Dead silence filled the whole room after Aliyah was done speaking but she couldn't blame them. A few minutes ago, she strongly disagreed to get married to Marion in Kylie's place and just now she was saying otherwise.

Flashback...

"I will never get married to you, not today not ever!" Aliyah yelled pointing to Marion. Furry was bubbling deep in her stomach as she fixed her eyes on him. The hatred she had for him had tripled as she heard the words he said. And the fact that her aunt brought that idea annoyed her even more. The only person who was in objection to the idea of her marriage to Marion was his mom.

"And my son will never, " Marion's mom started to say but paused when Marion whispered something to her.

"Trust me Alie, if I had a choice I will never even in my worst nightmare ever want to marry you. We both know I'm doing you a favour by agreeing to marry you. It's an opportunity many ladies are willing to die for." he shrugged with a sly smile plastered on his face.

Aliyah scoffed inwardly as she heard him speak, she hated his guts, he was as proud as a peacock.

"I'm not any of those ladies," Aliyah raved. It was no lie that so many ladies were willing to do anything to be with Marion but she wasn't one of them.

"Aliyah," her aunt yelped through gritted teeth.

Aliyah turned her gaze to her, her eyes glazed with rage," Come with me."

Her aunt didn't wait for Aliyah's response rather she grasped her hand and dragged her with her.

She finally let go of Aliyah's hand and shut the door when they got to her room.

"I know you aren't ready for this marriage but this is once in a lifetime opportunity." her aunt mouthed softly taking steps toward her.

"This is an opportunity for you to get married Aliyah. To the best man you can ever think of, if I had my way I would love my daughter Kylie to spend the rest of her life with Marion but it turns out she loves someone else. I still don't get why she lied to me and everyone and still went on with plans for this wedding. But maybe it is your chance, she has given you a chance to settle down with a lovely man like Marion."

She placed her palms on Aliyah's cheeks and tilted her chin up with her index finger.

This woman was pure evil, the perfect definition of wickedness and her daughter Kylie was no different. Not that it was Aliyah's business but Kylie always claimed to love Marion, who would have thought that she never really loved him and that she loved someone else.

"Just go back in there and tell Marion that you will marry him. Agree to this wedding and everything will be great," her lips curved in a smile.

"I know that you think I don't like you. But I care about you a lot that is why I want you to marry Marion, if you marry him you won't have to pay back the money you took out of the account." Her hands moved from Aliyah's face and she placed them on her shoulders.

Yesterday when Aliyah went to meet her aunt after Kylie told her she called for her. Her aunt said she had to pay back the money she took from her account to pay her college fees because she had no right to anything since her uncle was at the hospital and she was already spending a lot on his medical bills.

"This guy has everything every lady wants in a man seize this opportunity, embrace it." her aunt added.

Aliyah's chest clenched, her aunt's words made her head ache. She took steps backwards holding her head with both hands trying to calm herself down.

"I cannot get married to him, aunt. I will be ruining my life. I don't want to waste my life, yes he might be every other girl's dream but not mine. Please Aunt I'm sure someone out there will be willing to replace Kylie at the altar. Not me please," Aliyah shook her head with tears running down her cheeks.

Her aunt cackled trotting towards Aliyah, she grabbed Aliyah's arm tightly pushing her against the wall.

"You are hurting me, aunt," Aliyah winced in pain as she tried to free herself from her aunt's grip.

"Are my?" she raised her brows and Aliyah nodded.

Her grip tightened even more, "I will hurt you even more if you don't agree to this wedding. What do you say about me telling the doctor in charge of your uncle to take off the life support? Just one call and your uncle will be dead."

Aliyah's eyes narrowed in disbelief, the man she was threatening to kill wasn't just her uncle he was her husband and Kylie's father. Aliyah wondered how she could be so cruel. Her aunt was what she was now and had all she had because of her uncle. Her aunt's parents used to work as a cook in her uncle's parent's house when they were very young and then they fell in love. Aliyah's grandparents objected to their relationship because they wanted him to marry someone from a respectable and noble family but her uncle insisted he was only going to marry her, that cost him a lot but now this same woman didn't give a damn about him.

"He is your husband aunt, how can you threaten to end his life?" Aliyah gasped.

Her aunt let out a chortle, "Husband you say? He is just as useless as you are to me. Do you think I'm joking?"

Her aunt let go of her arm and then picked up her phone and dialled a number after which she put it on speaker.

"it's ringing... Oh, my poor husband. I will miss you a lot," she pouted making a crying face.

"Aunt please I beg of you don't hurt uncle." Aliyah pleaded clasping her hands together as she went on her knees.

"Are you going to do as I say or not?" Her aunt said menacingly.

