Chapter 2

It was a chore to open my eyes the next morning. But the sunlight streaming through the windows made it impossible for sleep to dominate me any longer. With great effort I peeled my eyes open and stretched, my muscles feeling strangely sore.

The brain fog took another moment to dissipate and when it did, I bolted upright and turned my head left and right to make sure I was okay, but the reality was far from what I imagined and definitely not what I wanted it to be.

For starters I was naked. Like as naked as the day I was born. There was not a shred of clothing on me and I didn’t know why. I wasn’t one of those people who went to sleep naked. I preferred to keep my clothes on, but last night wasn’t the case.

My dress lay discarded on the floor in a pathetic heap and my panties were torn in two, lying next to it. I was just starting to wonder the hell happened when I saw the bruises and hickeys covering my body. I flexed my legs and winced at the soreness in my sex. Before I could question the cause of such unfamiliar sensations in my body, my eyes fell on the man lying naked beside me.

Troy Knight.

His muscular body emitted warmth which prevented me from shivering and came under the scrutiny of the bright sunlight streaming from the window. The comforter covered his body from the waist down, even though I caught a glimpse of the one thing I shouldn’t dare to even think about.

The shock of my reality took a minute to set it, but once it did, it brought with it a sea of panic I had no capability of battling. I didn’t know whether to run from here or cry or wake Troy up and tell him to get the hell out of my room. None of the options made sense to me. And while I tried to think about what to do next, that’s when the most obvious realization hit me with the force of a boulder.

I had sex with Troy Knight.

My hand rose to cover my mouth as the magnitude of what I did came crashing down on me. I had sex with my sister’s fiancé. How the hell did that happen? I didn’t even like him, let alone talked to him to the point that he would end up in my bed. And he couldn’t stand me either. So how could we have sex? What the hell happened last night?

I tried to piece together the events of last night, despite the fragments which were available to me. I remembered feeling extremely tired until my senses deserted me one by one. I also remembered Troy coming into my room and thinking that I was Parys. That was the part that didn’t make sense to me. Troy was an extremely controlling man. There was no way he could ever mistake me for Parys.

My mind couldn’t make sense of anything. I ran my fingers through my hair in an attempt to calm myself down but it didn’t work.

“You really shouldn’t move too much, darling.” I froze at the sound of Troy’s voice. My breath hitched when I looked at him and found his electric blue eyes staring back at me. However, the smile which was about to curl his lips died as the truth finally hit him.

He bolted upright and looked around in much the same way as I did a moment ago. Confusion and rage blazed in his eyes while I tried to think of a way to get out of here without him finding out what we did. Now that were back to our senses, I held the comforter close to my chest so he couldn’t see just how naked I was.

“What the fuck?!” He roared and got out of bed. I yelped and closed my eyes as a very prominent part of his body came into my line of sight. I had no right to see him naked; not when he was planning to marry my sister. And I definitely had no right to sleep with him. So why the hell did I do it?

I heard Troy moving around in the room but I didn’t dare open my eyes until he told me to. He had put on his briefs and it took everything in me not to stare at the bulge at his crotch. God, this was embarrassing. I really needed to get out of here but I didn’t want him to see me naked.

“Can you please go,” I said, my voice nothing but a pathetic plea. “I—I need to put some clothes on.”

His eyes found me and the glare nearly incinerated me. “You tell me how the hell did this happen. Right now!”

“I—I don’t know. You came in my room last night and…”

“Excuse me! I came into your room?” He scoffed, resting his hands on his waist. I really wished he would put some clothes on, his body was really distracting. “That’s impossible. I wanted to go to Parys. There is no way I would come to your room.”

“Well you did. You probably weren’t in your senses and neither was I…”

“Just because I had a little too much to drink doesn’t mean I wasn’t in my senses,” he snarled, forcing me to shrink away from his heated glare.

“If you were you wouldn’t have come to my room, since you’re obviously in control of your senses,” I shot back, and bit back a smirk when he didn’t respond.

Troy began pacing and I couldn’t help but watch him. I wanted to talk to Parys but I needed to put some clothes on before I could go out. God, what the hell was I going to tell her? I loved her and I was happy that she was marrying the love of her life. I would never jeopardize her relationship with Troy. So what the fuck happened?

“You also thought…I was Parys…” I blurted out.

Troy swore in an angry voice before he picked up the snow globe which was lying on my dresser and hurled it at the wall. I screamed as shards exploded all around me.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?!” I screamed. “That was my favorite snow globe!”

“You think you can spew lies to my face and I would just believe you?” He roared, his eyes blazing with odious fire. “I know the difference between you and Parys.”

“I know you do,” I said. “But since you weren’t in your senses…”

“Stop it!” He snarled, causing me to flinch and back away, my back meeting the headboard. “Stop saying I wasn’t in my senses.”

“But you weren’t,” I said, digging my own grave even deeper. I knew I should keep my mouth shut but he had no right to yell at me and tell me what to do. He was going to marry my sister, and if he wanted to order someone around he could do it to her.

“I said, shut up,” he said, his words thick with warning.

Troy pinched the bridge of his nose, as if he was the one who needed patience. The fool mistook me for my sister and was now acting like it was my fault. I should be the one blowing a gasket and blaming him for sleeping with me. My body wasn’t in my control but his was in his. So why was he blaming me?

