THREE WEEKS LATER
PORCH OF CHARITY
WEDDING VENUE
"Did Dad need to go all out for this? This is a contract marriage, yet he is celebrating it as if they were getting married for real," Elizabeth murmured to her sister.
"I know right, he sure does not like to lose in something," Victoria replied as they walked to the bridal suite, where their sister was now sitting and waiting for them to call her so she could walk down the island and get stuck in the marriage of her nightmares.
They opened the door and walked straight into the room; they turned a corner, and Lila was sitting there with her bouquet in hand. "Oh my gosh!" Victoria was excited, clapping her hand in the air. "Oh my days!" she added in excitement.
"Do you think you are a little too excited about a fake marriage?" Lial asked watching her sister really get excited. "Why are you excited anyway?"
"I mean, I have always imagined what you would look like in a dress as pretty as this," she said with tears falling in between her words.
"And?" Lila asked. She wanted to hear from a family member that she was really beautiful. The make-up artist and stylist had told her that she did not believe the sin they had to hype their work.
"You look stunning," Elizabeth interjected.
"I think he might fall for you," Victora added.
"I would rather stay celibate my entire life to have someone like him love me," Lila said, pretending to feel naïve and pretending to throw up as well.
"His love for you does not affect you in any way. He likes you, and those feelings are his," Victoria said, a frown on her face.
"Imagine him a brick-like him underestimating the concept of liking someone? You think that I would want something like that to happen to me? That is a curse, and it is what you think it is," she replied.
"I mean, if we did inherit this fortune from our parents, I think the both of you would definitely make a very cute couple," Victoria replied.
"Even their names rhyme," Elizabeth added, and the both of them giggled.
"You know if someone heard the two of you, they would have thought it was just a bunch of school girls, but it was just two women in their late twenties fooling around on their sister's wedding day."
"No need to be so mean about anything; we only came in here to see you and to give you a little advice about married life," Victoria replied with a wink.
"You knew very well that there would be nothing between us," Lila replied. She looked at their faces and wondered if she was the only sane one between the three of them; both her sisters seemed to be getting ahead of themselves. "And I would rather strip naked and stand on the road than ever think of being intimate with him in any way," she said as if she were swearing.
"You take things too far," Elizabeth said, leaning into her sister, who was standing by her side.
"That is how much I hate this man, and you are suggesting that I have s*x with him?" she asked, and they shook their heads.
"Be careful though," Elizabeth said, lifting her body from her sister and standing straight.
"Of what?"
"Hate turns to love when cultivated," Elizabeth finished.
Lila opened her mouth to say such horrible comebacks, but she understood her sisters were just trying their best to be supportive, and she was grateful for them. "Thank you," she said instead of all the things that had come to mind.
"We are glad that we could help," Victoria said.
MEANWHILE THE GROOM
"How are you feeling about this?" Emma asked. She was Levi's younger sister, and she was shocked to hear what her father had commanded, but here they were doing it anyway. She knew his word was law for the Beaumont family; that was the way they were able to keep order in the family.
"Want a calming pill?" Elsie asked, taking out a pill sachet from her bag and giving it to him. She was Emma's twin sister.
"No thank you; I do not need a calming pill; I want this to be over and done with," he said.
"Suit yourself," she said, blowing out her gum and putting the pill back into her bag gently.
"See you out there," Emma said, pulling on her sister and exiting the room.
Moments later, one of the staff came along to get him. He walked from the back to the altar. He saw the way the two families sat so far apart. He wondered if they would ever be able to convince anyone that the feud between them was over and that they just wanted to live a normal life. He saw Williams walk Lila down the aisle, and although he hated her so much, he could not deny that she had the looks. She always looked so elegant every time they met, but her attitude and name made all of that go away in an instant.
He stretched forth his arm and took her away from her father. He tried to smile at her but was not sure that she would see a smile from her angel. They turned to the priest, who began the ceremony. Both of them tuned into the entire proceedings of the ceremony, primarily because they did not want to be bound by the words the priest said.
"Do you, Lila Corrington, take Levi Beaumont as your lawfully married husband to have, to love, and to hold as long as you both shall live?" The priest asked, turning to Lila. She took a deep breath as she realized that this moment was going to change the course of things in her life for the next year and she wondered if she was ready for it.
"I do!" she said. She was still trying her best to recover from her own words when she heard Levi speak. She raised her head at the sound of I do. He stared at her and nodded firmly.
"I do!"