Aliyah bit the side of her lips, hot tears flowed down her cheeks.

"Yes, aunt. I will do what you want don't just hurt uncle."

"Fine then," Her aunt smiled and hung the call.

"Get up honey," a gigantic grin spread across her face. Aliyah lifted her head and her eyes met her aunt's icy glare which emitted coldness.

"You have just a few minutes to come downstairs. And remember to put a smile on that ugly face of yours, don't make people think that I threatened you." Mrs Sanchez spat placing her fingers on Aliyah's lips as she widened them forcing a smile.

Mrs Sanchez turned to leave but stopped when her phone started to ring.

"it's the doctor," she mumbled looking in Aliyah's direction when she picked it up.

Aliyah's heart hammered hard in her chest. Worry gushed through her, she knew how cruel her aunt was and that she could do anything. She just hoped her aunt doesn't go on with her threats since she had agreed to her demands.

"Don't worry I will keep to my promise since you have agreed to what I want," Mrs Sanchez assured with a faux smile.

"Hi doc, I'm fine. I just called to inquire about my husband's health," she spoke as she picked up the phone.

Aliyah felt the doctor say something to her aunt because she started to feign being in tears.

"I just hope he recovers quickly," she let out before hanging up.

"Phew," she rolled her eyes.

"What?" she questioned when she noticed Aliyah was staring at her.

"Oh, that. I'm such a great actress, right?" she laughed. Suddenly her face turned cold, her eyes blazed with acrimony.

"Better don't say anything to anyone about what we've discussed else I will change my mind and you'll have to go ready for a funeral. I always keep my promise," she declared, her words filled with certainty before leaving the room. Aliyah wiped her tears and braced herself before heading back to the living room.

Back to the present...

"You will get married to my son? Didn't you just say a few minutes ago that you will never marry my son? What changed?" Marion's mom mumbled giving Aliyah a dirty look.

Marion smiled, "Mom I just think she realised how much of a rare gem I am."

Aliyah scoffed inwardly she felt like ripping Marion into pieces if only she could.

"You are kidding right?" Ashley spoke up for the first time since Aliyah returned to the living room.

"No, I'm not." Aliyah tried her best to put a smile on her face. She didn't want Ashley to know the reason why she was agreeing to this marriage because she knew Ashley wasn't going to let her do it.

"Come with me," Ashley whispered taking Aliyah's hand in hers and pulling her with her.

"Spill, tell me what all of this is about. Your aunt threatened you, didn't she?" Ashley inquired.

"No, she didn't," Aliyah lied.

Ashley scoffed, "Really, why are you gazing downwards then? Look in the eye and say that if you accepted to get married to Marion because you want to and not because she threatened you."

Aliyah swallowed the lump that seemed to have formed in her throat and lifted her head to peer at Ashley.

"I want to marry Marion like you said love is just hallucinations and lies. What's the point of waiting for a prince charming when I can spend the rest of my life with the most wealthy man in this city and have whatever I wish for," Aliyah smiled.

Ashley was laughing hard by the time Aliyah was done talking, "You are very hilarious, everything you just said is a joke right?" she mumbled lowly when she stopped laughing.

Ashley shook her head, disarray crammed her eyes and colour drained out of her face, she held Aliyah's hands.

"Why do you want to do this? You are only going to ruin your life by marrying that good-for-nothing man, that cocky billionaire brat," she frowned.

Aliyah pulled her hands from Ashley's, "You should be a good friend and support me." Aliyah was holding back tears, she didn't want to cry in front of Ashley because then she would have to tell her why she had to do this.

"If supporting you to marry Marion is what a good friend would do, then I would rather be a bad friend. I just hope you don't regret this. I would never be a part of you ruining your life so count me out of this wedding," she sighed.

"I really wish I could talk you out of this Aliyah. But it seems your mind is made up," Ashley sniffed in tears and then facepalmed.

Aliyah felt awful seeing her best friend in tears. But she couldn't tell her the reason why she agreed to marry Marion, not after her aunt's warning.

"I have to go and it will be best if we never see or contact each other. There is no need to have a friend who wouldn't share her problems or take advice but rather choose to dig her own grave," Ashley murmured sadly and turned away.

"Bye Aliyah," She stopped and turned to face Aliyah when she got to the door.

"I wish I could wish you all the best but it's hard knowing that you don't want the best for yourself," Ashley shook her head before walking out and shutting the door behind her.

Aliyah plopped to the floor, her body shrieking with each sob that left her lips as she let out all the tears she was holding. She just lost the only friend she had and it was all because of Marion. Her mind was made up she was never going to love him. She was going to make him regret agreeing to get married to her! She was going to be his worst nightmare.