CHAPTER THREE

A knock jolted Mia out of her revire. She was going down memory lane about her moments with Eric when Lilith poked her head through the door. She turned and went back to her seat facing the vanity mirror and the makeup artist began to put some finishing touches to her makeup.

Lilith walked into the room with a wide beaming smile. "OMG you look so stunningly beautiful" she said as she drank up her friend with her eyes.

"I'm so nervous Lil .... what if something goes wrong? what if I fall while walking down the isle? what if the ring goes missing" Mia asked nervously.

"shhhh....it's going to be okay hun... take a chill pill and relax okay ..... nothing can and absolutely nothing will go wrong" Lilith replied. Mia took a deep breath and sighed.

She wanted to believe everything would be alright but she felt strange. She couldn't shake off the feeling that something was about to go wrong. She scrunched up her face as she pondered.

"are you alright?"

"yeah .... I'm... I'm...I just can't shake this wierd feeling I'm having like something will go wrong"

"oh.... shake it off... today is just perfect... what could possibly go wrong? get that butt of yours off the bed, your father is already here" she said as Mia's father poked his head through the door.

"Thanks Lil... now what will I do without you"

"Nothing darling.... absolutely nothing...." Lilith replied as she hugged Mia.

"Everything alright?" Mia's father asked.

"Wow" he exclaimed as he took her in with his eyes.

"You look beautiful my princess..... how I wish your mother was here to see this" he said blinking back tears. He linked his arm to Mia's and dabbed at his eyes with a handkerchief.

Thoughts of her mother surfaced in her head and Mia had to hold back her tears. She had no plans of ruining her oh so expensive makeup and causing a makeover disaster. The makeup artist said it was waterproof but she didn't trust these things.

"let's go dad" she said as her friend stepped behind her to lift her train.

All eyes turned to the father daughter duo as they walked into the cathedral. She saw her groom's eyes on her, but felt as though he was not looking at her. She saw her sister standing at the altar.

"wait a minute... is she supposed to be standing there?" Mia thought to herself as she walked. She looked into the eyes of her husband to be as her father gave him her hand. He took it and they turned to face the priest.

Mia felt the ceremony pass in a blurr.

She was already envisioning her future with her dream man.

The words of the priest brought her back from her fantasies.

"Do you Mia Summers take Eric Hill to be your lawfully wedded husband to love and to cherish till death do you part?"

"I do" Mia replied.

"Do you Eric Hill take Mia Summers to be your lawfully wedded wife until death do you part?"

Mia turned smiling to look at him and expecting his answer but he showed no sign of happiness. Instead of looking at her, his eyes were on Mara.

"Eric?" Mia called trying to draw his attention. she searched his face as he turned to her. When he turned, the look he gave her was one of anger and hate.

He harshly withdrew his hands from her and pushed her off the altar before walking towards Mara.

Mia fell and landed smack on the floor. Lilith hurriedly ran to her side.

Mia was stunned as shock slowly registered. She couldn't utter a word as tears welled up in her eyes and ran down her face.

"Did you think I would marry a nothing like you when I have a queen by my side" he asked as his face contorted in anger.

"You're a big mistake" he said, spitting venomous words.

Mara is the one I love and the one I'm getting married to" he smirked, his voice rising octaves higher.

With each word he spoke,Mia felt like a bucket of cold water was repeatedly being dropped on her head.

As more words spewed from him, colour began to drain from her face by the minute.

She fell on her knees, crawled to Eric and held on to his pants as she began to wail. "we waited so many years for this day honey" she said as tears ran down her face and smudged her makeup. Tears ran down her face freely and her mascara had already stained her wedding dress but she took no notice as she kept on wailing hysterically.

"please don't do this to me" Mia continued to wail.

She let go of his legs and moved close to touch his hand. He moved out of reach like she was a plague.

"are you deaf?" he barked.

"I am getting married to Mara. Get that into your thick empty skull" he smirked, putting emphasis on each syllable.

"will you stop this nonsense Eric. How can you do this to her after everything. Why let the wedding preparations continue when you had no plans of marrying her?" her father asked Eric before turning to Mara.

"Mara even you. How could you do this to your sister"he added and knelt beside a weeping and hysterical Mia.

The guests just watched the unfolding drama with interest. Some brought out their cameras to take photos and make videos. It wasn't everyday that a rich billionaire gets to dump a hieress at the altar for her sister. It was beyond Epic to their eyes.

"dear father" Mara eventually spoke up with disdain on her face.

"it's not my fault if Eric loves me. I love him too. You know, it seems I just got my revenge. You and Mum loved Mia so much since we were children. You two have always doted on her since we were children. She had always been the golden child the holy innocent one who could do no wrong. Even when Mum was on her death bed I never got to see her"

"I never got to watch my own mother die!" she yelled.

"Mia was the one who did. It has been my plan all along. Eric is my boyfriend, still is and has always been"

"At the club, final exams night out? He would still have come to you, even if you didn't throw yourself at him. Fat thank you to your stupid friends by the way, they made it a lot more easy and fun. A dare to kiss" she smirked, her eyes glinting pure evil.

