Chapter:02: Betrayed:

The wedding hasn't even begun when Miranda arrived at the exquisite large hall, but she arrived just in time to witness a romantic stage decorated with flowers.

 She looked around the beautifully decorated venue, and she felt a pang of pain lingering in her chest, but no matter what, she could never do anything to change this sad reality that she found herself.  She had already understood that her current identity could no longer be comparable to his.

 Looking around the place, she couldn't help but feel the pang of pain linger in her heart finding it's way to her eyes·she only realized that she been teary when she raised her hand to her eyes and found out that they were moisty.

The sight of these decorations could only remind her of her status in his life as well as the society at large.

Her feelings for him would have to be disregarded as well. Right now, she only had one goal in life and that's to save her only sister.

She was her only relative now and she was going to do anything to make sure that she gets well as soon as possible. After that, she plans to leave this place with her sister.

She was lost in thought to the point that she almost forgot that she was here for a purpose.She quickly raced out of her trance and decided to go look for him.

However, just as she was about to look for him, a large palm suddenly grabbed her arm and forcefully pulled her into a room.

“Didn't I ask you not to look for me ever again?  Why are you here?” Lucas howled, staring daggers at her .“ Are you here because the money that I gave you yesterday wasn't enough for you? Why are you so greedy?” He asked with disdain written all over him as he forcefully pushed her into the room and she fell hard against the hard floor since she didn't know of his intention before hand.

  “Lucas, I....” Miranda's heart was filled with misery and she wanted to tell out her grievances ,she wanted to tell him how much suffering, she was enduring but she couldn't bring herself to do that. Not right now. Her purpose for coming over here today was different. Even though she felt as if she was stepping on the last shred of dignity she had left in her body, she still hardened her expression and said, “Yes, I came to borrow some money from you”.

Lucas looked as though he had already known what she wanted, so he simply sneered and asked,” How much do you want this time?”

 “One million” Miranda bit her lips and replied with a tone filled with determination. She felt disgusted with herself, but what else could she do at this point?

Yesterday, she asked the doctor what the total cost of the expenses would be. The doctor had said that Amanda's follow-up treatment was estimated to cost more than nine hundred thousand dollars and she also have to care for her daily feeding as well, so after making all the calculations she came up with the summation of one million dollars. She knew that it was a lot of money and it would be very difficult to get it and no one would even think of lending her such a huge amount of money since they farewell are of the fact that she might not be able to return the money to them. But, she was determined to try her best.

  It was such an outrageous amount. How would she arrange the money?

“Miranda, who the hell do you think you are? You think too highly of yourself for your good”  Lucas shook her off and turned around with disgust and anger written all over him.

Miranda was stunned that he didn't do anything else, however, she was instantly prompt out of her delusion, upon realizing he wouldn't give her anything.

“Please, Lucas!” She immediately pleaded and grab hold of his suit .“Please lend me the money. I need it to save my sister..... I will think of a way to return to you shortly, I promise!!” She begged with tears threatened to fall off from her pale eyelids.

It was such a pitiful sight to behold!

“Think of a way?” Lucas looked at her with a gaze filled with disdain and repeated.“ Do you have any plans to lie under another man and use the money from your proceedings to repay the money you owed to me?”. He asked looking at her directly in the eyes.

Lucas was disgusted, but he couldn't help the sudden burst of irritation mixed with anger in his chest.

For some reason, he felt a pang of pain inside. His hands moved involuntarily and immediately pinned Miranda against the hard wall.

He held her and his hands found their way into her clothes and started ripping them apart even before Miranda could have a chance to refute.

Anxious, Miranda hurriedly struggled.

“Lucas, don't be like this. You're getting married today, we can't....”

Lucas snorted, “Didn't you ask me for money? Then, I'm giving you a chance to serve me. Then, maybe I'll give the money to you” 

Lucas hurriedly interrupted her before she finish her sentence.

Hearing his words, Miranda was shaken by the cold, vicious thought that he could still have at that moment. He didn't even have any atom of respect for his future wife–Miranda was disgusted by the man she had loved all this while and she couldn't bring  herself to face the shameless man in front of her.

At that moment, there was a loud knock on the door right behind him, but they hadn't even reacted when it busted open. A woman in an expensive wedding dress rushed in but stopped when she realized what was happening.

Her face instantly turned pale and it was soon replaced with disbelief. She couldn't believe the sight before. However, the expression on her was mixed up.

“You....!”  She exclaimed, and tears immediately began to stream down her fair cheeks. She held the hem of her wedding dress and looked directly at Lucas , who was still holding Miranda close to himself.

“Lucas, how could you do this....” 

Lucas's expression quickly changed. He pushed Miranda away and quickly tidied up his clothes.“I'm sorry! It's not what you're thinking darling. Believe me, it's not what you think. I'm saying the truth, just listen to me this time.If you love me, you'll listen to my explanation just this one, please just give me a chanc.chance 

“I know. She must have seduced you, right? She must have forced her ugly body onto you and tried to seduce you!” Maya pointed her finger toward Miranda and quickly walked up to Miranda to hit her face.

  “You bitch!!!”

Everything went by in a blur Miranda had no time to react. She had fallen to the ground due to the strong impact of the slap, but she only blinked as she look up. The expression on her face was filled with different kinds of emotions.

It felt as though, she was shocked, surprise, hurt and resentful at the same time–She  couldn't believe what she was seeing and her eyes popped up at this.

Her eyes grew wider and wider when the appearance of the woman in the wedding dress processed in her mind. However, she looked at her one more time, to be sure she wasn't mistaken.

“Maya!?” She asked with disbelief. Her lips parted in the air and she couldn't bring herself to close it.

Maya was an orphan, adopted by the Quentin family. She was gentle and generous at home, causing her adoptive parents to like her even more.

Miranda's love for Maya could not be questioned. Whatever she and her sister had, they had shared it with Maya. 

However, when the Quentin family was in a crisis, Maya's personality changed. She just left and doesn't bother about them any longer. She didn't even show up at the funeral of her adoptive parents.

Miranda, however, didn't bother reaching out to her. Although she felt betrayed, she did understand that Maya might have wanted a better life for herself so she left when everything was in ruin.

   She just didn't expect that she was Lucas's bride!

“Miranda, how did you end up like this? What happens to you?” Maya looked at Miranda with eyes filled with sadness .“You are the eldest daughter of the Quentin family. How could you have stooped so low as to become a mistress? How can you face our parents after becoming like this?”.

Upon hearing about her dead parent's name, Miranda recovered and got up from the floor. She looked at her former sister, and sarcastically said, “Oh dearest sister, how can you be so shameless as to still call them your parents?”

She felt very disgusted at the fake sympathy embedded in the sneaky expression on Maya's face and she couldn't hide her irritation no matter how much she tries.

She was even tempted to go up and slap the smudge expression on her face away like a dirty little lie should. However, she won't be able to do that right in front of Lucas and away with it easily.

“Why is that? Isn't she qualified?” Lucas interjected.”Maya had worked so hard to pay for uncle and aunt's funeral expenses. While all you have ever thought about was climbing up the social ladder! What a social climber!” He hauled insults at her and glared at her with a face filled with disdainful.

“Pointing fingers at others when you're nothing but a shameless social climber.Seducing others for your own sake!”