Chapter 2 The Truth

• At Willeton, a suburb located in the southern part of the city.
• The cab dropped Gillian at the entrance of the suburb, and she took off home.
• Elizabeth Wesley was cooking in the kitchen when Gillian ran in. She took the potatoes out of her hands and said, “Mom, I need to ask you about something important.”
• “What are you in such a hurry about?” Elizabeth glared at her unhappily.
• “Mom, back when grandpa and the Porter family agreed on the arranged marriage, whose name did they put down? Mine or Lillian’s?” Gillian asked straight off the bat. Her eyes red as she bore down on Elizabeth.
• Elizabeth froze. Her unusually stiff expression showed how uncomfortable she was with the question. She looked up at Gillian and asked in a soft voice, “Gillian, what are you talking about?”
• “I caught Lillian and Derrick together! She said that I was Henry Porter’s fiancé! Mom, you’re not lying to me, are you?” Now that things have come to this, she did not want to tiptoe around it any longer.
• She just wanted to understand what happened with the arranged marriage.
• “What? Lillian and Derrick are together?” Elizabeth eyes widened in shock. She could not believe that her precious daughter would do such a thing.
• But she was a woman of the world and soon calmed down.
• “Mom, I’m telling you the truth!”
• Her sister and her boyfriend both stabbed her in the back. She didn’t want her parents, the only people she thought she could trust, to hide anything else from her.
• “Fine! Since it’s no longer a secret, I won’t keep it from you any longer!” Elizabeth, astute as always, brought her upstairs.
• She brought Gillian up to the study and pulled out the drawer under the shelf. Inside was a red book. She took it out and gave it to Gillian. “Inside is the marriage arrangement details set by the Master Porter. See for yourself!”
• Gillian opened the book quickly. In it were written in cursive penmanship:
• “The Wesley’s daughter, Lillian Wesley, dignified and virtuous as she is, is a perfect match with my grandson, Henry Porter. This marriage has been arranged and approved. They will marry once the girl has graduated from college.”
• Underneath it was signed by James Porter, Henry’s grandfather.
• Gillian’s gaze fell on the ‘G’ in her name and froze.
• It was obvious that it had been tampered with. The ‘G’ in her name had been written over many times with a pen to somewhat resemble an ‘L’. Anyone could tell that it had been altered.
• If you looked closely enough, you could tell that the original print was ‘The Wesley’s daughter, Gillian Wesley’.
• “How can this be?” Gillian looked at the contract in disbelief. It was as if the words had linked together to become a rope, strangling her neck, and she couldn’t breathe.
• “Gillian!” Elizabeth placed a hand on Gillian’s back. She said apologetically, “Back then Master James Porter had his eye set on you for Henry. He decided then and there that you were to be married to his grandson. But Lillian met Henry and decided that she liked him. She then mischievously changed the name on the arrangement to hers. Now that you’ve found out, then we might as well go back to the original plan and get Lillian to return Henry to you. Besides, the Master Porter is old now and probably won’t remember this!”
• “Changed it to her name mischievously? And now she wants to return him to me?” Gillian slammed the book shut and curled her lip at her mother. “Mom, wasn’t the reason you hid it from me because you liked the idea of being the Porter’s in-laws? Now that Henry has become like this, you’d rather I marry him than Lillian?”
• Seeing how aggressive Gillian was being, Elizabeth decided to stop with the act. She went back to looking annoyed, “So what if it is? Isn’t that normal? The Porter may have money and power, but Henry is now a cripple. I cannot sacrifice Lillian’s happiness like this!”
• Besides that, they had heard that after Henry was crippled, he became tyrannical and homicidal. Somehow or another, every month, one of the servants in the family would die.
• “Oh, so you can sacrifice mine?” Gillian’s eyes were red as she desperately held back her tears. “After all these years, I’ve done everything you’ve asked of me. Because you promised me that if I did, you would not interfere with my life. Do your words not matter?”
• This was why she had been so willing to obey their every whim, to return the grace they had shown her by taking her in… But now, how had it become this terrifying?
• “You heartless creature!” Elizabeth sneered and glared at Gillian coldly, “Didn’t we raise and provide for you all the way until college? Besides, it’s not as if I’ve left you with nothing! While Henry may be blind and crippled, the Porters are still the most powerful family in Winsterberg. Your marriage to him will still be a grand one!”
• “Who cares about being grand or not! If you like it, then you marry him! In any case, I won’t!” Gillian cried out in hopelessness and ran out.