Chapter 5

Lily's POV.

“This is your room, William's room is just beside yours” the red headed Sarah said in a low voice as she opened the door that led to my new room.

“Thank you” I replied as I entered my room with August and our luggage. After Arla had told me clearly to my face that she would make my life miserable, she stormed off and the rest of the family dispersed one after the other except Sarah, Damien's wife. She brought me up to my room afterwards so here we are.

She stood at the door quietly while I placed August on the bed to sit. Then she finally spoke up after a few seconds, “You are very bold to come here, even with my ‘rich’ background, I still have to watch my six against the three Carter siblings” she started and chuckled slightly.

I turned to look at her, she wasn't that bad, I mean she was the only person who tried to make conversation with me unlike the others. The house looked like a load of drama so I'll take what I get. I chuckled and asked, “Wow, are they that scary?”

Growing up as an orphan and my early pregnancy, I have encountered a lot of things, bad people and what not. Some encounters made me more resilient and some added to my trauma. Either way, I have seen much worse to be spooked by Arla's threat.

Sarah grinned, “You will have to find out about that, I don't give spoilers. All you need to know is that Arla might not be desperate to lead in the family business like her two older brothers but being an actress makes her drunk on fame and attention so she would go crazy if anything or anyone were to taint it”

“Wait, she is the popular actress of the current trending movie right? I thought her face looked familiar… wow” I exclaimed in surprise. I had been wondering where I knew Arla from and after hearing from Sarah it finally clicked. To think that such a lovable character in the movie could be such a devil in real life was shocking.

“Yeah…” Sarah trailed off as her eyes landed on the now sleeping August, then she asked, “Down syndrome right?”

I glanced at my body and nodded with a small smile.

“You should be very careful here, protect him…” she began to say but her voice cracked at the end, her face had dropped and her eyes were full of sudden sadness.

I wanted to ask her what she meant when I heard a familiar voice clear his throat at the door. It was William, he was back.

Sarah's face fell, seemingly to have crawled back into her timid shell, she did a simple nod and disappeared before I could say anything.

“Nevermind Sarah, she can be a little weird. Anyway I'm back with the marriage contract papers, the for show wedding will take place in three days” William said as he walked into the room and handed me the papers.

“Three days? Why the rush?” I asked in surprise as I went through the paper halfheartedly.

William sighed, “I need to have an heir or else my position will go to my brother, he is intent on taking everything I have and worked for” he paused and pointed on the paper, “Sign here” then he handed me a pen.

“Why? Isn't he your brother, your family?” I asked in confusion as I began signing the paper. I hope I won't regret signing this.

William replied with a distant look on his face, “He’s doing it for revenge”

I had just finished signing so I raised my head to look at him properly but before I could ask him what he meant, hurried footsteps barged into the room.

It was Toby, if I remember correctly, Arla's husband.

“Brother in-law, you need to go online and check the trending news” he said hurriedly as a matter of urgency, he looked quite anxious.

“What is it?” William frowned and asked as he collected the legal papers from me.

“It’s… uhm… just check” the man stammered in reply.

William sighed and brought out his phone, with a few taps he suddenly froze and his face went from confused to angry. I got curious watching them get so worked up and agitated so I walked closer and peeped on William's phone. What I saw made my eyes widen in disbelief and shock.

There were pictures, pictures of me and William from earlier today, even one with my son. And the headline read: William Carter, billionaire and CEO of the Carter real estate caught in a scandalous affair with a stripper, plans marriage with her after getting her pregnant.

I staggered back in shock while William flung his phone to the bed and with a livid face barked out, “Who did this?”

“We…we don't know yet. We are still trying to find out while trying to ensure the news doesn't spread any more than this” Toby answered almost immediately. I guess Toby was in the family business too.

Just then, August broke out in tears, he must have woken up from the noise. I quickly went to him, trying to calm him down. The fact that my son's face was all over social media made me pissed, I didn't like it at all. I felt a little bit of regret, what if by signing this contract, I have indirectly exposed my poor son to danger. Did I act too fast?

“Well, it has to be someone close, only the people in the house know about this marriage. Or did your wife do this?” William eyed Toby suspiciously, I also turned to look at Toby, I wouldn't put it past her.

“No, no, I'm sure of it. She cares about her name too much to do this” Toby defended like his mouth was full of hot coals. Sarah did say that too.

“Then who fucking did it?” William barked out again, increasing August cries in the process.

I was about to send him a glare when his phone suddenly began ringing. I was close to it so I could see the caller ID, it read:

Damien