Ch-19~ Liar, Liar

Past Midnight at Newbury Court House, London

[Aulaura]

Cassidy, my lawyer and an old friend, sat behind stack of files, my file opened over all the others. There was a pen, stuck behind her ear- a curly matt of plum colored hair fell down her back. I watched her carefully read the papers that I had gotten issued from the court.

“It’s not legally possible to buy someone,” She frowned looking up from her desk. “Why do want that anyways?”

 I shifted uncomfortably in the chair of her posh office. “Well...”

 “You really do love him. Don’t you?”

I nodded my head. Cassidy, being one of the few trusted friends, had a really insightful mind-she could see things that just skim above the vision of a normal person.

“I can see that,” She chewed the inside of her cheeks as she hesitated to say whatever was on her mind. “He doesn’t seem like a good guy. I mean who would sell themselves for money,”

“He hasn’t sold himself...yet,” I wanted him to sell himself to me but then I didn’t want him to do it. If he doesn’t accept my offer, I will respect him for that. I will feel happy because he didn’t sink that low. If he sells himself for money, then I don’t know what I’ll think of him.

“Sorry to break it to you but you can’t buy him. It’s against the law,” Cassidy set the pen down and folded her hands on the table.

“There must be a loophole or something. Come on Cassidy, you’re the only lawyer I know who can pull this off,”

“Marry him,”

“What!?” I nearly choked on my own spit. If I marry him, what’s the guarantee he’ll not divorce me once he receives the money-no, I can’t take that risk. It’s safer to buy him.

“That’s the only solution I can give,” She sighed, messaging her temples- it had been an hour since she was wrestling with my case. “You love me him, so what’s the problem with it?”

“The problem is I want to buy him,”

“You will,” She stated, a confident smirk made its way to her lips. “He’ll think that you own him when in reality you won’t,”

“You’re not making any sense,” I muttered, dryly.

“Okay, so I’ll make these false papers you owning all rights over him. Then once he signs those papers you bring him to court and tell him to sign the matrimony papers I’ll have ready by then,”

“Once he finds out that I don’t actually own him, you know he’ll probably divorce me,”

Oh, there was a wicked smile on Cassidy’s face. “I’ll be adding an extra clause in the marriage papers saying that he cannot end this marriage without your consent. He will not be eligible for filling any sort of divorce,”

“I will be the one who has all the power in the marriage,” I whispered- a bit unsure.

“Yah,” She grinned, a bit too much for my liking. “Isn’t that what you wanted?”

My heart was screaming no but my lost mind had others plans. “Yes,”

“Great, I’ll have all the papers ready by tomorrow. You just need to bring Jay and one testimony with you,”

 I furrowed my eyebrows together, half in worry, half in confusion. “Testimony?”

“Yah,” Cassidy replied absentmindedly as the computer screen consumed half of her attention. “Someone to attest that you two are an actual couple,”

I already knew who our testimony would be.

~*~*~*~

     Grey Mansion, Outside of London

The sound of the storm rung through my ears, the rain damped my skin and the wind nearly froze my fingers.  I rapped my knuckles against secret backdoor of the mansion, waiting for Sam to open up. My teeth chattered as I wrapped my hands around my bare arms.

 After minutes of waiting, Sam finally appeared at the door-groggily she stifled a yawn. I figured she had fallen asleep while waiting for me. I stepped inside-into the warmly lit hall, quickly shutting the door behind.

“You took long enough,” Sam spoke through her half asleep state, her blond curls were scattered across her forehead. “Where were you? Matthew told me that you left hours ago,”

 “Something important came up,” I replied, walking through the narrow hall with Sam trailing beside me.  This place really needed some cleaning. Massive Cobwebs with black gunk clung to the walls. I guess dad didn’t find any use of this hall hence he disregarded it.

“In the middle of night?” Worry creased her features; her blue eyes watched me carefully. “What are you hiding now?”

