the quiet villa of the Carters, Ashley Carter stomped her feet as she entered the living room. As soon as she found her mother, she ran to her and sobbed, “Mom, I can’t marry him! I can’t marry someone like him! I don’t want to, even if you kill me!”
Valerie Hill-Carter grimaced at the despair in her daughter’s eyes. She knew this would happen.
Ashley had just come home from a blind date set up by her father, though it was more of an arranged marriage meeting than anything else.
The man she met earlier was undeniably handsome, like a prince straight out of a Disney movie. In fact, he was even more good-looking than some famous actors. She was wearing sunglasses at that time, but she could still see how sharp his jawline and fair his skin was.
Ashley had been thrilled. After all, they were bound to marry.
That was until she discovered that he was blind.
In his introduction, Tyler Fowler added that five years ago, he had an unfortunate accident that caused the loss of his eyesight. After he said that, he asked if Ashley minded that he was blind.
Ashley had gaped at him. What kind of question was that? Of course, she did!
He might be attractive, but if she married a blind man like him, she would be a laughingstock for the rest of her life!
“Don’t cry, darling. It’s alright. I’ll never let you marry a disabled person. Stop crying now, okay?” Valerie cooed while glaring at her husband, who was sitting opposite her. It was all his fault for setting up that cursed blind date.
Granted, the Fowler family was powerful and influential, but to ask for her daughter, whom she had carried in her womb for months and taken care of since she was a child, to marry a blind man was simply unacceptable.
“Dear husband, look. Your daughter is crying. Don’t you feel sorry for her? Stop this nonsense now! She can’t marry that man. I won’t allow it,” Valerie said through gritted teeth.
“You think I want this? You also know our family’s situation, Val. Our business is close to bankrupting,” Gavin Carter replied with a helpless sigh. “Mr. Fowler had promised to give her 10% of the shares of their family’s business if Ashley marries his grandson, and he also said he’d give us a hundred million—”
“Oh, I know!”
Gavin was in the middle of explaining to Valerie why Ashley had to marry Tyler when an idea came to Ashley’s mind. When her parents turned to him, she was already smiling wickedly.
She looked at her mother, grabbed Valerie’s arm, and shook it. “Mom, we can still get that 10% of shares and that money without me having to marry that blind man!”
The older woman furrowed her brows in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
Ashley sat up straight, her eyes glinting with mischief. “Mom, Dad, Mr. Fowler told you that he’d give all of that to us if you married off someone from our family to his grandson, but he didn’t specifically say who, right?”
Gavin’s eyes widened when he realized where the conversation was going. “Don’t tell me you want—”
“Yes! Let’s just have Audrey marry Tyler. Have her use my name. Then, we can have the shares and the money! Isn’t that perfect?” Ashley elaborated excitedly.
Indeed, there were currently two maidens in that house: Ashley and Audrey Carter.
Audrey was Ashley’s adopted sister. Audrey’s parents were both killed in a car accident shortly after she was born, so Gavin adopted her.
Aubrey was an attractive young woman, and one could even argue that she was more beautiful than Ashley. However, at the moment, she was not in any condition to have a romantic relationship with anyone, let alone a marriage. In fact, she was not capable of anything a young woman should be doing at her current age at all.
When she was twelve, Ashley fell down the stairs and got a severe brain injury that caused him to regress in age mentally. Currently, she might as well be a clueless child still living in fairy tales.
“What on earth are you suggesting, Ashley? Are you out of your mind?” Gavin asked, still in disbelief. “We can’t give Audrey to the Fowlers! What if we offend them?”
“No,” Valerie muttered as she recovered from the shock. “No, Ashley’s right, Gavin. Audrey also has the Carter’s blood running in her vein. We can marry her off to the Fowler family.”
But Gavin still objected and said, “Don’t agree with her, Val. That’s a ridiculous plan. It was Ashley who went on the blind date. We can’t just replace her with Audrey like that. In addition, Audrey is sick. Do you really think Tyler will marry her? Do you think the whole Fowler family will agree to it? No, they won’t. We’ll be just digging our own graves if we do that.”
“Gavin, Tyler is blind,” Valerie pointed out. “How would he be able to tell if it was Ashley or Aubrey he was marrying?”
“That’s right,” Ashley agreed. “And look at it this way, Dad. Tyler is blind; Audrey is a retard. They’re a match made in heaven!”
“Sweetheart,” Valerie called, lacing her words with honey. “Besides the shares and the money the Fowlers promised to us, our connection to them will also help us climb the social ladder. You know how it’s always been in Daleville. We won’t be respected unless we’re wealthy. Honey, think about it, okay?”
Gavin did not say anything else. He was still frowning as he still thought it was a ridiculous idea—not to mention risky—but he would not deny he was already considering it.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the three, a fourth person was listening to their conversation.
Audrey was hiding behind the pillar on the second floor, holding a large teddy bear close to her chest. Her hair was tied in two ponytails, and there were colorful beaded necklaces around her neck. She wore a denim jumper shorts above a white T-shirt.
Her expression, however, was far from childlike.
The corners of Audrey’s mouth curled up in a cunning grin, and there was mockery in her gaze as she listened to the three.
She did not look like a “retard” at all, as Ashley liked to call her.