"Everything I heard? Is it true?" Lila asked, and her parents reaction was all she needed to confirm her suspicions about them. "You set fire to my place and sent someone to break into Levi's place? No wonder you were always at the site so early." Everything that had happened in the past few days began to make sense.Whenever something happened, her mom seemed to be the first on the scene, and then she was always looking for whom to blame, like she was trying to take the smoke off her before anyone could even suspect her."Can you believe it?" Lila asked, her entire face drenched in tears, as a sarcastic laugh left her lips. "I mean, I had been so hard on myself for even considering you a suspect. I never wanted to believe that my mom could ever do something so evil. I was so sure that you were only doing things to help me, and I am sure of it now. Everything you've ever done is only for yourself; none of it has ever been for me.""Why on earth did they do this?" Lila was shocked that
Levi couldn't believe that Lila was taking Jared's side, and no matter how he tried to see her side, he just couldn't. Everything about the situation pointed to him, as he ticked all the boxes. He wanted them to break up so he could have his way with Lila; he was a business associate who was also angry, so all the motive to make him the culprit was there, but Lila strongly believed that he couldn't be the one.Levi could not take the direct approach with Jared, so he hired a private investigator to tail him and find out everything about him. He was paranoid about leaving Lila alone at home."Why don't you stop working for now until we are sure we are safe?" he asked her, and she seemed to agree. He was still trying to wrap his head around why she did not think he was guilty, but he could not see what she saw."I also think that is a good idea," she had said. The security at home had doubled, and even though he was aware that his staying at home all day was not what was going to protec
Lila wanted to act as if everything was normal and began to work. She was on her way back from one of her gigs when she noticed a car following her. At first, she dismissed it as nothing. There were thousands of cars on the road, and many people were going her direction. Why would one follow her, and it was not like this was a movie; it was real life, and things like that rarely happened in real life.She made a turn at the next intersection, and the car followed. She did a few more useless turns, and the car followed as soon as she confirmed that the car was following her. Panic set in. She had no idea what to do; it was now obvious that this was a planned attack, and the words of her mother began to ring in her head.She managed to keep her fear under control and called Levi. She knew she should be calling the police, but Levi was the first person who came to mind, so she called him."Hello, pretty lady, I was about to call you. What do you want for dinner? I am about to swing by an
Levi was furious about how his security team let whoever it was that broke into the house escape. They both rushed to check the footage caught in the CCTV, but whoever had come in was well prepared, as there was no way to see the face on the footage. Their face was fully covered with a mask and dark shades. Levi had the cops come into the house at once and transfer the footage of the intruder, hoping that they would be able to catch who was behind this. "Do you think you'd be able to catch him?" Lila asked. She was afraid; it was not a coincidence that two bad episodes went one after the other. "I am sorry, but I am afraid that with the evidence on the ground, I don't think it's possible." "But you have to catch them because this is an attack." Lila could not believe that the policemen were not taking the situation seriously. "I think it's just a petty robber who came in to steal a few things," the police said, because there was no evidence that this was an attack. "But nothing
Jasmine came early after she heard what happened to Lila. Levi was finally able to leave her since he had been afraid of leaving her to herself, no matter how much she convinced him that she was okay. Levi went to talk to the detectives about the investigation and then from there to work. He knew that Jasmine was not going to let her stay all by herself."How can something so horrible happen? What did the cops say?" Jasmine asked."We are yet to hear from them and sincerely I want to hope that it is a gas leak or maybe some kind of electrical fault and not arson. I do not want to think that anyone was bold enough to go into my house and set it on fire." Lila was hoping that it was true. Since her mom had called to check on her, she settled that it could not be her."Do you have anyone in mind who you think can do something like this?""No one who would ever do something like this to me?""Jared? Maybe he was trying to scare you?"Lila shook her head. "It can't be; he came by and apolo
Lila tried to run towards her apartment, but Levi found a way to stop her before she could run right into it. "The firefighters are on it," he whispered as he held her. They both stood watching the house burn down like it was some kind of play, while the heat that radiated from the house made the entire environment too hot to stay.When the firefighters had been able to calm the fire, nothing was left of the apartment. "Did you forget to turn the gas stove off with a stew or something?" Levi asked and she shook her head."I have barely had time for myself; I have been ordering food in. I have never cooked here," she explained, meaning there was no way there could have been a leak except if it was cut open by someone.Levi could not understand why her house would just burn down, but he was sure that the firefighters would get to the end of it. Levi was sure that this was an arson attempt, but he did not want to say anything, so he did not sacrifice Lila, but she was already thinking th