Dear Fifi,
If you are reading this then I have taken the decision to flee from my wedding to Marco and I hope you will forgive me. I never wanted things to work out this way and I hate that my decision will hurt so many people but I have to do this.
There are things that you aren’t aware of, things that will hurt you now that I have gone and I pray that you will be okay.
I trust that one day I will be able to return to you and that you might understand why I made the decision to leave on the morning of the wedding to be with the man that I really love.
All my love,
Bel-Bel x
***
Aoife had read her sister’s note several times and she still couldn’t make sense of what had happened to make Belle leave without talking to her; she would have supported her sister no matter what she decided.
Shaking her head, Aoife sighed looking to her parents who were whispering furiously between one another; she had no idea what was being said but they looked far from happy with what Belle had done.
“What do we tell Marco?” Aoife asked turning to look at her parents, her sister had left a letter for him and she was sure that Marco was going to be devastated that his fiancée had jilted him at the altar.
Irene and Frank turned to look at Aoife, they knew that Thomas and Manuela weren’t just going to let this go and they wouldn’t accept the fact that Belle had done a runner on her wedding day.
“Nothing… you’re going to have to replace your sister,” Frank replied desperate, he didn’t want to face the anger that Thomas would have when he told the man what had happened; there was only one way out of this and he wasn’t sure if anyone would go for it.
Aoife stared at her father wondering what on earth he was talking about, she had a bad feeling in his stomach and it made her fear what Frank had just said.
“I’m sorry what?” Aoife asked looking between her parents, there was no way that her father was serious right now about her replacing her sister; she was sure Marco would notice and she couldn’t do that to him.
Irene looked away from her daughter, she knew that this wasn’t the best idea but they had no other choice right now; they were going to have to tell Aoife how much financial trouble the family was in.
“You need to pretend to be Belle,” Frank repeated clearly before he looked to the wedding dress that Belle was meant to be wearing right now; they didn’t have much time left and Aoife had to get changed.
Aoife looked at her father as if he had lost his mind, she wasn’t going to trick Marco into believing that she was Belle; she didn’t know what was going on her but she had a feeling that her sister had run for a good reason.
Irene rested a hand on her husband’s arm, she knew that they were going to have to tell Aoife exactly what she had missed while living in Paris.
“We owe a lot of money to Marco’s parents, the only way they will forget the debt is for someone to marry Marco and give him a family,” Irene explained carefully looking to Aoife, she moved to sit down next to her youngest daughter; she wished that there was some other way but there wasn’t.
Aoife stared at her parents, she couldn’t believe what she was hearing and she felt ill that this was the only option that they had; she was hurt that no one had told her about any of this.
“And what does Marco think about this?” Aoife asked doubting that the footballer was thrilled with his parents plan, she couldn’t imagine him wanting to get involved in something like this. Irene watched her daughter, everything now lay on Aoife’s shoulders and she feared what her daughter was about to do.
