2

Ava's POV

I woke up to the sound of the shower running too loud in the bathroom. My head was pounding. My whole body ached.

Not from exhaustion. From the memory of last night replaying on a loop.

The smell of whiskey was still in the air. And on the nightstand, Lily's white wedding dress was lying in a heap like discarded trash.

The bathroom door opened.

Ethan came out. His hair was still wet, wearing only black dress pants, a towel hanging around his neck. His face was pale, his eyes bloodshot from alcohol and no sleep.

He wasn't surprised to see me. He had known since last night that I wasn't Lily. His look wasn't confused, it was restrained disgust.

"You're still here," he said flatly.

I pulled the blanket higher up to my neck. "I didn't know where to go. You said three days."

"I said three days of pretending. Not three days of staying in my bed."

His tone was sharp. I bit my lip. Last night he hugged me, kissed me out of loneliness. But right before he passed out, he called me by my sister's name. Lily.

"You remember what you said last night? You'd annul it after the investment clears," I whispered.

"Yes, I remember," he answered quickly. He reached for his phone that had been vibrating non-stop. "And I also remember you said your family locked you up. We'll see how honest that story is."

Before I could answer, a loud noise came from downstairs. The front door was pushed open.

"Ethan! Honey! Lily!"

It was Victoria Whitmore.

Ethan's whole body tensed. He cursed under his breath.

"Damn it. My parents are here early."

He looked at me in a panic. Not because he didn't know me, but because this time bomb was about to explode.

"Put something on. Now. Don't say anything until I tell you to."

I frantically looked for my clothes, but all I had was that wedding dress. In the end, all I could do was sit up straight, clutching the blanket tightly.

The bedroom door was pushed open without a knock.

Victoria entered with a tray of croissants and flowers, her smile wide. Richard was behind her holding a newspaper with a huge headline: THE WHITMORE-STERLING WEDDING OF THE YEAR.

Victoria's smile froze the second she saw my face. Her steps halted.

Slowly, the tray in her hands tilted.

"You." she breathed. "You're not Lily."

Richard stepped forward, his brows furrowed. He looked at me, then at the wedding photo lying on the table a photo where my face was completely covered by a thick veil.

"You're not Lily," Victoria said again, her voice soft but sharp as a knife. "Who are you? Where is my daughter-in-law?"

Ethan let out a long breath. He knew there was no point in covering it up anymore.

"Mom, Dad. Sit down first."

"Don't tell me to sit down, Ethan! Explain who this woman is in my son's bridal bed!"

"She's Ava Sterling. Lily's older sister," Ethan answered in a voice he tried to keep calm. "Lily ran away last night. Before the ceremony. The Sterlings forced Ava to wear her dress and walk down the aisle."

A deadly silence.

Victoria stared at me as if I were a ghost.

"What?!" she shrieked. The tray crashed to the floor. "So we've been scammed?! That broke family scammed the Whitmore family?!"

Richard looked at me with a judgmental stare. "So this is the trick? One daughter runs, the other one is sent to go after our fortune? The older, unwanted daughter finally gets a prince?"

My tears instantly welled up.

"It's not like that! I didn't want to marry your son! I screamed, I said no! My father held my arm until it bruised! My mother locked the dressing room door!"

"Enough with the drama!" Victoria cut me off. "What woman gets forced to marry the Whitmore Group heir and doesn't want it?"

"I thought the same thing at first, Mom," Ethan interjected. His voice was cold. He looked at me not to defend me, but to establish his position. "Last night she said the same thing. That's why I let her sleep here to find out the truth."

He was lying. Last night he didn't interrogate me. Last night he was drunk and crying over Lily while holding me.

But I couldn't argue back in front of his parents.

Victoria was already impatient. She called my mother on loudspeaker. The call was answered in two seconds.

"Hello? Mrs. Whitmore? Has Lily arrived?" My mother's voice sounded anxious, fake.

"Don't pretend you don't know, Mrs. Sterling!" Victoria snapped. "Why is it her sister in my son's house?!"

There was a commotion on the other end. Then my father's voice answered, "We just found out too! Lily is missing! We thought she was already with Ethan!"

And then, the crying voice I knew best. Lily.

"Mom! Help me! It's all Ava's fault! She's been jealous of me since we were kids! She locked me in the storage room behind Mom's boutique! She stole my dress! She said I didn't deserve to marry Ethan! She wants to take everything from me!"

My whole body was shaking.

"LIAR! YOU'RE A LIAR, LILY!" I screamed until my throat hurt. "YOU BEGGED ME! YOU SAID YOU STILL LOVE JASON! YOU ASKED ME TO REPLACE YOU!"

"Please believe me, Ethan," Lily sobbed on the phone, ignoring my screams. "My sister has always been like that. She always wants what I have. Please save me, Ethan!"

The call was ended by my father on the excuse that Lily was in shock.

The room fell silent again.

Victoria and Richard looked at me with disgust. To them, my story was less convincing than Lily's spoiled crying.

"We'll annul this marriage today," Richard said, final. "I'll call the lawyer. This is fraud. We can sue them into bankruptcy."

I looked down. At least, this would be over.

But Ethan gave a short, humorless laugh.

"We can't, Dad."

"What do you mean we can't?"

"Last night her father invited 40 national media outlets. Our wedding is already number one trending in New York. Our stock went up 3% because of this news. If today we announce a cancellation because the bride was switched, we will be the biggest scandal of the year. The Whitmore Group will be a laughingstock. Investors will run."

He looked at me, then at his parents. His face returned to being the cold, calculating CEO.

"We hold it for two months. Two months we pretend to be married. Stay here. Appear at public events as husband and wife. After the media spotlight fades and the investment contract with Sterling is legally binding so they can't countersue, we divorce quietly. Classic reason: irreconcilable differences."

Victoria clenched her fists. "Two months I have to acknowledge this scammer as my daughter-in-law?"

"For the company, Mom."

Richard finally nodded, though his face was still hard. "Fine. Two months. But there are conditions."

He stared at me.

"For two months, you are not allowed to touch anything in this house without permission. You are not allowed to use any credit card under the Whitmore name. You are not allowed to attend family events. And you will sleep in the guest room downstairs. Not here."

Victoria added in a voice as sharp as a razor, "And never think for a second about actually becoming Mrs. Whitmore. You are just an unpaid actress."

Ethan didn't add anything. He just grabbed his jacket.

"Tell the housekeeper to prepare the downstairs room for her. Tonight she moves."

The three of them walked out, slamming the door.

I finally collapsed onto the cold floor. The blanket I had been clutching so tightly now felt like burlap.

Outside, I could hear the sound of the Hamptons waves crashing against the rocks. Beautiful, but cold.

Two months. I have to live for two months as an unwanted wife, in a house that hates me, with a husband who even when he held me, still called me by my sister's name.