It took a few seconds for my cousin to reach the scene of the crime and my aunt and uncle came right after. Scolding Clayton for having his indecent saga in the family kitchen. But then my angry grandmother who had just woken up stormed in angrily.
“What is going on? Why did you scream like that you brat?” She scolds me.
“Grandmother, Clayton was kissing that girl in the kitchen.” Conan explains mischievously,
“I am not that girl; I am his girlfriend.” Hailee defended herself.
The reaction of the rest of the family had been coordinated. Yes, we had urged Clay to marry many times, but I knew everyone agreed with me on the choice of his bride.
“Sit down.”
Grandmother ordered before ranting to the rest of the family on how to choose partners. She had stared at Hailee with an annoying face a few times. But Clayton had defended her, a really nice defense, Clayton wasn’t an ideal man to marry. Yes, he was a handsome rich man, but he was what many called a playboy, though many women still desired him, he like Hailee had flaws that women should rather run away from
“You were the one who urged me to settle down remember?”
Clayton reasons, looking pitiful at grandmother a gesture only worked when grandmother was reluctant of her decisions. But tonight, grandmother would not budge, he had noticed himself by the frown on her face when he had tried to be cute.
“It is not happening Clayton! You are not marrying that woman.”
“But grandmother…...”
“Any woman is fine just not her.” Grandmother puts her foot down before leaving the room along with my aunt and uncle. I see the hurt in his eyes, maybe he really likes this Leech girl. But there is no way I am letting this happen.
“And please do whatever you were doing in your room, the kitchen is for food for goodness’s sake.” I tried to lighten up his mood before leaving the room, but I only heard Conan, who was still extremely interested in what was happening, laugh. I know Clay was glaring at him.
The next morning Hailee had not left yet, she had woken before Clay to ‘take care’ of grandmother. Who seems to disapprove of everything she does.
“But grandmother….”
“Don’t you ever call me grandmother you brat.” Grandmother would yell each time Hailee called her grandmother. That is Melisa Beckett for you, strong backbone, and unyielding resolve.
Many would call our family toxic for not letting Clayton have his way. But Hailee is just not the right fit for him, she is a woman who singlehandedly destroyed a close acquittance’s life. He might not be naïve enough to lose his company, but he might get hurt. And I do not want my only bear to be wounded.
“Why did you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Scream like that, now the whole family know about my girlfriend.”
“It was traumatic Clay; I couldn't comprehend what had just happened.” I pout, how could he call Leech a girlfriend, I need to intervene, find him a better suitor to marry.
“Whatever you are thinking it will not happen” Clayton exclaimed “Besides, Hailee is not that bad Cyan; she is a good girl.”
“Why are you doing this huh?”
“Grandmother, she is not feeling well lately. I do not want to lose her before making her wish come true like mom and dad.”
“So, you find the biggest Leech in the planet to marry, and you think grandmother would be happy?” what a crazy man he is, I know grandmother would love to see us get married, but this is just reckless.
“You will never understand, just keep the mean comments to yourself, Hailee is sensitive.”
“I will keep them to myself if she keeps her mouth shut.” I yell at his raging back, as he leaves the room.
(Clayton POV)
‘Ugh, why is everyone against my relationship, it is not like she will take my money. She loves me, I hope. And I tolerate her, it was hard for me to find a woman I tolerate.’ I could not comprehend my family’s actions, I had always been responsible, and they had trusted me since.
Grandmother had criticized my ‘fast’ way of living, ‘what if you catch disease from all the girls you sleep with. they Had hated my way of breaking the law occasionally, but the reaction against Hailee is too much.
“Honey, your grandmother called me a b*tch” she does talk too much sometimes and is annoying. “You should take care of her.” And she is dumb most of the time, but that is a good wife for me. I will always be in control of the relationship. “Honey.”
“What do you want me to do Hailee?” I snap at her, ugh, it is almost aunt’s dinner and I do not want to ruin it.
“Tell her that our marriage will happen even if she doesn’t approve.” Maybe they are right, maybe I should just dump this trash where it belongs, how dare she speak even a foul word about my grandmother?
“Hailee should know her boundaries,”
“Huh, what do you….” I see the horror on her face once she realized her mistake.
I had admired her ability to use her looks to make money, she had also made sure her fraudulent marriages always passed as legit. But she is beginning to irritate me.