I couldn’t wait any longer. I had to ask her this now. “Sam, will you be the testimony?”

 Confusion intermixed with the worry on her face. “For what?”

I stopped walking and so did Sam. I honestly did not know how I should break this to her. “I’m getting married,”

“Ah! You just me heart attack. Are you serious?” She looked startled, her eyes were widened. “With who? And when?”

I don’t know if this right time to be doing this. Jay hasn’t really accepted my offer and I’m already beginning to lay out the trap.

“Jay,” As soon as those words left my mouth, Sam grabbed hold on of my shoulders. Maybe the dusky hall or the flickering lights were playing tricks on me but I saw this strange fear in Sam’s eyes. Shouldn’t she be happy?

“You’re not marrying him, are you?” The sharpness of her voice surprised me. Anger was visible on her face- her fair skin was stained red and her blue eyes suddenly looked so cold.  Why was she reacting like this?

“Yes, I am and he agreed to this,” The lie slipped off my tongue. Why was I lying about this? Why was I lying to the person I trusted the most? I don’t know.

“You’re not going to marry him,” She hissed, like a serpent ready bite. “I won’t let you marry him,”

I freed myself from her grasp. “I’m marrying him and you can’t change that,” I kept my voice bold. “Why do care anyways?”

“You don’t understand,” She gripped a fistful of hair and ran her fingers down her face. “You’ll never be happy with him,” It hurt to hear Sam say that.

“Why?” My insides were twisting an ominous manner. The lights cast a dark shadow on Sam’s face- she didn’t look anything like the girl I had saved two years ago.

“Because Jay Walters is desperately in love with my older sister, Melody,” Everything faded around me, vanishing into a black hole. My mind couldn’t grasp anything. I moved backwards, my back hitting the wall. The storm outside raged louder than before.

She didn’t just say that. Maybe this is a just bad dream. It’ll soon be over. The person I trusted the most in the world would never break my trust. But this wasn’t a dream- I could hear the thick hammering of my blood and the hollow feeling inside my chest. 

“Samantha,” I croaked, my voice was trapped somewhere in my throat. “You didn’t just say that,”

There wasn’t an ounce of guilt on her face- it was as if she hadn’t betrayed me, it was as if she had never lied to me.

She stood strong, her blue staring at me- a blank expression covered her face. “Jay loves Melody,”

“I know that!” I screamed, why wouldn’t this pain subside? “She’s your sister, your older sister,”

I think I saw pity on her face. I didn’t need her pity. “Yes,” She kept her voice short and uncaring. How could she not care? How could she not care about me when I was almost risked my life for her? How could she not care when I dealt with men like Hunter just for her sake? How?

“You lied to me about everything,” I laughed, oh God, humor never fails to find me the unlikeliest places. “Didn’t the guilt ever eat you up?”

She didn’t reply. Only pity was visible in her blue eyes.

A dreadful realization settled inside my chest. I did not know the girl standing in front of me. I did not know her at all.

“Why did you lie to me?”

She sighed, closing her eyes briefly. “I did all this to protect you,”

“From what?” I narrowed my eyes at her. “And more importantly from who?”

“I know you met with Hunter,” She stated, turning her back towards me, a tall shadow formed behind her short frame. I wasn’t surprised that she knew. After all, she had already given me the biggest blow she could give.

“He told me that he loved you,”

She shrugged her shoulder. “He didn’t lie about that. I loved him as well,”

She grew silent, making me impatient. It was as if she was counting some memory, her shoulder blades were hiked, while her stature was stiff. She turned to face me- she looked more relaxed than I had ever seen.

“So who is Samantha?” I asked her. I didn’t expect her tell me the truth. 

“I’ll tell you who I am but I have you to promise me that you won’t marry Jay,”

“I can’t promise that,”

She smiled a strangely victorious smile. “Oh trust me, after you hear the truth you wouldn’t want to marry that bastard,”

“Well see about that,” I replied as I prepared myself for the worst.

