Chapter Three - The Meet Up.

Varda's POV

"What?" My eyes widened in shock at the words my father had just spewed out. I scoffed in disbelief and shook my head at him in disagreement, refusing to believe what he had just said.

"You are kidding right?" I choked out a bitter laughter. Dad only sighed in response, he adjusted his posture on the couch and cleared his throat to speak. "I am serious here Varda. Alex's death does not change the fact that we owe his grandfather a huge amount of money. You know there is not much i can do. We still owe him money and I can not afford such."

"Dad, are you fucking serious right now?" I yelled with tears rolling down my cheeks. I paused to choke out a hysteric laughter. "I just lost my supposed husband some days ago and now you are asking me to jump into marriage with another man, another man from that same family?" I cried out.

Dad rolled his eyes at me. Obviously, not even my tears were going to penetrate through him. He seemed to have made up his mind already.

"Like your mum said, you never loved him. You always wanted to be free from him so why are you acting like you are in grief?" Dad yelled at me. I took a few steps backward in shock, for the past few days, everyone have acted insensitive towards me. Alex and I may have never been on good terms but we certainly did not wish each other death.

"Just because I wanted my own freedom does not mean I wanted Alex to die. Why doesn't anyone get that? Do you expect me to just jump into another marriage? Just like that? I am a fucking human! I have feelings dad, how could you even think of such?" I bit my lower lip as I struggled to stop myself from crying anymore.

"He was abusive to you. You said he always made fun of your background and often cheated on you with other women. Stephen is different, he is a well cultured man. I promise you, you are going to enjoy your marriage with him." Dad said.

It looked like nothing of what I was saying was getting into his head. I wanted to protest but mum walked in on us. She had a tired look on her face. "Come on Matthew, give Varda a break. She is still struggling to process all of this. Give her time darling."

"WE HAVE NO TIME!" Dad slammed the centre table in front of us, startling both I and mum. I gulped a lump down my throat and watched him flare up in anger. "We owe Francis McCall a huge amount of money! Do you really think he is going to give Varda time to mourn over Alex." Dad paused to shake his head at us.

"You and I both know what the McCall family are like. They are only on about business, anything business related. Your feelings do not matter Varda and if we do not settle Francis then we will all go to jail." Dad empahsized his words.

He was starting to guilt trip me again. I knew exactly what he was trying to do. He was going to guilt trip me into saying yes just as he had did to me when I was asked to be Alex's fiancee.

Dad rose to his feet. "Dinner tomorrow at our place, you will meet Stephen and after that, you can make your decision." Without waiting for my response, dad brushed past my shoulder and walked out of my sight.

I threw myself on the couch and broke down into tears while mum tried to comfort me. I understood that there was not much she could do.

Tomorrow evening came by so fast and I chickened out. The thought of having to face another man brought fear to me. I felt anxious, I was afraid that history might repeat itself and the worse of it all was that the person who had killed Alex at the wedding had not being caught yet.

Investigations were slow, as a matter of fact, no one was taking it as serious as I was. Not even Francis McCall.

I stepped foot into the bar, the neon lights flashed across my face causing me to flinch slightly, the loud latino music blaring from the speakers made my head pound. I was beginning to regret leaving the house but then I had no where else to go. My best friend, at the least the one person who I thought was my best friend had accused me of killing Alex. The only safe place to clear my head was the bar across the streets.

I rubbed my shoulders and struggled to make my way through the crowd on the dance floor. I accidentally tripped on something and almost fell flat to the floor but fortunately for me, I felt someone grab me by the waist and pull me closer.

I released a heavy sigh and stared into the eyes of my saviour. He had the brightest green eyes, his brows were neatly carved and his small pink lips were curled into a charming smirk. He had brown curly hair that fell across his forehead, his muscular physique hugged his shirt tight revealing his biceps, his long legs were clad into a pair of black suit pants. As a matter of fact, everything about him screamed luxury.

"Hi." He said. "Are you okay?"

Was I okay? No. I was certainly not okay. Everything was overwhelming for me. My whole life was slowly crumbling and there was no way for me to fix it.

I shook my head in disagreement and broke down into tears. "No..I-I am n-ot okay." I stuttered amidst my tears.

I did not know what I was doing but right now all I wanted to do was confide in someone.

Surprisingly for me, the stranger smiled at me and whispered softly into my ears. "I can help with that."