"You had no idea about what was going on and that is when all of a sudden you came up to me telling me that Emmett proposed you and you two decided to get married. I was devastated. I was letting it happen. Everything was before me but I couldn't do anything. I was failing from saving my own daughter" he sobbed and tears fell down from my eyes. I couldn't believe how stupid I was. How did I even fall in love with a fake person? Dad had to go through all this because of me.

　　"I wanted to save you. I wanted to save my whole family desperately and you know 'A drowning man will clutch at a straw' I did that to save mine and my family" he said and that strike me.


　　"Bu- But why did Emmett chose to hide his identity from me? Why did he not tell me his real name? It was not as if I knew him so why Emmett over Nicholas?" I asked the question which has been nagging me from the beginning.

　　"He wasn't hiding his identity from you," dad said and that made me even more confused than I already was.

　　"Then from whom was he hiding?" I asked and looked behind me towards Zachary.


　　"This is when Mr. Zachary enters," he said and I looked back at Zachary to find him filling a glass of water from the jug for himself. He didn't even look at us. I turned back to dad and looked at him confused.

　　"My my sources, I got know that Nicholas was a married man," dad said and that gave me a mini heart attack.


　　"What?" I stood up from my seat in anger.

　　"Juliette! Listen to me, dear. Please sit down" dad said and took me some minutes to calm myself before I sat back on the couch.

　　"Not only married but he even killed his pregnant wife," dad said in rage and something strikes my mind.

　　That reminded me of those conversations of Zachary's men which I overheard beforehand when I was trying to escape.

　　"His wife is Zachary's sister," I said slowly and we heard a loud crash and I looked back to find the jug of water on the ground. Zachary threw it angrily on the ground and rubbed his face.

　　"Excuse me!" he said as he came back and took a seat back on the sofa.

　　I was just going to open my mouth when dad interfered continuing "So, I got to know that he was hiding his identity from Mr. Zachary Sullivan and Mr. Zachary was in search of him because he had killed his sister. That was my 'A drowning man clutches a straw.' I got in contact with him and told everything about Nicholas. But the problem was Vito. Vito is the mastermind in all this. He was the one after whom Mr. Zachary was. It was his plans to kill his own daughter-of-law. I don't know why he planned to kill her and he used his own son a pawn. Nicholas was just a pawn in this game. All Vito wanted was money. He wanted it from you, Mr. Zachary's sister. And we knew that he would go to any extent to get the money. For that we, Mr. Zachary and I made a plan. The plan had you getting married to Mr. Zachary. We had a deal that until Vito and Nicholas is taken care of and out of the game, we would protect you. Because Mr. Zachary wanted Vito and Vito wanted you. In order to reach Vito it was necessary for you to be with him. If you got married to Mr. Zachary your will and life is saved. So, that's what we di-" I cut him off this time.

　　"So everything was an act? The marriage and being held away from home was a plan?" I asked o which dad nodded a 'yes' slowly.

　　"We had a deal, Juliette! Don't worry!" dad said all of a sudden his face lit up.

　　"Deal?" I asked.

　　"Mr. Zachary has promised that he would protect you from Vito and Nicholas and he will even end this marriage once they are out of this game" dad finished and looked at Zachary smiling at him.

　　"End this marriage" I muttered to myself.

　　"Oh, Juliette I know this is all messed up but trust me Mr. Zachary will protect you because we have a deal. I know you don't have any wish to stay in this marriage and neither Mr. Zachary has any wish for the same. He will free you after Vito is in his hands" dad said and I stared at him blankly.

　　What is wrong with me?

　　"I know this is hard for you but princess please let us take care of you. Please hold up for more days until Vito is captured. He will no longer be able to hurt our family" dad said while I sat there quietly.

　　"What do you say? Juliette? Say something!" dad said squeezing my hand.

　　"What will I say? You both have made every decision by yourself and we have reached this far. Do whatever is appropriate" I said as I got up from the seat and walked across the room to the window.

　　"Juli-" dad was cut off by Zachary.

　　"Mr. Swason! I think it is enough for today. You traveled all this way here. You need rest. Let Cosmina take you to the penthouse where you could take some rest and you can join us in our house when Mrs. Swanson and Mr. Jace arrives" Zachary told him and I heard when he dialed Cosmina. Their conversation didn't reach my ears as I was busy sorting out the wrong pieces of my filthy life. I stood there looking out of the glass window. Tears spill down my eyes like a stream. I cursed for having such a fate.

　　All of a sudden I came to know that my dead grandfather has left a will on my name, and the money is wanted by my ex-fake fiancé. My so called present husband whom I thought until yesterday is the one who is going to hurt me came out to be the one who has always tried to protect me. My own father had secrets from me and me, I am so stupid to fall head over heels with a fake greedy person.

　　I am the sole reason of my downfall. Nobody is to be blamed for it. It all happened because of me. How could I be so blind in love that I didn't even notice the worried face of my father and the greedy face of my lover?

　　I guess this is life and my marriage is just a business deal.

　　I am sorry for uploading like this, but we can only upload 2000 words in each chapter. I had to split for the upload.