconscious? Why did my attacker have to go old school and knock me out with a blunt object? It felt personal, like whoever had done it, purposely wanted me to feel pain. I should have never underestimated him. Of course the timelines clicked in place. Why did I let Lisa come with me? He had cleverly used her to get to me. Now I was here, I wondered what he planned to do with me. He had almost taken my life the
Davis’s POV:Surprisingly, my relationship with Cassie changed for the better after my few hours stay in the hospital. She felt terrible for what she had done, but the action made her see how dangerous it was to believe one side alone. It was just as I suspected. Her father had gone ahead to change the contract entirely. It had nothing to do with money because I had given him more than enough money to start something for himself. He was not unreasonably wicked either, so it had to be something else. When I read the fake contract and found how Kayden’s greatest qualities were mentioned over and over, I knew who was responsible. Simply knowing with no proof though, was not enough. I had to teach that scoundrel a lesson or he would just disappear for a while and return again to be a thorn in our flesh. Fortunately, Cassie had been easy to convince. I think it because she felt terrible after sending me to a hospital, even after I assured her continually that it wasn’t her fault. I di
If I said I knew what I was doing, I would be lying. I was in the car with Rufus, who was taking me to only God knows where, and I had no idea where Davis was or how he was doing. After everything that had happened these past few days, I had disassociated a little from reality and this was proof of that fact. There was nothing I could do except sit and watch after all. Look where trying to act on my own had got me. “I just got off from a call with the boss,” Rufus said, swerving to the right. “He says I should take you to meet him at Palm Greens.” I turned away, distracting myself with the view of the palm trees and other cars we passed. I didn’t know where Palm Greens was. Maybe it was the place where he had captured Davis and the others. I didn’t want to think about it. I couldn’t bear to see my husband in that position again, or worse, Lisa. A feeling of dread washed over me as I began to realize just how serious this was. Kayden did not believe he had done anything wrong. I w
I waited until Rufus was completely out of the house before speaking. I didn’t have a plan yet, but I wasn’t dumb enough to follow him to meet Kayden. Who knew what that psychopath would do with me? “Leave, now,” I told my father as I untied Gloria from the chair. My father stood still as if he hadn’t heard me. I really didn’t have the time for this. “Why are you still standing there?” I asked him. “Hurry up so you both can leave while you still can.” “It can’t be that easy, Cass,” he said. “He’ll find us soon enough or Kayden will send someone else after us.” I groaned in frustration. “So what do you expect me to do? Follow him?”“I’m not saying that, but…”“You want to die!” I screamed, running my hand through my hair, a habit I had learned from Davis. “Isn’t it better to try than to just stand around and wait to be killed? I don’t know what you expect me to do, but I’m not following anyone anywhere. We’re all escaping one way or another and it’s fine if you don’t want to follo
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