002. Reckoning

Slap!!!

"You witch! How did you do it, huh? How were you able to take away your sister's man? How come the priest mentioned your name and not hers? And where is she? Have you done something to your sister? Huh?"

Cough. Cough. Cough.

It was only after hearing Laura cough that her parents realised that she was sleeping on the three-seater sofa in the dressing room, and there was another person too in the room.

"You may leave." Lauren said to the other person, Cat, whom she had asked to watch over her sleeping sister.

James quickly moved away from the door and hid first as Cat made for the exit. He only returned back to the door once she was completely gone, to continue with his eavesdropping.

"Darling, are you okay? Here, have this water." Her father ran to Laura's side with a bottled water.

"Lauren, is that you? How? How did you get in here? I never invited you." Laura asked after drinking the water without even saying a "thank you.".

Laura tried to get off the sofa. "Mom, Dad, are you the ones that brought her here? And why is she wearing my wedding dress?! Argh! My head hurts badly, and I feel very sleepy." She plopped back into the sofa because the drug used on her had not worn off completely yet.

Slap!

Their mom's next slap caused Lauren to stumble back a few paces. "What did you do to your sister to make her weak like that? Is that why she couldn't come into the wedding hall?"

Lauren stopped rubbing her hot cheeks as she faced her parents. "Now I guess you've both gotten my message. You two can go ahead and explain what is happening to your favourite child once the drug wears off. I'm out of here."

Her mother made to slap her again, but Lauren caught her hand midair. "And one more thing: this will be the last time that I will allow any of you to hit me again. Take my act here as a token for all the mistreatments that I had to endure at your hands."

She then released her mom's hand and left the room. To say that her family was stunned would be an understatement.

James, who still didn't seem to understand whatever his friend's new wife and her parents were talking about, quickly moved away from the door.

He tried to rush back into the wedding hall before Lauren stepped out, only to be caught red-handed by someone else. Essa.

*

It took a while for the disoriented Laura to process everything that her parents had just told her.

"What?! How is that possible? Since when has she been planning all this? She must've had help, mother. There's no way that she was able to do all that by herself, but I don't care.

I am going to take back my man. I'll let the Mulligans know that she's only an imposter and a whore." Laura burst out after being filled in on what her younger sister had done.

Her worried parents tried to calm her down. "Sweetheart, you need to calm down for now, please. If we try anything and the Mulligans get suspicious, we could lose all that we stand to gain from this alliance. We can't let anyone to get wind of this." Her dad tried to explain.

"No, father! I refuse to do that. I didn't accept to marry Gavin Mulligan only because of his background, Dad. I am very much aware of the rumours circulating around him and still choose to marry him.

You both know how much I love Gavin and would do anything to have him, even though I doubt that he even remembers my name. And so, no. Never will I allow Lauren to take what's mine.

That girl should've continued staying invincible and far away from us as she had been doing. Why would she show up in our perfect lives only now just to ruin it?"

Laura kept ranting on and on with bitterness about what her younger sister had done.

Her desire to burst into the wedding hall and tear that cursed sister's skin into pieces was only on the increase by the minutes.

"Shhhh. My dear. Please be calm. We can not have anyone coming in here because of your screams." Her mom hugged her to try to comfort her.

"Your mother is right, Laura. What if someone sees you and soon the Mulligans get the news that there are two of you? Do you want them to know about you and your sister? Do you really believe that that would give you your man back?"

"What are you saying, dad? Are you insinuating that now I have to hide my existence from the Mulligans now?"

Both parents nodded solemnly.

"Why? Why must I do that when it is I who has been wronged? Why? I'm going to expose her. You two can decide whether to help me or not but know that I am not giving up on taking back what is mine."

"Really, Laura?"

"Yes, mom. I mean it."

"And what if that backfires? Why don't we find a way to get you out of here and go home first before thinking of what to do later? Hm? I promise, that your father and I will find a way to give you back your man. Alright?"

It took all the patience and coaxing of her parents to prevent her from doing anything hasty.

(I guess they love carrying favours with the Mulligans more than their supposed love for their golden child).

"Now, make sure that nobody sees you on your way out. Your mother and I will bid our farewells to the Mulligans and meet you outside of this place. As for your sister, let's leave her be for now. Okay?"

*

"Mom, Dad. We're leaving." Gavin said and dragged his bride out of the hall right after she returned to the wedding hall. Following behind them was his personal guard.

"Son, aren't you going to introduce your wife to our friends and business associates at least..." His mother tried to tell him but he was long gone with his bride by then.

His father smiled as hugged his wife. "I see that he is in a hurry to get to know his bride better. I guess we should be expecting to hear some good news sooner than we thought."

