Chapter 3: I'll Marry Him

“What? You mean I am going to marry that crippled and disfigured shit of a man? Dad, you must be kidding me, right? I won’t marry that thing ever, not in this life.”

Pa!

She got slapped again by the person she called her father.

Right there in the living room the person she called her sweetheart of ten years sat down there alongside her sister and stepmother.

Her stepmother shouted angrily and the shout almost removed the roofing of the house. “Whore, you still know how to come home?”

Ariel was startled. She knew there was only one person that treated her right and that was Damien.

“Damien, why are you not saying anything? You promised to marry me, right? Tell them I won’t marry that man.

Damien, please tell them we love each other” no matter what she said, the man just kept quiet staring at her like some, strangers.

“Did you also want them to marry me off? Damien say something.”

She had hoped that one day she would marry her childhood sweetheart and start a family with him so that she would no longer be looked down upon.

Timothy Ann commanded coldly and she did.

“Hello Ariel, we are calling from the hospital are you miss Ariel Ann, a relative of Joana Emrys?

Ariel nodded, wiping a film of tears that threatened to fall from her eyes.

“Yes, I am how is she?”

“She’s suffering from pre-renal azotemia. I’m sorry to say that she is in critical condition. She needs treatment now.

Something snapped in her. It was as if the strings holding her up had been cut off by the doctor's words. Her legs, which had been soft before, gave way as she collapsed to the ground and she dissolved into sobs. She knew her aunt had always been in poor health due to fire burn she had been in the hospital for almost eight years. She never expected her condition to worsen so suddenly, especially to this extent.

“Doctor, my aunt has been with you for a long time. You have to save her. Please” she said, tears streaming down her face. The doctor at the other end of the call breathed in a deep breath before he continued.

“Of course, we will try our best as it is important to treat the condition before kidney damage happens, but if there’s no payment for the treatment, I’m afraid we can’t proceed with the treatment.

Ariel’s heart sank.

“How much would it cost?”

She hoped that it would be something she would be able to afford but knew it was all a joke as anyone with common sense would know that the Ann’s would not give her the money for the treatment.

“We are estimating the cost of daily dialysis at about seventy-two thousand dollars, so the overall treatment will cost about seven hundred thousand dollars for a year.

Her mind blank out.

Where would she get that much money from? The Ann’s won't spare her such.

Her hands clenched into a fist, it seemed her father was aware of her Aunt's condition and used it to force her.

The cost didn’t matter. I have to save the only family member I had left.

Ariel looked at the people in the room and felt nothing for them but hatred. She said firmly but with grief, "I will marry Rex Anderson. But I want my mother's ashes and one million dollars for my Aunt's treatment in exchange."

"Deal"

Timothy Ann replied as he stood up with his beloved wife and daughter, leaving Damien with Ariel. .

“Ariel, if you want to blame someone, blame me. Scold me, beat me as you like if that will help. I have always loved your sister, but I don’t know how to tell you. I don’t mean to set you up. But she is pregnant; the baby is mine and she threatened to abort the baby. That’s the reason why I agreed to the plan. I’m sorry Ariel.”

Ariel stared at the man in front of her. She suddenly felt the Damien Ford whom she had known for ten years was different from the one she was seeing now.

Her childhood sweetheart connived with her step-sister to ruin her life and, to make it all worse; he was going to be the father of her step-sister’s child.

Meanwhile, she became an item sold to the Anderson family.

“Damien Ford, well played, very good”, Ariel turned and left without sparing Damien a glance.

Meanwhile, at the flower garden villa, Rex Anderson was pacing up and down in his study with his assistant Pius.

There was a frown between his eyebrows, he fished out a box of cigarette from his pant pocket and lit one, he exhaled with a small sigh as he tossed the lighter and the box of cigarette onto his desk and it made a banging sound.

“How long will it take you to locate a girl?” he was losing his patience.

His assistant was sweating profusely in order not to offend the devil. Silence befell the room once more.

Sometimes later, his assistant was beaming with joy. “Sir, we found her “. He was happy about the fact that he had not offended the devil even though they had both been friends since their childhood. His boss's parents treated him as their second child. They also make it their responsibility to cater for their family.

He really can’t finish paying for their goodness in this lifetime.

He was still beaming with joy when Rex’s cold and thunderous voice sounded again.

