Bound by Revenge, Torn by Love

Amelia

I kept gushing over the photos my sister, Trisha was sending to me from Instagram as ideas for my upcoming wedding. It wasn't just any kind of wedding. This was a wedding that would be on the tabloid and get people talking for weeks.

"Oh, Amy, I wish I was in your shoes!" Trisha gushed as we drooled over some couple of wedding gowns I would have to choose from.

Like she really does wish. Being middle class and dating a man from the upper class is a hot seat to be on.

"I love the gown with the diamond stones at the neck."

She huffed, "white wedding gowns are so overrated, Amelia. Is the world going to fall if you wear black for your wedding?"

I cracked into laughter. "People do wear other colours but black is a no no."

"And why's that?" She asked, her face squeezing into a frown from the screen.

"It's bad luck!" I said in an obvious tone.

"Then I would be the one to break it. It's high time for the rules of a century to get broken.

"Good luck with that." I yawned and stretched my legs out on the couch before dropping my body into a sleeping position.

"You're tired?"

"Of course I am."

Even though there's a wedding planner making lots of arrangements, it's still draining to be in the spotlight. A middle class entrepreneur, getting married to one of the most eligible billionaire bachelors in the city. It was just too much. One second, we were hiding our relationship and dating in secret and the next second, our secret was blown over after Dave proposed to me. I turned from being a miss nobody to being famous overnight. And the fun part of it all, the sales in my beauty store have skyrocketed in the past few months. Who doesn't want to shop at Dave Anderson's girlfriend's store?

"Alright billionaire bride, I'm going to leave you to rest now." Trisha said and ended our facetime.

I yawned again and rolled to the other side of my large couch.

As a kid, I fantasized about the Cinderella stories, the knight in shiny armour coming to save the damsel in distress, the prince getting married to the middle class girl and it's absurd or rather a twist of fate that it's all happening now.

Sometimes, I pinch myself so hard to check if it's a dream but it's not. While my childhood fantasy came true, it didn't come without its own baggage of getting swapped into a billionaire's world.

Dave and I met in Harvard. While he got in through his family's connection, I read for fifty hours a week to get a scholarship into the Ivy league school. We never spoke to each other and I tried myself to stay away from the super rich folks in class till we got paired up in a class project. Things blossomed from there till we began seeing each other secretly.

He was the best thing that had ever happened to me till he proposed and I was introduced to his parents. The hate and, "you're not our class" game began. I had put up with his mother's attitude for a long time and I can't believe we are now going to get married. It didn't mean it was the end of my battles but it showed I had scored more points though.

A small smile lingered on my lips as I slowly drifted to sleep thinking of walking down the aisle while Dave stood at the...

The loud blaring of my phone ringtone brought me out of my reverie. I groaned and grabbed it without checking the caller.

"Amy, there's trouble in paradise."

Trisha's voice came on the line and every trace of sleep disappeared from my eyes.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I sat up.

"I don't know how to tell you this, Amelia. I'm also trying to get over the shock. Promise you won't have a panic attack." She spoke so fast and I had trouble with hearing all she was saying.

"Calm down, Trish." I tried, even when my heartbeat had begun to skyrocket.

"Okay, I can't tell you directly but I want you to pick up your phone..."

"Okay?"

"Is it in your hands?" I frowned, then picked up my phone that was lying carelessly on the couch beside me.

"Go to 'New York Bells' page on Instagram..."

My hands fiddled with my phone, heart in my mouth as I opened the most popular social media page on popular wedding updates. What in God's name is going on?

"Are... you... there?" Her voice was already shaking, making me feel worse.

I opened the page and a picture on their story caught my eyes. A man that looked very much like my groom was kissing...

"Trisha?"

"You've seen it?"

She could detect from the way my voice wavered.

"What's going... on?" I asked slowly as my eyes got teary. I looked again carefully and sure enough, Dave was in a suit, kissing a woman in a white dress who was not me. Our wedding is next week and not today.

"I'm so sorry, Sis. What this looks like is that Dave has gotten wedded to another woman."

Tears fell freely from my eyes and my heart ached. It was as though someone was poking a knife into my heart.

No, no, no, no, NO! This can't be. Dave can't do that to me.

"This better be a joke, Trisha." I said as I wiped my eyes clean.

I went through other posts on their page and as I suspected, their wedding was all over. This was the most anticipated wedding in the city and it was supposed to be with me, not a blonde fake Barbie.

Dave Gilbert jilts his poor Cinderella bride, Amelia Blake, for an actress and daughter of a business mogul.

What in God's name did I just read? I checked all over, and most posts had similar headlines.