"Um... honey, I don't think that that is so. Look at how he just dragged her out of here." His mother said worriedly as she kept looking at the direction in which her son and his new wife had just taken.

*

"Where are we going that you have to drag me out like this, Mr. Mulligan? It's uncomfortable to walk fast in this gown." Lauren yanked her hand out of her husband's hold once they got out of the hall.

"I have some place to be. You'll be going home with my driver for now. We'll need to talk when I return."

"Home? Whose?" Lauren asked.

"Mine. For now, at least. We'll talk and sort things out when I get back."

"I can stay at my place if me being at yours will be an inconvenience. We don't necessarily have to stay together, do we?" Lauren stated.

Gavin Mulligan turned to look at her with a weird expression on his face as if she has gone bananas.

"Are you seriously considering that right now? And what will you tell your family when they asked why you're back there?"

"I... um, yes you're right. How silly of me. Hehe." She let out a nervous laughter.

It's only after his question that Lauren realised her blunder. She has almost outed herself, forgetting that her older sister lives with her parents, unlike her.

"Here. Take this card. Use it for whatever you want. My butler will attend to you in case of anything." Gavin said and handed Lauren a Black Card and left soon after his driver arrived with his car.

He then turned to his personal guard, Kai. "Take her to the house and get her something to change into."

"Yes, sir." Kai replied and then moved to open the car door to the backseat. "This way, ma'am."

They were barely out of sight when Gavin received a notification that his taxi has arrived.

*************************

"This is the master's house." Kai said once the car reached his boss' place.

The place was huge and beautiful but it looked nothing like what her sister has described to them as the Mulligans' mansion so she deduced that this might be just the son's own place.

Lauren was amazed to see a group of people dressed in white uniforms rushed out in two lines to meet them.

"You are warmly welcome, Madam." They chorused and each line parted to the side, creating an aisle between them.

"Thank... you?" Lauren didn't know how to respond to that.

A middle aged man step out of the group and said. "I am Elvis, the head butler. All of us gathered here your servants, Madam. So please do feel free to give us your order whenever you wish. You're welcome, once again."

"Thank you, Elvis." Lauren said, not knowing whether or not to correct these people that she wasn't their 'Madam'.

"After you, ma'am." Kai said and ushered her through the aisle between the servants until they entered the main building.

"This is the master's bedroom. He didn't tell to make any sleeping arrangements for you so I believe that you'll be using the master bedroom with him.

You can choose to relax in there or at the living room, whichever you prefer. I'll have them bring something for you to change into first."

He then called Elvis to come and continued. "Do ask Elvis for whatever you may need. I'll be back, please." Kai said and darted outside while Elvis served his new madam, some refreshments in the living room.

Not long afterwards, Kai came back. And with him were some of the servants pushing a number of racks of clothings of different styles, colours and brands.

"We did not know what you like, so we brought a number of them. These servants will help you change. You have to do so in the master's closet for now please.

*

"Wow! I like this one. I'll keep this on. Thank you all for your assistance." Lauren said smiling while looking at her reflectionin the dressing mirror, after finally settling on a particular knee-length floral flair dress.

"Alright. You may all leave now." The head butler, Elvis, dismissed the maids that were assisting Lauren to choose a dress.

"What else would you like to do? Should I have them prepare something for you to eat? Would you like to be shown around the compound?" Elvis asked.

Shook her head. "No. Elvis. I'm a bit exhausted. Can you just get me a bottle of water and some refreshments? My throat is parched."

"Alright. Would you be taking it here? Or should I bring it to the master's bedroom?"

Lauren thought for a second and shook her head. "No. Bring it to the living room instead."

She didn't want to incur the wrath of that gruff man by sleeping on his bed.

*

It was while she was enjoying the refreshments that Lauren realised that her phone was not with her.

"Um... Kai?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"May I use your phone to make a call? I think I left mine at the wedding centre."

Kai handed her his phone.

Rrring! Rrring!! Rrring!!!

Laura was about to leave the dressing room when she heard the buzzing of a mobile phone coming from the dressing mirror side, so she went back to answer it.

"Hello? Cat, is that you? Please, can you find a way and get my phone back to me? I'll text you the address. My phone's PIN is 0730..."

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Laura immediately cut the call and tried the PIN, and indeed it worked.

"Gotcha!" Laura smirked as she turned off the phone and put it into pocket of her denim trousers.

For minutes, Lauren stared at the phone screen, not knowing what to make of the one-sided conversation that she just had and the abrupt hanging of the phone without any response from the people on the other end of the call.

She tried to call back but was told that her phone had been switched off. She tried two more times but still got the same response. Eventually she called Cat's own personal line and told her about having left her phone.