Be My Forever

Chapter 3

For several seconds Amara stood staring at her father. She wanted to believe that she had imagined it. That the wine had made her a little tipsy and so she misheard him. She looked around to make sure she had misheard him but Anna's satisfied and wicked smile as well as Lilybeth's sinister smirk told her otherwise.

Excuse me?!, she wanted to yell. The words made their way to her larynx but died there. "W-what", she finally managed to stutter. "So what, you're hard of hearing now?! You're getting married. How old are you?", Raphael said with a raised eyebrow.

"T-twenty F-four", she finally answered after an eternity. "Twenty four, just ripe for marriage. We've met them already, had interactions and honestly, they can come pick you up this second but they requested to have an official engagement party for their son so a chauffeur will be coming over tomorrow at 12:00pm to pick you up. That'll be all", Raphael said in one breathe with his eyes on the television screen.

"And the hell is that supposed to mean?!", Amara, who suddenly found her voice due to all the rage that took hold of her finally burst out. "I never knew you could stoop this low Dad. Selling me off like some goddamn cow. How can you decide my marriage for me? You have absolutely no right t-". She was cut off with the sharp burning sensation as a hard palm painfully made contact with her soft right cheek.

Amara gritted her teeth and blinked the tears away. Raphael stood like an angry bull while Anna and Lilybeth were eating the drama up. "HOW DARE YOU RAISE YOUR FUCKING VOICE AT ME. DO YOU THINK THAT JUST BECAUSE YOU'VE GOTTEN THROUGH SOME MEASLY UNIVERSITY COURSE YOU CAN RAISE YOUR VOICE AT ME?! WHAT A DISRESPECTFUL BITCH YOU TURNED OUT TO BE. LEAVE NOW BEFORE I DO SOMETHING YOU'LL REGRET!".

Amara run to her room. Marriage?! No. I'm not ready for that. All my plans. No. I can't. Especially since it was arranged by that jerk of a father. She was panicking and hyperventilating. "Big Sis", the sickening voice exclaimed, clearly overjoyed, as its owner made her way into the room.

Lilybeth just smirked eying the large red hand-shaped mark across her red cheek. "I can see you're in a state of unrest due to the discovery about your fiance. Lemme put your head at ease and brief you on the situation". With that she sat comfortably on Amara's bed.

"Ok. So his name is Daniel Sean Anderson", Lilybeth said causing Amara's eyes to grow to twice their normal size with shock. "You mean, Daniel Sean Anderson. As in, the Daniel Sean Anderson. AS IN THE COO AND NOT TO MENTION HEIR TO THE ANDERSON AND ASSOCIATES DYNASTY?!", Amara asked. Lilybeth rolled her eyes and continued.

"Pay attention", she snapped. "Anyway, yes, so his parents have been here twice already and they love Mom and Dad. They always say brother-in-law's busy with work and so we've never set eyes on him. Though they promised we'd see him tomorrow. I personally cannot wait to meet that hunk of a man".

Amara sat down on her bed as she processed the information gradually. "Daddy wanted me to marry him so I can live a life full of pleasure and comfort but Mommy said it would be better if I didn't". Amara was puzzled. The opportunist duo refused to get involved with such a powerful family? She gave Lilybeth a quizzical look to which Lilybeth chuckled and smirked.

"Mommy dearest didn't want me to have a stressful marriage. Rumors have it that he has a really bad temper, is strictly principled and doesn't really believe in love and marriage. The only reason he's getting married is that his parents would only hand over the companies and properties to him when he got married".

"Oh, that's not even the best part. Dad and Mr. and Mrs. Anderson made an agreement so that for every month you're married, Dad would be given $10,000 and all the money ever collected by him would be given back to them plus an interest in the case of a divorce. That way they keep their son married and Dad gets rich while getting rid of pests. It's a win-win". She giggled.

Amara was beyond shocked at her family's cruelty. Selling her off without a second thought. Wow! Some family I have. Lilybeth, satisfied with Amara's reaction, got up to leave. "Wow, I feel bad for you", she said while walking slowly toward the door. "Your life seems to get worse with time. Ah well, happy marriage". With that she skipped out of the room.

What the hell, was all that went through her head. With shaky fingers she took her phone and called Allison. "Hey ooo", Allison's warm voice greeted as it came through the phoneline. "Allison......". Amara proceeded to tell her everything. Alison listened patiently until the last sentence.

Allison managed to calm her down and they talked about the matter. Allison was so concerned for her dear friend. How the hell can someone give up his own daughter like that? The daughter of himself and the supposed love of his life? It just didn't make sense.

"Just sleep on it, OK? Wake up fresh after a good night's sleep. Meet them and think about your next step. I'm gonna support you and hold your hand till the end", Allison's calming voice cooed. "OK. Thank you so much. You're my life saver. I love you. Bye then. Goodnight Al". "Goodnight, Amara. Love you". With that Allison cut the call.

Allison was right. She just needed to sleep and think things through. With that she wiped away her tears, drank three more glasses of wine and fell into an alcohol-induced sleep.