I sucked in a breath and put down my phone. How did all of this happen? I even spoke to Dave last night. Wait, there was a way he sounded but I dismissed it as wedding jitters.

Trisha kept yelling my name from her end so I picked up my phone again then wiped some angry tears away.

"What?"

"Come on, you'll be fine. I'm coming over right away and we will figure this all out."

"No, I don't want to see you. I'm going to storm that wedding."

"Amelia, don't think of doing anything stu..."

I ended the call and went to the bedroom in search of what to wear.

Two threatening phone calls is all I had to make before I got the location where the wedding of the year was being held. My wedding planner was in charge of their wedding, the decorator and everyone Dave and I had hired for our wedding ended up planning their own wedding.

How did they do it?

How did they plan this all under my nose?

Most especially, how did Dave keep smiling in my face when he was going to betray me?

The cab driver stopped at the address I gave to him and I alighted after setting his bills with him. With a broken heart and determination soaring within me, I marched towards the building for the twenty-sixth floor where the wedding party was being held.

My plan was already set. I knew I would be bounced out if my identity was confirmed so I had already disguised myself as someone else.

"How may I help you, Miss?" One, out of the four bouncers, asked as he looked at me from head to toe. Obviously, I wasn't dressed in wedding attire. I adjusted the face cap I wore as he looked at me intently.

I could hear soft music playing inside and I guessed the wedding party was already in full swing. Perfect by Ed Sheeran began playing and I sniffed and looked away. That's one of the songs we added to our playlist to slow dance to.

"Hello, are you lost?"

I looked back at the bouncers and flashed my teeth.

"Not at all. I'm the sister to the chef and she needs me to run an errand for her."

They all glanced at each other. "Prove it, then."

I scrolled through my gallery and showed them a picture of where the chef and I took pictures together in a kitchen and in a park.

Mia came to my apartment one certain time to discuss meal plans and told me about some French cuisines I would love. She made them for me and we ended up taking pictures together in my kitchen and in the park. Well, we just happened to bump into each other when I was taking a stroll around one Friday evening.

The bouncers glanced at each other again and looked back at me like I was insane.

Uh, uh, isn't this working?

Few guests dressed for the occasion were behind me now and trying to show their pass to the bouncers.

"I'm Mia's brother. How is it that you're her sister?" A huge blonde asked as he stepped forward.

Oh boy, this isn't good. My cover was already blown before it began. Why didn't I say, best friend, why didn't I say best friend!?

Then a thought clicked.

"We aren't sisters by blood. We are best friends and I address her like my sister, sometimes." I said with a convincing smile.

He nodded his head in understanding.

"I'll give her a call now and confirm your story." He said and took out his phone from his pocket.

My heart drummed faster as he began to speak to her on the phone. I watched as the other bouncers cleared the new set of guests that had arrived and opened the door for them.

Before the door closed, I swiftly made my way inside and ducked under a nearby table inside the hall. People around screamed in horror and I watched from under the table as some of the bouncers walked in and scanned the hall for me.

I don't have much time.

Five minutes is all I've got to execute my plan.

Damn! The occupants at the table I was scurried under were already giving me out so soon, as they pointed under their table.

I crawled to the next table, then the next and it was easy to hide as a small commotion was happening, with guests trying to figure out what was going wrong.

I stood fully to my feet when I got to the middle. The dancing couple were locked in each other's arms, slowly dancing to our playlist. Another wave of pain ached my heart and I didn't care about making a scene anymore. All I wanted to do now was crawl away and go home and cry alone on my bed.

I shook my head, no. I've got this and would do it.

Lily, the beautiful model from Oxford who got in without a scholarship, yeah I checked her up during my drive up here. They were oblivious to my presence as I marched towards them. Most of the guests around didn't even notice what was going on and I guess they took me as a photographer, Journalist or whatever random personnel that was paid for the wedding coverage.

"What do you think you are doing?" Someone beside me whispered with venom as she grabbed my wrist, and forced me back.

Maria. Dave's mum. The queen of the Gilbert's empire.

I pulled my wrists out of her strong clutch. "You!" I screamed at her while pointing an accusatory finger at her. "You planned all of this, right?" A small part of me knew Dave couldn't betray me that way. His mother must be the mastermind behind all of it.

"What do you think?" She said with a sneer. Lights flashed across our faces. "Now get the hell out of my son's wedding!" She tried to maintain a calm tone but others around her caught it.

"Amelia!"

I turned to see Dave walking towards me. Large hands grabbed him, stopping him from coming to me.

He looked hurt and it dawned on me that he was forced into an arranged marriage by his mother. "Dave." I called back slowly in a choked tone as tears welled up in my eyes.

"Security!" Maria screamed at the top of her voice.

More flash lights went across my face. More cameras surrounded us.

