CHAPTER ONE

Tori's pov

At exactly 10:30am, my Bugatti arrived in front of St Peters Anglican church and without hesitation I got down and gazed at the church door one more time. Today was the best day of my life since I lost my parents, I sighed and smiled.

Ever since my parents were murdered, I have not been the same again. I was uneasy to understand, very bitter and always moody. I tried to help myself, to fight the demon that I felt was growing inside me but it couldn't. I was really affected by my parent's death. They were murdered right there in my presence and I couldn't do anything to save them. I have always tried to believe that it wasn't my fault but the guilt had always remained.

I was only sixteen when my parents were murdered. Was that all that happened that day? No it wasn't. Since the murder, I had to battle nightmares, I found it very hard to sleep at nights. All these made me cold and bitter. My Nanny, who had been with me since I was a baby, mum always called her Anne, sometimes Nanny Anne but I grew up with the name "Nanny" on my tongue. She tried her best to make me happy, to come back to my normal self. I got better but the guilt and nightmare remained. I had to keep a lot of things away from her, I tried to tell her but I couldn't. Thinking about it had always made me feel very ashamed of myself, like a coward that I didn't want to be.

I didn't tell Nanny that I was molested and rapped until I passed out. She said I went straight into coma, fought for life and came back three months later. I asked myself every day, "Why? Why did I have to come back? Why didn't I just die? Why did I have to fight for my life?" But I got no answers to those questions.

The last two years had been the best since the murder. I started dating Harry, Donald's nephew. Donald was my dad's personal assistant and he seemed to understand everything. He offered to manage my parent's company until my studies were completed and He resigned immediately after I completed my studies. And for the past four years I tried my best to manage it and I could proudly say that I have done well so far.

I could vividly remember how bad I felt when Donald resigned as I had no problem at all with him managing the company. He has the right to enjoy every pleasure of the company since he supported it. I tried to persuade him to stay but he insisted on leaving. Since he left, we lost contact. He completely vanished, all I had left was his nephew, the love of my life.

Harry understood me perfectly, He knew me even more than I knew myself. Apart from Nanny and my two good friends, Tomi and Cynthia, Harry became the only one who knew everything about me. Well of course except the rape part.

He has always been there for me and now after two years of friendship and relationship, we are finally getting married. It had been a very nice two years, those two years brought me back to my real self. I stopped having night mares, I stopped feeling sad and hopeless and I became the sweet Tori once again. I had a total control of myself and it made me totally believe in love. Harry was like my prince charming. No, He is my prince charming. I smiled again.

"Tori! Tori!!" Nanny touched me and quickly adjusted her white hat.

I ran out of my thoughts and turned to her.

"You've been starring at that door for about fifteen minutes now" Nanny said with her eyes fixed on mine.

"I'm so sorry Nanny, memories came back to me" I smiled.

"Can we go in now, Miss Bride?" Nanny smiled back.

"Of course! I don't want to keep my groom waiting more than he already did" I winked at her.

Nanny signaled the man at the door and he nodded.

The church doors were flung opened and I walked in in slow motion, with Nanny behind me, following the tune of the hymn. I have always wanted this moment, walking down the aisle this same way, side by side with my dad. I could feel him walking with me as I took every step, I could feel his pride and my mother's smile. I looked towards Harry's direction. He looked at me. I smiled at him and he smiled back. But there was something different about his smile. It seemed odd, something was definitely wrong.

Harry's POV

She looked so beautiful in her long white gown, her afro neatly packed and her brown skin glowing. She carried the bouquet gracefully, her smile was as charming as ever. A shiny silver tiara sat on the middle of her afro, it pinned down the long white veil she had on. Her makeup was very simple, yet, she looked very elegant. I tried to pretend everything was fine, but I couldn't. It was quite obvious that she already noticed that something was wrong.

I thought about what I was about to do. I knew she was never going to understand. Tori was too goodhearted for a man like me, she was too sweet to fall into all these pranks. I didn't want her to be deceived forever, I wanted to set her free.

I closed my hands and clutched by fingers together. I remembered Uncle Donald, He was the reason for all these. It was all his plan and I was just a puppet. All He wanted from Tori was all her inheritance, the only way he could get it was to make Tori marry me. It took me two years to realize that I was just being used and Tori doesn't deserve this. I opened my eyes and cursed Uncle Donald under my breath.

I looked at Tori again, she was already in front of me and she wasn't smiling anymore. I was quite sure she was starting to get worried. I felt bad for her. I had been her best friend and she had learnt to love me so much. My lies worked perfectly and I won her over completely. She was willing to hand Collins oil and gas industry over to me, the shopping malls, schools and eateries. All to me. All I had to do was marry her and gain her last name.

I looked away again and remembered how I rushed to my uncle to inform him that Tori was ready to marry me. He had never been so happy since I knew him. He celebrated and immediately started planning how the money would be spent. Then I realized how much of a puppet I was and that I was already falling in love with Tori. I didn't want to hurt her, she didn't deserve me. I sighed quietly and waited for the priest to say....

Tori's pov

"Do you accept Victoria Collins to be your wife for better for worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health till death do you part?"

Harry hadn't said a single word to me since I got here. It was also obvious that he had refused to catch my gaze or look into my eyes like he always did. His smile seemed very fake and it was quite obvious that he was in deep thoughts. I kept wondering what might be wrong. Maybe the bachelor's eve was stressful for him, maybe I was just overthinking things and he was perfectly fine, maybe he remembered something very painful. I couldn't stop worrying about his strange attitude. I felt uneasy, I was trying to figure out what was wrong when I heard a reply....

"No"