Chapter 1

“Mom, I don't want to marry that notorious man! Who knows if he would kill me before I could get a taste of his wealth.” Sydney Danville, a lady with blonde hair scowled.

Her blue eyes shifted back and forth between her parents sitting on a sofa in the living room as her hand folded against her chest.

“Honey, this is not right. You know about the rumors surrounding that man, right? Our reputation is going to be ruined.” Victoria Danville, Sydney’s mom stood up as she looked at her husband.

“Victoria darling, there’s nothing that we can do. We’re in debt, would you rather be tied up with them for life?” Walter Danville spoke, hugging Victoria as she buried her face into his shoulder.

“No, I can't agree with this. I won’t allow our daughter to marry that man!” Victoria, the 48-year-old woman with a bun, broke off the hug and turned around to look out the window. The city was bustling, and loud with the noises of the cars.

“What if…” Sydney looked at Kathilyn Winston, her pink dress fluttering in the air as she turned around. Another blonde woman with shabby clothing mopped the floor across the huge living room, her face was oddly similar to Sydney's.

“I think I've got an idea. I don’t need to marry that man.” Sydney spoke again. Both her parents looked at her in anticipation, wondering what she was talking about.

“What do you mean, Sydney? Do you have anything in mind?” Walter asked, the 50-year-old man looking in the direction of Kathilyn where Sydney was looking along with Victoria.

“Perhaps… That poor girl can take my place. I mean killing two birds with one stone, right? We can escape that notorious man and get rid of that burden.” A smirk appeared on Sydney’s face.

“Great idea, honey. I’m so proud that my daughter is so smart.” Victoria proudly kissed Sydney on the forehead.

“I'll buy you the phone and handbag that will be released soon. You’ll be the first one to have them again.” Victoria kissed Sydney’s forehead again.

“Kathilyn!” Victoria called for Kathilyn, but she was too focused on mopping the floor that she didn’t hear Victoria calling for her.

“For the second time I'm calling you, are you deaf?” Victoria walked up to Kathilyn and kicked the bucket filled with dirty water and it spilled all over the floor.

"Look at the mess you made! Well, whatever. From now on, you'll take my daughter's place and marry Isaac Cambridge." Victoria crossed her arms across her chest and smirked wildly, feeling happy she could get rid of Kathilyn.

"B-but, ma'am... He's known as a cruel man that only god knows what he did to get all that money." Kathilyn only looked down, feeling ashamed to look them in the eyes.

Victoria was her aunt, Kathilyn's mom's younger sister who disliked her because of history when Kathilyn's mom ended up marrying the man that Victoria had a crush on.

She sacrificed everything, but the man Roman Winston who was Kathilyn's dad fell in love with her mom, Natalie Hawkins.

"Are you going to defy me now, young lady?" Victoria stepped closer, Kathilyn's heart pumped faster as she was scared of what was going to happen.

Victoria has done a lot of things to her and abused her every time she made a mistake or defied her. 

"I am your aunt, the younger sister of your mom. I took care of you after she died, paid for your education, and wasted a whole lot of money on you when I could just let you rot to death." Victoria scowled, one of her hands held Kathilyn's chin to make her look up at her into her eyes.

"So, you better pay up by listening to me and do me a favor. Or would you rather be locked up in the basement and rot to death? We won't even bother to bury you even if you die." The vicious woman let go of Kathilyn's chin and slapped hard across her cheek.

"Now clean this up go to your room and get ready to meet your fiance. Our driver will send you off, make sure to dress up properly and don't embarrass us. If I see you wear your shabby clothes, then you'll have to sleep in the dirt." Victoria spoke before fixing her cream-coloured dress and walked away.

With a heavy sigh, Kathilyn crouched down and cleaned up the mess that her aunt made. She scrubbed and wiped the big puddle, looking at herself in the reflection,

‘How did my life turn like this…’ She thought, remembering how her parents died in front of her when she was younger as she was scrubbing the floor.

"I have no proper dress..." Kathilyn sighed as she rummaged through her wardrobe, looking for a good dress to be worn.

All of her dresses were cheap dresses that she bought herself until she rummaged deeper into her wardrobe to find her mom's only dress that she secretly sneaked into her wardrobe out of Victoria's knowledge.

"Mom..." She hugged the dress tightly as if it were her mom. She missed her so much, but all she could do was hold back her tears since she always got scolded by her aunt in the past for crying from missing her mom.

"This would do." Kathilyn changed her clothes into the dress, then walked out of the house towards the driver who was waiting for her. She was so nervous and scared that she thought about running away multiple times.

'Should I just run away? I'm too scared to meet him...' She thought as she was walking as slowly as she could, buying some time.

'Fuck it, just run.' Her thoughts washed over her and she ran away as fast as she could away from the driver. She has always been fast on her feet since she was an athlete during her school days.

"Miss, come back here!" The driver shouted and quickly drove away to catch up to her. Kathilyn was smart, she took a shortcut in a small and cramped alleyway that cars wouldn't fit.

Just then, as she was running away from the driver, she saw three masked men wearing all black chasing her from behind. She ran faster, her heart was beating faster than her legs thinking of the worst scenario that could happen.

The three men were so much faster than her that they could catch up to her. One of them took out a handgun and spun it around with his fingers, walking closer towards her.

"Finally found you, Sydney Danville." The man pointed the gun right at her forehead with an evil smirk.