Chapter 1

SARAH’S POV

This was the worst day of my life.

Being sentenced to watch my half-sister Emily get married was the worst type of torture, most especially when I'd like to be anywhere else than here. However, we the Johnsons care about publicity, so I didn't dare try to skip the wedding.

“So what do you think of my dress?” Emily turned around to face the mirror, prepping for the attention of everyone else.

“Oh, my gosh; I think the dress is going to be a statement!” Her best friend, Fiona gushed smiling up at Emily.

“You look fabulous in it and trust me everybody is going to be staring at you! Ems, I think you're going to be the bride of the year!” Her other friend, Celine joined in.

“Period!” They all chorused before bursting into laughter.

“Oh my gosh, I've been dreaming of this day for so long. I can't wait to see Liam and get married to him and create little beautiful babies!” Emily jumped up excitedly, turning around to admire her reflection. “This is literally my fantasy coming to life!” 

“I'm so happy for you, girl.” Her friends echoed, coming up on either side of her.

For a moment you would think that was it but then Fiona's eyes clashed with mine and she turned around. “Aren't you going to say something or aren't you happy that Emily is getting married to the man of her dreams?”

I could care less about when the sun rose and set but for some reason, her mother thought it would be ‘nice’ to include me on the bridal train even though Emily hated that I was going to be there.

Nevertheless, no matter my thoughts on the matter, I didn't want to get on the bad side of Emily or her friends…. trust me, I've done that before and let's just say, it didn't end so well.

Plastering a fake smile on my face, I faced Emily. “You look beautiful and I think Liam is lucky to have you in his life.” I lied through my teeth.

No one believed a word I said but they seemed content with the lie, turning back to fawn over Emily once more while I faded to the background, as usual.

To be honest, I thought Liam deserved better than Emily, he's the heir to the Cooper family wealth, and those people were loaded.

Emily has her nice attributes even though they're not many but most of the time she's just a mean bitch for no reason, or maybe I was biased because I was on the receiving end of her frustrations most times.

Everything went bad a couple of years ago when the truth came out about me and Emily.

The thing that most people would never believe, considering how we're acting now, was that Emily and I were actually best of friends but when the truth came to light that I was not her sister-at least not fully- like we were told, Emily flew off the handle.

Dad had had an affair with a maid in the house almost two decades ago which resulted in me.

The maid -my mom- insisted on me getting a better life, that is if Dad doesn't want her to go to the cops.

My dad agreed and they made an arrangement with Emily's mom to keep everything under their wraps onto somehow the secret got leaked.

The door burst open and Emily's mom and her friends rushed in, ushering us out and into the hall stating that the wedding was about to happen.

I stood in the background as always, looking at the entrance for Liam to walk in.

A couple of minutes later, a white limo pulled up to the curb and Liam got out, dressed in an impeccable white suit with gold lining, looking as sharp and handsome as ever.

I sucked in a deep breath and looked away, trying to fade farther away from the public.

Everyone started to point and murmur at his entrance, phones raised to take pictures. Or so I thought…

It wasn't until the whispers grew in crescendo that I raised my head up, only to see Liam heading in a straight direction towards me instead of Emily.

My eyes widened and I whipped my head frantically from side to side, wondering what the hell was going on. “What is he doing?”

Pieces of conversations floated to my ears and I could feel the eyes of a hundred people boring into my body.

The sad part is that my heart didn't care about what was going on, fluttering crazily with each step Liam took towards me.

Emily, who was standing at the altar, nearly flew mad with rage. “Liam?”

He ignored her, stopping in front of me. “You're Sarah, right?”

I swallowed, inching my head back to look at him. I had always been intimidated by who he was… his quiet confidence and poise, the way he carried himself, and most of all, his overall beauty.

We had talked a couple of times in person, mostly one-word sentences but for some reason, I had not felt as terrified as I did now ... .unless it had something to do with the coldness in his eyes. “Yeah? Wh-what's going on?” I stuttered out. “Aren't y-you supposed to be get-getting married?”

He looked at me for a couple of tense seconds before latching onto my upper arm. “I'm more interested in you right now, than anything else. Come on…” he tugged on my arm.

My mouth nearly dropped to the floor.

Was he actually going to abandon his own wedding? “Liam, wait-”

“Just shut up!” he hissed at me. “You're the reason why everything is happening right now, if it wasn't for you then maybe Emily wouldn't have hurt Madeline!”

His tone made me snap my mouth close. Taking that as a sign of submission, he dragged me towards the limo before sliding in and slamming the door.

As the car pulled away, I could see Emily's stunned face at the entrance, reeking from what just happened.