“Who is she,” he finally took a seat on the cushion chair.

Pius quickly printed the information and gave it to him. He honestly did not want to get scolded. He had made a mistake yesterday and his boss had not gotten even with him. He can’t afford to make another one.

Rex Anderson collected the folder and opened it with his left hand, his right hand putting out his cigarette on a crystal tray.

His eyes widened when he saw the information about the girl, the illegitimate daughter of the Ann family. Age; twenty years old, he remembered he had asked the girl how old she was and she had answered him twenty-two. He closed the document; his eyes were cold as ice.

When Pius saw the look on his boss's face he knew there was fire on the mountain. He quickly approached him before he could call him.

“Pius, you seem to be so comfortable these days, since you are less busy and being idle has also made you forget your job. If I remember correctly, you have not been to the forest for a very long time. How about you pay the forest a visit this weekend?”

Hearing the word forest, Pius shivered all over his body. He jumped up in fear.

“Sir, please tell me what command you have for me. I’m more than ready to carry it out.”

The forest Rex referred to was created by him and it’s a very scary place to stay.

No matter how brave you are, you won’t be able to stand there a day and a night, but the devil himself spends most of his weekend on that dangerous field called a forest.

“The information didn't tally with the information we have. Do more findings"

"I’m on it sir", Pius hurried out of the study room with his long legs to avoid being sent to the forest.

Rex Anderson is someone people don’t want to get closer to. It was rumoured that he was crippled and had a very scary scar covering part of his face. There were so many rumours about him that some even exaggerated them to the extent that he

ate women's flesh, while some said he was gay.

His own family members also believed he had been crippled for almost ten years and the burn scar on his face was also scary, because he had been attending family gatherings in a wheelchair and a mask that covered part of his face.

This time around, without wasting time, his assistant came back with a folder.

“Sir, here is all we can gather.”

Rex Anderson stretched out his big and slender hand and collected the documents.

His hands trembled immediately. He opened the first page of the information; even Pius, who was standing not far away from him, could see the fear and pain in his boss's eyes.

On that page was a picture of a woman. Timothy Ann's first wife died ten years ago. His whole body trembled when he remembered how the woman was lying in the pool of her blood. The woman died in his stead. The woman fought with the people that

Kidnapped him then and also received the bullets that were meant for him.

The woman has told him to take care of her daughter and he has forgotten the promise and sets his mind on nothing else but revenge.

He had planned this revenge for a very long time. His uncle had been his main target while Timothy Ann was his accomplice, but now it was clear that Timothy Ann traded his wife for money. He kept opening the information until he got to

a page which stated that Ann's clothing should be handed to Ariel Ann once she had clocked twenty-three, the person he met yesterday was the woman’s daughter and she was supposed to be celebrating her twenty two years and not twentieth birthday and also Ann clothing originally belonged to that woman and not Timothy Ann, now he has to acquire the Ann group and handed it over to the rightful owner to fulfil his promise, he thought, as he dropped the file on the table while beckoning Pius to come over.

“Pius, please find out who drugged Ariel yesterday.”

“Sir, the information is also in the file”. Pius replied quickly.

He picked up the folder again and opened it.

Damien Ford, Ariel’s childhood sweetheart. In the file where pictures of Ariel and Damian turning to another page he saw some pictures of Damien and Elvira coming out of the hotel.

When he opened the last page he found a pregnancy report attached to it, he laughed out loud, the body guards at the door and Pius, who was standing behind him, felt a chill all over. He had planned to marry Ann’s favourite daughter and date the other one outside his marriage make them fall in love with him and use that to cause a rift between them, but who would have thought that she would dare get pregnant was the Ann’s planning to make him a father to another man’s child?. He was the one that gave the Ann a project knowing they wouldn’t be able to carry it out and he was also the one that withdrew his capital, which made them almost bankrupt and nobody was willing to lend them money. He did all that and he was also the one that offered them ten million dollars on the condition of marrying their daughter to him, but it seems he underrated the Ann’s.

"How on earth did I miss out on such information?"

Pius lowered his head, knowing fully he was the one that messed up.

Ariel, don't worry. I swear I won't hurt you, I will surely get the company back to you, he thought.

"Sir, I guess Timothy Ann will change the bride"

Pius said, and Rex Anderson chuckled coldly.

“Let's wait and see. If they did, then we would change our plan.”