Elodie's POV
I delete the warning text and immediately regret it.
"Elodie." Father's voice cuts through the hospital waiting room. "My office. Now."
I follow him down a hallway, away from Reverie's crying and Senna's whispered phone calls. He opens a door to a private consultation room and closes it behind us.
"Sit."
I remain standing. Small rebellion, but it's all I have.
"The merger with Vale Maritime depends entirely on this marriage," he says, not wasting time. "The contract is specific—a Cross daughter must marry Thornwick Vale within six months, or both companies lose everything. Twenty years of negotiations. Billions of dollars. Thousands of jobs."
"Then postpone it. Calista might wake up—"
"And she might not." His voice is brutally cold. "The doctors said weeks, months, maybe never. We don't have that time. The deadline is in three months."
My mouth goes dry. "You're actually serious. You want me to marry a complete stranger."
"I want you to do something useful for once." He steps closer. "You've been a disappointment your entire life, Elodie. Impractical degree. Dead-end job. You contribute nothing to this family. Here's your chance to finally matter."
The words slice deep because part of me has always believed them.
"What about what I want?"
"What you want?" He laughs. It's not a kind sound. "You work at a gallery making thirty thousand dollars a year. You live in a apartment with broken heating. You have no prospects, no future, nothing. I'm offering you a way to be part of something bigger than your pathetic little life."
"By marrying my sister's fiancé?"
"By saving your family from financial ruin." He leans against the desk. "This is not a request, Elodie. This is an order. You will marry Thornwick Vale in three days. You will play the role of dutiful wife until Calista wakes up. Then we'll arrange a quiet annulment and she'll take her rightful place."
"And if I refuse?"
His smile is sharp. "Then I cut you off completely. No more family support, no inheritance—not that there was much for you anyway. You'll be truly alone."
I'm already alone. Have been for twenty-six years.
But hearing him say it out loud makes it real in a way it never was before.
"Does Thornwick know about this plan?" I ask.
"I'm meeting with him in ten minutes. He'll agree. He needs this merger as badly as we do." Father checks his watch. "Now get yourself together. You look terrible."
He walks out, leaving me standing in the empty room.
I should run. Should grab my keys and drive far away from this nightmare.
Instead, I text back the unknown number: "Who are you?"
No response.
Ten minutes later, Father summons me to another consultation room.
Thornwick Vale is already there.
I've seen him in pictures—society pages, business magazines, everywhere Calista went for the past year. But photos don't capture how he fills a room. Tall, sharp-featured, with steel-gray eyes that look right through me.
He's still in his suit from some business meeting. There's dried blood on his sleeve—probably from trying to see Calista before surgery.
"This is Elodie," Father says. "My middle daughter."
Thornwick's eyes flick to me for half a second, then back to Father. Like I'm not worth his time.
"The contract requires a Cross daughter," Father continues. "The marriage must occur within the timeframe specified, or both our companies collapse. Elodie will substitute for Calista until she wakes."
"No." Thornwick's voice is sharp. "Absolutely not. I'm not marrying some—" He stops himself, but I hear what he doesn't say.
Some nobody. Some placeholder. Some girl who isn't Calista.
"Your company will lose the Asian expansion," Father says calmly. "Vale Maritime will collapse within six months. Twenty thousand employees unemployed. Your family legacy destroyed."
Thornwick's jaw clenches.
"This is temporary," Father presses. "A legal formality to preserve the merger. When Calista wakes, you divorce Elodie and marry her instead."
"When Calista wakes," Thornwick repeats. His voice cracks slightly on her name.
He loves her, I realize. Actually loves her. This isn't just strategy for him.
Which makes this so much worse.
"I need guarantees," Thornwick says finally. "Separate residences. No public appearances beyond what's absolutely necessary. This marriage is a contract, nothing more."
"Agreed," Father says.
No one asks me what I want.
"Three days," Father continues. "Small ceremony. Immediate family only. Then you're married and the merger proceeds."
Thornwick looks at me directly for the first time. His eyes are cold, assessing. Finding me lacking.
"Can you handle this?" he asks. Not kind. Just practical.
"Do I have a choice?" I shoot back.
"No." At least he's honest. "But I need to know you won't fall apart or cause problems."
"I've been invisible my whole life. I know how to stay out of the way."
Something flickers across his face. Not sympathy. Maybe recognition.
"Fine," he says to Father, not to me. "Three days. But I want it in writing—when Calista wakes, this ends immediately."
"Of course."
They shake hands over my future like I'm not even there.
Three days pass in a blur.
No wedding dress shopping. No planning. No joy.
Senna helps me pick something simple from a department store. She's surprisingly kind about it, which somehow makes it worse.
"I'm sorry this is happening to you," she says while I'm trying on dresses.
"Are you really?" I meet her eyes in the mirror.
She looks away. "Father doesn't give us choices either. Just different cages."
The wedding is in a small room at City Hall. No guests except immediate family. No flowers, no music, no happiness.
Just a judge who looks bored and an officiant reading words that should mean something but feel empty.
Thornwick stands beside me in a black suit, looking like he's at a funeral. He hasn't said a word to me since the hospital.
"Do you, Thornwick Vale, take Elodie Cross to be your lawfully wedded wife?"
"I do." His voice is flat.
"Do you, Elodie Cross, take Thornwick Vale to be your lawfully wedded husband?"
I should say no. Should run. Should do anything except this.
"I do," I whisper.
"By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife."
No kiss. Thornwick just signs the papers with sharp, angry strokes.
I sign below his name. My hand shakes.
Mrs. Elodie Vale.
I just became a substitute wife to a man who can't stand to look at me.
"Congratulations," Father says, shaking Thornwick's hand. Not mine.
We walk out of City Hall separately. Thornwick to his car. Me to mine.
Married but already miles apart.
My phone buzzes as I'm driving away. Another text from that unknown number.
"You just made the biggest mistake of your life. Check Calista's medical records. The brake line cut wasn't an accident. And you're next."
My hands grip the wheel so hard they hurt.
Attached to the text is a photo.
Of me. Walking out of City Hall. Taken five minutes ago.
Someone's watching me.
Someone who knows about the brake lines.
Someone who's warning me I'm in danger.
I look in my rearview mirror. A black car is following me, three vehicles back.
When I turn left, it turns left.
When I speed up, it speeds up.
My phone rings. Unknown number. The same one texting me.
I answer. "Who are you?"
"Someone trying to keep you alive." A man's voice, digitally altered. "Don't go to your apartment. Don't go to your father's estate. The person who tried to kill Calista knows you're the replacement now. And they're going to try again."
"Who? Who tried to kill her?"
"Someone in your family. I don't know which one yet." His voice is urgent. "But I'm watching. And I'll contact you when I know more."
"Why are you helping me?"
"Because someone needs to. And because the truth about your family is much darker than you know."
The line goes dead.
The black car is still following me.
I just married a stranger to save a family that never loved me.
Someone in that family tried to murder my sister.
And now they're coming for me.
I drive faster, heart hammering, wondering if I'll survive long enough to regret saying "I do."