CHAPTER EIGHT

"Church?" Lia and Mr. Black chorused.
"Mr. King we only made plans to get the certificate"
"I just told you to inform the church, didn't I?"
" How am I supposed to do that?"
" I don't know Black, that's why you're the assistant, not me"
" But Mr. King t...." Lia began but was cut short by Leo.
" Call me Leo"
" L...Leo, there is no need for the church we are already legally married"
" Nonsense, I haven't put my ring on your finger yet, and the vows, the most important thing" Leo said with a smile on his handsome face.
The drive to the church didn't take long. With every passing second, Lia got more and more nervous.
Even though she knew that it was just a wedding based on what seemed like it was just for the benefits and nothing more than that, she just couldn't help it.
Since non of Lia's parents were available, Mr. Black took the sovereignty of walking Lia down the aisle where Leo was already waiting for his bride.
Neither Lia nor Leo had anyone they wanted to invite. Once again the only witness was Mr. Black.
When she finally reached the alter, Leo took her hands in his.
There was this thing that Lia did when she was nervous, she would always play with her fingers and it eased her. But thanks to Leo she couldn't do that because of his firm grip on her hands.
Leo gave Lia a slight squeeze as if he had sensed how tensed up she was.
They exchanged their vows and rings. And then the priest continued.
"We are all gathered here to witness the union between these two children of the holy matrimony, in sickness and in health, in pain and suffering, in sadness and happiness till death do them apart. If anyone has any reason to object, speak now or forever hold your peace"
The priest looked around saw that there was no congregation to even object.
" I guess not, you may now kiss the bride"
Without a second thought, Leo grabbed Lia and kissed her on the lips, quenching his thirst after so many weeks of constant craving. Lia didn't know how to kiss and just moved in sync with Leo.
" You taste divine, Lia" He whispered in her ear causing her to blush.
Leo was happy. He had finally archived his goal. He married the woman that he loved and now he was going to make sure no one takes her away from him ever again.
"Now that we are married please let's go save my father, I don't know how much longer he can hold on"
"No, I will go on my own. Gideon take her home" Leo said.
"I want to go too, please let me go with you"
"No, you need to rest" Leo didn't give Lia much room for an argument.
"Mr king, if I may ask which home are you speaking of?"
"The one I told you to prepare for me and my partner, of course"
"Oh, yes."
The group of three then split into two and went their separate ways. Lia and Mr. Black headed straight for the newly prepared mansion.
And not long after, they had arrived at the mansion.
At first, she thought that they were going to the Griffon's mansion and she was getting scared because it was the same route.
She was relieved when they went past it, but Leo's mansion ended up being too close to the Griffons. It was just two large mansions away. But she decided not to think about it or let it get to her.
Lia was in awe. The house was huge, it has to be at least ten times bigger than the Griffon mansion. Just the exterior alone was beautiful.
It had great interiors too. The mansion was three floors high. It was not like anything she had ever seen before. The Griffon's whole house couldn't even compare to the living room alone.
The inside of the mansion was completely barren of people. The only people that were inside were Lia and Mr. Black. Not a single soul aside from the countless bodyguards scattered outside.
"Where is everyone?" Lia asked because she didn't believe it would only be her and Leo that would live in such a huge castle.
"They were dismissed for today"
"Why?"
"I don't believe you would want to have your wedding night with people loitering around now would you?"
The wedding night, Lia had completely forgotten about that. Her mind was so occupied with her father that she forgot.
Mr. King wasn't going to be happy with her because she was no longer pure, she was sure of that.
If he wasn't pleased about it, does that mean he was going to leave me and withdraw back his promise? Lia asked herself.
"Mrs. King, please refrain from zoning out when you're with strangers"
"Sorry"
"Follow me"
Mr. Black led Lia to the master bedroom.
"Is this my room?"
"No, it's for you and Mr. King"
" I want to have my own room"
" Well Mrs. King, I'm sorry but I cannot give that to you, you must ask permission from your husband before you are entitled to have your very own bedroom"
