A Sham of a Honeymoon

In Paris, the city of love, Eve sat somewhere in an empty vacation house staring at the Eiffel tower from a distance.

She had imagined going there for her honeymoon with Seth, but the only proposal she had got from him was a revelation that he was gay but could still marry her if 'she insisted on it.'

As if she had lost all dignity.

For a whole year she had blamed herself for their lack of chemistry and felt like a cold fish in bed.

That relationship had ended a month before she left for her sister's wedding along with her dreams of finding the right one.

And now she was in an expensive house which came with luxurious installations like a pool, impersonating her sister. All alone with the baby, Sonia the nanny and housekeepers.

Alessandro had left immediately after alighting from the limo which had picked them up on arriving in the private jet.

Everything was luxurious and yet so lonely.

Eve didn't like anything in her sister's phone or any of the skimpy dresses that the housekeeper had unpacked as hers.

As she was shooting yet another text message to her parents, her phone started ringing. 

It was Hannah, her mother's assistant.

"Good day, Mrs. Stark." The young woman had the guts to be amused.

Eve rolled her eyes mentally. "Don't call me that. What's happening? Why isn't my mum picking up or giving me any update?" 

By now they should have found her sister with their connections so she would return to her life.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Mrs.... Ms. Wilson, they are doing all they can, just think of it as a vacation and uhm, relax. It's France, you can shop and date..."

What the...

"Hannah, I'm serious right now. I can't do this for long, tell my mum that if she doesn't stop avoiding my calls, I will take action and tell Mr. Stark everything." 

It was a bluff, but Hannah didn't know it, and surprisingly broke into tears the next second.

"Oh dear, your parents didn't want to tell you this, but your dad is...sick, Ms. Wilson. I... Your mum doesn't want him to die in disgrace and... He could use the money from the contract to get treated."

Now Eve knew that her parents were manipulative. 

Especially her mother.

"Oh please, that lie doesn't get to me anymore." She told Hannah.

However, she received a couple of messages at that moment, and they were pictures of medical bills in her father's name.

They were dated as far back as last year.

"Have you seen them, Ms. Wilson? Please just endure for a while, Ava will be found soon. I will take care of getting you a leave from your workplace." 

Eve was conflicted; she was both sad and in disbelief. 

She stared at the medical bills again, millions of dollars had been spent already. 

But most importantly, her father was... seriously sick and she hadn't been around or aware of it.

She slumped into a seat, tightening her hold on the phone.

"Is he...going to be fine?"

Hannah sniffed in the background. "He had gotten much better from the time he was diagnosed. But Mrs. Wilson is still scared because of his blood pressure."

Eve swallowed hard, biting into her cheeks. "It's okay, I will stay."

For her father, and most especially for that baby who had giggled and reached for her as soon as they arrived in Paris.

"Thanks erhm...Mrs. Stark. Sorry, but get used to it. I will send you everything you need to know about Ms. Ava, and her schedule."

"Schedule?" 

Hannah replied immediately. "She's still signed under Mr. Stark's company as their global ambassador. I'll also send you her preference and every other thing."

She would endure, no matter how difficult it was.

"Okay, Hannah. I'll be waiting." 

***

But Eve didn't know the extent of what she would have to put up with till the fake husband returned by ten in the night with a woman in his arm.

What?

She had stayed awake after putting Zoe to bed, with hopes of talking to him about their arrangement.

For instance, how long were they supposed to be in Paris?

But he returned with a red-haired in short dress and boobs threatening to spill from her deep V-neck blouse.

What the fuck was he doing with that doll on the night of their wedding?

Without knowing it, Eve felt betrayed by the man who had kissed her, and angry at his level of disrespect. 

Luckily, the staff had retired for the night when she marched downstairs to meet them, her chest heaving in anger.

"What the fuck is the meaning of this, Alessandro?" 

Mr. Stark had the guts to look angry, and the bimbo in his arm pouted with those lips covered in thick red lipstick.

"Xandro, why is this person shouting at us? She looks like your housekeeper." The woman muttered in French, giggling in a loud squeaky voice.

"Don't worry, baby. Just go upstairs to my room, I will handle it." He replied in the same language. 

Alessandro let go of the woman who took a degrading look at Eve's long dress, the only thing she could make herself comfortable in, and started to go upstairs.

But Eve blocked her path, crossing her arms over her chest. 

"Xandro baby, get this thing out of my face!" The skimpily dressed woman said again in French, flipping her blinding red hair.

But just when Alessandro made to reply, Eve tilted her chin, grateful then for her tall height. 

Although she still looked petite standing next to Alessandro.

"Did you intentionally choose to look like a clown or was your fashion sense blocked along with your brain?" Eve started in that French language none of them knew she could understand, let alone speak.

Take that, son of a bitch, she wasn't Ava and had no plan of eating his shit!

"What? I...look great!" That high-pitched voice was becoming more annoying.

Eve took a step towards the woman covered in cake make-up.

"Really? Your look is a recipe for disaster. Before you come up here to seduce my husband, look less... sexually unappealing. I could at least pretend you are a worthy competition."

The girl's face reddened in a second and she turned on her heels, pushing a stunned Alessandro as she stormed out of the house. 

"Wha...since when do you speak French or care about what I do in my spare time?" Alessandro finally spoke in that deep sonorous voice that had her juices flowing.

But she couldn't forget that she was mad at him.

She turned to him.

"Since it's our honeymoon, arse! You were going to bring that bimbo to the roof our daughter sleeps in? What the fuck..."

"Oh save that pretence for the magazine interviews! You've fucked tons of men under my roof and you never once cared about Zoe. Need I remind you of the threesome you had two months after she was born, next to the nursery?"

Eve was stunned. 

She was scared of what she would discover about her sister with each passing minute. 

Alessandro raked his fingers through his hair, pacing the expansive living room.

"I fucking had to beg you not to abort her, you held her over my head even when you knew I was dating Lydia! You ruined my life, Ava, and now what? You... Fuck you, Ava."

Pain and sadness filled her heart.

This was a man who had been hurt and then hated her sister deeply.

For a moment, she was tempted to reveal that she was only standing in, that she wasn't the one who had hurt him this much and manipulated him.

"I... You can't constantly use my past against me. It's been a year!" Eve chose to argue uselessly, knowing she had to say something. 

But it irked him even more, and he stepped into her space, his broad chest heaving in his open shirt, his Adam's apple moving as he swallowed hard.

She wanted to reach out and touch him, kiss him, gently. 

"A year? You blackmailed me into marrying you two months ago, and still fucked my employee in my own house! I've had it with you, I'm never falling for that manipulative shit again! Stick to the contract, don't make me end your family company."

Then he was storming out of her presence, his heavy footsteps echoing as he climbed the stairs.

Her heart was heavy at the memory of the hatred, the coldness in his eyes.

Before she could stop it, a tear slid down her cheeks, and she slumped to the cold floor, crying.

What was she to do now? 

The next day, she contacted Hannah again. "Send me the contract and every information on my sister." 

Hours later, Eve received the documents, and made the most shocking discovery.