I do

Warning: 

  This book is purely fictional. It's rich with erotic content, BDSM and bits of violence so proceed with caution. 

  ***

  Silence. Utter silence is what enveloped me as the eyes of the guests remained fixed on me. Not just the guests, but also the officiant of the wedding and my... groom. 

  I closed my eyes, hoping that the moment I opened them again, everything would fade and I would be back to reality. Nothing felt real at that moment.

  I needed a reality that I wasn't standing at the altar, about to take vows, marriage vows to wed my mother's fiance. Sounds ridiculous, right? But that was the plight I was in. Looking around,I could see the eager looks on their faces. Those who knew the stand -in bride thing maybe expected me to chicken out. But could I really do that?

  “ Come on little bird. Everyone is watching and you don't want to make me a joke In front of all these people.” Huracio’s voice whispered into my ears,sending tremors all over my body.A smile adjourned his beautiful face but the deep blue eyes gazing at me held a different message.

  The kind that would make you tremble and lose your bearing.

  But I knew better than to lose my bearing at this moment. Two lives hung on my shoulder; mine and my mother's.

 The tears I had been battling threatened to spill but I held them back and manages a fake as fuck smile.

  Turning to look at the officiant, I gave him a relatively weak smile.

  " I do.” The words slipped past my tongue,bitter and heavy.

  There. I did it. I committed a crime, one that everyone will frown upon if they learnt about it. Huracio was never meant to be mine, nor did he have the right to stake his claim on me. Yet, we ended up here, before everyone,sealing a holy matrimony.

 It would have been better if this was a prince charming saving a damsel in distress but it wasn't.My life was no fairy tale,it never was and by look of things,never would.

  As the officiant continued blabbering things I was the least interested to hear, my mind was trying to understand how things turned from me attending a wedding to being the bride.

  ***Few hours earlier***

  “ Everything is so messed up. This was supposed to be done by now.What kind of crappy decorators did Mom hire?" I complained for the humpteeth time, holding back a curse. Everything at the hall was a mess. The wedding was only two hours away and nothing seemed ready.

  " Will yóu calm down, Kata? I'm here now so you can rest assured I'll pull this off. I always work magic, don't I?” My best friend, Emilia, assured me.

  I smiled,a grateful look on my face. Trust Emilia to always have my back when I don't know what else to do.

  “ I don't know what I would have done without you,Ems. I just want my mother's wedding to be perfect. She deserves it after everything." 

  After ten years of being alone, raising me, my mother finally decided to remarry. I couldn't be any happier. 

  “ It will, don't worry. She already has her perfect man.” Emilia replied, a smile adjourning her beautiful face. She was right,my mother indeed snuggled herself a Mr perfect.

  My mother's fiance,Huracio Ignatius is the perfect gentleman in the eyes of others, and that includes me.

  Huracio is handsome and kind hearted.Did I mention he is reserved too? like an aristocrat?He also owns a billion dollar company which according to him is a family business.

  He loves her and I could tell that my mother adores Huracio, too.

  “After the wedding, I plan to introduce Kelvin to my parents." I said, a smile breaking on my lips.

  Kelvin is my boyfriend of two years.We have been dating since highschool. Now, I am supposed to join college and that's why I want to make it official.

  “ Look at you, are you referring to him as your father already?" Emilia teased me, earning a chuckle from me.

  “ He will be my step-father after today. I might as well start playing the part.The last thing I want is him feeling like I don't accept him in our lives. He makes my mother happy and that's the most important thing to me." I explained.

  When I first met Huracio, I could tell that he was worried about my reaction to the fact that he was with my mother. He had àsked for my blessings to marry my mother like a true gentleman and that's something I liked about him.

  "I want to make your mother the happiest woman in the entire universe. I want to marry her and that's why I am asking for your permission ànd blessings."

  I could still remember how nervous he looked as he waited for my answer.

  Of course I said yes. I didn't see a reason to object to their union. Especially after seeing how happy my mother was with the man.

  “ Enough about them. Go get ready, the guests will start arriving anytime." Emilia said, pushing me out of the hall.

  Shaking my head and with a happy smile, I made her way to the suit specially booked for her,humming a song.

  I had around an hour to get myself ready to watch my mother walking down the aisle. I could already imagine how beautiful she would be and I smiled at that.

  After soaking myself in the bathtub, I finally left the bathroom with a bathrobe secured around my body.

  I was about to do my makeup when a forceful knock sounded by the door. I smiled, walking to the door,expecting Emilia to call me out playfully for taking too long, but there was no such greeting when I opened the door.

  Instead, Huracio stepped inside, shutting the door behind him with a sense of urgency that sent a chill down my spine.

  “Katalina,” he called, his voice tight, almost icy. I frowned, not understanding his actions. He was so unlike him, maybe he got wedding jitters and probably forgot that I was going to be his soon step -daughter. That's what I convinced myself,saving myself the overthinking part.

  “ Is there something you need?" Despite him barging in rudely, I chose to be the big person and inquired civilly 

  Huracio shook hís head,then nodded, further confusing me.

  “ Is there something wrong with the decorations?" I asked ànd he sighed.

 Emilia had assured me that she would take care of everything. Did Huracio not like her style? But it was barely minutes before the wedding started, there's no way the decor could be altered…again.

  “There's no easy way to tell you this, but… your mother is gone.” Huracio's tone was hard and unconcealed anger shimmered within the words. But, that was not the least of my worries.

  “Gone?” I asked, my stomach twisting. “What do you mean gone? I saw her last night and she was excited about today. How can she be gone?”

  Last night, I and some of my mother's friends had organized a small party for her.

  I could still remember how my mother smiled throughout the night. She couldn't stop talking about how excited she was to be Huracio’s wife.How could she have disappeared in twelve hours? That didn't make any sense at all.

  Huracio’s face remained stony, but his eyes held a dark glint. “She ran away, Katalina. She left without any explanation. No note, nothing.”