Billionaire's Payback Time

JUNE POV “Stop slouching!” Candice spat in my face, hitting me hard on the back with her fist. “Will you just let me be?! I’m not visiting a royal court. It’s just a simple family lunch,” I retorted, snapping back at her for hitting me so hard. I stretched my hand to massage my back but it couldn’t make it to the right spot. “What?! Sometimes, I think you’ve lost a lot of screw up there because if you haven’t, you’d know how important today is. You’re twenty six years old, June. Act your age, please!!!” She held a tip of my dress around my cleavage and pulled it a lot lower, revealing my spotless, seductive chest. She was relentlessly. “Aunty!!!!” My voice echoed through the entire car, I could feel the car sway because my uncle had lost concentration on the road. “Wyatt, you need to talk some sense into this useless niece of yours. When will she grow up? We’re all in this to survive but all she thinks about is herself,” she hissed, swaying from my uncle’s side to me. “I’ve always known you were a selfish brat and you never fail to prove me wrong. We’re doing this and that’s final! We’ll be at the Welsh’s home in about three minutes so there’s no going back,” she finally concluded and turned her face away from me. If I had my way, I’d vanish or take off from the car. I was being sold both soul and body to someone I knew nothing about. I held my tummy, tearfully pushing back the lingering liquid trying to force itself out of my throat. I could not throw up. Candice would tear me into shreds. I had just found out that I was being taken to the Welsh’s to be handed over like a barter item; me for the company, my uncle’s sinking company that needed saving. I clutched my purse, pulled out a tissue from the car side and wiped my face with it without ruining my makeup. The gates automatically gave way when our car approached, which left me wondering just how rich the Welsh were. I pulled out my phone and searched for their net worth. “Jesus Christ!!!!” my phone fell off my hand while Wyatt parked the car in the parking lot. “Don’t embarrass me with your unschooled i***t attitude. Smile,” Candice said, pulling her head back from staring at me as she stepped out of the car. I paid no attention to her because something else had it. The Welsh’s was the grandest space I’d ever visited. “Welcome, welcome. I’m glad to meet you, especially you. June, right?” a slim, cool and collected woman in her fifties who seemed to be the woman of the house asked after we had been led indoors by a trail of staff. “Yes ma’am. It’s an honor to meet you,” I replied, avoiding the woman’s intense gaze. “That’s Mrs. Zara Welsh, your husband’s mother. Behave nicely,” Candice whispered in my ears, spitting half the saliva in her mouth at it. She’s always been so lousy and cannot stop herself from dropping saliva bombs in my ears whenever she whispers a few words. “She’s so beautiful, and I love her accent too. I can’t stop picturing what my grandchildren would look like,” Zara exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. She was obviously delighted, my fate was signed and sealed. Meanwhile, my supposed husband was nowhere in sight. “Let’s have lunch while Amir will join us in a few minutes after his meeting,” Zara said, and we moved to the dining table. My eyes rolled from one side to another as I took in the sophisticated interior of the house. The dining room was a whole new movie waiting to be produced. I wonder if the staff had been choreographed to move in a particular order as they served our meal. Before taking a spoon from the plate in front of me, I glanced sideways at my uncle and aunt. Candice had shamelessly swallowed a spoonful of the food with no restraint. I wasn’t surprised, so I faced my lunch and started eating. It was very good, but I couldn’t take in half of it. Where is the man I was going to marry? “You’re all still here. I thought you had already left,” a man walked in with two bodyguards. I’m guessing he’s my husband to-be, but why was he so rude? I rolled my fingers into a fist even though there was nothing I could do. Candice would sit in the mud, roll and sleep in it if it meant making money. The man’s eye caught and held mine as he took each step towards me. I released my fist, feeling a rush of adrenaline in my tummy. He had a commanding aura around him, muscular with broad chest and shoulders, a neatly shaped pointed nose, eyes that were irresistible and damn! His lips. What am I thinking right now?! “You could have found me a better match,” he said, his eyes piercing into mine while rubbing my lower lips with his thumb. I can’t figure out what that was for. I could not even move my legs, which had grown weak and stuck. “Amir!!!” Zara exclaimed, then turned to face Wyatt and Candice. “Don’t give much thought to him. He’s fooling around,” she said, her expression saying otherwise. Amir walked past me, slamming his shoulder into mine and making me lose balance. There was no apology. He didn’t even turn back to see if I was hurt. Such an infuriating bastard. “That man is crazy! I can never ever marry such a despicable person. He obviously sees us as beggars. Look at the way he strutted in after showing up late when we'd all had lunch. He’s got no respect for both of you,” I moved to and fro the living room while Wyatt went silent. Candice, on the other hand, glared at me. “That’s how rich people are. They are on another level. You can’t expect him to waltz in with flowers and bow to me and your uncle,” she retorted, moving her butt to the edge of the chair. “Do you even know how rich these people are? They are the Welsh. They are billionaires. You are getting married and that’s final. Badmouth him all you want. I do not care. Mrs. Zara and I already had a conversation. Your engagement party is tomorrow. I have your dress ready and booked an appointment with a makeup artist,” she said with a tone that made her feel superior to others, placing her leg over the other and moving back into the chair to rest her back. “Over my dead body will I marry such a dreadful man. You’ve always dictated what I’d do and who I’ll meet since I started living with you. For ten years, you’ve controlled me without any breathing space. Now, I won’t let you force me into a marriage you arranged with that self-absorbed man to save a company,” I snapped. I felt dizzy the next minute. My head was swirling in the air as if detached from my body. I was already on the floor before I knew what was happening. My reflexes took control of my left hand and I lifted it to caress my burning face. “To hell with you and that stupid pride of yours. You think you’re the only one who's got a story to tell? I took you in when you were nothing and shouldered your responsibilities till date. Don’t you stand there and lecture me. You’re getting married to Amir Welsh and that’s it!” Wyatt yelled, storming off into the room. Candice pulled out her tongue, glared at me and followed him. I could not even cry. It wasn’t the first time. I had been cursed, blamed and abused several times as a teenager. We walked into the extravagant hall filled with only the wealthiest in Los Angeles and America. Candice and Wyatt smiled sheepishly with delight while I was suffocating inside. “Excuse me,” I said, and before Candice could stop me, I had branched into the open space, close to the entrance. I needed some air before facing my rude fiancée again. “June Baker?” a man said behind me. I could feel his towering presence before turning to face him. “Miles? Miles Huck?!” My eyes widened, my face was instantly flushed and my knees grew weak. Miles Huck was the poverty-stricken senior I had brutally turned down in high school. I wished the ground would swallow me right now.