Lucy’s stepfather is a greedy businessman who is willing to do what it takes to get what he wants, even if that involves offering his step-daughter as a commodity in exchange for money and influence.
Mr. Henderson set up a date for Lucy with Mr. Harrison’s son, Derek. Mr. Harrison owns some casinos in Vegas and he’s quite wealthy.
Speaking to Lucy about the date, Mr. Henderson said, “You need to do anything to get him to like you. If he likes you, maybe we’ll be able to save my company. So, you’ll do anything, ok? Anything, Lucy!”
Lucy nods her head. “Ok, Daddy.”
Derek arrives 40 minutes late at the restaurant. He doesn’t apologize for that. Instead, the rude and arrogant boy said, “But you’ll wait for a fabulous man like me.”
Lucy looked at him and thought, “What am I doing here?”
Derek waves at the waiter to take his order. “For me a juicy, medium-rare steak and fries.”
“Can I get you something, miss?” asks the waiter to Lucy.
“Yes, I’ll have…”
Derek interrupts her, “She’ll have a salad and water, please.” He turns to her and says, “Watch out for the calories, babe. You don’t want to be overweight.”
The guy comes closer to Lucy, which makes her more embarrassed, “Look, Lucy… I’ll tell you right off the bat that you… you don’t really meet the standards of the women I usually go out with.”
Lucy replies right away, “So why are we here?”
“Because I thought you’d be better in person than you are in the picture.”
Lucy felt insulted and got up to leave but Derek grabbed her hand and asked, “Come on, don’t you want to have a free meal?”
Lucy takes the glass of water and pours it at his face. “Have a nice day, idiot.”
No one had ever done something like that to Derek. He’s used to treating girls badly and they usually chase him. Lucy showed him she was different. So, he ran after her when she was about to leave the restaurant. “Hey, Lucy wait!”
She turned around and stared at him. He explained, “I’m sorry, I’m not really like that. It’s just that my parents set me up with girls as future brides all the time. I know I behaved like an idiot but I thought you were another gold digger…”
He paused and continued, “I usually do the same speech and the girls just sit there looking at my wallet. Can I apologize?” Lucy didn’t say a word. “Let’s go somewhere else?”
She finally broke her silence. “Well, I can give you another chance. There’s this burger place not far from here…”
They stayed there for hours, laughing, talking, and exchanging confidences. “I really like you,” said Derek, touching her hands. The girl smiled at him and said it was time to go home.
As she arrived home with a big smile on her face, her stepfather opened the door. “Why did you take so long?”
Well, it turns out that Derek is a nice guy, so you should be happy.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore,” said the man. “Forget about him. His family is nearly bankrupt… So I’ve got other plans for you.”
The man takes his phone and shows Lucy a picture of a 60-ish-year-old man. “He’s a very nice guy. His name is Mr. Davidson,” he turns to her and continues, “and very wealthy. He’s the one who could save my company..”
“I don’t understand, dad,” said Lucy, quite confused.
You don’t need to understand, you just do as I say. In a month, you’re getting married.”
“What?!”
Lucy didn’t know what to do, or what to say. She didn’t want to marry that old man but she didn’t have the money to run away somewhere else by herself. Derek kept on calling her but she avoided him. One day he went to her house.
“What are you doing? Why are you avoiding me?”
“I’m arranging the details for my wedding, excuse me.” As she was about to slam the door, Derek held it.
Wait, what? He’s gone too far… he can’t do that to you.”
“What am I supposed to do? Run away? Alone? Without money?”
“This is ridiculous, Lucy! Let’s… let’s try and think of something together…”
“Stop, Derek. Please, leave and don’t come back here.”
On the day of the wedding, Lucy was miserable. She knew she was ruining her life, but to her, she had no other option. As she was entering the car to make her way to the church, Derek showed up.
Lucy was shocked to see him. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m preventing you from making the biggest mistake of your life. You can’t marry him, Lucy!”
Lucy burst into tears, “I have no other choice!”
“Yes, you do!” said Derek, taking both her hands. “Stay with me, Lucy. I wanna be with you. I know you want the same…. Let’s go somewhere else, we can start a new life wherever you want! What would you say?”
She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes for a few seconds. “I know, I want to be with you too
What can we learn from this story?
- What goes around comes around. Lucy’s stepfather used her and didn’t care about her feelings. Lucy fell in love with Derek and her stepdad didn’t get the “deal”.
- Ambition led him to lose his stepdaughter. The man treated Lucy like property and she did as he said for a long time, until he went too far and lost Lucy.
