Michelle frowned when she saw Anastasia drop the certificate. She picked it up, her eyes widening in disbelief as she saw the photo attached. She looked at Anastasia, shock mirrored in their expressions.
"This is Xavier? How come you have Xavier's picture in your certificate?" Michelle questioned, glaring at Anastasia who was still frozen in shock as if she had a hand in it. Her voice attracted the attention of the people at the city hall.
Michelle didn't waste any time and quickly tore open her certificate. "What the—" she nearly cursed when she saw Richard's picture attached alongside hers on the certificate. "I'm married to Richard? What sort of a mistake is this?" She questioned no one in particular.
Anastasia heard what Michelle said and couldn't help but be even more shocked. The whole mix-up was completely unexpected. Anastasia was internally hoping for a miracle from the heavens to take place, but she wasn't expecting for their spouses to be exchanged. She was married to Xavier and Michelle was married to Richard.
"What is this?!" Michelle's outburst brought her back from her thoughts as she compared the two certificates in her hands as if her eyes were deceiving her.
Michelle gritted her teeth in anger. She went to the staff and showed her the certificates.
"What kind of joke is this? The man I came here with earlier was Xavier Wallace and you got me married to Richard Wallace?!" She barked, her veins popping on her neck out of frustration.
At first, the staff was wondering what Michelle could be whispering to Anastasia. But seeing the mix-up, she felt a cold sweat from down her back.
"You need to fix this!" Michelle ordered, her anger evident from her tone. She had been daydreaming about how her wedding night with Xavier was going to feel like. But now that she wasn't married to Xavier as she'd expected, she had a sudden urge to kill.
The staff nodded vehemently, rushing from her seat to find out what could have caused the mix-up.
Michelle turned to Anastasia. "I'm sure you are happy about this. You bribed the staff to swap the IDs right? I know your ways, Anastasia. Mum and Dad are going to hear about this and I will make sure they beat the truth out of you," she threatened, her teeth gnashing together while her fists clenched on the certificates.
Michelle had never imagined getting married to Richard, Xavier's younger brother. He never took his life seriously and never set a goal for himself. The only reason he seemed important was because he came from the Wallace family. She didn't want to be married to such a person. She deemed it to be an abomination.
"What are you saying, Michelle? How could I have bribed the staff? We came here at different hours and there are many staff here as well," said Anastasia, hoping Michelle would believe her.
The staff came back, sweat already glistening on her forehead.
"I'm s-sorry Mrs. Wallace. There w-was a fault with our system and it ended up swapping y-your IDs," the staff stuttered, afraid of her own life especially since Xavier Wallace was involved. She was internally hoping she wouldn't lose her job.
"Shut up! This is a city hall for crying out loud and you are telling me there was a fault with your system? Don't tell me lies. She," Michelle pointed at Anastasia. "She bribed you, didn't she?"
The staff glanced between Michelle and Anastasia, confused by Michelle's words. All she could do was shake her head. "No ma'am—"
The staff didn't get the chance to complete her sentence when Michelle stormed out of the city hall, dragging Anastasia along with her.
"Get in the car," she ordered when they reached outside. "We are going home and you are going to explain to Mom and Dad how this mistake happened," Michelle added, getting into the car.
Anastasia had no choice but to get into the car. She had nowhere to run to even if she decided to disappear all of a sudden. And worst of all, her family will be on her trail and things would only be difficult for her.
Michelle drove the car, heading to the Harrison mansion while calling Ana names now and then. The latter kept quiet, awaiting her doom as soon as they got out of the car since Michelle had already texted their parents about the mix-up.
"You'd better confess now, else Dad is only going to beat you up to a pulp," she threatened nonstop.
They finally arrived at the mansion. Michelle stepped down from the car and dragged Anastasia inside.
Reaching the living room, Michelle pulled Anastasia with so much force that the latter fell on the ground. She winced in pain.
"So, you were so greedy to have what your sister wanted that you went to the extent of bribing the staff members at the city hall to have your photo exchanged with Michelle, huh?" Amelia questioned, the intensity of her glare scaring the skeletons out of Anastasia. "I'm talking to you, can't you speak?" She demanded.
"What else can she say, mum? She has been caught red-handed so she has nothing to say," said Michelle.
"You are going to get a divorce from Xavier," their father, Robert declared, his expression also holding the same amount of disdain as the other two as he glared down at her.
Anastasia got up from the ground before she said, "I didn't bribe the staff, I didn't. I was ready to get married to Richard, wasn't I?" She asked them, tears pooling in her eyes, "Why would I disobey you at the last minute?"
Michelle reached and pulled Ana's hair hard. "That's exactly what you want us to think while you plot your plans in secret, you wretched whore!" Michelle didn't waste any second. She smacked Ana on her cheek, which caught the latter off guard.
All of a sudden, Robert's got a phone call. He picked up the call without looking at the caller, anger still evident in his expression.
"Who is it?" He demanded.
When he got the news from over the phone, his expression went from surprised to sudden rage that made him grip his phone tightly in his hand as he glared at Ana.
"Who was that?" Amelia asked when she saw her husband's expression.
"It was the lawyer. He said the doctor attending to mother and father just contacted him, saying that both of them are dead. He also said that they already transferred all their properties to Anastasia," Robert replied, his eyes flaring in anger towards Anastasia.