Sam shrunk into a different persona; there was no-longer that vibrancy and joy reflecting off her face, it was replaced by a dull, broken aura. “Melody was six and I was two when we were left, crying at the doorsteps of an orphanage. We were raised by a nun who lived in the orphanage where there was enough to fill our stomachs but not our hearts.

"Melody and I grew up together, shielding each other like an unbreakable armor. She was far more loved than I ever was. She was the kind, sweet sister while I was the Sam the troublemaker. Other children rarely ever befriended me, they were scared of me. So when the news of Melody’s adoption came, I was the least bit surprised.

 “Of course I expected her to get adopted and I also knew somewhere in my heart that I would never be the one to get adopted. Melody resisted from leaving the orphanage she wanted her foster parents to adopt me as well but they refused. I told her go without me. But she was stubborn, she wouldn’t leave without me and I knew it. So I did what I thought would be the best thing. I ran away from the orphanage. That places was barely a home to me, so I had no regrets of leaving the place.

"This is how stumbled into Hunter. I was twelve years too young and scared of the world around me-foolish enough to trust anyone. He took me in, just like you did. He was a part of a powerful gang- his father was the leader so naturally that meant Hunter would be the next leader. I had no place to go so I joined the Underground miners. Hunter taught me everything, from firing a bullet to killing ruthlessly,"

      I felt my heartbeat halt, has Sam ever killed anyone?

“Hunter's father would send us, together on missions. We made the gang richer than it ever was. Soon, we became known as the undefeatable duo. Everything was going fine. I was loving my life and thrill that came along with it.

“Then came a news that tore me apart. My sister was dead,” Sam blinked a couple of time before continuing the story, her story. I could see the tears in her eyes. “I don’t know what happened to her. Some on the gang members had told me that she died in car accident. Some said that a boy named Jay Walters was behind her death. I desperately tried to find the answer to my sister death. Hunter and I visited her foster parent’s.

"They said that Jay, her boyfriend had gone with her for date and mysteriously she disappeared. Jay returned without their daughter. He told them she left him in the middle of their date and he waited for her at the restaurant but she never returned. The police tried finding her but after six months of investigation they gave up hence it was concluded my sister was dead.

“I don’t know what happened after Melody's death but I changed. I became more ruthless and more adored in the gang. Hunter tried to help; he’s the one who saved me from the depression I had been sinking into. I fell in love with him and he loved me as well. It was not only love that brought us together but jealousy as well. Soon everyone in the gang wanted me to be the next leader. Hunter’s father saw me as a threat to the hierarchy he had created so he planned to eliminate me. Hunter realized this and told me to quit the gang but I refused.

"I eventually realized that Hunter was envious of me and my growing power and I began hating him for that. The plan for my demise was cleverly laid out and Hunter was involved in it. The person I had loved with all my heart wanted me dead. I was sent on another bank robbery, far from the eyes of the gang members. When I was returning, the men that had been sent with me turned against me. They tried to kill me. I ran for my life and that’s when you saved me,”

 I stared at her. I didn’t know if I should resent her or pity her for all she had been through. Melody was dead, now I understood the reason for Jay’s crazed state but how can someone love someone so deeply even after their gone? If he just gave me fraction of that love, I would be content.

“I’m still going to marry Jay,”

The expression on Sam’s face hardened. “And I’ll do anything to stop you,”

“Why? After all I’m nothing but a rich girl that saved you,”

“Because I care for you, just trust me, please.” She pleaded, her hands pulled together in a desperate plea.

I laughed, the sound of my laughter echoed with the thunder. “How can I trust a liar?”

~*~*~*~*~

Note: This is majorly unedited. Kaboom! God, this chapter was tough one. Phew now that’s over. Who’s excited for the wedding? Oh any questions or doubts related to this? Don’t be shy to ask. :) Please comment.

Picture of Melody on the side