Runaway Bride

Astrid POV

Through the haze of my dreams, I heard someone repeatedly call my name from far away.

"Astrid, Astrid!!"

I moaned, burrowed deeper into the warmth of my blankets, then pulled my pillow over my head, as if doing that would send the insistent voice away.

But the blankets were poor cover for what was coming. Because the next thing I felt was the bite of morning air as my blankets were pulled off me.

"Wake up, Astrid, your sister is missing!"

My eyes flew open, and I sat up immediately, my heart racing, as I was confronted by the stress all over my parents' faces.

My head swam from disorientation, and I pressed my cold fingers on my heated face.

Later by midday today, a ceremony is going to be held on the grounds, in the expansive garden Ingrid and I had played in as children.

I had only just gone to sleep not long ago, and I needed to be up early to take care of any last-minute arrangements.

So, it took me a second to fully come to terms with the fact that both my parents were in my room, telling me that they could not find my sister on her wedding morning.

Then I remembered. The same Ingrid? The life of the party? The golden child who always gets what she wants without a hassle?"

This was just Ingrid being Ingrid. Getting into some mischief and still getting out of it unscathed?

That was her speciality.

I mean, Ingrid had always been the sort of person who demanded all the attention in the room like it was her due.

After she had posted an I*******m carousel, which featured a photo of her and Knox Gage at a dreamy, exclusive, seaside location, a 5-carat, antique cushion-cut diamond engagement ring, amongst others, it became clear that this wedding would be Sunville's event of the year.

There had been interviews, magazine covers.

The wedding had been all anyone could talk about. Ingrid had eaten it up.

So, I could not understand why my parents were looking so panicked.

Nobody wanted this wedding more than Ingrid; there was no way she would be a no-show at her own glamorous wedding.

The same Ingrid, who had enjoyed gloating, had dragged me along to all the plans being done for her wedding, simply because she knew that I had a crush on Knox.

'As if she will miss the chance to taunt me with her happiness.' I thought as I stretched and yawned lazily, certain that my parents were being worried for nothing.

"She has probably forgotten the time and is dancing in a giant champagne flute with some sexy strippers, along with her bridesmaids." I waved dismissively at them, "Just prepare hangover tea and some aspirin ahead."

"How like Ingrid to cause drama on such a day," I muttered, annoyed at my sleep being interrupted at the sweetest point.

I adjusted my pillow and lay back on the bed, then started to pull the blanket over my body when father grabbed it.

'Huh?'

My face scrunched up in annoyance, but the grave expression on his face sent a chill through me.

"Ingrid is not with her bridesmaids," mother whispered fearfully. "We really can't find her anywhere. Your father has tried."

I stiffened, then reached for my phone, then dialed my twin sister's number, only to hear the cold, impersonal tone of the operator informing me that the number was out of service.

My brow furrowed, and I looked up at my parents.

"Maybe she is with Knox." I said hopefully.

It would not be the first time that Ingrid and Knox had gone on some midnight shenanigans. I could not understand why our parents were acting so scared; she would be back.

She always came back.

'Unless…'

The Gage family was one of the wealthiest in Sunville.

'What if she had been kidnapped for ransom?'

"Do you think she has been kidnapped?" My hands started to shake.

There was no love lost between us, but Ingrid is still my twin.

The thought of her being in danger terrified me.

"We have to call the police." I mumbled and started dialing, "Knox can help."

But my mother slapped the phone out of my hand.

My gasp mingled with the sound of the phone falling to the ground, and I looked up at them in shock.

I really took a good look at my parents.

At my father's white face, a vein on his forehead, pulsing like it wanted to break the surface.

While my mother, the usually elegant, composed Ada Hargrave, who never raised her voice above a classy hum, was pacing barefoot on the carpet, her silk robe untied, absetmindedly biting her nails.

'She never chews her fingernails,' I thought dumbly. 'That's my job.'

It dawned on me that, indeed, something serious was happening. And they were not telling me everything.