"wait... you were there?"

"of course I was silly" Mara smirked.

"the girl on the couch, dark corner? yup... that was me. I bet you were too drunk to notice."

"Alcohol has never been one of your strong suits dear sister. My plan worked perfectly obviously... seeing how miserable you are. I had Eric date you for four years,to make sure you fall hopelessly in love with him, to love him with all your heart, then watch you get disgraced on your wedding day" she smirked.

"so here we are....go look at yourself in the mirror dear sister, how inversely beautiful you are... wonderfully miserable" she added smiling mischievously. Mia lunged at her only to be intercepted by Eric, who threw her back to the floor.

"watch it" he said with a scowl.

"but the other day at my house..... other times you came to visit.... you both didn't act like you knew each other. How could I have missed the signs" Mia wailed.

" oh pullease... we've fucked many times in your own room right under your own roof" Mara smirked.

"Mara... Mia is your sister. How could you do this"

Mara just eyed her father and humphed, throwing her hair over her shoulder.

"You're not even the least bit remorseful about your actions. Henceforth Mara I disown you. I want no part of you and Eric in this family."

"Not so fast Mr Summers, you do business with the Hills family. You cannot cut anything off....not with me, not with Mara. The hills family will pull out every of their assets from your company. All businesses and business ties we have with each other will be cut. You wouldn't dare." Eric said arrogantly.

"You will go bankrupt" he smirked.

"I do not care Eric" Joseph Summers said with a hoarse voice.

"Henceforth I am cutting all ties I have with your family Eric... and oh yes....you and your family's money can go to hell. I want you out of our lives." Joseph said as he gently lifted Mia from the ground. With the help of Lilith, he guided Mia out of the church. He was shaking and in tears. For the second time that day, Mia saw her father in tears.

She could not believe what her sister did. She was hurting inside from the betrayal of the people she loved and trusted. She felt like it was all a dream. A very bad dream she so much wished she could wake up from. She wanted to sleep and wake up with all the pain Gone.

She didn't know how she got home, how she got out of her wedding dress, how she ended up in her bed.

After the wedding embarrassment, since it could no longer be referred to as a wedding, Mia's mouth felt dry and she felt empty and hollow inside.

She locked herself up in her room and cried herself to stupor.

She refused to see anyone or even have anything to eat.

She sat on the bed and recalled past events, times she could have noticed or had an inkling of how close Eric was to her sister or even discovered their relationship. There was none.

She had CCTV cameras all over her home and yet it caught nothing.

She stayed awake with her thoughts till nightfall then she fell asleep.

The ring of the alarm bell jolted her up from bed. As she got up, the memory of yesterday's proceedings washed over her anew.

It dawned on her for the nth time it was not a dream.

"so he did leave me and she did betray me" she muttered.

Her throat hurt and felt dry since she had neither food nor water since the previous day but her heart felt heavier.

She didn't think she could bear the pain and hurt any longer.

Her dad walked into the room and until then, she didn't realize she had left the door of her room ajar.

"Forgive me Mia this is all my fault. I'm so sorry baby" her dad walked to her and sitting on the bed, placed her hair on his chest.

"I should have allowed you chase your dreams instead of being selfish. I thought he would be good for you and you would be happy with him" her father said remorsefully.

"it's okay dad... what's done is done and it's too late for regrets. I know that you want what's best for me. You always have.... and I loved him anyway so it's partly my fault"

"I'm so sorry princess"

"it's okay dad... don't make me start crying all over again" Mia replied smiling weakly.

Mia kept telling her father it was alright, but deep down, she knew it was not. She wanted to die because it was too much for her to bear.

"how can my own beloved sister do this to me.... it's too hard to believe. My own younger sister. The image of my family is tarnished and my existence is meaningless.... how will i show my face in public... I shouldn't have listened to my heart. I should have known this would happen. I should have listened when I felt it at the wedding... I'm so stupid... this is too much" she thought to herself as she held her crying father in her arms. They were both all they had left. Each other.

She held her father even when she didn't feel strong herself.

After sometime, har father got a call and he stood up and forlornly walked out of the room.

The moment he left, Mia broke into loud sobs.

Taking the black robe she wore to her mother's burial, she stood up from the bed, wiped her tears and grabbed her car keys.

She drove around the city for a long time, without having to any direction in mind or knowing where she was headed.

After sometime, she found herself in the parking lot of summers entertainment.

She went through the elevators and headed to the roof of the building.

She walked slowly towards the edge as tears welled up, ran down her face and dried up due to the wind.

Her light brown hair stuck to her face with the help of her tears and she drew the black robe tighter across her petite frame... "funny how a person could loose weight in just a day" she thought.

Her thoughts were filled with her friends ... Ari, Cassy, and wonderful Lilith who loved her, apparently more than her two faced sister. She thought of her father. "oh dad" she whispered to the wind. She thought of Eric and her sister. Her father would surely miss her afterall, she was all he had left.

"I think it's better this way. perhaps all the pain would go away" she thought as smiled and let herself go.