“I am sorry, I was so angry I spoke ill of grandmother. I will never do the same mistake again.”
“Good, now go and help others prepare for the party and stop annoying me.”
Maybe this love route is wrong, I should just find a good business partner to marry. I am not like father who had found a precious woman as mother to put up with his craziness. ‘They must be so disappointed in me; I not only had taken lives. But I am also not finding a lovely wife like they would have loved.’
After taking a shower and joining the family for dinner. Even though they had shot Hailee glares, they still didn’t talk ill of her tonight, it was all about aunt tonight and no one was going to ruin it.
“Stay where you are, I will come fetch you. Please breathe.”
Cyan is having trouble with her friends yet again, nothing unusual, just another ploy to get our family’s favor using my sister. And overdone thing that Cyan had known enough to see through it.
“Leah please breathe, I will get you out. Do not panic, it will scare Zoey okay.”
This seems different, Cyan had friends that had pulled this stunt before. They would call with a problem, but it would all be a ploy to get to the Beckett house.
“I thought you learned from your mistakes. But you are rushing to yet another girl’s aid.” I scolded her as she put her phone down in panic.
“Leah would never use me; tell aunt I will be back. I need to rescue her.”
“You are not bringing her here; you speak of Hailee as if she is a Leech but you dear Leah seems to be just that.”
“Whatever.”
I watch as she runs out of the house, here we go again. Cyan had always made terrible friends. She had not had any freeloading friends since she started college. But now it seems like she is going back to her old ways. ‘Guess I am going to threaten and beat up someone for hurting my little sister soon.’ I sigh as I go tell grandmother of the bad friend Cyan had just made yet again.
(Kaleah POV) It had been a doomed morning from the beginning, taking care of Zoey alone had taken a toll on me. I really needed to find a person to help me take care of her. The door had been locked when I slept but to my surprise it had been unlocked when I woke. ‘Paranoia would make you lose your mind’ I had thought. When I opened my phone Cyan had sent me loads of photos of her family. ‘That brat Clay wants to marry a con artist’ is the topic for the day. She had complained about how Hailee Leech was leeching of her brother and her brother was letting her. And though it is stung a lot, I still felt happy for Clayton deep-deep-deep down. ‘Bang.’ Maybe it is not paranoia, Zoey had woken up crying fanatically last night and I had felt a presence. “Hello, Cyan, is it you?” “Good morning, Miss Leah.” I heaved a sigh of relief, it was just Taylor, Cyan called her to take care of me yesterday. What a precious husband she is, note to self, make sure any future husband knows that Cya
Instead of a slap or a punch, he caresses my cheek before tilting my head with his fingers on my chin. “Open your eyes.” He orders, but I vigorously shake my head, I am not looking in this man’s eyes before he kills me. I will die like a cool lead in a movie, with pride. “I will ask one more time, open your eyes.” Okay pride is not a thing to be proud of, I slowly open my eyes to meet his brown lustful eyes. Wait a minute lustful, why is he lustful? Oh, hell no, “Is this a sadistic or masochistic trait?” Sometimes I wish my brain and lips do not connect, voicing out this is going to lead to torture before he beheads me. He is taken aback by the comment, “I didn’t mean it for you, it is this story I was reading last night that I am thinking about.” I explained dumbly. He rolls his eyes, “what is your name?” he seductively asks, okay he might have not been seductive, but no man around me had spoken in such a sexy tone to me, let me have my heroine in a novel moment. “Ka…. Kaleah.