“This was a mistake, I hope you realize that.” The hatred in his words was evident but I didn’t let that affect me. There was no love lost between the two of us anyway, but he needed to stop acting so high and mighty.

“Believe me, I know. I’m sure if I was aware of what you were doing I would’ve hated every second of it,” I said, trying not to flinch at the murderous glare he threw at me.

The smirk that curled the corner of his mouth had chills running down my spine. “I can understand that you weren’t aware of what I did to you, because if you were, I know you’d be thirsty for more right now. I mean, your moans told me exactly how much you hated what I did to you.”

My face heated as I tried to come up with a scathing retort. “Yeah, only a woman who is not in her right mind would find pleasure with you.”

The smirk morphed into a scowl and I took that as a victory. “Says the woman who spread her legs for me like a wanton slut.”

“Watch your mouth, Troy,” I snapped. “I’m not Parys so don’t think I’ll take any more of your bullshit. Put your clothes on and get the fuck out of my room. We will both forget that last night happened. It was a mistake and it won’t happen again.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” he said as he picked up his slacks which had somehow ended up on the chair in the corner of my room. Just as he finished putting them on his phone pinged, signaling the arrival of a text.

Troy picked up his phone which was resting comfortably on my nightstand and swiped his thumb over the screen. I waited for him to finish reading whatever he needed to and get the hell out of here, but when his eyes widened and the color drained from his face, I knew whatever it was it wasn’t good news.

“Wh—what’s wrong?” I dared to ask, not sure if he would respond.

“Somebody filmed us,” he said.

“What?!” I cried and almost flung myself off the bed to go and see his phone, but I remembered that I wasn’t wearing any clothes so I stayed put. “What the hell are you talking about?!”

Troy sighed and flopped on the bed beside me and showed me the video on his phone. My eyes were wide as saucers as I watched Troy and myself doing what should never have been done. I could now understand why my sex was so sore with the way he pounded into me last night. He really thought he was fucking my sister because there was no gentleness in his movements. Troy didn’t know that I was a virgin—well not anymore—and that’s why he didn’t treat me like one.

“Oh my God!” I slapped a hand over my face as the video ended with Troy groaning on top of me as he came inside me. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. He came inside me. He didn’t use protection and I wasn’t on the pill. All of a sudden, a brand new fear took root inside me and I knew a trip to the pharmacy was the first thing on the agenda as soon as I got dressed.

“Who would do that?” He seethed. “Who the hell even has cameras in their room?”

“It wasn’t me, Troy. I—I swear.” I swallowed hard at the anger in his eyes. He blamed me for everything, I could see it in the electric blue orbs.

“None of this makes any sense,” he said with a frown on his face.

Just then his phone pinged again, signaling a text message from none other than Parys. “Great. The Devil is here.”

He opened her text message without giving me a response and then stood up from the bed. “No!”

“What happened?” I didn’t know how this day could possibly get any worse but I shouldn’t have underestimated the Universe.

Troy looked at me and this was the first time I saw something other than rage in his eyes. Instead of answering me, he handed me his phone with Parys message on the screen.

I don’t even know where to begin. All I can say is, I never expected this from you. I thought you loved me but I guess it’s my sister you really wanted. I’m not going to ask you for explanations or any justifications. I’ve seen the video with my own eyes and there is no way I can marry you now. I don’t want to marry you and spend the rest of my life thinking why I wasn’t enough for you.

If you wanted Londyn, you should’ve just said so. I would’ve backed away and let you two be together. What was the point of pretending to love me?

As for Londyn, I can’t even deal with that bitch right now. She ruined everything. I thought she was the only one who had my back but I guess not.

Well, you two can have each other. I’m out. You won’t see or hear from me ever again. I give you my blessing to marry my sister. But please don’t do what you did to me to my sister. I’m strong enough to handle your betrayal but Londyn is not.

Don’t try to contact me or look for me. You won’t find me. Just marry my sister and live your life with her. This is over, Troy. We are over.

— Parys

I read the text a total of five times, but even after that I couldn’t make sense of her words. How the hell could she think like that? Didn’t she know how much Troy loved her? And she blamed me? If she only gave me a chance to explain she would know that this was nothing but a horrible mistake.

“She’s gone,” he said and stood up.

“Where could she have gone?” I asked, dropping the phone on the bed.

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out. I intend to marry her next week and I’ll make sure it happens,” Troy said, giving me a glimpse of the ruthless Mafia don which he was.

“And what will you do if you don’t find her?” I had no idea where she was so I couldn’t help him.

The look he gave me made me realize that the angel of death would be more merciful than him. “Mark my words, Londyn, if I don’t find your sister and marry her by next week, there will be serious consequences.” He pointed at me with his forefinger. “You’ll pay for what you did and trust me I’ll make you regret every second of it.”

“What the hell is the matter with you? Why do you keep talking like all this is my fault?!” I didn’t care that I was yelling at him, but I’ve had enough.

He held up a hand to silence me and pinned me with a deadly glare. “Enough! I said what I said. Either you help me find Parys and make this right by next week or else…”

“Or else what?”

The words that left his lips made me want to change my identity and run away to a place where he could never find me.

“Or you’ll be the one to marry me.”