"You're a sly bitch, Maria. You can't even wish your son happiness by giving him away to the woman he loves!" I yelled at her as anger rose like bile in my chest.

"You, Dave and happiness shouldn't be put in the same sentence. I'm glad I took action before your poison and hold over him took my son away from me."

"You would..." I got interrupted as the bouncer from earlier grabbed me and threw me over his shoulder while I kicked and screamed.

"You would regret this, fucking, Maria. I promise you that!" I yelled and hurled more insults at them as I was thrown away from their celebrity wedding like a trash bag for the whole world to see.

Amelia

Trisha was on my bed as I walked into my bedroom. I wasn't surprised to see her but her presence pissed me off.

"Get out!"

"I told you to stay put in this house, but no you wouldn't listen and now you've made a mess of yourself and your reputation."

"Reputation?" I said in a pissed tone. "I didn't even have any reputation to protect till Dave announced our engagement to the public. I can as well lose it since it's all over!" I yelled at her like she was responsible for my twist of fate. "Everything was a farce and I knew it would blow up in my face at the end."

"Oh, Amy!" She purred and walked up to me before pulling me into an embrace. "You would be fine." She tried to soothe me as I broke down in tears.

"How bad is it?"

I was coiled up at the corner of my bed while Trisha kept persuading me to drink the coffee she made before it got cold as she scrolled through Instagram.

I had already switched off mine and put it away but the temptation was still strong.

"Relax. It would fade away with time."

Argh! Isn't my life a mess now? I've blown everything away. The whole fairytale princess story and knight in shining armour has ended. I spent the rest of the day in bed, drinking Trisha's coffee and wallowing in my heart break.

Trisha had to leave the next day to work and I was left alone. My phone kept pinging with calls and texts from her and my parents and a few friends which I refused to take. When I got overwhelmed, I put it on silent and remained incognito.

For the next three days, it became a routine of wake up, cry, then cry some more, roll out of bed for a coffee break to feel better then I'd resume crying.

"Amelia!"

I jolted out of my sleep and stirred. Trisha. I need to get my key back from her.

She barged into my room with a brown shopping bag. "It's time to get your lazy ass off that bed and move on."

"So easy for you to say." I whined and threw the duvet over my head.

The duvet got pulled away from my body and I yelled curses at her.

"Stand up, go to the bathroom, shower, wash your hair and come to the kitchen when you're done." She said in a bossy tone that was hard to resist before marching to my kitchen with her shopping bag in hand.

I did as I was told and joined her in the kitchen, feeling more freshened and relieved.

The smell of fried chicken hit my nostrils and a small smile spread on my face as I took a seat at the kitchen counter. Potato chips were sizzling in a pan of hot oil. Trisha really knows how to make me feel better.

"Thank you." I whispered, but she heard it and gave me a smile.

"For?"

I chuckled, "Uh, come on, Trish."

"I want to hear it."

"Fine! Thank you for trying to save my ass." We both laughed and I felt good a little bit even though a part of my heart was still aching. It was good to smile, laugh and chuckle after spending three days crying like a widow.

"Are you ready to spill the beans?" We were seated and about to dig into the dinner she had prepared.

"You still haven't checked your phone?"

I shook my head. "It's on a lockdown. Hearing everything from you would be better than reading hateful comments."

"Speaking of hateful comments..." She paused and munched on another chip, keeping me in suspense. "Everyone is calling you a good digger, courtesy Maria Gilbert."

I pushed the bowl of chips aside and covered my face with my hands.

"Hold up, hold on... There's a good side of the story to all the sh*t that has been said about you in the past few days."

I peeked at her from my fingers, holding on to the ray of hope.

"You're at five million Instagram followers, and out of stock of beauty products in your Estore."

"Stop making me look like I just told you the sky is falling." She said as she picked up her phone. She fiddled on it for a while before sliding it to me.

My mouth hung open as I saw the 5.7M followers. I tapped on the shop page on my profile and it showed that products were out of stock.

"You see that, girl? That's massive, baby." Trisha yelled out in an excited tone. "Now it's time to get your ass out of the bed and back to work because there's a lot of money to squeeze out of this notoriety."

I sighed and looked away. "It doesn't feel right."

She gave me a look like another head had grown from my shoulders. "You want my help on kicking back sense into your skull? Get your phone and go to your business profile on Instagram. Your customers need more of your products. You're out of stock and the natural thing to do is to restock. It's what any entrepreneur would do."

I go back to the bedroom to retrieve my phone I had locked out in a box.

It was true indeed. My products were out of stock.

"Argh! I'm not ready to face the real world yet."

"You're close to becoming a millionaire so don't back down now." She said and I glared at her.