Billionaire Secret Wife

Her footsteps moved slowly on the tiles, while she moved her head in every direction to make sure no one was following her. It was normal in her house to be exempted whenever they were having any important discussions, but this time around she was going to listen to everything they had to say. She was part of the family, so she had the right to know what was going on in the family.

The family sitting room was silent at first and she thought she had the wrong room, but then, she heard her step-sister's voice, which was so loud that anyone would have thought she had swallowed a speaker.

"Why will she be getting married before me? I don't like that."

Getting married. Who? As far as Amelia knew, there were only two young ladies in the house, her and her sister, and she had no betrothed, yet someone in their house was getting married. She pinned her ears to the door to listen to them better. Her stepmother's cold voice was what she heard next. "How many times do I have to tell you that she is getting married so that your father could secure the contract he needed?"

"But the Afonso's are very wealthy. I want to be married into a family like that." Ash complained, her voice like a toddler whose favourite toy was collected from her. But that was what Ash's voice was always like when she was displeased by something or when she wanted something so bad. It was as if she knew that their parents could not resist that voice, but this time it wasn't working out.

"That's because you have no idea that she is marrying the black sheep of the family. Have you ever seen Michael or have you seen his picture anywhere before?"

Amelia couldn't hear Ash's response but she was certain it was negative. Michael Afonso was a face unknown to everyone, not even the press. The reason his family was against people knowing what he looked like was unknown to everyone. He studied abroad from a young age and had always been a secret to the world. Just like Amelia.

"Exactly. He must be so terrible that his father is trying to arrange a planned marriage for him. Is that what you want for yourself? To be forced into a marriage with someone you have no idea about?"

Another silence followed. Then, "Good. I want you to meet someone you love. Fall in love and have a happy family."

Isn't that what everyone wants? To meet someone they can relate with. Someone they would love, and build a family with. Amelia knew that was what she wanted for herself, and she wasn't going to settle for less. But again, who was going to be forced into a marriage? She couldn't hear anything for a minute, then there was a murmur. She strained her ears to the door trying to get the juicy details coming from inside, but there was nothing. Then she heard a bang on her head. She felt as if she had left the world and come back. The pain she felt at that moment was intense. She looked up to see what or rather who had caused her pain. Ava gazed at her with a smirk on her face – just like every time she looked at Ava, she was in full make-up and expensive designer clothes. Although she was so curious about what was going on, she didn't have the guts to ask Ava about it. Ava smiled at her and moved in the direction of her room.

Amelia knew it was the end of the discussion, so she moved to her room too. Lying on her bed, she picked up her phone to see what was happening in the world. That was her only means of communication with the outside world, even her usernames were false. All the world knew, her father had only one daughter. No one knew about Amelia, and no one had to know, according to her father.

Yet, she had managed to find friends online who she believed in more than the family she sees every day. A knock on the door made her drop her phone under the pillow so fast. Her stepmother hated it whenever she was lying and pressing her phone. She took that time to remind her that she was useless in the house. She sat upright and adjusted her clothes. "Come in."

She smiled when she saw Loveth come in with a breakfast tray. "Good morning, miss". She retrieved her phone from under her pillow, "Good morning, Loveth. How was your night?"

Loveth smiled, dropping the food on her bed. "It was good. How was yours?" She took the seat opposite her. "You are looking beautiful as always."

Amelia blushed, "Stop this and let's eat. I hope you took enough for us both."

Loveth nodded.

Loveth might be a maid, but to Amelia, she was a sister. They were the same age and close because she was supposed to be the maid attending to Amelia, especially when there was a visitor that they didn't want Amelia to find out about or find out about Amelia. They were busy eating when Loveth spoke, "I heard a rumour today while dishing out our breakfast."

Amelia had a feeling what the rumour might be. "Is it about someone getting married in the house?"

She nodded. The curiosity Amelia had tried to bury resurfaced immediately, "Do you know who that person is? Who is getting married so suddenly that my parents are keeping secrets?"

The look on Loveth's face was the response Amelia needed. She stopped eating, and her eyes got wider. It can't be true. They wouldn't treat her this way, no matter how illegal she was. That didn't change the fact that she was their daughter. She needed verbal confirmation. Maybe she was just thinking wrongly.

"Who!"

Loveth sighed. "I am sorry, miss. All I heard was that you are the one getting married. I thought you knew about it."

She was the one getting married to an unknown face. She laughed, dropping her spoon on the floor and rolling over the bed. Loveth also stopped eating to stare at Amelia. She was convinced that the lady had gone crazy from hearing about her impending wedding. "Miss. Are you okay?"

Amelia didn't stop laughing. She held to her stomach and let out un-lady-like sounds. Her behaviour was beginning to bother Loveth, who wasn't expecting such a reaction from her. She was expecting her to be angry, not laughing and acting as if she had just heard the joke of the century. "Miss."

Amelia stopped and the look on her face was the opposite of what she had previously worn. She looked so angry that she could burn anything that touched her. Her mood swing was confusing Loveth, who moved back a bit. She had never seen Amelia change her appearance so far. Well, Amelia had never been told she was going to marry a stranger, so in a way, she could understand what Amelia was going through. Okay, maybe she could not understand it, but she was trying to understand her mood.

