Faux Vows, True Desires

"Stefan." That was all Lucinda managed to say before she had no chance to speak anymore.

The night was still young.

The next day.

A heavy downpour had washed the earth clean. By the time the sky was fully lit, the rain had stopped. Lucinda felt a bit chilly and instinctively moved closer to the warmth next to her.

A pair of strong arms held her tightly. She smelled a scent that was both familiar and strange.

It was Stefan's!

Suddenly, Lucinda came to her senses, her eyes shot open to find herself warming up in Stefan's arms. She was immediately panicked, pushing Stefan away and rolling under the bed. "Thump!"

She accidentally fell onto the floor.

"Lucy."

Stefan awakened, quickly sat up, and saw her sitting on the floor. He jumped out of bed, picked her up and put her back on the bed, covering her with a thin blanket.

Lucinda's face was pale. She had confirmed one thing. Last night, she and Stefan had had sex.

"Lucy."

Seeing her clutching the blanket tightly, Stefan bent down, kissed her on the face, and gently said, "Lucy, I'm sorry, I was too careless."

He clung to her like a child.

Lucinda's face turned from white to red, she was so shy that she wanted to find a hole to crawl into. "Stefan."

His soft kiss fell on her lips, and Stefan comforted her in a soft voice, "Call me hubby, Lucy, call me hubby."

Lucinda pulled the blanket up, covering herself completely. She still hadn't recovered from the shock of last night. What on earth was happening?

"Lucy." Stefan tried to pull the blanket away, "Don't cover your head, you'll feel stuffy."

"Stefan, fetch me my clothes and then, you go out, I need to change." Lucinda said from under the blanket.

Stefan smiled, "Okay."

Seemed like she was shy.

He fetched her clothes, and as per her request, left the room to let her change. He went to prepare breakfast. "Knock, knock, knock."

The sound of knocking on the door.

Stefan, wearing an apron and holding a spatula in his hand, rushed out, saying as he walked, "Who's there?"

Opening the door, he saw Ike's face full of anger.

"Ike, you're here." Stefan was taken aback, then greeted him with a smile.

Ike was provoked by his greeting. Furious, he grabbed Stefan's collar and said sternly, "Stefan, what did you do to my sister last night? You didn't answer my calls, didn't let me in, and made me wait outside all night. I was about to break in!"

He had told his sister that he would be right over, but when he arrived, his sister's door was tightly closed. He knocked and called, but she never opened the door.

Lucinda had given him a key for free access. But what was infuriating was that the door was locked from the inside.

He had a key, but he couldn't open the door.

"Ike."

Lucinda came out of the room, saw this scene, rushed over to protect Stefan, and let him hide behind her. She said to her brother, "We can talk, it's not good to start fighting this early." When Ike saw the bruise below his sister's neckline, he understood immediately.

"Stefan!"

This guy! After his sister discovered his true identity, he immediately became like a wolf, hurting his sister! Like a madman, Ike rushed up and hit Stefan. Stefan didn't dodge.

Lucinda wanted to stop it but was pushed away by her brother.

"Lucy, don't worry about me, I'll be fine."

Two big men started fighting in the small house. In the end, both of them were lying on the bed in the house, their faces covered in bruises.

Lucinda brought some medicine and applied it on her brother for a while, then to Stefan.

"Stefan, you bastard!" Ike, lying on the bed and gasping for breath, angrily kicked Stefan who was next to him.

Stefan calmly responded, "Lucy and I are married, legally married."

"Do you really have feelings for each other? What you're doing is hurting Lucy."

"Who said we don't have feelings for each other? I've known Lucy for eleven years, and I've waited for her to grow up for eleven years. She's my best friend. I've been waiting for her." Last night he finally got his wish. She was as sweet as a ripe fruit! The eleven years wait was not in vain.

Ascend Estate.

Under the shade of the trees, Patrick held his wife's hand, and the two of them leisurely strolled in the backyard.

"Savannah, Stefan hasn't been home for a while."

Savannah replied, "The company is so big and there's so much to do. As the person in charge, Stefan must be very busy, maybe he doesn't have time to come home."

Patrick smiled, "You're still so protective of him."

"What do you want me to say, scold him?"

"He got married secretly without telling us. If he hadn't brought his wife to the party last night, we would still be in the dark."

Savannah laughed, "I think, Stefan must have his difficulties. His wife probably doesn't know Stefan's real identity, right? Maybe that's why Stefan kept it from us at first, afraid we would go find his wife and scare her."

"Don't you want to meet her?"

"You old rascal, you want me to do this again. Every time it's like this, you want to know Stefan's private affairs, it's always me who has to go. Do you think I don't care about my dignity?"

Patrick laughed and said, "The person Stefan respects the most is you. Whatever you say to him, he will take it very seriously and accomplish it. Just make a phone call, and we can wait at home for the couple to come."

"Have you prepared a gift for the meeting?"

"We have a lot of jewelry in our storeroom, we can pick out a few sets to give her as a gift for the meeting."

Savannah replied, "Let's pick out a few sets of jewelry to give her as a gift for the meeting then. After all, those jewels are meant for the wives of the Anderson family."

"By the way, what's her name?"

The old lady pondered for a bit and replied, "Well, I heard that her name's Lucinda, sister of Stefan's college buddy, Ike. But she isn't a blood relative of the Moore family. Rather she was an abandoned baby they took in. However, Lucinda herself hasn't got a clue about this."

Well, you know, folks like them, with a bit of dough, had already dug up part of Lucinda's past. However, the full story about Lucinda's background still wasn't clear. We couldn't be sure if Lucinda was dumped on purpose or by accident. Were her real parents still alive? And where were they?