Substitute love

The room froze upon hearing her confession.

"Mom," Maya walked up to her mother, tears pouring down her face. "Your daughter is hurt by her own sister. Mom, this time, she's wrong," Maya said, moving closer to hug her mother, but her mother stopped her.

"That's enough! I've had enough from you. If it weren't for the fact that your father already slapped you, I'd have slapped you myself. Not only do you go around sleeping with other men, but you also accuse your sister of something so despicable. I'm disappointed in you, Maya," Celene, her mother, said as she pushed Maya away from her.

"Mom, I'm telling the truth," Maya said frantically. She turned to Marcus, who refused to meet her gaze. "Marcus, after six years of being together, you decide to cheat on me with my sister? Marcus, I saw you two that day. Tell my parents the truth!"

Marcus turned to look at Maya, his eyes holding guilt, hesitation, fear, and something more. "Maya, you are mistaken. I have nothing to do with your sister. It is you that I love."

"Maya," Stephanie said, walking towards Marcus and linking her arm with his. "Yes, we are together. Marcus, why do you have to be scared of her? She's not worth it. She claims to love you, but she has another lover outside. Marcus, it's I who truly love you. Admit to it and end your relationship with her."

Upon hearing her words to Marcus, Celene yelled, "And what do you mean by that? Maya is right? You have been sleeping with Marcus?"

"Yes, Mom. We love each other. I was willing to give him my first time, unlike her, who kept him waiting for so long. Mom, we love each other, please don't separate us," Stephanie spoke, tears streaming down her cheeks as she begged, making people want to protect her.

Maya turned to her mother. "Now do you believe me? Your daughter did something so despicable. She took my fiancé, Mom."

Maya moved forward to hug her mother once more, but was stopped.

"So what if they slept together?"

Her mother's words made Maya extremely shocked. So what? Maya thought.

"They love each other. It's normal for them to get involved with each other intimately." Her mother's cold words made Maya question if she really was her mother. Her daughter was just cheated on in a relationship of six years, and that was all she had to say? So what?

"Mom, is that how much you hate me? Something so big that she's done, yet you side with her. But me staying out makes you ashamed of me?" Maya laughed, knowing she really had no place in anyone's heart in this world.

Then, her mind unintentionally flew to Lucien, the man who made her feel loved, important, and cherished all in one night. She refused to spend another second with them. Maya stormed upstairs to her room and slammed the door.

Marcus was about to chase after her to explain when Stephanie held him back. "Marcus, where are you going?"

Marcus looked at the timid and pitiful Stephanie, but the image of hickeys on Maya's neck made him unsettled. Who was she with last night? The thought irritated him that she gave her first time to another man, yet he had been trying for the past six years.

At the Hotel

Lucien woke up to see an empty space beside him. Where was the woman he was with last night?

He dressed up and called his assistant, who came within minutes. The assistant watched his boss, who was always cold, looking different from his usual self. "Boss, are you sure she's the one from the orphanage?" the assistant asked.

"Yes, I'm sure she's the one," he replied. "She was adopted by the Ewell family nine years ago. Now that she's finally back in my arms, I'm going to protect her. I want you to watch her every move and report it to me," Lucien ordered.

After the assistant left, Lucien took out a half-heart bracelet, his mind going back to the time they were together at the orphanage.

"I promise when I come back, I'm going to marry you and make you Mrs. Blackwood," young Lucien had said with a stern face as he got into the luxurious car, leaving the young girl standing there. "Hold onto that bracelet. I'll come back and get you." With that, the car drove off.

Years later, after finally inheriting the head-of-family title, Lucien went back to the orphanage to get his beloved, only to find out that she had been adopted by the Ewell family. He found the half-heart bracelet with Maya during his banquet, and he saw how her family treated her. They could only treat someone so poorly if they weren't flesh and blood.

There's no way anyone else can be my beloved if not Maya. Her timid and flushed face during their intimate moment came back to his memory, making him smile.

Back at the Ewell Family House

The next day arrived, and Maya was planning to step out for some fresh air when Stephanie blocked her path. There was a provocative smile on her face, which unsettled Maya.

"Well, well, well," Stephanie said as she walked closer to Maya. "How did it feel? How did it feel that your own parents chose me over you? Your fiancé chose me over you. I told you, everything that belongs to you will be mine. And I'm just getting started."

Maya's heart clenched painfully. Stephanie wasn't wrong, she was right. She had taken her parents' love from her; she had taken her fiancé of six years. What else was left that she wanted to take from her?

Maya looked at Stephanie. "There's nothing else for you to take. You've taken everything from me already. What more do you want?"

Maya's mind immediately went to Lucien. Did she find out about him? Does she know about him? Maya's heart immediately became unsettled. That can't be possible.