Her Substitute Groom

Janice POV

‘Let’s get back together when you get to LA’ I read the text with a heavy heart and tears brimmed in my eyes. We had just gotten to the airport, ready to go back to LA and Connor had excused himself to go to the dining room.

‘What if I don’t want to?’ I had texted him back, and his reply broke every ounce of confidence in me. If I refused to do what he wanted from me, then Connor would have to pay with his life, and that was the last thing I wanted.

I heard Connor’s footsteps, so I quickly deleted the text and held the phone firmly in my hand after I wiped my tears. I had to pretend everything was fine because I didn’t want him to suspect anything.

“Are you ok?” He asked as he say beside me on the waiting bench and held my hand. Even though I’ve been treating him badly lately, distancing myself from him and hurting him emotionally, he still cared about me and never got mad at me. More reason I’ve been dying slowly in guilt.

“Hmm… I’m fine,” I replied to him casually, looking everywhere else except his face. How could I look him in the eyes when this guilt was consuming me?

“Are you hungry? Should I get you something to eat?” He asked, but I shook my head. I haven’t been eating well lately not because I didn’t want to but because my appetite had been messed up.

It was finally time for our plane to take off, so we went to take our seats, and a few minutes later, we were on our way back to LA. We were finally going back after months of traveling. This was supposed to be the best vacation of my life, but I didn’t think I should still feel that way knowing what the future had in store for me at this point.

An hour into the journey, Connor fell asleep and rested her head on my shoulder as he slept peacefully, and I sighed, wishing that I was peaceful enough to be able to nap.

The four hours spent in the air felt like forever and I could only look forward to getting off. My dream finally came true when it was announced that we would be landing in a few minutes.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

The plane finally landed and Chase, Connor’s brother came to welcome us as soon as we stepped out of the plane. I guess Connor must’ve told him we were coming back today.

“Welcome home, brother. It’s nice to have you here,” Chase welcomed Connor with a wide smile and a warm hug.

“Thank you, brother,” After Chase pulled away, he turned and smiled at me.

“Welcome back home, sister-in-law,” He smiled at me widely, and I just forced a smile. Furthermore, he drove us home from the airport and I couldn’t deny that it felt so good to be back into this penthouse.

I slumped on the bed tiredly as soon as I walked into our room, but just then, my phone beeped and I checked to see that it was a text from that bastard.

‘It’s good to have you back in LA. I’m sure we’ll have a sweet memory together here. Let’s meet and talk tomorrow. I’ll send you the address tomorrow’ my heart skipped when I read through the text. Meeting him again was something I didn’t want to happen, but it turned out that it wasn’t something I had control over.

I heard Connor’s footsteps from outside so I quickly wiped the message and dropped my phone on the bed.

“Babe… Are you ok?” He asked me when he walked into the room.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Do I look not?” I asked him in return because I tried to act like nothing happened.

“I’m just worried about you, and…”

“I want to be left alone, Connor,” I cut him off and his face dropped disappointedly. I didn’t give him an audience to say anything before I stood up and strode into the bathroom, slamming the door hard behind me.

“Shit!” I cursed under my breath and ran my fingers through my hair as I paced inside the bathroom. I needed to find a solution to this as soon as possible because I couldn’t continue to treat Connor in that manner when he did nothing to me.

“Be a woman and face him. Tell him you are not interested in this emotional blackmail. You can’t continue to do what he wants while hurting your man,” I said to myself, making up my mind to own up to this and do the right thing…

****

My heartbeat increased rapidly as the time to meet up with him approached. Connor had left home earlier to go see his friend so I had all the time in the world to myself.

It was finally time to leave the house, so I got dressed and left my room and as I descended the staircase, I saw Chase in the living room.

“Are you going out, Janice?” He asked after he gave me a long confusing stare which I was expecting. It was already past 8pm.

“Yes. I’ll be back shortly,” I replied to him, and he scoffed.

“It’s late, I hope you know that?” He reminded me as if I didn’t see that it was.

“Yes, I know. I’ll be back shortly,” I replied to him and strode out of the house even though he tried to stop me. I drove one of the cars at the parking lot and after what seemed like forever, I arrived at the bar where he had asked us to meet.

“Calm down and do the right thing, Janice,” I said to myself after I stepped out of the car once I was parked at the parking lot of the bar. I sauntered toward the entrance door and the security guard allowed me in as soon as they saw me but stopped the person that was going to walk in after me. It seemed odd to me because I was supposed to be questioned before I walked in, but regardless, I proceeded into the bar. I was stunned when I saw that the bar was empty with no single soul around here, just the horrible smell of alcohol and cigarettes, and the slow intense music I could barely hear if not that I was sure that it was coming from the bar.

“Are you here to see Mr. Jason?” My soul almost jumped out of my body when a deep voice spoke behind me, and I turned swiftly, but I collided with a hard surface which turned out to be the chest of the huge man that was towering over me. It was then I realized that the entrance door of the bar was already closed and I was trapped in here. Did I make a mistake coming here in the first place? I asked myself even though I was sure that this was a bad idea.

“Uhm… I…” I paused and swallowed the lump that formed in my throat while I thought of what to say to this man I couldn’t even see his face. I was still trying to figure out what to say to him when I heard his familiar voice.

“Don’t scare her, viper…” I turned sharply to find him walking toward me with a smirk dancing at the corner of his lip. He had a black patch covering his left eye just like the day I saw him. He hasn’t changed a bit from the way he was when I last saw him before he popped out of nowhere days ago. He was still the same person, but there was a dark aura surrounding him. For some reason, I felt like something had changed within him even though his physical self was intact.

“It’s nice to have you back here, wife. Did you miss me?” He widened his arms, ready to welcome me with a warm hug, but I stepped away from him fearfully.

“Ca… rl…” His name escaped my mouth but in a whisper that I could barely hear myself talk, but his eyes darkened and a deep frown settled on his face.

“Don’t call me that again. I’m Jason now,” His voice was so cold and the murderous glare he gave me made my heart leave my chest for a moment. I know you are thinking the same thing, and yes, it’s what you are thinking. The person standing in front of me was Carl Hughes, Connor’s dead brother, and the person that had been tormenting me for the past few days. He was supposed to be dead, right? Well, that’s what I thought too. I was terrified too when I saw him that day thinking I’d seen a ghost, but it seemed like we were all fooled. Carl was never dead. He was alive, hale, and hearty…