"I do not believe this!" Mom's voice shattered the stillness that fall upon the room as she paced from one end to the other, hands on her hips.
Kareen ran away from her wedding, Realization sunk deep into my system. Why would she do that?!
Mom sharply reeled to dad. "Philip, call Kareen immediately!" She ordered and Dad didn't hesitate as he pulled out his phone and dialed Kareen's number but it immediately went into voicemail. "Keep trying till you get through!" She rasped, racking her hands through her hair, aggravated.
"Now listen..." The woman got up on her feet, arranging her glasses. "Today's rite is not about wedding two people together, Billions of dollars are involved, contracts are at risk, and believe me, I won't lose any of those because of some foolish girl who makes preposterous decisions!"
"We will have to postpone the wedding, something must have happened to Kareen!" Dad suggested and a peal of demeaning laughter erupted from the woman's throat.
"This wedding will not be postponed for whatever reasons. While you find your dumb daughter, she can take her place,"
I recoiled as the woman averted her gaze to where I stood.
"No!" Mom instantly declined, terror in her voice and I couldn't agree more. There was no way was I taking my sister's place in the aisle.
"Your choice. However, I expect to see one of your daughters at the altar within 30 minutes, If not, I will make your lives a living hell till you beg for death!"
Her tone was arcadian yet, her words were gutsy and fierce, crammed with malignancy. Taking a last glance at us, she roamed out, the girl immediately following after her as she slammed the door shut, leaving me and my family to pounder.
Seconds turned into minutes and 10 minutes had already passed since we remained tight-lipped and unmoving in that room. Mom pounding on the bed, dad pacing from one corner to the other, trying to get through Kareen's phone, Eloise beside mom, trying to comfort her while I occupied a chair at the corner, equally hushed up in thoughts.
The piercing silence went on till Mom stood up, picked up the wedding dress on the bed, and threw it at me. "Put it on, you are taking Kareen's place,"
"What!" I bolted to my feet.
"You heard what Mrs. Evans said, your sister has to be at the altar in 20 minutes,"
I shook my head. "I'm not doing it, am not marrying a stranger!" I declined.
Mom sharply glared at me, taking a threatening step forward. "You are not doing this for yourself, Kim. You are doing this for Kareen and our family! "
"That's wrong Mom!"
"Our lives are going to turn out wrong if you don't freaking show up at the altar as your twin sister!" Mom suddenly shouted, stymied veins socking on her forehead while her eyes blazed with wrath, drilling holes through my face. She stepped closer. "The Rodriguez are the most powerful and influential people in the US, do you want to get on their bad side?"
Everyone was cognizant and knew of the Rodriguez. That name made people spineless just at the mention of it. Getting on the Rodriguez's bad side was like a death wish you didn't want to have however, that didn't mean I would get married to some stranger, for my sister's or family's sake. I had my dreams and I refused to ruin them like this.
"We can still talk this out with Mrs. Evans or the groom, " I suggested.
"This issue is not going out from this room, it's going to be settled here, you are going in as Kareen till we find her!"
"You saw the note she left, Kareen ran away from her wedding, she doesn't wish to be married, what makes you think she is going to want her place back!" My voice rose higher than I intended, coming out a bit maddened.
"Then you remained married till we get to the bottom of this!"
I shook my head. "I refuse, I won't be part of this. If you are so afraid of the Rodriguez's, you can show up at the altar as Kareen because I won't!" I stood my ground, my green eyes blazing with equal anger till my cheek was struck. My face swiveled to the side at the sudden and unexpected impact. My hand slowly reached up to brush my burning cheek while my gaze locked with the harsh ones of mom, who breathed heavily in anger.
I scoffed. "I'm still not getting married to a stranger mom,"
"What have you done for our family Kim, you have been nothing but a disappointment!" Mom screeched, "We've never asked anything from you up till now and when we do, you become an ungrateful bitch!" She spat and pointed her index finger at me. "You are going to get married to Mr. Rodriguez, if you do not, you can forget that I'm your mother, you can forget you ever had a family!" She screamed at my face.
Staring at her, I felt a teardrop slip down my face as her words cut through my heart. My hand went up to my chest, squeezing it while tears stream down my face.
"You are so useless, if it had been Kareen, she wouldn't have hesitated to put her family first but look at you, so ungrateful and stupid!"
Where was Kareen now?! I nearly yelled out the words but left them hanging in my throat.
Mom grabbed the wedding dress and held it to my face. "Put on the dress, Kim. If Kareen never comes back, you will remain as Mrs. Rodriguez till they wish to get rid of you!"
I gaped. Was I that worthless in their eyes? Pretend to be Kareen till they wished to get rid of me...? A little laugh broke out of my throat as I slowly took the dress from her hand.
I shut my eyes and took a deep breath, calming my raging heartbeats. I opened my eyes and stared directly at my mom, then at my dad who had remained silent.
