Chapter Nine: Mind Game

Lily stood there, shocked and staring at Christopher like a statute. She hadn’t expected to be accosted by him, because with the way he stood, his hands in his pocket and stared at her with a stern look on his face.

“Did you hear what I just said?” Christopher asked.

Lily blinked and swallowed. She knew that Christopher was not an idiot, and she had not been impersonating Ashley properly. Half of the time, Lily was freaked out of her mind, and she was barely managing to pull by, because everything was nothing like what Lily was accustomed to.

“If you fail, your brother will be killed.” 

The voice of Don Grander rang in Lily’s head again and she knew that she could not afford to fail. Joe’s hearty smiles, and cheerful laughter, and his impeccable skills in the baseball pitch flashed through Lily’s mind and she became weak.

Lily already felt horrible about the death of her parents; an episode that would continue to haunt her all the days of her life, and she could not bear to have Joe’s blood on her hands as well. Besides, he was not just her only brother, he was her only family and she loved him dearly.

“What do you want to talk about?” Lily managed to ask.

Then she realized that she shouldn’t have used such a meek tone. Christopher was obviously gunning for a confrontation and Lily suspected that it had something to do with how she had been acting since they got married.

Lily decided that it was time she switched things up and acted like the person she was being forced to act as.

Lily chinned up, squared her shoulders, and looked up at Christopher like a proper rebel. “What do you want to talk about?” Lily repeated the question, but with stubbornness.

“I know you, Ashley, everybody does. You are far from a good girl, so what is the act about?” Christopher asked as he maintained eye contact with her.

Lily knew well enough that it was a ploy for Christopher to check her attitude and find what he was desperately looking for, so she stared back at him and maintained the eye contact as well.

“I have no idea what you are talking about,” Lily said.

“You don’t?” Christopher asked.

“Mm-hmm,” Lily said defiantly.

“So you need me to spell out how you have been acting strange all this while?” Christopher asked. He was beginning to sound angry and impatient.

Lily could not tell if that was a good thing for her or not, but whatever the case, she could not slip now. No matter how deeply Christopher intended to drill her, she was mentally prepared to handle it, because if he ever found out that she wasn’t the real Ashley Grander, he would kick her out in the blink of an eye, or have her arrested for impersonation, and rain hell on Don Grander.

And Joe’s life would be gruesomely and callously cut short, added to the fact that she would have to mourn her brother while in jail.

“Yes, if you don’t mind,” Lily stood her ground.

“First, it was the way you were acting when we arrived at my house after the wedding,” Christopher started, intentionally skipping the part about the brief kiss at the altar after their vows. That was not really important, because he did not even want to talk about it, at least not with her, and besides, there were a couple of other things to mention other than that. Also, Christopher did not want her to even think for a split second that he had been dwelling on the kiss.

“Then on the plane, and let’s not forget how you have been picking at every meal the hotel has served us, or how dumb and clueless you acted when you were served their meal menu. Ashley, I don’t know if you are aware of this, but I know who you are, and I know that you are a sucker for beaches, so why did you spend less than ten minutes at the beach yesterday?” Christopher rolled out all the words at once.

“Are you monitoring me now?” Lily asked even though deep inside, her mind was racing really fast. She even feared that Christopher would hear the beating sound of her heart, because of how agitated the confrontation made her, but she gathered every ounce of courage that she had and kept up the act.

Lily sensed that Christopher would have caught her once or twice when she unintentionally slipped from her act, but she had no idea that he saw and noticed this much.

“Are you going to answer the question?” Christopher asked in return. He took a few menacing steps towards Lily, and Lily stood still, holding his gaze without an iota of fear or cowering at the sight of Christopher’s size against hers.

“I didn’t know that when I was being married off to you I would become your puppet. I am not your servant or a child, or one of your freaking staff, Christopher,” Lily said confidently and defiantly. 

She hadn’t mentioned his name until now, and it sounded like something Lily would have liked on a different circumstance.

“Answer me!” Christopher barked at her.

Lily almost cowered in fear and shock at the harsh sound of Christopher’s voice, but thankfully, she had managed to maintain her stance.

“Don’t you ever raise your voice at me, Christopher! Who the hell do you think you are to ask me questions about the life I choose live?” Lily’s voice hit the roof.

Lily was stunned at how she had just spoken to Christopher; it was nothing like her. This was the first time in Lily’s life that she was raising her voice at anyone, especially one that was supposedly her husband, but surprisingly and pleasantly so, her reaction to Christopher’s tone on her worked, and he looked at her as though he was looking at Ashley Grander.

Lily sighed inwardly, grateful that she had aced this one. Then to top the icing on the cake, Lily decided that this was her chance.

“Speaking of,” Lily looked at Christopher, “I need ten thousand dollars, husband,” Lily demanded curtly.