" Fine, I'll just ask him when he gets back"
" Good for you. Mr. King has instructed that you rest. If you need me I will be on the ground floor"
"Wait"
"Can I help you with something?"
" I feel like I should introduce myself properly, My name is Amelia Anderson but you can call me Lia," Lia said bringing her hand up for a handshake.
Mr. Black eyed her hand but just ignored it.
"Ok, if you want to do this Mrs. King, I'm Gideon Black"
"Well, can I call you by your name or not?"
"If you insist I call you by yours then I'm afraid I have no other choice however only Mr. King calls me by my name, not even the writer does"
" The who?"
" Goodbye Miss Amelia" with that being said Mr. Black turned around and left.
So cold.
Lia soon became bored and decided to leave the room and walk around. She wondered if they had began her father's surgery.
The further Lia walked into the house the more she was in Awe. The house was truly magnificent. If anyone told her five years back that she going to live here she would have laughed at the person's face.
Lia stumbled across the garden. She was too immersed in it's beauty to notice that it was maze-like, She walked around not caring if she could retrace her steps, She didn't know where she was headed, her legs just moved on their own.
The garden made her forget all her problems. The addictive fragrance of different flowers invaded her nostrils. It had a beautiful water fountain in the middle of the garden. The maze was made of various kinds of flowers.
This was her favorite place in the mansion so far. Lia had no idea how much time had passed by, she only knew that the bright sky had finally turned dark.
As much as she would love to stay there she couldn't. Her husband might have already arrived and would want to see her.
Lia stood up from where she sat and began her journey back to the house, But she had no idea where she was going.
Was the path this confusing? She asked herself. The situation reminded her of the mansion she had been deflowered in, only that this time there was no one around.
Lia decided to just stay where she was and wait until someone came to find her, because finding her way out wasn't helping.
It had already been thirty minutes that she had spent there waiting, she was now cold and hungry. She began to regret not bringing her phone along.
"Lia" Lia heard her name being called from a distance.
"Lia"
"I'm here" Lia screamed out at the top of her voice.
"Didn't I tell you to rest, I've been here for almost two hours now and I haven't seen my wife, what were you thinking wandering about in a place you don't even know?" Leo scolded her.
"I'm sorry, I got bored and just wanted to explore the mansion"
"At least carry your phone with you, these things are not for decoration. What if I couldn't find you?"
Lia was about to reply but her stomach made a loud grumble which shut her up.
She was dying of embarrassment.
Leo chuckled
"Let's go get you something to eat"
Leo led her out of the garden and prepared her something to eat and It was delicious.
"How is dad?"
"They are currently enacting the surgery on him"
"Is he going to be alright"
"Of course, I took him to one of the best surgeons, you can go see him first thing tomorrow morning"
Leo took her plate ready to wash it.
"You don't have to do that for me, give it to me, I will do it myself"
"Nonsense, let me take care of my wife"
Lia blushed deeply. How can he say that so casually?
" Let's go to bed"
" Actually, can I have my room"
" Of course not, we are going to share a room. I won't sleep anywhere else but with you" the thought of sleeping in separate rooms angered Leo.
" If you are worried about intimacy then don't, I won't do anything to you until you are ready"
Lia was relieved to hear that.
" Go change"
It had just dawned on Lia that she didn't have any spare clothes to change into.
" I don't have any spares"
" I've got that covered, check over there" Leo pointed at a door.
It was a walk-in closet. It was huge, it was like a whole other room on its own. There was a coffee table in the middle of the room with chairs.
The left side was filled with men's clothes while the other had women's clothes.
" I guess that's my spot"
There were lots of shoes, jewelry, and clothes, surprisingly the clothes and shoes were all her size.
Lia searched for a nightgown to wear but they were all exposing too much. She even found lingeries mixed up with the gowns.
There was a note sticking on top of one of the dresses.

''''I specially prepared you the best lingeries I could find. Have fun tonight, love.''''

"You have got to be kidding me"