“Are you almost done?” Lily Bashwood asked Rudney as she glanced at her watch for the fifth time in three minutes and tapped her foot against the magnolia floor of Top Taste Wine shop.“Hey, um, could you spare me another fifteen minutes? I just need to wrap this up real quick and we will be good to go,” Rudney said.But Lily checked the time again; if she waited on Rudney, she would not be able to catch her brother’s baseball practice, and it would really break his heart.“Honestly, Rudney, it’s fine. We could always do this tomorrow. You don’t have to walk me to the bus station every freaking evening,” Lily tried to dissuade Rudney.The look on his face indicated that he did not want Lily to be on her own. “I could be really fast,” Rudney pressed.“Sorry!” Lily said stubbornly as she opened the door to the shop and walked into the street. She was not a baby that needed babysitting, and one day, she hoped that Rudney would understand that. Lily walked towards the bus station, whistl
“My name is Ashley Grander. I am twenty six years old. I have an interesting personality and my hubbies include partying, going on vacations, painting when I feel like it, and casually enjoying a glass of Mojito in the beach.”Lily’s hand shook as she held the paper and read through her new personality for the umpteenth time. She hadn’t slept a wink the entire night, and it was almost morning.“Take that again. You have to master it so that you don’t make any mistakes,” Emily told Lily. “And for the love of Christ, stop fidgeting!”Lily swallowed again and tried to steady her hand. None of them in the room had slept at all. “My name is Ashley Grander. I am twenty six years old…”“What did you do on your twenty-fifth birthday last year?” Don Grander interrupted Lily impatiently.Lily tried to remember what she had read that Ashley had done. “I went skiing in Vermont, and after that, I travelled for a girl’s trip to Venice,” Lily answered, hoping to God that she was right. The one-eyed
“I don’t belong here,” Lily said to herself as she stood in the middle of the strangers watching. It did not feel like her wedding day at all, and she felt as though she was in the midst of sharks as she stared at the wealthy, powerful and influential guests, most of them flanking around Christopher, and totally ignoring her.“Have you ever tasted such power and luxury?” Lily startled as she heard a familiar voice behind her. She turned and saw that it was Emily.“No,” Lily shook her head and said.“Then you should consider yourself lucky that we selected you to be Ashley’s replacement, because we both know that your job would never have gotten you anywhere close to this even in the next decade,” Emily told Lily.“I never wanted this,” Lily reminded Emily. In fact, now that Lily had said her vows, she was even more scared and frightened than she had been when she was kidnapped.“You do not have a choice, dear. Remember that you owe me five thousand dollars every week,” Emily reminde
Lily and Christopher rode in his limousine to their new home. Lily had never been in a limousine before, so instead of staring at the rigid features of Christopher, she decided to fill her eyes with the beauty of the car.She could not understand why he was so upset.“Why are you looking around like that?” Christopher asked.Lily was a little startled at the sound of his husky voice. He was eventually talking to her! They hadn’t exchanged a single word since they said ‘I Do’, and even when they got into the car, Christopher sat away from Lily. Don Grander and Emily told her all she needed to know about whom she would be impersonating for a year, but they failed to tell her what sort of relationship Christopher and Ashley shared before her death.Heck, she did not even know how Ashley died.“What?” Lily asked, confused. She could not meet Christopher’s cold stare.“Why are you looking around the car like that?” Christopher repeated.Lily chuckled nervously. “First time jitters, I guess
Lily started to unpack the moment Christopher walked out of the bedroom. She was still shaken by his last words, but Lily convinced herself that she would have to step up her game of impersonating.“I cannot afford to mess this up. Joe’s life is at stake here, not just mine,” Lily reminded herself as she opened the boxes of clothes. “Why does she dress like a whore?” Lily asked no one in particular as she looked at the endless tons of revealing dresses. She was yet to take off her wedding dress, but thinking about wearing any of these made Lily’s skin crawl.“Do not think much about this, Lily,” Lily gave herself the pep talk. “They are just clothes, and you can handle it,” she told herself.Just then, she heard a knock on the door. “Come in,” Lily said without thinking. She knew it couldn’t be Christopher Bridger; he was too arrogant and prideful to knock in his own home.Maggie, the housekeeper entered. “Hi ma’am, I just thought that you might need some help unpacking,” she told L
Lily was still shivering from the threatening call she received from Ashley’s lover, and she did not know what to do. Christopher did not even give her enough time to dwell on it or come up with a solution, because a few minutes after that, Lily found herself in Christopher Bridger’s private jet.“Welcome, Mrs. Bridger, we are glad to make your acquaintance, and congratulations on your wedding,” the air hostess, a young and attractive woman with a deep London accent said to Lily.Lily swallowed for lack of what to say. She instantly felt small and inadequate in her presence.“I am Matilda, Mr. Bridger’s personal hostess,” she went on to introduce herself when Lily looked tongue-tied.“Thank you. It’s nice to make your acquaintance as well,” Lily managed to answer. If Christopher’s air hostess could be this sophisticated, then Lily could only imagine what the other women in his life would look like. Well, from the wedding reception, Lily already had an image of that etched in her head
