01

Lily

If I could go back, I’d have burned the invitation the moment it landed in my hands.

A smile stretched across my lips as I watched Maddy, my high school best friend have her veil pinned to her hair.

“You’re so gorgeous!” I screamed in excitement. Her eyes were glassy, fixed on the floor. Not even the word ‘gorgeous’ stirred her.

I couldn’t help but recall one solemn evening last weekend while Maddy and I were out for drinks. That’s when her father texted her the arrangements. She didn’t even know the guy.

“Can you give us the room?” I asked politely and the dressers obeyed. Maddy unlined the veil and threw it across the bed.

“I can’t do this!” She clawed desperately at the zipper of the gown. I rushed towards her, stopping her from achieving the goal of getting out of the dress.

“Maddy. Maddy!” I called hastily. She stopped moving and paused and that’s when I saw it.

“I can’t marry a man I don’t know, Lily,” she whispered.

I didn’t know what to do.

As I pulled Maddy close, my arms tightened reflexively. A memory surfaced, How long has it been? Five years… six? Anna was his carbon copy. His hands had wrapped around me just like this , I could still recall what he smelled like. Musk mixed with something sweet, vanilla…it had worn on my skin like cloth that night as I gave him parts of me I could never take back. I tried to let him go but my body could never forget the tilt of his head, the feel of his hands.

I shook off the memory and let her rest on me. She couldn’t go out looking as miserable as she felt.

“Maybe…” I pulled away from her.

Her eyes were locked on mine.

“Maybe you shouldn’t?” I questioned and she cocked her brows in confusion.

I shook my head gently. “I care about you, Maddy,” I said.

“I can’t,” she breathed out shakily and I frowned. I raised a brow in question and her face crumpled into more sadness. My chest tightened and anger bubbled.

“Maddy?” I called softly, pulling her away from me and tipping her chin to look at me.

“What do you mean by you can’t?” I questioned and she squeezed her eyes then took in a few more breaths.

“It will cause a huge scandal and my father will be sued. It will ruin us, Lily. Completely,” she finished and my throat dried up.

Oh. No.

“Also, I can’t marry him because…”

Her words were cut as a fist slammed against the wood, rattling the hinges. We both gasped in shock. I was ready to ignore the knock until it turned demanding.

She pleaded with me with her eyes and I got the message. In Maddy’s family, image was next to everything. It was life itself.

I stood up and walked to the door.

Soft Rose scent. Maddy’s mother. A soft tongued manipulative specimen of a woman. I took one last look at Maddy but her eyes had grown still.

“I’m sorry,” Maddy whispered just before I cracked the door open and slipped outside.

Maddy’s mother was standing at the other end of the door, her face red and angry.

“How long does it take a woman to wear a white dress!?” She scolded and I shrank.

“Maddy wants to look perfect, it won’t take so much time,” I lied but Maddy’s mother suddenly squinted at my shoulders.

I bit my lip but before I could brace myself, she grabbed me forcefully.

I opened my mouth to speak but Maddy’s mother pushed me out of the way and stormed into the room.

A shrill scream left her lips and my brows furrowed in confusion.

It was only when Mrs. Croft ran out of the room, her face ashen like someone who wanted to faint, that my brain stopped working.

I didn’t wait for her to speak as I moved past her into the room. The same one I had just seen Maddy sitting at seconds ago.

The bed was empty. The veil lay crumpled on the floor. She was gone.

Panic instantly set in as I raced towards the windows. Maddy had run away.

I turned back the instant I heard footsteps behind only to be taken aback by a lightening force across my cheeks.

“You stupid girl!” Mrs.Croft spat. My body jolted at her high-pitched scream.

“Is this what you were only good for!?” She questioned, her head tilted back just enough to glare down her nose at me.

“Is this how you allow your betters disappear under your nose?!” She screamed at my face as guards tried to refrain her from strangling me.

Tears burned behind my eyes but they refused to fall.

“After everything Maddy had done, bringing a disgusting stray like you to our home. Feeding you, helping a rat like you…is this how you repay us?” She spat.

If Maddy was here, she would never say this to me.

Suddenly as though she didn’t just rip my world apart, she turned.

“What are we going to do!?” She suddenly spoke to a new figure behind me. I turned and tried not to express panic.

“The guests will be arriving anytime from now. He will be here soon. He can’t marry air!!” She shouted. I suddenly realized with horror that all the dressers and the outside help were nowhere to be found.

Mr Croft was pacing now, his hands on his waist, his face redder than a tomato as he breathed harshly.

I looked out of the window one more time and decided that if perhaps I went in search for her, I would find her. She couldn’t have gotten far.

My breathing turned shaky. There was no way Maddy planned this whole thing. She was going to come back.

I made a move to leave the room only to be instantly blocked by a fierce looking guard. My brows raised in question.

I wasn’t a prisoner. Right?

I turned to Mrs. Croft only to see a sneer on her lips.

“And where do you think you’re going?” Mrs. Croft spat. I flinched.

Her eyes held a suspicious glare to it and my insides burned with realization.

“I didn’t do it!” I instantly defended myself.

“I didn’t even know her plan!” I shouted but Mrs. Croft only shook her head with a disbelieving scoff leaving her lips.

“You expect us to believe that nonsense? You stepped out of the room to give her time to escape!” She accused and my eyes went wide.

“No! I didn’t”

“Yes you did! Yes! And you knew I’d be coming to check which is why you came out of the room. You aided and abetted her. I’m going to make sure you rot in prison,” she threatened and instantly my life flashed before my eyes.

The crofts had power. I had nothing.

I shook my head vigorously, my lips opened to give an explanation of any kind but Mr. Croft’s gaze slid over me, slow and deliberate, the way a wolf sizes up prey.

My chest tightened.

“No,” I whispered, shaking my head before I even knew why.

Mrs. Croft’s painted smile curved, as if she’d just solved a puzzle.

“Lily,” Mr. Croft said finally, his voice sharp enough to slice through bone. “Lily will stand in for Maddy.”

The words dropped like stones in my stomach. My throat went dry, air clawing to get in.

My eyes flickered to the guards, they were unmoving.

My guts turned to ice. This couldn’t be real.

What!?

“No…” I breathed out.

Mr. Croft chuckled lightly, before tucking his hands in his pockets as his eyes lingered on me.

“You love your mother, don’t you, Lily?” His voice was too smooth, too soft.

My stomach lurched. “What are you—?”

“She’s a fragile woman. I’ve had her followed, you know.”

Ice slid through my veins. My eyes widened in disbelief “Stop.”

He smiled, the kind that never reached his eyes. “Imagine… if something were to happen. A wrong step on the road. A car that didn’t brake in time. Hospitals are expensive places.”

“Don’t,” I whispered, but my voice shook.

“That’s right. Or… you pay. The forty million dollars Maddy left for your mother’s brain surgery. In full. Right now.”

The number hollowed me out.

“Do it!” Mrs. Croft hissed. I flinched.

“That’s the least you could do after all this is all your fault,” she hissed before turning to her husband “As if looking exactly like Maddy wasn’t embarrassing enough. We have to deal with this rubbish,” she swept me over with her eyes.

“Thank God for the veil. We can hide the differences,” she said.

I blinked back tears of shock.

“Your choice,” Mr Croft said, but even that was a lie.

A scream rose in my throat.