AFTER THE LIE...

SUMMER’S POINT OF VIEW.

My lips still burned from the intensity of his kiss, but I tried to hide how flustered I was, as I squared my shoulders, avoiced his piercing dark gaze, and turned to stare at my sister, who stood in my mother’s arms, her face red as if she would shoot steam from her ears.

“Checkmate, sis,” I said, clutching my flower bouquet tightly while fighting the urge to hurl it at her head. Five years….she stole five years from me, and thought she could just what?

Carry on and become the princess of London’s high society… never, over my dead fucking body.

She jumped from my mother’s arms and stopped in front of Kirill. Her eyes shone with the same manipulative glint she always used to steal my boyfriends in the past, because Sophia could never stand me being happy, or any boy having the slightest interest in me. I remember crying to sleep on most nights while I’d have to stomach the sound of her and another one of my boyfriends fucking in the room right next to mine.

“Kirill.” She started, her voice low as though she was purring. She pushed her tits up slightly and practically shoved them in his face. Her heels made her ridiculously tall, so she could meet his shoulders at least. “Come on, look at her.” She said, and turned to regard me as though I were the dirt under her shoes. I froze because I knew what she would say next.

My record,

“She’s a criminal, a murderer, a no-good bitch who has killed someone in cold blood. I don’t think your perfect family needs such a mess on your hands. I, on the other hand,” She paused,    a slight smirk on her lips to truly reveal her ugly character flashed at me, but almost instantly, it disappeared. “Have no record, and I am the most beautiful twin.”

“Yes, Mr Volkov.” My mother chipped in, the sound of her heavy footsteps grating to my ears as she stopped beside my sister.    She mirrored the malicious smile my sister had; the one only I could somehow see, because everyone else worshipped them. “She’s been a disgrace to my family ever since my husband died, and I do not want you to suffer the horror of living with someone so…. disgraceful.” She spat, her lips twisted in a snarl as she glared at me.

“So what do you both want me to do?” Kirill said, his voice louder as he drawled seductively. I froze instantly and steeled my spine in readiness for when it would come. He’s going to abandon me and take her side instead. It always happened; no one ever chose me.

Sophia was the more suitable twin, the more beautiful twin; the pride of the family…unlike me.

“Annul the marriage, Kirill.” They said at the same time.    Kirill, on the other hand, looked at them as thought they were under a microscope.

I swallowed again and held my breath for when the rejection would come, as well as the pain that would follow swiftly, along with a sense of embarrassment.

“Come on, priest. Do whatever you need to do and annul this sham of a marriage. I’ll take care of my horrible daughter myself.”    She moved towards the priest, grabbed his hand, and dragged the skinny old man to where Kirill and I stood.

“Uhhh…Mr Volkov, do I proceed?” The priest asked, and just as I stood with a blank expression, we awaited his response.

For a moment, Kirll turned to me, his eyes raking over my body as a smile tugged at his lips again. And I swear my heart pummelled to my feet as he spoke;

“You said she’s a murderer.”

“Yes, a child bloodied one. She even tried to leave the dead body after running the poor man over.’ His jaw ticked as annoyance crossed his features for half a second.

“And I say, so the hell what?” Kirill said, causing me to blanch in utter shock. Sophia and my mother’s mouths hung open instantly, as they stared at my new husband with nothing short of shock on their faces.

“Kirill…I don’t think you heard me.    I said she’s-‘

“A murderer, and again, so what the hell. As I said earlier, I already said I do. Summer is now my wife, Mrs Volkov, and you shall accord her the respect she’s owed.”

Before they could speak another word, he turned to me with a soft smile, his eyes gentle, which I guess should have calmed me…But I swear all it did was make me worry even more.

“Shall we, wife?” He asked with a bow, his hand stretched towards me. I placed my shaky palm on his, slightly relishing in the way his warm touch enveloped my much smaller palm in his, and next thing I knew, he pulled me towards him, and towards the back exit. His groomsmen followed swiftly without question, but just as we stopped in front of the door, Sophia yelled;

“Summer, I will have revenge! If you think you can steal my future from me and go scot free, you’ll be shocked!”

I didn’t know when I turned around and spoke back to her, “Now you know how it feels to have your future upended by someone you should have been able to trust.”

Kirill didn’t waste a moment. He pulled me out of the cathedral and onto the private parking lot where a fleet of sleek black cars awaited.

He moved me wordlessly, his jaw ticking with each second and every move, but all I could focus on was the beating of my heart, as well as a question.

Why the hell did he choose me?

Everyone else chooses Sophia; even when it was glaringly obvious that she was wrong… so why was he different?

I let him open the door for me and hold it as I sat inside the car. He didn’t utter a word, but from the tic in his jaw, I could see that he was not pleased. I didn’t utter a word as the car engine kicked to life, as the car pulled out of the garage, and onto the street.    I simply watched while keeping myself as close to the door as possible. I listened to the sound of my pulse pounding in my ears, my eyes not once straying from the man sitting beside me, a drawn-out silence between us except for the sound of his fingers tapping softly on his knee with unnerving calm.

Kirill Volkov. My husband.

He didn’t look like a man who’d just been ambushed into marrying a stranger. He looked like someone who had planned this all along, like he knew what happened today would happen.

And maybe he had……

He didn’t speak the entire drive. Not a word, or a sigh. If I weren’t beside him, I’d question whether he'd been breathing at all. The car slowed, forcing me to shift my gaze to see the large estate ahead.

No, not an estate.

A fucking city.

But before I could take it all in, his hand shot out, gripping my wrist in a soft yet firm hold. “You’re coming with me.” He said, and moved to pull me out, but I couldn’t take the tension twisting in my spine anymore.

“Wait….stop,” I called, trying to pull my hand from his as gently as possible. But he didn’t budge.

“Ugh, fine….why the hell did you do that earlier? And how did you even know it was me under the veil? You didn’t seem shocked when the truth was revealed.”

He exhaled as though I were a bother before letting go of his hold on my palm. A shiver rushed through me at the loss of contact, but I hid it. “Because I read people, and from what I saw in your eyes the other night at dinner, you looked like a woman scorned.”

I swallowed hard and regarded him as one would a snake. “Would you like an explanation? I did just steal your bride’s place after all.”

“I was never going to marry Sophia.” He said, causing me to furrow my brows in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“I planned to marry you.