"Ashley Walters didn't survive the cancer, whoever this lady is, she is an imposter!" A voice shrieked and the silence rained down on the hall! In a spontaneous game of Truth or Dare, Ashley, a maid, is set up to marry the heir of Deluca on her first day in the Luca's household by his fiancee. Everything seems alright until Sarah realizes that she might have made a mistake. It seems that her boyfriend was actually falling in love with the maid! And now, she was going to make sure that doesn't happen.
Chapter 1 The Dare Bride
May 27th, 20..
Truth or Dare
Sarah's lips pout as she stared at her fiance, there was a satisfied smirk on his face as he reclined into the rocker, his arms folded across his chest.
She had shut out the white noise of the scissors as it went through her hair, but the blonde bundle falling at her feet with each zap of the valet was enough to run her crazy. She bit it in, she wouldn't give Justin Deluca the joy of seeing her falter. The din of the clipper that followed as her hair was lowered made her eyes water, pinching herself and biting her lips harder, she felt the salt of blood from her lips.
"Sarah, babe, believe me you are one big model. With or without your hair, you are still a stunner." She knew he was being sarcastic and she didn't smile back. To make it worse, he even planted a long wet kiss on her lips.
"My turn!" She declared, glaring at him. As if on cue, the lights flickered out, leaving only an amber glow illuminating the room.
Satisfied that she was making him feel this way, she could tell right now his jaws would be jammed and the ticking bomb in his head would almost explode from what she was going to dare.
"You will marry one of the maids."
"What?!" He stood up, turning the lights on automatically.
"Yes baby. I have it all planned out." She stood up and the lights on her side flickered on too. "Are you giving in?" She smirked, her finger trailing down from his face to his chest.
The maids of the DeLuca's estate were elderly, women in their fifties, the youngest was in her forties. There wasn't a written rule about taking in younger ladies to work in but somehow the older women just dominated and it stuck.
His eyes followed the transverse line of her finger up to his face, then he smiled, poker faced.
"Who is she?"
"Ashley Walters. Single mother of two daughters from different men, she is a cancer patient, battling with stage four cancer. She won't last long, so I hear, so the time limit should be till my hair grows to its full length." She spoke with no sympathy, her gaze was on the phone that displayed the huge price of failure to play along with the terms of the dare.
She wanted him to feel the loss he had inflicted on her. The loss of her own hair, now she was more like a cancer sufferer. Her fixed lashes slowly elevated as her gaze rested on his, squarely.
"Are you doing it? Babe?" She smiled.
"Yes. Get the officiating priest." He smirked. Justin crossed over the dining table to her side and clutching her by the waist, he pulled her flush before kissing her. She could feel the hardness of his groin as it came hard against her, the anger and fury in his grasp as he squeezed her into him."
****
Wedding Day...
Those wedding bells sounded like death bells to him. With each clang, Justin felt the visit of an unknown. White Walls, stained glass, empty pews sparsely populated by the maids and the fact that he was standing alone with the priest waiting for his "Dare" bride stiffened his breath, every two seconds, he would adjust and readjust his bow tie.
He shouldn't have worn the expensive Kiton's Vicuna Peru's suit. It was too expensive a suit for a matter that irked him to the bones but he wanted to show Sarah that he wasn't ready to fail.
The door opened and they came in, sickly Ashley and Mrs R supporting her. She looked like she would break. The white of her gown complemented the beautiful white Walls of the church; he couldn't see her face as she was veiled. It was his late mom's and he winced in pain watching the sick woman walk down the aisle in it.
Her feet wobbled from her very first step. Maybe she is nervous.
Why wouldn't she be nervous? This would be her second marriage and for me, this is my first and to believe that it has to be her?
He adjusted his tie again and waited.
It got worse as midway into the church, she broke into a spasm of throaty coughing. They stopped and Mrs R had to gently pat her on the back while hugging her. A pity!
The smile on Mrs R's face was more mechanical than genuine. "Are you sure you know what you are doing?" She asked and he nodded. Then she handed him to her.
The priest signaled him to take off the bride's veil but he refused.
He wanted to finish it all within a short period, so the priest rushing into the formalities eased his tension.
"Do you, Justin Deluca, agree to take this woman as your bride, to have and to hold, to cherish and to love, in good and in bad, for better and for worse?" He hesitated as he whirled his eyes about seeking his fiance. He knew she was watching and she would be laughing at his demeanor.
"Yes I do."
"And do you, Ashley Walters agree to marry him, to love and to hold, to cherish and to have, in good and in bad, for better and for worse?"
Then she broke.
"Y... Y... yes.." it started as a stutter, then a strained wheeze as though her lungs were about to rupture out of her throat. There was an exhaled uniform gasp from the maids. He could hear Maria, whisper in her loud voice, "oh Lord, may we see the end of this."
Ashley cleared her throat again, nodding. "Yes, I do."
The priest made them say the vows as they exchanged rings. Taking her hand, he felt her fragile jittery hands, they were soft as paper and he was scared they would tear apart, then mouthing the solemn mantra before God and men, he fixed the ring in her finger.
Her voice remained shaky throughout even after the exchange of rings.
The priest blessed the marriage and looking at the congregation, he said, " You may kiss the bride."
"What!?" he asked, feigning cluelessness. 'I can't possibly kiss a sick woman,' he thought.
The crowd expected, but there was no way in hell that he was going to do it or give them that pleasure, he wasn't prepared to see her sickly face, to take off the veil. So he just did what he thought was right; hold her hand and wait for time to elapse and soon, it was over.
Other books by SAMMY'S LAST
More