Chapter 3 All A Lie

{Faith}

My body stiffens. Something strange ignites in me as his lips capture mine, relentless and forceful. I do not feel the same disgust I felt earlier in the car. This is something stronger, more dangerous.

I can’t describe it, but I know it isn’t right. I shouldn’t be feeling this way!

I push him away. I slap him in the face, the sound echoing in the room. “Don’t you ever do that again.”

Ace rubs his lips. “You know, for a second there, I could have sworn that you kissed me back.”

“You…you…” I stammer, my face heating up with guilt.

What’s wrong with me? He just stole my first kiss. I hate him, so why is my body reacting this way to him?

“No need to pretend, Princess. I know you.”

“You don't know anything about me!”

“Oh, I know enough.” He raises a finger. “I know that you have been caged all your life in the confines of religion, that you go to church four days a week, that you don’t even cuss, that you agreed to marry that loser just because he’s the good Christian boy your father chose for you…”

He chuckles. “But I can see through you, Princess. You love the allure of dangerous things. And you often wonder what it would be like to live as someone other than a preacher’s daughter.”

“No, I do not!” I wish I sound more convincing.

His smile reaches his eyes. He’s enjoying this. He knows the effect he has on me, and he’s enjoying it to the fullest.

“It doesn’t matter whether you accept it or not. Time will tell.”

I ball my fists. “I don’t care what notion you have about me, but heaven knows that you can’t keep me prisoner.”

Ace nods. “You are right.”

He heads to the door and holds it open. “You want to leave? Then leave.”

Huh? He is letting me go? Just like that? Is this a miracle?

Skeptical, I walk towards the door. Ace doesn’t move a muscle as I walk past him. I cross the threshold and step into the hallway.

Still, he does nothing.

I can’t believe my luck. But…

I make a run for it. As I descend the stairs, I hear him say, “Let her go. She will be back.”

*****

“Matthew!” I call out, pushing the door open.

I trip on my own feet as soon as I enter my father’s house. My heart drops to the floor. I blink, unwilling to believe my eyes.

Matthew is sitting on the couch with his pants off. Odette, my stepmother, is straddling him with nothing but red lingerie on. They have their lips locked in a hot kiss, unaware of my presence.

I hold my head as the room starts to spin. With a shaky voice, I say, “Matthew! Mom!”

Their heads turn in my direction at the same time. They both look shocked, but in the blink of an eye, their expressions change to indifference.

“How could you do this to me?” I scream.

Odette gets off Matthew’s lap. Slipping on his shirt, she says, “Oh, you are here?”

“I was just kidnapped, yet you are here sleeping with my fiancé. You are supposed to be my mother!”

“Stepmother,” she corrects, pointing. “And don’t use that tone with me, young lady.”

What! My tone is what she’s worried about? I catch her pants down with my fiancé and I am the bad guy?

“How did you get out?” Matthew speaks for the first time.

Bile rises to my throat as he gets up, revealing the bulge in his underwear. This is the first time I am seeing him naked. We had agreed to wait until our wedding night. I was even looking forward to it. But he has been sleeping with my stepmother all along?

“How could you do this to me!” Was all I could say still.

Matthew sucks his teeth. “You are so stiff and proper. Did you really think that I fancied you?”

A tear slips down my cheek. “But you said in your vows that—“

“This isn't some Hallmark movie, Faith. That was all for show. I already got what I wanted, so why pretend?”

Odette gets up. She sidles up to him and kisses him on the bare shoulder. “That’s right.”

“My father loved you, Odette!” I call her by her name for the first time.

She scowls. “Your father was evil. He acted like a saint. I cared for you and him for nine whole years, but what did I get in return? Nothing!”

“He left everything to you long before he even died!”

I paused. “But I already said we can share what’s in the trust when I gain access to it.”

“Why wait for a handout when I can get all of it?” she asks.

I frown. “What…what do you mean?”

Matthew takes out the marriage license. “Your father said that you can only access the trust with the signature of your husband, which is me.”

This hits me like a punch to the gut. The pieces finally fall into place. They made me sign the license before walking down the aisle just so they could get to the five million dollars my father left for me.

I am such a fool!

“Are you clocking it now?” Matthew asks, slipping an arm around Odette’s waist. “Odette is the woman I love.”

The scales continue to fall from my eyes. This unholy union didn’t just happen today.

“How long has this been going on? For how long did you deceive my father and me into believing you followed the ways of the Lord?”

Matthew scoffs. “Why does it matter? Does it change the fact that your late father was a fool?”

I clutch my chest in pain. “My father took you under his wings. He treated you like his own son when everyone else in your family abandoned you!”

“But Odette gave me more than just mentorship. She makes me feel like a real man. Like I can do all things.”

Odette strokes his hair. “Yes, while you were busy guiding the cookie jar, I gave him a whole factory.”

“Now…” She walks over menacingly. “Get lost!”

“No! This is my home. Take your filthy selves out of my house!”

WHACK!

I stumble backwards. My vision blurs and a metallic taste fills my mouth. I hold my burning cheek.

“Stupid girl!” Odette towers over me. “Leave and never come back!”

She pushes me out and slams the door in my face.

The night sky grows darker as I stand on the front porch. Thunder rumbles, and down comes the rain.

I drag my feet into the rain. The raindrops prick my skin like cold needles, but I barely feel them. Tears cloud my vision as I make my way to the road.

Where do I go from here?

A pair of headlights suddenly flashes into my eyes. I squint at the same time a car comes to a screeching halt in front of me. The driver’s window rolls down. My heart does a backflip as the driver slowly turns his head.

Ace!

“Get in,” he commands with a straight face.

I shake my head.

He punches the steering wheel. “Get in the car, Faith!”