Family or love

Chapter 2

"Hello Ella, I've been waiting for your call."

"Briton restaurant, 5 pm tonight," I replied and hung up.

I arrived at the restaurant ten minutes early. My heart kept pounding with a mixture of nerves and uncertainty but my mind was made up already. I needed to get justice for my parent's death and my sister's assault and the only way to achieve that was to get married to Rick Davis.

Finally, Rick walked through the door, a broad smile on his face. "Ella, you look so beautiful," he flattered as he approached my table but I remained impassive.

"Thank you" I finally mouthed. "Here is the signed paperwork. I agreed to your proposal." I said, Handing him the stack of documents when he was finally seated.

"Hmmm… I see…" he said with a large grin on his face while flipping through the papers. "I'm glad you finally decided to accept my proposal."

I knew he'd be glad. It's been two weeks since Rick pleaded with me to accept his proposal of a contract marriage. According to him, he felt I was the right person for the job.

Rick and I had become very good friends over the years. We first met when my best friend introduced me to him as her boss, and up until now, we had maintained a casual friendship. However, everything changed when he proposed this contract marriage idea.

Rick was the second son of the Davis family. He was already a made billionaire but was a very greedy man.

Rick only wanted a contract marriage with me because he wanted to overshadow his elder brother Sam, and inherit their family's wealth all to himself.

His father had made it clear that the only way any of his sons would inherit his wealth was if they got married and kept their marriage for at least two years. According to Rick's father, men are only responsible when they have settled down with a woman to build a family of theirs.

All Rick wanted more wealth and power but then, he couldn't do that without getting married first and that was where I came in.

"A fake marriage for two years, and once the entire trust fund is released, I'll gain access to my family's wealth, you get forty percent, and I get sixty. No strings attached," he proposed to me that day, and, of course, I badly needed the money, so I quickly accepted it.

"I would start making preparations for the wedding and get back to you, Miss Ella. Or should I say Mrs. Davis?" he teased with a devilish smirk at the corner of his lips.

***********

I woke up to the sound of my sister bustling around the room. I sat up in bed, rubbing my eyes, blinking blearily, and trying to shake off the grogginess of sleep

"Sis!" She yelled. "Your husband was kind enough to get you this beautiful wedding dress," she said, drawing my attention to the long white wedding dress she was holding.

"Now wouldn't you get up from there? It's your wedding day!" She yelled at me again while pulling back the curtains to let the sunlight disrupt my sleep as she knew I hated early morning lights. I had forgotten that today was my wedding day I mean It's been just two weeks since I signed the contract.

My sister helped me get ready on time and we managed to make it to the church quite early. I felt a rush of shivers through my entire body. It was as though the world seemed to be spinning around me and I could almost taste the disbelief that danced on my skin.

"Everything seems to be happening so fast," I thought to myself.

I braced myself, ready to walk down the aisle with Rick; my mind was a made up already. With each thought of going back on my decision, I reassured myself that everything would go fine dispelling my doubts and anxieties.

"Ella, you are doing the right thing," I reaffirmed myself.

"Do you, Ella, take Rick to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?" The priest's words echoed in my head but my mind immediately went blank.

These past few years, I have been living in regret.

"Now is the time to pull yourself out, Ella!" I yelled to my inner self.

"Yes, I do," I replied, gracefully liberating myself from my doubtful thoughts.

"And do you, Rick, take Ella to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"

"Yes, I do," Rick replied with so much conviction.

The priest then raised his hands, his voice resounding with reverence "By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you, husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." He said

We shared a light kiss, which was encouraged by the resounding cheers and gentle applause from the congregation.

Next was the after-party.

We had decided the marriage would be a small celebration on my insistence. because I didn't want my sister to feel worse than she already felt. We invited just a few family and friends and we were quite able to rush the event.

"Take good care of our son, beautiful Ella," Rick's dad remarked as he walked down to our car to bid us goodbye.

He turned to Rick and said, patting him on the shoulder. "Remember, young boy, 'two years,' I repeat, 'two years' I need to be convinced and see reasons why you're worthy of inheriting my hard-earned wealth. "And don't try to fool me, I'd find out" he warned.

Deep down, everybody knew Rick was a very greedy man. But what they didn't know was that he was capable of going as far as faking a marriage just for money.

Rick's dad knew his both children were irresponsible. But to him, a woman sharpens a man and helps them change. That was why he put the pressure of settling down with a woman on them.

Rick's elder brother, Sam, stood right there, close to his father. You could tell he was fuming with anger from his facial expression. I'm sure he was overwhelmed by shock.

He couldn't believe that his father was now seeing his younger brother as the heir to the family's wealth.

When he heard the news of Rick's sudden wedding, he was beyond reasoning. He flew from Canada during his vacation with his fiance whom he had just proposed to to confirm it was just a lie.

"How could you do this to me? You knew I lost my job and went bankrupt. Daddy's wealth is my only hope of getting back on my feet." I overheard him yelling at Rick a night before our wedding but Rick didn't budge. There wasn't even an ounce of guilt in his expression.

"Well, you should have hastened your wedding if you were serious. I also need Daddy's money to become the world's richest man," he said and walked out on Sam.

He came close to Rick and whispered something that seemed like "You'd regret ever making this deceptive move"

"Son of a b***h," he mouthed but still made sure that Rick could hear him.