Contract Marriage: The Replacement Groom

91 Manipulative- visiting the columbarium

"...If I hadn't stopped you from knowing what you felt for Jeslyn, do you think you would have lived to this day? All I did was for your safety... I love you so much and I'll do it again if I have to: 1

Sharon stretched out her hand and touched Ray on the shoulder hoping he had been brainwashed again, however, Ray pushed her hand off and turned around. His eyes were red and his hands were balled in fists.

"I thought you could change. However, you can never stop your schemes, never!" He pointed at the door with his back turned to her. "Get out... leave!!"

Sharon furrowed her brows slightly. She knew this was not the right time to continue. Whenever Ray is angry, it is better to leave him alone. With that, she picked up her purse from the desk and left the office. She had no hand in spreading the rumor regarding Jeslyn's death, also, she was sure that the vixen. was still alive somewhere, however, she wasn't intending to tell Ray that. It is for everyone's good that he believed Jeslyn was dead.

Ray closed his eyes. Why was he just knowing that his sister could be this manipulative? She still didn't take any blame for all that happened. From everything she just said, she put all the blames on Emilee and the situation their family was in at that time.

Yes, Ray agreed that his sister was right. He and Emilee had been dating from a young age. Emilee had always been the jealous type and wouldn't think twice before she killed another lady because of him... she did it a few times in high school.

Emilee killed a few girls because she found out or suspected they liked him. One of the girls she killed happened to be a politician's daughter. The man wouldn't let the matter go, so Emilee had to run away from home.

After a few years, Emilee sent a girl who claimed to be her assistant to him and told him she was fine. but didn't explain anything.

From there onwards, the lady became the bridge between them, and even when Emilee and Ray started to communicate through the phone, the lady didn't stop visiting Ray and that was because she had started to love Ray.

However, after the last time the lady and Ray had s*x in the hotel where they discussed the poison Old man Lee was being given, Ray stopped hearing from her. He believed that the lady must have been killed by Emilee.

That aside, Ray knew that he did wrong to Jeslyn. If it wasn't because of Emma and Ava who approached him and talked some sense into him, Ray wouldn't have realized what his beloved sister was doing to him.

He had the belief that Jeslyn had been killed by Emilee and for that. Ever since his life had become miserable. He no longer sleeps at night due to guilt, and burning rage for himself and everyone around him.

Ray knew that if he didn't stay away from everyone, he might kill someone.

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Ray brushed his fingers over his messy hair and sighed. He walked into the office room and entered the bathroom. After washing his face, the makeup covering his dark circles was washed off. Ray's face looked pale like that of a ghost. His dark circles were so thick that it was scary.

Ray stared at his reflection in the mirror for a long time before he returned to the office to continue working. When it's down, he'll call his makeup artist to come apply makeup on him. He'd been living like that for around three months now.

The next morning, Jeslyn got dressed in an off-shoulder black lace gown. She wore a black cocktail hat with a veil. She held three bouquets of roses. One is a dark crimson which they say represents sorrow, while the other two are yellow roses, which the people say symbolizes strong ties. Jeslyn got into a black car which was driven by Blue with Pink sitting in the front passenger seat.

Both guards wore black suits and black inner shirts.

Jeslyn had her eyes closed all through the journey to Rose City's columbarium.

After a long time of driving, they arrived at the City's columbarium. Blue was made to stay inside the car while Jeslyn and Pink got down and walked into the building after Pink spoke with the security men and people in charge of the Columbarium.

The management of the Columbarium walked Jeslyn and Pink into the building and directed them to the private sector specially designed for the Lee family. Although Jeslyn was already familiar with the place, she didn't stop the three men from taking her there, after all, she had her face disguised and she didn't appear like Jeslyn but a family friend.

The people didn't suspect that the young lady was lying because almost everyone in Rose City knows that Jeslyn was dead.

After the men left, Jeslyn walked into the large room alone, leaving Pink to stay outside the door.

Standing in front of the niches, she stared at the glass covering the urns with her family's pictures, an inscription telling the biography of each member of the Lee family, and a bu nch of red roses placed on each of the Lee family's glass.

The flowers caught Jeslyn's eyes because they were still fresh. They must have been placed here this morning. She thought.

Jeslyn walked closer to the niches and felt the roses before counting them. There were 15 roses in each vase. From what she knows, 15 roses are for an apology.

She knew that her family had enemies but who could have wronged her grandfather, grandmother, and mother that they needed to apologize like this?

Whoever it was, Jeslyn planned on finding them and forgiving them on behalf of her family. "Grandpa, I'm so sorry... your unfilial granddaughter finally found the time to come andsee you."

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92 Jeslyn's disbelief

"Grandpa, I'm so sorry... your unfilial granddaughter finally found the time to come see you.

