The Billionaire's Runaway Bride

CHAPTER TWO

FIVE YEARS AGO

MILA'S POV

For two weeks I laid on my bed, crying. I still found it difficult to believe where fate had tossed me. All these while, I had endured, complied with, and done all Claudia's biddings, just so I would be seen as good enough to inherit and oversee all of dad's businesses and investments. But now, I wasn't even sure of getting anything anymore. I felt exhausted, weak, and my eyes were so heavy from crying. Claudia, my step mother came in earlier on, to let me know that I was going to move in with Mr Carter today. It was so crazy! She couldn't even wait for me to properly get married to this man, at the very least.

She was in a hurry to get rid of me. I tiredly got off my bed and walked into the bathroom to do my business. Looking at my face in the mirror, I saw a lost, hopeless, and lonely girl. Swollen eyes, dull face, and a several maps of dry tears on my cheek. I quickly brushed my mouth, had my bath, and went ahead to arrange my bags. I had chosen to see my plight in a different and positive light. Atleast going elsewhere was better than staying here with Claudia and my very ill father. I felt bad leaving him behind, but I really had no choice. Moreover, he would have put a stop to this madness if he didn't want me to leave.

Finally getting finished with packing, I put the last piece of my clothings into my bag and zipped it up. I sat on my bed waiting for when I would be called down. But for the moment, I wanted to take in as much as I could, of my room one last time. That little task seemed quite impossible because I kept thinking about what kind of person Mr Carter was. He was definitely not a nice man, because a nice and decent man would respect the concept of marriage, and not use it as a strategy for business. But I'll be better off with him, than with Claudia. It was in moments like this that I missed my mom so much. If she were still alive, I would never have a reason to suffer or be forced to do anything against my will.

Mom's death was very slow and painful. She died of cancer. What hurt the most was the fact that it wasn't even up to 3 months after my mom died, when dad had brought in Claudia as his new wife and my new mom. I was just 12 at the time, but I was smart too. Dad had been cheating on my mother with Claudia before she died. That was the reason it didn't take long before Claudia moved in after my mother's death.

I wasn't up to 15 minutes into my thoughts, when the squeaky sound of my bedroom door drew my attention. I looked up to see Claudia and a guy I had never seen before, come into my room. Was he the 'Carter'?

"I see you've packed all your things. That's good." She smiled so sweetly, making my blood boil in anger. She was clearly happy to be finally putting me out of her way.

"Alright then, do the needful." she said to the well built man who came in with her. He quickly carried two of the boxes in each hand like they weighed nothing. One box was still left and I definitely knew better than to stand there, looking at it. I picked it up and left the room, with Claudia following behind. I went downstairs into the living room, and paused for a while. I took my time to look around the room, reminding myself that I may probably never step foot here again.

"Yes, my dear. Take your time and look everywhere, because this is definitely the last time you'd see it." Claudia whispered behind my ear. I was still looking around when I saw the enlarged family portrait that was taken when I was just a kid. I still couldn't understand how it was possible for that picture to have remained in the living room up until now. Claudia had burnt all the pictures of my mom, including those that my mom and dad had taken together.

I felt tears welling up in my eyes, but I wasn't going to give her the satisfaction of seeing me cry, so I walked out of the house. Just at the front of our porch, was a black car with an open booth. I walked to the car and put my box in the booth. The huge man from earlier on, which I later found out was the chauffeur, closed the booth and went ahead of me to open the door of the car for me to get in. I got in and tried to be comfortable, but I just couldn't. I kept wondering if my life was going to turn around for the better or for the worse.

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CARTER'S POV

Honestly, I had to come to terms with the fact that I was going to marry that Camilla girl. But then, it was a whole different thing for her to decide she wanted to move into my house before the wedding. What sort of an opportunist was that? This whole crazy marriage idea wouldn't have come to this, if she had not told her father to make me marry her. Why was dad even bothered about this particular business deal? For christ's sake, they were the ones to profit from this deal. Mr Edward's company was already failing, and we were the ones who offered to sponsor all their business contracts for the next five years, until the company becomes stable again. All my father really cared about was just the shares.

I was shocked to my marrows when he had asked me to go ahead with the marriage deal, if that meant he was going to get 30 percent shares of the company. I was just a pawn in his game and sadly, he always had me by the balls.

It was already getting late and I had to go home. Manuel already put a call through, to let me know that Camilla was already at my place. I picked up the office landline and put a call across to my personal assistant.

"Amber, please come to my office now."

"Right away sir." She replied. Seconds later, the door opened to reveal Amber.

"I would be leaving now. Please go through the files on the table, and set aside the ones I've reviewed and signed. Arrange the ones awaiting review on my desk, so I can continue from where I stopped tomorrow."

"Alright sir.... I'll get to it immediately."

"Good." I muttered as I picked up my briefcase and made my way out of the office. I was about opening the door when a thought struck my mind and I remembered what I had planned earlier on for Amber. So far, she had been a wonderful assistant. I was truly grateful.

"Amber." I called.

"Sir?" She turned back to look at me.

"You've done well these past months, and for that reason, you have been given a twenty five percent salary increase."

"Oh my God!" Her palm flew over her lips in shock. "Thank you so much sir!" I could see her tearing up. It made me happy that I was actually being of help to her. "You don't know what this means to me. It's a really big raise, thank you sir. May God bless you."

"Thank you Amber. You know what to do. Just keep up the good work, okay? Goodnight." I said and walked out.

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I was really tired and stressed. I thought I was going to come home to more trouble but on the contrary, everywhere was as quiet as if Camilla didn't move in today. I asked Manuel about her, and he said the moment she came back, she asked to be shown her room. Since then, she hadn't stepped out. As strange as it sounded, I decided to count day one as my lucky day. I went into my room, showered, and went to the kitchen. I took a plate of food and microwaved it. After eating up, I took the newspaper delivered for the day and glanced through it. I had gone through the papers for a while, before thinking of going to see my 'new housemate', but nahhh, I changed my mind. I didn't even want to become friends in the first place, so I just made my coffee and went into my study to do some work.

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It had been a week and some days, but I still haven't set my eyes on this Camilla girl. She sure was definitely a spoilt little brat. Firstly, she put me in a position of getting married to her against my will. Secondly, she comes into my house and doesn't even have the courtesy of coming to acknowledge me. I kept asking Felicity about her daily activities in the house. Felicity is practically the only one who is at home all day, so she has more chances of knowing Camilla's movements. Felicity's observations were somewhat strange. She said Camilla always looked dull and had puffy eyes whenever she came out to eat.

Eating was practically the only thing that brought her out of her room. Honestly I felt disturbed, but waved it aside. It seemed as though she was depressed. But how was that even possible, when mrs Claudia told me how elated Camilla had been, and kept pressurizing them to let her come to my place before the wedding? I was still deep in thoughts when Amber interrupted me.

"Sir, the chinese Investors are here for the meeting."

"Am I supposed to have a meeting now?" I asked obliviously.

"Yes sir. I informed you of your scheduled meeting for 11am today."

"Oh wow! Alright. Ermmm.... give me a few minutes to put some things together. I'll be right behind you."

MILA'S POV

It was really strange. It had been twelve days at Mr McCarter's place and he hadn't even bothered to come see the person whom he would supposedly marry. I felt very insignificant and unwanted, but at the same time, it was peaceful for me. In a very long while, peace was all I felt. Atleast, that was until I received a phone call and heard the news that stole all the peace I had left inside me. I crumbled to the ground and wailed so loudly, because nothing could possibly console me. I just lost my dad.