The Billionaire's Substitute Wife

Eve

When Eve entered her twin's room the morning after that memorable bachelorette party, her parents were storming out of the luxurious hotel bathroom. 

"How can she disappear on the morning of her own wedding? Mr. Stark will end us all!" 

Eve had come to ask her twin about the handsome stranger Eve had kissed in her drunken state. Her memory was still scattered from the night before. 

She shouldn't have taken that powerful vodka. 

Mr. and Mrs. Wilson searched under the bed and different bags as if their beloved daughter would appear from there.

Finally, Mr. Wilson gave up and slumped into the bed, his eyes wary. 

"What do we do, Denise? She withdrew all the money as she left." 

Denise Wilson screamed on hearing that, and placed her hands on her head as if it were the end of the world.

Eve was confused, but she held herself from reminding her parents that they were yet to see her since three years ago. 

She hadn't expected her classy parents to come to the airport and pick her up after a long journey from Britain yesterday, but she had expected a little excitement at least. 

Well, bugger it all. 

"Shouldn't we be worried about how she's doing? She may have been abducted or just having cold feet." Eve decided to butt in, but her mother looked at her and started laughing humorlessly. 

"You don't get cold feet after signing a billion dollar contract. What? She ran away with it all! Our company will be pulled down and I would have to sell all my diamonds!" 

Eve resisted the urge to roll her eyes at her mother, and focused instead on dialing her sister's number. 

It was there on the table, killing the hope Eve had held. 

Eve walked towards the luxurious table which smelt of different expensive perfumes. There was a piece of note slid underneath the phone. 

'Sorry, dad, mum. I just can't do this, take care of Zoe.' 

As she stared at the paper which hadn't even mentioned her name, Eve felt those years of her twin sister's selfishness return with full force. 

She had left her infant behind, and as a daycare teacher, Eve considered it the worst crime ever.

Minutes later, their mother saw the paper in her palms and cried out in a louder voice, but their father hushed her.

"Shh, someone might hear us!" 

Just on cue, the doorbell went off and her parents started panicking again. 

"Oh dear, what if Mr. Stark already knows that she bailed? We will be paupers by evening, and to think that Ava didn't leave a dime behind!" 

Eve had to get out of her parents' presence or she would go crazy. It reminded her of why she had left home in the first place and flown all the way to another continent for three years. 

Three miserable years of failed relationships.

One problem at a time, she calmed herself down and threw the door open, blinking in surprise as a beautiful young lady smiled at her. 

"Happy wedding day to you! Let's get you all prepped for those beautiful pictures!" 

What? Whoever this lady was? She thought she was Ava! 

Before Eve could correct them, she had walked in with a train of people bearing large boxes, her parents had walked briskly out of the room to join them in the spacious living room.

It was the kind of hotel room Eve had slept in last night after kissing that stranger with the most delectable lips. 

"Oh... Mrs. Wilson, Mr. Wilson, I will make Ava the most beautiful bride and take the best pictures!" 

The woman was saying again, and when Eve stepped forward to correct that assumption, her mother started speaking rapidly. 

"I know right? Let me take her to the bathroom for a sweet mother-daughter talk." 

What the heck was her mother doing? 

She was being dragged into the bathroom and her father was flashing that fake mischievous smile as if he had won the lottery. 

As soon as the bathroom door was slammed shut, Mrs. Wilson turned to her. "You have to dress up as your sister. Sure it will be difficult to convince people that you are the superstar model but still..."

What?

"Hell no!" Eve screamed, but her mother hushed her.

"Yes! If not, your father and I will have to give up the company and we will be charged for theft! The Stark family is brutal!"

"And you want me to deceive them so they can kill me once they find out?" Eve countered her mother. Had they all gone insane?

Before she could get the opportunity to say anything else, her mother had covered her eyes and started sobbing. 

"We will be out in the streets and disgraced for everyone to laugh at us. Things haven't been so good at the company, that's why your father and I were grateful for this marriage."

Eve hated that her mother's fake tears still got to her after all these years. No, she had to stand her ground. She had learnt a thing or two about manipulation in psychology class.

"So you sold Ava like a priced pig?" 

Had her sister been unhappy? Eve had always assumed she had it all and her cold-hearted twin had acted like the world revolved around her.

At that, her mother slid to the cold floors, raising her eyes upwards. "Oh please! Ava came up with the plan to hold down Mr. Stark using the kid. We were all supposed to have a share in the money and now she's made away with it all!" 

Eve felt dizzy with disgust. How could her parents and her sister do this?

She wasn't going to be part of this. 

And so like she had done three years ago when she boarded the flight to England, she shook her head at her mother.

"No, mum. I will never be a part of this scheme." 

"Wait! Eve!"

She ignored her mother and opened the door, but as she made to walk out on everyone and take the next flight back to her home, a little child she hadn't noticed before slid off the arms of a new face and crawled towards her, incomplete teeth widening as she saw Eve.

"Ma...ma!" 

The little girl's eyes were  unmistakeably blue like Ava's, but that was also like Eve's.

As she wondered what to say, staring at that adorable creature who spread her little arms in eagerness to meet her, the younger girl who had been carrying her muttered.

"Oh my God! This is baby Zoe's first word!"