Forced Marriage to the Secret Billionaire

Chapter 03

Sara's eyes opened when she heard a lot of annoying loud noises around her. Groaning, she grabbed her hair, felt the strong hangover, and then looked around. Her eyes widened immediately.

The flutter of cameras started causing her anxiety when she looked beside her and noticed the man from the previous night still sleeping.

“ Ms. Sara Lexington! Is this your boyfriend? ” A reporter shouted his question, as the club's guards tried to push them out.

Sara's life flashed in front of her eyes, as she felt her senses numbing. Gradually, what happened last night started pouring back into her memory and she pulled the duvet closer to her naked body.

She could still hear the reporter's voices, but she couldn't understand what they were saying anymore. She was too shocked to accept that she, Sara Lexington, slept with a random man, and then reporters took photos of the scene.

A scandal. A scandal that was going to turn her world upside down. Her body started trembling, thinking about the reactions of her father, her uncles, her aunts, her grandmother, and lastly, her grandfather. When his face came into her mind, she shivered and took in a shaky breath, refusing to look at the man, who was still sleeping like no one could ever wake him up from this beauty sleep.

“ We are sorry for this, Ma'am. ” The guard apologized after pushing the reporters out of the small suffocating room, but what was his apology worth now, when those reporters were going to cause her a big reputation crisis?

Her mind suddenly started working. She needed to stop them. She had to stop them.

“ Get out! I will be having a word about this mess with your owner later! ” She hissed at the guard and he hurried out of there, closing the door behind him.

Stealing a last glare at the sleeping man, she started finding her clothes and wore them back quickly. She had not bothered to fix her hair or face before running out of the room and straight to her car, where she had dropped her phone last night in anger.

Regret was weighing her down and dread was making her want to jump off a bridge to die.

With her fingers trembling and tears blurring her vision, she dialed Secretary Liam's number. He picked up on the first ring and before she could say something, he started informing her about the situation worriedly.

Hearing what he said, she hung up the call and threw the phone on the passenger seat.

' Ma'am, Where are you? There are pictures of you naked with a man all over the media and your family is furious. The Board members are furious. Everyone is losing their mind. They all need you to explain who that man was. This scandal is too far gone out of our hands. ' Secretary Liam's words echoed in her ears and she hit her hands against the steering wheel, shouting in frustration.

She kept hitting her hands against it until they went numb with pain and she was sure that the skin was ruptured internally.

Tears started pouring out of her eyes, but she sniffed, trying to dull down the ache.

Looking up at the roof of the car, she fanned her face with her hands, pushing all the overwhelming emotions back.

Shaking her head, she turned the engine on and pulled her car out of the parking lot, speeding towards her penthouse to change and head to the Lexington Villa to explain herself. She knew everyone must be gathered there to start a new dramatic fight.

When she made her way inside her lavish penthouse, her knees gave up on her and she fell, before pulling herself back up again.

All she had worked on for her whole life, was about to blow up, just because she couldn't control her desire and lust.

How could she do that?

She might have ended up trading all her life for a petty one-night stand. To think about it, she gave up her virginity without even realizing what she was doing. She hit her head against the cold wall and tried to get herself back together.

She needed to find a way out of this. She couldn't just let all her life go down the drain because of a drunken mistake.

Wiping the traitor tears away harshly, she headed to her room and rushed to change her clothes into more presentable ones.

When she stood in front of the mirror naked, her eyes trailed the purplish marks down her neck and all over her body. Her cheeks heated as the memories of last night came crashing over her mind.

Clenching her already hurting hands into tiny fists, she looked away and wore black pants with a white button-up shirt. She didn't forget to hide all the marks with concealer. Even if she was miserable right now, she wouldn't let anyone know. She forced a smile on her lips and refused to turn on the TV to watch the news.

Walking out of the penthouse with the coat and giving herself a pep-talk to be neutral, she drove off to the Lexington Villa.

Her family was the 3rd richest in the whole country, that's why all eyes were fixed on them. Papparazi was always on foot around her family and they didn't miss a single chance at ruining their reputation. She had fallen victim to them today when she was sure she would never let this happen. She thought that the club was safe. It had been safe for years, but one night she decided she was going to mess around, and it turned out everything worked in the direction of ruining her life.

She gulped a lump in her throat when the castle-like Lexington Villa came into her view. She ignored staring at it for longer and slowed down her car. The automatic, golden-colored main gates opened, letting her drive inside the Villa to park her car in the driveway.

She got out of the car with her hands still trembling and made her way inside the Villa, ignoring the respectful bows of the guards and maids. She knew all of them must be waiting for her in the family living room.

Just like she expected, they were all sitting in the living room and when she stepped forth, all eyes went to her, scaring her even more.

Aunt Leigh, her father's sister, was sitting with her husband, Uncle Joseph, and their daughter Maria.