(Third person POV) ‘Kaleah Huxley,’ to Clayton that was a woman who never means what she says. Even though they are staying at the same house, he had only seen her silhouette when she sneaks away from the kitchen every morning. He had tried to catch her making milk one morning like he did when they first met, but she was already running to her room when he had arrived. “Cain, what have you found about the girl?” Cain Dealer had just started working for Clayton only about 14 years. Yes, he had always been a lacky since childhood, but he did not mind. Aside from his bad attitude Clayton wasn’t such a bad person. “Oh, um... she is the only child of the late Ashely Huxley and the newly remarried Ore Huxley.” He lies, Cain had been threatened to limit information he tells Clayton by. And Mrs. Melisa Beckett threatened to kill him if he lists Zoey as Kaleah’s sister. Though he trusted she would never hurt him, he trusted she would hurt him at the same time. Better safe than sorry they
“Ms. Leech.” “Honey, you should call me by my name, we are going to get married soon, so we should speak intimately.” She giggles, “I told you grandmother approves yesterday, you should have seen how shocked she was when I gave her an ultimatum.” His chair seems to have thorns, he loosens up his tie, to help him breathe more. Maybe it is the pressure in his lungs that is making him feel repulsed by her. It doesn’t help, in fact her lustful eyes at his actions makes him want to commit a crime. “Ms. Leech.” “Honey?” the formality in his tone makes her frown, she had expected him to call he Hailee like he had always had. “This relationship is not working, so, I am going to end it indeterminately.” The words choke her up, he watches as her eyes become teary and he wants to curse her out of his office. He was never the one to take the moral high ground, he was a terrible person. One who should get agitated that a girl whose heart he had just broken is sad at the end of their relatio
Melisa had sat on the patio of her bedroom taking care of Zoey. She had already had her fair share of grandchildren but having a great grandchild as precious as Zoey makes her smile endlessly. “Just wait until those fools marry, I will shower you with so many gifts.” Due to Kaleah’s modesty she had to dress Zoey in Cyan’s old clothes, her beautiful fair skin covered with jumpers and jackets to protect her from the cold. Cyan had complained that she might overheat but Cyan had raised some children to tell know how sensitive babies skin was. She fondles with the precious cheek of her future greatgrandchild, “I will also have to get adoption papers ready, once you are legally a Beckett You will be my great grandchild for life.” The first Fool (Kaleah) had been refusing the courtesy and sincerity of Melisa buying Zoey gifts with the reasoning that Melisa had helped them enough. But when she marries the second fool (Clayton) no one can stop Melisa from spoiling her great grandchild. The
When choosing dresses, they had finally landed at a green one strap dress that had everyone’s approval. And even as she adorns it tonight, she still feels unworthy of the dress. She needs to leave quickly before Clayton sees her, she does admit that she can see him flirt with her, but she will never admit being attracted to him. “So, if the man ends up being someone you don’t like what will you do?” Cyan asks. “It is not possible; Melisa sang him praises I doubt I would hate him.” This makes Cyan smirk before asking “even if it my brother?” “What? Why? How? Um…” Cyan is dumbstruck at Kaleah’s reaction, maybe their chemistry really is fatal, Kaleah takes a breath before replying, “I doubt your grandmother would set her precious grandson with an undocumented immigrant who has no job and is a single parent. Clayton wouldn’t accept the relationship; he has a girlfriend.” A nonchalant reply, one would believe Kaleah, well Cyan did fall for the trap several times by believing that Kalea
(Clayton’s POV) This must be some joke; my grandmother had said she chose someone suitable for me. But instead, the person is one who avoids me and shuts me down when I flirt with her. Was this all a ploy, did she successfully use my sister to get into our family? I finally found a flaw in her; I had thought she was innocent but instead she had been planning to force me into marrying her. If she just reciprocated my feelings when I flirt, then she would have had to use Cyan. “Tsk, grandmother said she found me a good partner.” “Well, the thing is, I had… I had…...” she tries to explain but it all comes out disingenuous. “I had fell for you at first sight.” She lies, she sweetly lies with her little pink lips, her green eyes shake at the dishonest words she had just said. “So, when I fell in love with you, I... I was too shy to approach you directly and you have a girlfriend and then grandmother produced this plan.” She gulps, her lies becomes plausible with every word or maybe it
As we walked out of the restaurant, I started to wonder why Kaleah was getting nervous again. Turns out, in grandmother’s whole plan she had assumed that Kaleah and I would be on good terms enough to not send her a driver to take her home. Yes, I know, how smart of her. “I will call a taxi; you do not have to drive me home.” She shyly exclaimed, the more she speaks, the more she exposes her true feelings. She still avoided my gaze and would stop at nothing to be away from me, it sends a sharp pain in my heart. “I do not mind driving you home, I am sure letting my fiancé who was stalked, walk home wouldn’t make me a good partner would it?” “But you have prior engagements you need to rush to” she flashes a genuine smile, a smile I wish she would causally show me, “I can always call Cyan to come pick me up.” I pause to examine her for a moment, though she still was physical anxious, her trembling fingers fondling with her purse profoundly. Her eyes radiated confidence, and so did he