“Run Lily, run!”The voice called from the distance. Lily stood by the side of the beach, twirling and turning, searching and seeking the direction of the voice.“I can’t see you!” Lily called out.The voice was oddly familiar, but Lily struggled to recall whose voice it was just as she struggled with finding the owner of the voice.“Run! Lily please, run!” The voice called out again, more urgently this time around.Lily looked around frantically, her breathing growing faster and faster. She looked at the large body of water and the waves slapping against the tides. Lily stared in horror.“Take Joe and run as fast as you can!” The voice urged, pulling at Lily.Then it dawned on Lily; it was the voice of her mother. She would never have figured out the voice if she hadn’t mentioned Lily’s brother.“Mummy!” Lily said and ran towards the water. She was certain now that her mother’s voice was calling her from the heavy tidal waves.“Don’t come any closer!” Her mother’s voice became stern
Christopher Bridger sat in the balcony and worked on his iPad. If his members of staff could see him now, they would be bewildered; why the heck was he working on his honeymoon?!But this was far from a honeymoon to Christopher. He knew what this marriage was all about and what was expected of him and now that they were not really in the eyes of the public, there was no need pretending to be a couple in love.Christopher wasn’t married for up to three days and he could not wait for the one-year marriage contract to be over so that he could go back to his life and space, but then again, Christopher’s mind wasn’t even fully concentrated on work; his mind was elsewhere.On his wife, Ashley Grander.“What is going on?” Christopher asked himself.It was early morning the next day and he just wanted to spend this time alone, so he had called the hotel service staff assigned to them for the period of their stay to take Ashley out on a tour. In truth, Christopher could not stand Ashley, and h
The party had ended about an hour ago, but Christopher was stilled held back shaking hands with men that mattered most in the countries, and already signing business deal.It was a new dawn for the Bridger Empire.As Aimee stood by and watched, she could not help but smile. Yes, she loved Christopher Bridger deeply, but now, she loved him ten times more. It swelled her heart watching him climb that stage, and more, that she was right there with him.“As it should be,” Aimee said to herself.She wondered why Christopher couldn’t see that she was his perfect match. Ashley would not have known the next thing to being Christopher’s anchor for tonight if she had been available, and Aimee was more than happy that she had had to do a little dirty act just to get this moment for herself and Christopher.She smiled triumphantly as she watched Christopher interact with people whose deals were capable of shooting up his company as her mind drifted to what she had had to do for him to earn it.Wh
I am Ashley Grander. I am wild and reckless. I have been to many countries like…” Lily began to read through nuggets about Ashley that Emily had given her.“You will have to start from the beginning and relearn everything, and commit the new ones to memory, because if you fail again this time around, you will not be punished; you will be killed,” Emily had told her as she handed the piece of paper to Lily.So Lily had gone back to Ashley’s bedroom and had begun to digest everything written in the paper with vigor and determination, but her mind kept drifting back to Christopher and Aimee at the party. Something good had obviously happened to Christopher Bridger, but Lily could not think about it without thinking about Aimee.“That is your next assignment.”Those were Emily’s words, and Lily knew now more than ever before that she could not fail. She dared not fail otherwise she would not only die, but Joe would also die. Lily now worried less about Joe, because no one had mentioned a
Lily could not tear her eyes off the TV. Christopher and Aimee looked like the perfect power couple, and a pang of jealousy shot through my veins. First, it was Aimee picking up Christopher’s call, and now, they were both attending the same party together. From the guests shown on TV, it was obvious that it was an elite party, and Lily could not deny how impeccably handsome Christopher looked. Among all the people in the crowd, Lily’s eyes continued to pick Christopher out, but then again, seeing him also meant that she would see Aimee glued to his side possessively.“Do you see what you have caused?” Emily’s voice rang out, cutting through the moment as she made her way downstairs.I turned quickly and looked at Emily, fear enveloping me all over again. For a moment, watching Christopher, Lily had almost forgotten her current predicament.“I…it’s…” I stuttered, not knowing what to say.Emily came and stood beside Lily, and Lily cowered in fright, thinking that Emily was going to gra