Aunt Leigh was a vengeful and cunning woman, who knew how to twist every situation to her advantage.

Her husband, Uncle Joseph, on the contrary, was a calm and mysterious man with the eyes of a hawk. No one could know what went through his head, but it was always evil - Sara was sure of it.

Their daughter Maria, Sara's cousin, was ambitious and a well-known b***h, who knew how to pretend to be innocent to get what she wanted.

Uncle John, her father's brother, was sitting with his wife, Aunt Aria, and their son and daughter, Ryan and Camelia.

Uncle John was the epitome of sinister, the one who was interested in seeing others suffer for his entertainment.

His wife Aunt Aria, was surprisingly, the only good and generous person in their whole family. But was she really what she made others think or not...That was a mystery.

Their son, Ryan, was a fuckboy and useless, not knowing anything about the way everything worked here. He was only interested in having fun with money and women.

Their daughter Camelia was the complete opposite of Ryan. She was interested in business and was one of the two favored children of this family.

Rowan was also sitting there like a king with his expression neutral as always. He was her Grandfather's supposed-to-be adopted son, who was never officially adopted. He was raised by her Grandmother and Grandfather, making him the most favored child. His intentions were still unclear. It was impossible to know what he was really like.

Sara noticed that her father was not present. Maybe they didn't let him sit between them, as he was the most hated person in this family. The second hated person was Sara herself.

Lastly, her eyes went to her stern Grandmother Eloise, sitting on the single sofa like a queen. She was the mastermind of this household, after the ultimate mastermind, her Grandfather, whose words were the rule here. But as always, her Grandfather was not present. He rarely met his family.

“ Sara Lexington! ” Her Grandmother's threateningly low voice called out to her and she felt shivers run up her spine.

“ Grandmother! Sara ruined our reputation. All my friends are laughing at me right now. ” Maria hissed and complained to Grandmother Eloise, to get even with her for how Sara tried to expose her at the party yesterday.

Sara gulped and her palms started sweating. Right now, she couldn't find the right words to defend herself.

“ Wow. Cousin sister, I thought you were heartless, but you turned out to be quite...Slutty and Wild. ” Ryan snickered and sipped the glass of juice that was held in his hand, while Sara's cheeks started heating up in embarrassment and humiliation.

“ Quiet! ” Her Grandmother raised her hand and everyone went silent, still glaring at Sara.

They finally found the fault in her and they were going to drag it to the end. They were going to drag HER to the end. Sara gulped, keeping her eyes down.

“ You will be punished for ruining the Lexington family's reputation, Sara! No wonder you are just like your father who didn't know how to keep it in his pants and married that b***h who then gave birth to a dishonorable woman like you. ” Grandmother Eloise threw the daggers of words at Sara, who clenched her hands into fists, hearing her mother being shamed.

' She was a dead woman now, so let her rest in peace at least. ' Sara wanted to scream at the top of her lungs, but her voice was stuck in her throat just like it had been for years now.

“ Do you have anything to say? ” Grandmother Eloise asked and Sara regretfully shook her head in No.

Even if she had so much to say, she knew it was not worth it. She had to endure this until she somehow managed to inherit The Lexington Group. Inheriting the company was the purpose of her life. It was the only thing keeping her alive, running and fighting.

“ Then go and kneel a hundred times in the yard and say that you are sorry and you regret what you did. ” Her Grandmother proudly announced her punishment and Sara's eyes went wide.

Her head snapped up. She looked at Grandmother Eloise in disbelief before glancing at everyone's smug faces one by one. Everyone was happy. Their hidden grins and the pleased look in their eyes were a clear indication. Rowan was the only one who was visibly stiffened and looked like the usual cold-hearted asshole.

“ Do you have any objection? ” Her Grandmother raised her eyebrows, challenging Sara to say something.

“ No, Grandmother! ” Sara choked on her breath and her mind already started spinning, while thinking of the punishment.

She was sure that she would faint halfway through it, but she started walking away.

“ I have an objection! ” A loud powerful voice boomed in the living room, stunning everyone for a moment.

She abruptly turned around only to find Grandfather Magnus standing on the other side of the living room. His head was held high and his aura radiated ultimate power.

“ Only I have the right to decide her punishment. ” His eyes turned to glare at her and Sara's breath hitched.

“ And that punishment is... ” He stepped forth, revealing her father behind him.

Sweat coated Sara's forehead. Her eyes met her father's neutral face and the cold pain jabbed her insides.

“ She is going to marry the man in the scandal. They caused the scandal together so they must face the consequences of it...together. ” He declared and the collective happy gasps of everyone rang in the room, freezing Sara's blood in her veins.

No...She stumbled back on her feet.

Maybe she ended up trading her whole life for the pleasure of just one night.