The Substitute Bride: Making Memories Of Us (Lois Stone)

Lucas heard his phone ringing.It was late and there was only one person who would call him at this time.He answered the phone
warily.
"Father."
"Have you returned to Antawood?" Tatum asked without preamble.
He had asked Lucas to go to Thailand but the latter had refused.
This time, he wanted to get done with solving the Brian issue now that Lucas had returned.
"Yes, I just arrived today."
Lucas knew that he couldn't hide this fact.He had tried his best to hide Ayla from Tatum for two years.
But maybe he couldn't do it anymore.
Lucas wondered what Tatum would do to Ayla once he knew the truth.
Tatum had used her once.He might do it again.
"How long will you be in Antawood this time? I shouldn't have to remind you of the issue each time.Do you want to insult the
memory of your deceased parents by losing the Collins Group that rightfully belongs to you?"
Tatum had been feeding Lucas such ideas since Lucas' childhood.
That was also why Lucas hated Brian.
All Lucas had wanted was to get close to Brian by using Ayla and kill him.
But before that could happen, he had developed a huge crush on Ayla.He hadn't taken revenge for his family yet.
And if Ayla were to know why he had approached her, she might hate him.
But he didn't regret it.
When he began trying to put a ring on her finger, he had considered everything that might happen in the future and had plotted
his plan out.

"I know that, Father.I will never forget it," Lucas said, nodding.
"Good.Brian's men are watching me.So I hope you will handle this as soon as possible,"
Tatum reminded him.
Tatum's TH Gang had suffered a heavy blow because of Brian.
If it hadn't been for the fact that Brian had quitted the drug transactions over the past two years, Tatum wouldn't have had the
chance to get back into this business again.
But Tatum was too eager for money.
He had forgotten the simple fact that the higher he climbed, the heavier the fall would be.
And Brian would not let him get away with this.
Tatum had shot Ayla, and Brian considered this unforgivable.
"I see."
Lucas hadn't taken any action yet because of Ayla.
He knew that if he took Brian down, Ayla would definitely leave him.And he couldn't imagine his life without her.
Over the past two years, Lucas had tried his best to do what Tatum had asked of him.
He would get whatever Tatum wanted, no questions asked.He knew that these illegal transactions would put him in a soup, but
he did not care.
"I'm not forcing you, Lucas.You shouldn't forget what you've been working towards all these years," Tatum said.
But that was exactly what Tatum had done.He had forced Lucas into a corner, step by step.
Lucas had been smoking the whole night.
He looked out of the window, realizing with a wrench of his gut that Antawood, which was once his hometown, was now
something he despised.

But he couldn't leave this place.
If his father hadn't told him everything before he had passed away, he might not have suffered so much.
Lucas had still been a helpless child at the time, being made to watch as several men raped his mother while his father, a heart
patient, was admitted to the hospital.
Before his father had died, he had asked Lucas to take revenge.
The opportunity presented itself to him when Tatum had approached Lucas with a proposition for revenge.
Lucas had been too young to understand what hatred meant to him.He had merely nodded his head in confusion.
Tatum had then taken him to Thailand and put him through a rigorous, harsh training routine.
He had made Lucas stronger and taught him everything he needed to exact his revenge.
Brian drove Anna back to the villa.
"Where are you going?" Anna asked as she watched Brian turn around the moment they entered the living room.
"I'm going out for a walk.You should go to bed early," Brian said.
He just wanted to go to the backyard.
As he stood by the wooden tombstone that Ayla had built, Brian's heart ached.
He recalled that Ayla had gone crazy living here and had tried to commit suicide, and that Brian had forcefully kept her alive.But
she had disappeared in the end.
He was the reason behind it all.
Would he ever get the chance to make it up to her? Anna followed him out and saw him standing there, still as a statue.
The only light in the dim corner of the backyard was the cigarette flickering between his fingers.
"Are you still thinking about her?" she asked, walking up to him.
Brian didn't say anything.Instead, he took a drag from his cigarette.

To him, it didn't matter if he thought about Ayla or not.
"If she is still alive, will you still love her?"
Anna had to know, although she didn't really want to hear him say yes.
She was the only one who knew that Ayla had returned on the same flight tonight.
"I won't answer your hypothetical questions," Brian said, throwing her a withering look as he put out the cigarette.
Brian and Ayla's marriage had only been signed on, but hadn't been registered.
But in his heart, Ayla had become his legitimate wife.
"I know.It has been two years.Even if Ayla is alive, she might be with another man, or she might have forgotten everything that
happened here," Anna said.
She thought that the intimacy between Ayla and Lucas was real.
But if Brian knew that Ayla was still alive, and he still loved her, he would put all his efforts in getting her back.
He turned around and said, "We need to stop talking about her.Let's go."
He shook off all his thoughts as he strode furiously back to the house.
Anna hurried after him, wrapping her arms around his waist from behind as she caught up to him.
"Brian, please don't think about her."
If Brian made a conscious effort to not think about Ayla, he would eventually forget about her.
He turned his head to look at Anna and asked, "Why do you have to act like this, Anna?"
He pulled away from her and went up to the room.
Anna followed him in.
"You go to the backyard frequently, don't you?"

She could tell that Brian had an inexplicable pull towards the backyard.
He couldn't forget Ayla and the child they once had.So wouldn't it be good for Anna to make up for the loss?
"Go back to your room," Brian said shortly.
He didn't want to answer her question.
All he wanted was to stop thinking about it.
But in the past two years, he had always dreamed of a bloody, disheveled Ayla appearing before him for just an instant before
disappearing yet again.
"Do you remember this ring, Brian?" Anna asked, walking up to him.
She didn't take off the ring from her hand, but Brian did.
Because Anna _ took their relationship seriously.
"You know that, Anna.I let you go at the time," he said, looking pained.
He knew that Anna wouldn't be happy if she chose to be with him.She would never be happy.
"But I didn't agree.My happiness is all about you.A kiss from you is more important than everything that another man can offer,"
Anna said.
Brian looked at her.
"Anna, I..."
He couldn't do this.He couldn't give her anything, not even a kiss.
"Just give me one chance.You feel guilty for losing your child with Ayla, don't you?" she pressed again, carefully sitting down
beside him.
Child? Yes! He had abandoned his own child! And now, Anna had brought up a subject that seemed to close Brian up.
"I don't need a child!" Brian said coldly.

"No! You do! Or you wouldn't keep going to the backyard," she said simply.
Anna knew Brian best, having worked for him all these years.
"Anna! You don't understand. You will never understand."
Brian shook his head and looked at ner "I understand everything.I won't force you to marry me.I just want to be with you and
have a child.Is that too much to ask?"
Anna was being truthful in this moment.
She could give up everything just to be with .She had always known that Brian would not give her the love she desired.
But she had still gone and fallen in love with him.