When love happens

Chapter one

The big large oak doors opened from the inside and I watched as everyone stood up. Dad's hold on me tightened a little more. He bent to my level and whispered harshly.

"From this moment henceforth, you're now Ava Thompson. Lillian doesn't exist anymore." He told me.

I nodded frantically and gulped harshly. In this whole arrangement, I wasn't given any choice, they had just suddenly sprung this on me and before I knew what was happening, I was walking down the aisle, about to get married to Ava's fiance.

We stepped forward and started our long walk down the aisle. I looked in everybody's faces, they were smiling back at me, which meant one thing, they didn't know. Everyone thought I was Ava.

I was slowly becoming overwhelmed by all of this, so I turned my face down and let Dad take the lead.

I had thought the walk down the aisle would last us some minutes and buy me more time, but we reached the end faster than I could blink.

I now had no other choice than to look up and when I did, my breath logged in my throat the moment I saw Damien.

Damien Robertson was New York's most elite and handsome bachelor. He had taken over Robertson Inc. from his father when he was just twenty-two and he grew it into a multi-million empire all by himself.

He was a notorious playboy. When the news about his wedding which was supposed to be with Ava came out, the internet shut down.

No one could believe there was a lady that could tame Damien, so for confidentiality, they kept Ava's name from getting out onto the public.

Only a few trusted people knew he was getting married to her, but that plan had gone sideways this morning when I arrived at the wedding venue.

The whole place was in chaos. My dad was losing his cool because no one could reach Ava, who was my twin sister.

They kept trying and when they had finally managed to get in contact with her, Ava told Mum and Dad to get lost and that she wasn't going to be getting married to Damien.

Dad completely lost his cool at that point, but there was nothing he could do. Ava was nowhere to be found so the wedding wasn't going to happen, at least that's what I thought.

One of the workers thought I was Ava because we were completely identical twins. Only a handful of people close to us could spot our differences. This worker had congratulated me on getting married and that was when the idea was born.

Dad, leaving no room for argument, immediately decided that I'd take Ava's place and marry Damien and so that's how we arrived here.

Damien was also incredibly handsome but his physical attributes weren't going to make up for this inconvenience that had been brought my way.

He towed me over and had the build of an athlete. I could see his muscles bulging out of the Armani suit he currently had on. He had such a sharp jawline and vibrant blue eyes that were blazing with fury at the sight of me.

I didn't know why he was glaring at me but he was and he was glaring hard. He took my hand from Dad and helped me up to the podium. He didn't even look me in the eyes when we were face to face on the altar, he was looking over my head.

I tried to grab his attention while the priest was preaching but he remained adamant about not looking at me. Eventually, I equally spaced out as well.

I was snapped out of my reverie when it was time to read our vows and so we did. It was so passionless and bland, I felt myself tearing up, this wasn't how I had envisioned my wedding would be.

I thought I'd be in love and that I'd be smiling so hard, my face would almost split into two and I'd be so ecstatic about our life together from then on. I wasn't feeling any of that at the moment, all I just wanted was for this ceremony to be over.

After we exchanged the vows and our rings, the priest spoke up, "By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride."

I saw him leaning down and braced myself for this. My first kiss was going to be with a stranger. Damien angled us in a position so the others couldn't see us and his lips lightly brushed the corners of my mouth and then he pulled back. The ballroom erupted in cheers as we turned to everyone.

"I present to you, for the very first time, Mr and Mrs Damien Robertson." The priest declared and Damien grabbed my hand and we descended from the altar.

People continued to congratulate us as we were walking down but I was in no mood to be congratulated. I was feeling overwhelmed again and all I wanted was just to get out of this enclosed space.

I couldn't do that, so with a forceful smile on my face, I did everything I could. I took the pictures and I accepted people's congratulations.

This went on for about an hour and I thought it was finally over, but my joy would soon be met with devastating news, which was that there was a reception after all of this.

I was nowhere done yet.

Damien linked his hands with mine and pulled me in the direction of a dressing room. I didn't know what was going on but I followed him to avoid causing a scene.

His grip on me tightened when we were alone and it was tight to the point that it was beginning to hurt.

"Please, let go of me, you're hurting me." I pleaded, but it fell on deaf ears.

We arrived at a door some minutes later and Damien retrieved a key from his pocket and the door was opened.

He flung me inside the room and I heard the door lock behind me again. I was now becoming really scared. I turned back to Damien and he had an angry look on his face.

"You're not Ava." He grunted out and my eyes almost bulged out of their sockets.

"Who did I just get married to?" He demanded again and I knew it was now or never.

I was going to tell Damien Robertson my family's secret.