Chapter 3- THE WELCOME PRESENT

The whole time they were all partying while I just watched, they were as uninterested as I was, most of my uncles were only talking to my father because of the connection they could get from him, bunch of fakes. All I wanted was to rest my tired head, but with my entire family breathing down my neck I couldn't escape.

I was seated close to my mom sipping on champagne when something suddenly whizzed past me and soon enough the whole place fell into chaos, gunshots were raining from everywhere.

Well, someone else had a special way of welcoming me. I hadn't even spent a day here and they were already planning to kill me.

The guards kicked into action as they told everyone to get down, did they even need to tell us that? We weren't dumb.

Gunshots were being fired but we didn't see where they were coming from.

" You're such bad luck, just the first day of your return, and the family is already getting attacked." My archenemy Emilia said. She finds every opportunity to annoy me. Even in a situation like this.

We were successfully moved to a safe room away from the gun shuts and thankfully none of my family was hurt even though I wished Emilia was.

" Is everyone okay?!" My mother asked as she turned around the room making sure no one was hurt.

" Who do you think would do this?" My uncle asked like we weren't all here when it happened.

" Well, things like this happen when you announce your return like some princess knowing there might be enemies?" Emilia spoke, as much as she was right, she didn't have to make it sound like I didn't deserve to be treated like a princess.

" Can you ever shut up Emilia?" We were about to start arguing when my mom sent us both a glare and that shut us up immediately.

" Thank you all for the warm welcome, I'm sorry it turned out like this, but I will have to retire to my room." I said to anyone who cared for my apology.

I was just about to excuse myself when my father stopped me.

" Lilly, we need to talk. Please everyone excuse us." He didn't have to say it twice before everyone left the room, surely they were going to spend the night here and would only go out when everything was cleared, being rich was fun.

" What do you want to talk about father?" I asked as I turned to my mother as if asking if she knew what he was going to say but she didn't give me any clue.

" Your mother and I have been talking about something for a while and we came to a conclusion." This wasn't good, anytime they talked about something and came to a conclusion I knew it wouldn't be in my favor. They never ask me about anything, if I would like it or not. All they care about was that their decision was the best for me and I didn't have a choice.

" What decision have you made this time that I have to blindly follow."

" Don't make it sound like that Li, whatever decision me and your father make is for your own good." Told you so.

" Surprise me."

" We have been thinking that it's high time you get married, you need someone from a stronger family to protect you."

" Excuse me?!" I knew whatever they were going to say would surprise me but this definitely wasn't what I was expecting.

How could they take that decision from me too? Now they were going to choose who I get married to.

" Are you both serious? Protect me? Who says I can't protect myself and who told you both I need protection?" I asked them to make sure I had heard clearly and that it wasn't my head messing with me.

" Do you think I and your mother would joke about something like this?" My father asked seemingly unimpressed with my questions.

" But how could you? How could you do this to me? I'm not ready." I just graduated and the next thing they wanted was for me to get married, I had a feeling they already had someone planned for me to marry. And they thought being a rich dad girl was fun, they didn't know I was just a puppet.

" So I just have to go with what you say because you think it's best not even without asking me how I feel about it?"....There was a thing called opinion but I didn't have that…." Don't you think I might want to explore the world before I think of getting married?"

" You can do that with your husband and besides what do you need to explore? We left you in America all by yourself."

I couldn't help the scoff that escaped my mouth.

" So you think America is the end of the world, then why didn't you just marry from there, how did you find dad? And how did he find you?"

" We didn't tell you our decision so you could exchange words with us, we just wanted to let you know so it doesn't come off as a surprise." Are they being serious?

" Well, thank you for telling me about your decision on my life. Now that that is established, I beg to take my leave." I didn't wait for them to say any more annoying things. I opened the door and walked out heading to the room I still remembered as mine.

I kicked the door open and closed it as soon as I got in.

Me? marriage. No way I was too young for that, that wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was I had to marry someone they chose for me. Someone I didn't even know if we were going to be compatible.

I might as well end up in prison for killing someone.

I have dreams, everybody has them, but not everyone is lucky enough to fulfill their dreams, I have all it takes to fulfill my dreams but my own parents were standing as a hindrance.

My phone vibrated with a message and I grudgingly opened it and saw it was a message from a strange number.

" How did you like my welcome present?"