"Are you okay, miss?" She made sure to put a distance between herself and Amelia before asking the question. Who knew what her next reaction was going to be?

Loveth didn't get a response back from Amelia. She was just staring at nothing.

"Miss! Miss! Are you okay?" Loveth was already getting tired but there was no one to help her out there. Finally, Amelia responded to her. "I think I am going to run away, Loveth."

"You are drinking too many bottles," Steve, Mike's best friend said. As he had expected from Mike, he ignored him and picked up another bottle on the table, gulping the content in it like it was going to save his life. Steve sighed. Mike had never had a good relationship with his parent, but he had never tried losing himself in bottles. Whatever they had called to tell him about must had truly hurt him. "I thought you only wanted to take a few bottles, but you are almost drinking the bar dry."

Steve had lost count of the bottles on the table. What was he supposed to do with Mike?

Mike slurred, "I need to forget the fact they said that, and the only way is this." He picked another bottle and rested on the chair.

Steve was more confused than he was. What did they say that he needed to forget? He picked up the one bottle he had been zipping since and tried asking Mike the same question, but when he lifted his head up, he was already sleeping with his head swinging in a different direction. Steve groaned, "Now I have to take him home. I won't ever try drinking with him again."

It was a hard battle dragging Mike who was huge than him to the car. He dragged, pulled, stopped and tried all that he could until Mike was sitting in the back of the car. The moment he was successful, he let out a sigh of relief and drove to Mike's apartment. When he got there, he contemplated leaving Mike in the car because how was he supposed to drag Mike to the elevator, and finally to his apartment? If there were home, some of the workers might have helped, but here everyone was minding their business.

Steve took a deep breath and rolled the sleeve of his shirt. He would surely make sure Mike pay for putting him in this situation. He pulled his phone out taking pictures of Mike in his sleeping position in the car – it was good to have proof. He smiled at the pictures before putting his phone back in his pocket, then got to work dragging Mike to the elevator. By the time he got to the apartment, he was exhausted. He dropped Mike on the couch and slumped in the next chair beside him. Whatever he heard, that made him this drunk, he was going to find out the next day, with that thought in mind, he dozed off.

Mike's head was pounding when he woke up. He opened his eyes slowly, and then shut them when the impact of the light hurt him. Then he slowly opened his eyes back, while holding his head. He was never getting drunk again. He felt like shit. When he glanced around the apartment, he saw Steve sleeping and snoring on the couch next to his. He tried smiling, but his head hurt. So, he stood up to make himself some hangover soup. He had eaten, taken some drugs and started doing some work on his laptop when Steve finally woke up.

"Welcome back to earth. I left some food for you in the microwave." He didn't take his eyes off his laptop while he was talking to him. Steve nodded, scratching his bums as he moved to the microwave to reheat the food. The moment he was done heating it, he brought it out and sat opposite Mike.

"What happened last night?"

Mike did not need to ask what he was talking about. He knew exactly what he was talking about.

"Hmm. I don't want to talk about it."

Steve shook his head, "You have to talk about it after all you put me through last night. Do you think it's easy dragging you from the bar all the way home? You were so heavy."

Mike chuckled still not lifting his gaze off his laptop, "Thanks, buddy."

Steve wasn't satisfied with that. Knowing Mike, he wouldn't speak of it until he felt the need to, but Steve was so eager to know what had made him run to the bottles. He brought his phone out, "I have this." Finally, Mike lifted his gaze from the screen to see what it was. It was a picture of him sleeping in the car. He looked homeless.

He raised a brow, "What are you going to do with that? Why did you even take the picture in the first place?"

Steve relaxed on the couch and smiled, "I am going to post this online. Imagine your first picture online and this is it. Everyone will be so interested in the sleeping billionaire heir."

He groaned. "What do you want to know?"

Steve clapped glad he had decided to take the picture. "What made you drink that badly? What did your father tell you on the phone?"

"If I tell you, promise me you are going to delete that picture from your phone."

Steve looked at the picture and shook his head. "I can't promise that. When next do you think I will have something to hold against you?"

Mike groaned, sometimes he believes he was charmed to become friends with Steve. There was no way he must have picked him as a friend. Yet, he knew it wasn't because he was charmed. Steve was the one who made his life a bit fun, and he was the one who always wanted to show him off even though his own parents were hiding him from the world. The truth was, he loved Steve as a brother.

"I think we are going back home."

It wasn't what Steve was expecting. The phone in his hand was temporarily forgotten. "What do you mean? Did they finally ask you to come? Is it time to inherit the company?"

Mike sighed, "According to my father, it's time for me to get married and he has found a bride for me."

Steve opened and closed his mouth in disbelief, "And are you going to marry this stranger."

Mike chuckled in disbelief, there was no way he was getting entangled with someone he doesn't even know. "All I know is I am going to inherit my family business. So, start packing up, we are going back home."