Lily was glad that she had been able to get back to her room without getting caught even though her attempts were futile. It was not until she was back in her room and pacing around again that she remembered that she could have called Rudney. “Gosh, Lily! How could you forget such a thing?!” Lily berated herself. The one person that would have picked up was Rudney, and yet, she did not remember to call him and ask about Joe. Anyway, Lily blamed it on the fact that she was agitated and also trying to hurry up. Then her mind went to her call to Christopher. “It has just been a couple of days that I have been away, and he is already going about with Aimee,” I said to myself jealously. Since when did Christopher start giving his phone to Aimee as though she was his secretary, and what were they doing together at that time? Lily had heard soft music playing in the background; were they out on a date? Lily scoffed. “Christopher never cared about me…or Ashley, and coming here was just
“Are you there now?” Don Grander asked Monk.Monk sat in his car outside the hospital as he talked with Don Grander over the phone. He had just arrived, but he knew that he could not stay parked in that spot longer than necessary.“All you have to do is get in there, get access to his word, and smother him,” Monk rehearsed the whole process that he had cooked up in his head over and over again.This was a government hospital, and he knew that what he was about to do was very risky. If he got caught, he would rot in jail. Monk never shied away from assigned duties, but he wished that Don Grander had assigned the same person he hired to find out if Benedict died or not to simply complete the task.“Yes, I just got here,” Monk answered, grounding his teeth.He looked around the premises and everyone went about their businesses innocently. His eyes fell on the hospital’s entrance, and Monk swallowed hard. The state government never took lightly to crimes, and Monk knew the consequences. H
Lily paced about in her room.“I have to do something,” she said to herself frantically. “I can’t just stay locked up here without knowing what is going on,” Lily thought deeply. “What is Don Grander was referring to Joe?” Lily shuddered at the thought of that.She knew she had to do something…or try, at least.Lily gently opened the door and looked around the aisle left and right, and she saw no one. Maybe Don Grander and Emily had forgotten about her, because aside from eavesdropping on their conversation, she had not heard Emily’s voice around.Taking the risk, Lily tiptoed downstairs, careful not to be seen. In the living room, she sighed in relief when she noticed that no one was there. Then swiftly, she made her way to the kitchen. Fortunately for Lily, she saw the old maid chopping some vegetables, but then again, the reserved one was also there.“Ashley,” the old maid called when they both turned and saw Lily.There was something about the reserved maid that made Lily quite un
Aimee Landon had taken it upon herself to hire stylists for Christopher’s dress fittings for the party. This was often the job of Trisha, but now that Trisha had been fired and Christopher was yet to get a replacement, Aimee gladly took it upon herself. “He must look dashing and impeccable, and no one in that party must come any close!” Aimee barked orders at the stylists as they styled Christopher in his bedroom. Another reason Aimee was over the moon with joy was because this gave her the opportunity to not just be in Christopher’s house, but in his room for the very first time. Usually, Christopher should have been styled at their studio, but because Aimee wanted this rare opportunity, she paid them extra to come to the house and style Christopher. Christopher was not comfortable with the idea of it; he preferred to go to their studio to get styled, because he hated having strangers in his mansion, but Aimee managed to talk him into accepting. “I think they are doing a good job,
Lily felt better than she had been, and for days now, she hadn’t set eyes on Don Grander or Emily. She wondered if they had forgotten that she was here. She also wished that Christopher would come again to take her away from here. Lily got up from Ashley’s bed and checked herself in the dressing mirror. Her face, arms, and legs were the same, but her back was filled with scars from Don Grander’s whips. As Lily managed to look at the scars in the mirror, tears began to flow from her eyes. Never in her life had she experienced this depth of pain, much more being scarred by it, and Lily regretted the day that Monk had seen and kidnapped her. “If I had just waited for Rudney like he pleaded with me to, I would not be here right now,” Lily said as she sobbed bitterly and regrettably. Then her mind instantly went to Joe! She had been so immersed in pain that she did not remember to think about Joe. The last time she had tried to ask Monk about him, she did not get a response. Ashley
Benedict opened his eyes when he heard the door opening; it was the nurse that was coming to give him his medication.“Good day, Mr. Benedict,” she greeted warmly. “It is so good to see that you are awake. How are you feeling?” She asked.“How long have I been here?” Benedict asked.The last thing he remembered was that he was lured out of the bar he usually frequented in his drunken state and then he was hit by a bullet before he could even fathom what was going on. He might have been drunk, but Benedict knew for a fact that someone had shot at him and almost gotten him killed.Only that he was not fortunate or quick enough to see who that was.“About a week now,” she answered as she went on to check Benedict’s vitals.Benedict tried to turn, but he felt a jarring pain shoot through his left arm. “Ouch!” He groaned in pain.“Take it easy, Mr. Benedict, you are still healing,” she told him.Then she picked out the drugs he was supposed to take, gave them to him, and gave them to Bened