"I will do it and remember this, I'm your daughter too,"
As payback for putting up with my disappointment and failure for 23years.
To be continued...!
I'd want to take this opportunity to thank you everyone for reading this book. I am aware that there are many novels out there that are superior to mine, but the fact that you took the time to finish it warms my heart. You don't know how happy you've made me by starting and ending this adventure with me, so thank you. It gives me a sense of fulfillment. Thank you. If you have any questions, please ask. And please... And don't forget to vote, comment, and give this poor author a review; it would mean the world to me. Please take the time to look at my other works as well; I hope you'll like them all. Bless you all and love you all. Bye!
(Kim's Point of View)"Congratulations, Mrs. Rodriguez, you are two weeks pregnant."I gaped, too shocked while staring at the doctor till fingers were snapping in front of my face. I turned to look at Ivy, she was giggling."You should see your face, Kim. Congrats! Killian is gonna have a younger one." Once I'd overcome the shock, I smiled at the doctor before standing up, pulling Ivy with me."Thank you, Doctor, I will be right on time for my cheek-ups." She returned the smile and we walked out of the office, once we were out, I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.We began heading towards the exit."You don't look so happy with the news?" Ivy observed."You don't have to worry your pretty brain Ivy, I am happy. I was just shocked. I just wasn't expecting to get pregnant so quickly, Killian is not even 2 years old yet." I shrugged.We stepped out of the hospital and went to the parking lot where my car was. I was about to open the door when..."Kim! Ivy!"The loud call of
(Ivy's Point Of View)Meet the Author of 'Enigma'Fan signs were one thing I always look forward to. Though the money I get went straight to my bank account, meeting the fans made me feel like people were really reading.I was a bestseller, I know but nothing surpassed the feeling of meeting the fans and giving my autograph. I look forward to it every time."Thank you for coming." I smiled at my 20th fan today, taking her copy of my book. It was a 17-year-old girl with the curliest hair I'd ever seen and here I was thinking Kim's hair was curly but she ruined it by straightening it up. "I like your hair, it's pretty." I handed her back the book while a blush crept to her face. "Will you be writing a new book soon?" She stared at me expectantly, the look in her eyes was bounding, it made me want to spill all my secrets.I cracked a wide smile, motioning my hand for her to get closer. She leaned crossed the table that separated us. I moved to her ear."This is a secret but I felt you s
[EVY’S POINT OF VIEW]Mrs. Evans was in jail, Nate was gone, and I couldn't be happier, but I couldn't say the same for Seb. He always had this expression that said he was regretting a lot of things, and I was at a loss for words as to how to console him. I’d tried to but he was always busy with one thing or the other.While waiting for Seb to descend the stairs, I stood on the last step and stared up at the ceiling. When Seb finally did, he descended with sluggish steps.“Do I have to?” Standing in front of me, he questioned. “I told you I’m fine, I don’t need to step out. I’ll survive.”I grinned and took his hand in mine slowly. "I know, but since I've already made reservations, I want to take you out."He gave me a beseeching look. “Can’t we stay at home?”"Of course not, I'd like to spend some time with my husband; we haven't gone out since we returned. Please, don’t say no?” My lips created a pout.He smiled and reached out to pinch my cheeks. "I'll do anything for you, baby."
[Kim’s Point of View]I awoke thirsty at 4 a.m. With an empty glass in hand, I decided to go to the kitchen, but I stopped short for a split second when I noticed Arthur also sipping on water.I immediately turned away from him when he turned to look at me and went to the refrigerator without saying a word.I reached for a bottle of water and filled the glass."Are you still mad at me?" he asked abruptly, causing me to pause for a moment."No," I replied flatly. “It doesn’t look like it.” He retorted.“You don’t know everything just by looking.” I controlled my urge to grit my teeth.For a moment, I believed he had left because all I could hear was my breathing. However, that was before a hand suddenly wrapped around my wrist and spun me without warning.I opened my mouth to protest, but Arthur abruptly lifted me by the hips as if I were no heavier than a piece of paper and set me down on the kitchen counter before I had a chance to say anything. Once more, I was unable to respond as
(Kim's Point of View)When Ms. Ruth entered the room, I was settling Killian for a nap. She appeared tense, almost as if something was pursuing her. "Is there something wrong, Ms. Ruth?" I turned away from Killian once he was completely out.She gulped. "Your mother is outside, and she is completely insane. I wasn't sure if I should let her in because your conversation didn't end well the last time she was here, and from what I saw outside, this conversation wouldn't either." I cracked a smile and placed a hand over her shoulder. "You don't need to worry, Ms. Ruth; I'll take care of my Mom; she's probably here because of Kareen."Her favorite child has been arrested, of course, she would come here.I exited the room, passing Ms. Ruth.My mother was yelling from the front gate when I arrived outside the mansion. I sighed as I stepped forward and unlocked the gate."Mo-"I wasn't able to finish as her palm struck my cheek. My head tipped to the side as a result of the collision, which