Chapter 2 Substitute bride

When we had first split, we were just seventeen. Since we were relatively younger, I had imagined that it wouldn't be as tough to move on from him. We loved each other despite the rivalry between him and my brother. I loved him so much that even now, seven years after my heartbreak, I couldn't manage to lose my heart to another man.

And I also couldn't forgive him for doing what he did. I didn't find it within myself to have the heart to let go of everything he did.

"What the hell are you even doing here instead of my fiancé?" He asked, his voice recuperating from the shock that he received upon laying his eyes on me.

"Lindsay.." I stammered. Where did all the vocabulary inside of my head vanish? "She ran away."

It felt so ridiculous to even talk about it. Why was I here in the first place? Why was I being questioned on someone else's behalf? Why did his looks seem so accusing?

"She ran away?" He widened his eyes at me, his jaw ticking. He approached me in hasty steps and came close enough for me to listen to him whisper in a dangerous tone. "What the hell do

you mean by she ran away? We're supposed to get married in fifteen minutes."

"Why are you asking me?" I said, raising my voice at him . "Shouldn't you be asking yourself how you failed to understand that she never wanted this marriage?"

"Her father made a deal with me in return for marrying his daughter off. She knew it and I thought she was on board."

"She obviously wasn't. And neither of you understood her." I defended her. It was perhaps not the concern or love that I had for Lindsay that had me fighting for her. It was probably the urge to contradict him that was making me oppose him in everything he said.

"Why the hell are you even here?" He asked me. "Did you know I was getting married?"

"I would have never stepped in a mile radius if I knew you were the one who she was getting married to." I spat on his face.

His face grew grim and I could sense him heating up. It took all of my energy to sustain my cool and talk to him like a civil person.

"You shouldn't have helped her run away," he said. "You put me in deep trouble."

"I don't care about it, you aren't exactly a man without a tainted name in public." I said.

"This is not the time for me to fight with you," he said. "I'm going to send my men to fetch Lindsay."

"You won't find her." I said to him, "I think you can never make it back with her even if you use every power within your reach to bring her back."

The look on his face was murderous and I had to step back instinctively. I never saw him this pissed and angry. Back when I knew him, he had his anger in control. He never let it on me in a way that would scare me. But I always heard how things changed him through the years.

I remembered my friends telling me how he turned into a ruthless businessman that sees nothing but profit in everything. And that when he was angry, he was uncontrollable.

"Every time you came into my life, you absolutely wrecked me, Skylar." He said. "You ruined everything that I had seven years ago. You ruined the little good inside of me, the part I preserved for someone I love and now you came back to ruin the only piece of hope I was clinging onto. You are at the verge of ruining my career with your stupid revenge plan on getting back at me for what I did to you years ago."

"This is not revenge." I stated. "I would never waste a penny on you or on something that isn't valuable to me."

Hurt flashed across his eyes before he masked it quickly. "What a foolish woman you grew to be."

"You left your impact on me before leaving."

He tightened his jaw. "You certainly should be worried about the consequences of ruining my marriage."

"I'm glad I stopped a friend from ruining her life."

"Skylar, I cannot afford to have this right now. I have the most important businessmen waiting for me to get married at the altar. And if the news of the bride running away breaks out, my life will be ruined."

"Are you listening to yourself?" I asked, "How can this be just about business for you?"

"It's not just business for me, Skylar. It's my entire career." He said, "Everything I've built so far."

"And why should a marriage decide it?"

He sighed, "You won't understand. You're relatively new to this business, you'll soon realize how the world works. It's a complex mess and I don't have the time to explain it to you."

"Well, what do you want me to do?" I asked, incredulously.

He heaved yet another sigh through his nose and looked at me with a frown. I realized that he wasn't particularly going to enjoy what he was going to suggest next but also that it was necessary for him.

"I want you to be my substitute bride."