Amelia typed, 'how to run away from home' on google. It was getting more difficult to pretend she had no idea about the arranged marriage. It was in the way her step-sister looked at her and smile all of a sudden, Her stepmother also came back from shopping the other day and brought clothes for Amelia. It had never happened before, she was always the one to request things before she was given them, and she had to request twice or thrice before she actually bought them for her. But she was the one to buy this for her, and it wasn't any clothes. It was all designers; the type Ava wore.

Amelia had placed them carefully in her cupboard afraid to wear them because to her it seem it was a confirmation that she was agreeing to the marriage. Her father was indifferent to it, to him, Amelia was a mistake and nothing more than that.

It took a while for the result to pop up on her phone. She sat up with her jotter carefully placed in front of her. She started jotting down everything she saw online, but the more she read them, the more it becomes difficult to carry out in her house. She sighed. What if she faked that she was seriously ill? Will they bother taking her to the hospital or will they just get an in-house doctor to take care of her? Faking illness was surely out of it. They will get an in-house doctor. No matter how seriously ill she was, her parents had never bothered about taking her to the hospital.

Her life to her was in disarray. The moment she heard a knock on the door, she threw the jotter, pen and phone under the bed. She sat upright and carried a book opening to any page. "Come in!"

It was just Loveth. She let out a sigh of relief, "Can you not knock on the door and scare me off.?"

Loveth smiled, "It's ethical I knock on the door and what are you doing that makes you so scared."

She was silent. Loveth smile faded easily, "Don't tell me you are still thinking of running from home."

She kept quiet. She was not going to lie. Loveth seem to know her to answer from her silence, "Don't tell me you are serious, Miss. You know that's impossible and they are going to kill me the moment they found out you are gone." She added, "That's if you are successful."

Amelia sighed, then went to retrieve her pen, jotter and phone from under the bed. "What do you suggest I do? Marry some stranger that might end up maltreating me the way they are. I don't want to be a secret for the rest of my life.'

Loveth was silent. She felt her pain, but she had no power in any way. This was what her parent wanted, so who was she to disobey them?

"How about we run away together? If you aren't here, they will be no one to kill you once I am gone."

Loveth eyes widened. It was certain that the Miss had gone completely crazy. How could she suggest that? How would they survive when they ran off? They don't have money saved up anyway. She had barely gone out of the house, so she barely knows anywhere, yet, she was so confident about running away.

"I don't think running away is the best thing to do."

Amelia huffed. Loveth could tell that she was getting pissed off, "You don't mean I should marry someone I don't know."

Loveth nodded her head slowly. She picked her words carefully, "It might not be as bad as you thought. He might be better."

Amelia stared at Loveth as if she had grown two heads. She couldn't believe she was advising her to get married to some stranger. If Loveth wasn't going to support her decision, then maybe she had no choice but to run away alone. She did pick running away over marrying a stranger and in secret again.

She was about to say something to Amelia when she heard a knock on the door again. She hides all her stuff behind her pillow this time around. Loveth stood up to open the door, but Ava only popped her head from the door. She refused to enter Amelia's room.

Amelia stood up to meet her at the door. "What do you want?"

Ava smiled was wide that anyone would have thought she was paid to smile that wide. "Oh! I am not the one interested in you. Father wants to see you in his study." Then she was gone.

If there was something Amelia hated so much, it was having a conversation with her father. She promised herself that she was going to run away by all means.

She followed Ava behind. She was expecting Ava to go to her room but she continued moving toward the direction of the study. "Does he want to see you too?" Amelia asked. She had a feeling that they were finally planning to tell her about the marriage. She breathed in. How was she supposed to react? They must not know that she already had an idea about the wedding. It would only end up in Loveth getting punished and her too for eavesdropping. She decided to tease Ava, although she knew what she was going to say.

"Do you have any idea why he is calling us?"

She nodded. "Oh! He is not calling us. He is calling you. I'm only going so that I can see your reaction. And yes, I know why he is calling you, but I am not telling you."

Amelia frowned, what would happen if she acted a little nice to her? She doesn't know why she was acting the wicked step-sister perfectly. It wouldn't be that bad if she was a little nicer to her, plus they were both adults. She decided not to waste her time asking Ava questions and concentrated on forming the perfect reaction in front of his father.

When they got to the study, Ava did not bother knocking. She opened the door and took her seat beside her mother. Amelia stood up close to the door and greeted her parents. While her stepmother responded, her father completely ignored her.

"How are studies?"

Amelia had no idea how she was supposed to respond. Her father had never been interested in her education, so all of a sudden. His gaze bore a hole into her eyes that she had to avert her gaze from him. She faced the floor, "it's fine, sir."

"How many years are left for you?"

"I will graduate this year, sir."

He nodded, satisfied with her response. "That's good. I guess you will have to go complete the rest at your husband's house. Be getting ready to get married."

No matter how she tried to fake her reaction, she couldn't help it. She raised her head up, "But, I don't want to get married now, sir."

He stared at how like she committed a crime, "Who cares what you want? If I say you are getting married, then you are. No questions are needed. You can go."

Amelia wanted to shout that there was no way she would get married. She wanted to say it was her life. She was going to get married to who she wanted and not who someone planned for her to get married to, but she couldn't say anything. She only nodded her head and moved out of the study.

There were no two ways about it. She needs to run away.