Grandma, please forgive me, I'm the reason for the family's downfall.

M om... I was wrong for being such a weakling... Jeslyn brushed her palm over the smooth glass, no dirt could be found on it.

Thinking the management cleaned it, Jeslyn's heavy heart calmed a bit. Not everyone would care about the remains of a fallen family, so Jeslyn was earnestly grateful.

After a long while of crying and apologizing, Jeslyn started to play around. She believed that her family wouldn't be happy seeing her like this, so she similed.

"Grandpa, I married a bad man. Your son-in-law is not a normal person..." She picked up the Crimson Rose and added it to the apology Roses placed inside the small vase attached to her mother's glass.

"I don't know his full capability but he's one of the devils in country M. She picked up a yellow Rose and placed it inside her grandmother's vase.

"Do you know..." she smiled. "He has a son. He is very cute and I love him a lot even though I hated him before..." she chuckled and continued to brief her family about how her life had been ever since. Sometimes the sound of her laughter traveled through the place, other times, her cries and sniffs, while most times her voice could be heard as she talked to her family like they were there. Inside one of the higher-ups' offices, the man had been deliberating if he should call Ray as promised or inform him when he comes tomorrow.

Every morning, Ray comes to the place to keep it clean with his own hands. He cleans the glasses and changes the flowers and pictures. He wasn't doing it because he wanted to be forgiven. He was doing it because he knew that If Jeslyn was still alive, she would be the one doing everything now. 1

Ray was inside his car speeding to the company, lost in thought. He didn't take anyone along. including his chauffeur. His phone rang which jolted him back to reality. He clicked on his earpod to answer the call.

His face changed when he heard what the other person said. "Screeeeech!!" He recklessly turned the car around without caring about the cars coming behind him.

"Keep them there and don't let them leave!" He hurriedly said before he stepped on the accelerator and almost flew out off the road like a racing car about to overtake its competitors.

Ray got to the columbarium but he was a little too late.

"I'm sorry, CEO Ray, they left a while ago, we couldn't keep them. The manager reported with his head bowed. How could he stop them when a gun was pointed at his head? None of the girls looked friendly at all, so all he could do was to keep his life.

"What route did they leave from?"

"CEO Ray, I'm not sure

"Useless!" Ray hissed, got into his car, and dr ove off. Who else would that be? He had been coming

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here every day for the past three months and no one has ever come here to family.

pay homage to the Lee

For some reason, Ray's instinct was telling him it was Jelsyn but he didn't dare to believe it because he saw Jeslyn's 'dead body' from the video Emilee sent him. While Ray was almost going crazy thinking of who that person was, Jeslyn's car was speeding across the busy roads.

"Little bunny, where do you want to go after here?"

"I want to see everything my family once owned," she replied.

Pink nodded and directed Blue on where to go.

The first place Jeslyn stopped at was the Lee mansion. She got down from the car and stood by the door to feed her eyes with the beauty of the mansion one more time.

On the black bar gates was a black placard with the words 'Lee mansion' written on it.

The two-story wh ite mansion stood strong in the middle of the big compound with a swimming pool by its side. Memories of how she rushed to drive her car in and out of the bar gates every day flashed through her mind.

Jeslyn sh ut her eyes for a moment and when she opened them again, the emotions had disappeared. She got into the car and it started moving out of Lee street.

Unbeknownst to them, an almost invisible camera was fixed around the house and one was placed on the placard. Luckily Jeslyn's face was always disguised and also covered by the veil, however, Pink and Blue were captured by the CCTV.

Inside the car, Jeslyn voiced out her doubt. "Older sister, the house looked empty and there's still the placard my grandfather placed on it. Why has it not been removed?"

"It seems the person who stole the property hasn't touched anything yet."

"Oh? I doubt that. The company should be doing well. I checked the progress of the company but found nothing. It's like the new owner has taken the Lee cooperation off the internet. Pink slightly shook her head. She'll just allow Jeslyn to see the state of the companies by herself.

Getting to the headquarters of the company Jeslyn looked from her window but refused to get down. She slowly turned to look at Pink. "I- is th- this m- my family's company?"

Pink nodded.

Jeslyn shook her head. "Lies. Th- this is the wrong address." She refused to believe it even though the name, "Lee cooperation' was written on the top of the fifty-story building.

Pink sighed. She got down from the front seat and entered the back seat. She pulled the shocked Jeslyn to herself and hugged her. "Little bunny... they are not your family's property anymore. Forget

about them."

Jeslyn fervently shook her head on Pink's bosom. "My grandpa suffered so much when he...when he started this company." She choked on her tears. "My grandma died because of this company... older sister..." She looked up at Pink's stoic face and slowly pointed a finger at the dilapidated building with