The Wrong Wife: Beauty

The Wrong Wife: Beauty Chapter 1

She couldn't let his love be tarnished by her masked beauty.

She had to say something, anything before the preacher could dub them husband and wife.

"Do you, Rachel McHendricks take Colton Adam Abbey to be your lawfully wedded husband?" The preacher inquired, looking her directly in the eye.

Annabelle swallowed, her throat becoming dry and her heart beating much faster because she knew that she was fabricating this lie.

And she hated lying!

Annabelle wasn't Rachel, and she knew she never would be....

Annabelle was a beast, how could she turn into the beauty?

Present day

Annabelle sat with her hands clasped together on top of the table of the booth her and her older sister Rachel were currently seated at. The coffee sitting in front of her was beginning to grow cold, but she couldn't force herself to drink the hot liquid that she knew would make her feel at least slightly better.

She didn't want to feel better.

It had been two days time since her mother's funeral and she was still reeling from the emotions that had already began to weigh in on her heart.

Her mother had been the one person that had all the confidence in the world of her gaining a husband, and while Annabelle tried to believe her, she knew that she couldn't. But still, she hadn't ever wanted to crush her mother's spirit and so she simply pretended that she believed in the idea of someone ever loving a monster like her.

"Belle," Rachel's voice broke her from her reverie and she glanced at her sister in question.

Rachel, who had long flowing blond hair and looked the epitome of a model, what with her skinny figure and curves that made her exquisitely beautiful, smiled softly. If Annabelle didn't know her as her sister, she would envy her for the perfection of her good looks.

"Belle, what has you so frazzled?" Rachel questioned, her eyebrows scrunching in confusion.

Annabelle sighed, "What are we going to do about dad?"

This was the whole reason they'd come out for coffee.

"We have to find him, he can't just leave us piles of bills and walk away! We'll never be able to pay them off!"

Annabelle nodded in agreement. "I can't believe they laid him off."

Their father, who was the assistant manager of a famous business company, was laid off because the new manager only kept those who were suited to his likeness. In other words, he played favorites and only kept those who actually liked him.

It was cruel, really.

"He was with the company for thirty five years, they really had no business laying him off like that! They didn't even consider how he was to pay off any of his bills. Now, we're so late on them, we have debt collectors coming after us for money that dad never borrowed from them!" Rachel vented as she took a small sip of her coffee.

"So what are we to do then?" Annabell queried.

"We have to sell the house, of course."

"Rachel, we can't!"Annabelle cried, staring at her sister horrified. "We grew up in that house, we can't sell it! Where will we live?"

"Belle," Rachel said softly. "What choice do we have? I know that mom loved that house with every fiber of her being, but we don't have any money. We have to think about ourselves now, we can't think about anything else."