"What is really happening?" I demanded, slipping out of bed.

I watched my parents glance at each other before dropping their eyes to the ground in resignation.

"Ingrid ran away," father said, then pulled out a piece of paper from his pyjama pocket. "She left this behind."

I hastily snatched the paper and, as I read the words, carelessly scribbled in my sister's handwriting. I felt my belly twist.

My knees suddenly became wobbly, too weak to hold me up. I sat on my bed in a daze.

My sister had been given the world on a platter, and she chose to just… Throw it away.

The words made no sense to me. I knew Ingrid was selfish, but this was simply out of it.

"The guests are going to be here in a few hours, the food, the decorations." Mother's voice intruded on the ringing in my ears. "What are we going to do?"

Her voice broke into a sob.

"We have to tell Knox," I said firmly.

It was only right that he knew what had happened.

That he knew that the woman he loved was a spoiled brat who cared for no one else's feelings but hers.

"We will show him the note, and then he will know what to do," I continued resolutely. "He can find Ingrid and bring her back."

Mother grabbed the note out of my hand, her face suddenly ferocious.

I could see that the thought of her baby having to face some consequences had turned her to mother bear.

"You want Knox to see that?" She growled, "You want him to know that Ingrid could not bear the thought of being tied to him for the rest of her life, and she decided to break free?"

"Break free?" I asked, then laughed, a crazy, disbelieving sound.

"Knox gave her everything she wanted. They have been dating for years. Why did she accept his proposal if she knew she did not want to be shackled to him?"

"You need to understand your sister." Father scolded sternly. "She is a free spirit who should not be tethered."

"Who knows what she is going through? She is probably sad and lonely."

I huffed in disbelief at the grief on my parents' faces.

My sister had set into motion what could be the most humiliating day for the family, and somehow, my parents were still championing her cause.

They were not even thinking about the consequences of humiliating Sunville's most powerful family.

Our businesses depended on them.

I wondered what it would look like if I had been the one to pull a stunt like the one my sister just did.

They would have hauled my ass back and punished me severely.

But since Ingrid was the culprit, they were full of love and light.

It was a theme that was constant in the Hargrave family. Ingrid could do whatever she wanted; she could never do any wrong in our parents' eyes.

"Fine," I said after a beat. "If you are not going to tell Knox that his bride has gone Julia Roberts, what are you going to say when he comes, and there is no bride?"

"Who said there will be no bride?" Mother asked calculatingly.

"So you know where Ingrid is?" I asked in confusion. "Why have we been here discussing her note, then?"

"We don't know where Ingrid has gone, Astrid," Father explained gently.

I tilted my head, more confused at my parents' contradictory words, then, as understanding filled me, my eyes widened, and I shook my head vehemently.

"No way!" I said and walked away from them.

"Please, Astrid. You are our only hope," mother followed me with pleading eyes.

I scoffed and looked away.

"No, your only hope is to tell Knox the truth and leave me out of this," I said firmly, crossing my arms resolutely and staring at the early morning sun that was poised to rise soon.

"The Gage family is going to be insulted if we tell them on the day of the wedding that their bride has disappeared." Father pleaded.

"That is not my problem." I raised my hand and walked away.

I felt suffocated, and I wished that I could just run far away from everyone.

I wanted to laugh at the irony of my parents offering the same man I had secretly pined over for years.

"Not your problem?" Mother's voice dropped, losing its pleading edge and sharpening into a blade. "Astrid, look at us. If this wedding doesn't happen, the Gages will pull their investments and we will lose everything. Your grandmother's legacy, this house... The family name, we will be disgraced, impoverished gentility."

I stared at her without an ounce of pity.

Maybe if Ingrid had been scolded a few times despite how cuuute she was, she would not have turned out to be such an awful person.

I was not taking the fall for Ingrid, no matter how desperately I wanted Knox.

"Are you going to save our family or not?" came Dad's calm voice.