The Hired Bride

    The Brooke's mansion 

    The soft clinging of glasses on the dining table followed by soft laughs and slight chuckles,the night is a lively one in the home of the Brookes , their daughter will be getting married to the powerful Reynolds Ryan of the New York City .

    As the merriments continues , Mr Brookes sends Bessie to get Vanessa to the table . 

    " Bessie , get Vanessa to the table, she wouldn't want to keep us waiting besides this is the last time we would have such dinner again " Mr Brookes said in a cool but commanding tone as Bessie dash for the spiral stairs within a split second, she breathe heavily as she knocked on the door gently . She knocked twice again without getting a response , " young miss , your father asked me to tell you to come down for dinner " Bessie said in a cool voice . 

    She waited no response , the door was slightly opened and she heard shuffling sounds , sighing,she pushed the door gently as it creaked .

    "Miss Vanessa ? " Bessie called unsure , she didn't want to incur her wrath this blissful evening neither does she wants to be hit ,she stepped into the room gently , adjusting her black skirt appropriately ,she took another step , her shoes making the click sounds as she walked .

    "Miss Vanessa ?" there wasn't any response ,she proceeded to the bathroom to lock the tap as the water flooded the room ,she moved closer to the door only for her to see a drop of blood on the door knob ,she let out a gasp withdrawing her hands from the door knob ,the door went wide-open , Miss Vanessa Brookes in the tub of blood ,she let out a ear piercing scream she swiftly ran all the way downstairs her eyes bulging out as she panted heavily .

    "Where is Vanessa ? "Mr Brookes asked pointedly whole Bessie pointed her hands to the spiral staircase before passing out .

    "What the hell ? " Mr Brookes muttered angrily as he proceeded to call his daughter himself while Violet and Hailey attended to Bessie who laid on the floor,her face was clothed in shock , leaving the both of them wondering what she has seen that made her pass out suddenly .

    Within three minutes , Mr Brookes got upstairs , he walked inside , the door was left ajar .

    " Vanessa , are you still sucking ? , I am doing it for your sake , for your mother's last wish to be honored ,I do care about you and I'm sure Ryan Reynolds is the right man for you " Mr Brookes softly , sighing dejectedly .

    " Princess , let's just have din........." His Statement was cut short when he saw a drop of blood by the bed stand , looking underneath,he saw a kitchen knife , soaked with blood,his heart began to race faster as the followed the print of blood , on the floor which led to the bathroom which was wide open , he let out a loud gasp as his bulged out on seeing the sight ,he called her name in a loud voice " Vanessa " tears stung his eyes as the rest downstairs climbed upstairs to see the disheartening sight while Mr Brookes sank onto the floor weakly ,he was doomed .

    No , he couldn't loose both Vanessa and the deal , he stood upright instantly and walked out of the room , while the rest trooped out visibly shaken by the sight seen as the evening continued in silence while the maids cleared the dining room and retired to their rooms .

    ★ Brooke's room ★

    Mr Brookes paced round the room , sweating profusely while Mrs Brookes sat gracefully on the couch grinning like a Cheshire cat before speaking , "you have nothing to worry about Williams ,I mean your ......" Sloan barely completed her statement as Mr Brookes interrupted her ,  

    "What do you mean I have nothing to worry about Madame , I just lost my daughter and the only person who reminds so well of Emilia and you are saying I should not worry ? " He rasped as Sloan furrowed her brows , despite having her he hasn't completely gotten over his first and late love , she felt a sudden rush of hatred surge through but hating on the dead amounts nothing , sighing softly she rose and walked up to her pacing husband placing her hands on his shoulder patting his back soothingly .

    "Are you going to let go of the contract ? , You know this is a rare opportunity and if you don't accept it soon we would be going bankrupt , why don't you calm down so we can think through " Sloan suggested softly placing emphasis on each word she spoke .

    " Sloan ,we had gained this contract with the hope of Ryan Reynolds and Vanessa getting married but we are going to loose it unfortunately because she is gone " Williams said as he sat on the floor wearily .

    " you can not lose that contract just because she is gone we have to do something about it right away " Sloan rasped as Williams furrowed his brows , " we are calling off the wedding ,the bride to be is no more and that also goes to the contract as well " he added as Sloan nodded her head negatively ,

    " You can not make such a mistake ,I won't allow you making such mistake ,you are not calling off the wedding , Do you know how many billions of dollars we are talking about and you want to call off the contract ? " Sloan asked raising her voice .

    " Then what do you want me to do ?" Mr Williams yelled in response as his wife folded her arms under her breast before replying .

    " The press and no one except this household should be aware of Vanessa's death " Sloan stated as Mr Williams gave her a 'what do you mean look ? ' while she nodded her head affirmatively .

" You heard me right Williams ,the press shouldn't be informed and don't call off the wedding also " she added as Mr Brookes nodded his head fiercely ...

        " Have you finally gone nuts Sloan ? Just hear yourself , how do you intend to keep the news away from the press when the wedding is tomorrow ? Besides where is the bride ? " Williams asked demonstrating dramatically .

   "That's simple ,hire a Bride ! " Sloan said as raising her voice as Williams gave her a quizzed look .

  " Call the surgeon to make a face mask exactly as Vanessa's ,we can't loose this contract and hire the bride " Sloan continued as Mr Williams shook his head in remorse .

       " you should be worried about who killed the bride or if she killed herself like she threatened and not the contract Sloan , don't you have a conscience ?" Williams asked looking at her with hurts in his eyes .

" I am just trying to help so you don't loose both sides ,you can always carry out a private investigation on who killed her " Sloan said rashly as she adjusted her blouse properly before returning to sit on the couch .

            " How do we hire a Bride ?" Williams asked while Sloan smirked mischievously , 

" leave that to me " Sloan replied .