The Deal

MOON

I was born into generational wealth but my parents died in a plane crash when I was only ten years old. My uncle, Edmund Alexander and his wife, Bethany, got custody of me, as well as access to everything my parents had left behind. They took me in, fed me, made sure I had a bed and a warm place to sleep.

But sometimes I wish I hadn't survived that plane crash while my parents burned to death.

If I'd died with them, maybe...just maybe...

"Moon!" My uncle's fists slammed down on the dining table, his soup spilling and soaking the tablecloth. Spittle from his mouth landed on my face, and I fought the urge to flinch, wipe my face and create more distance between us. His face was contorted with anger, teeth audibly gnashing against one another.

My aunt sat beside him. And my cousins beside her.

They all had the same look on their faces—one I wished wasn't so familiar to me in that moment.

"Why must you always argue? What value have you brought to this family that makes you think you have a say in this?"

His words snapped against my skin like a barbed whip, embedding themselves, drawing blood they all couldn't see. But that was the point, wasn't it?

I should be used to this. It still hurts anyway.

"You will marry into the O'Brien family in your cousin's place and you will have a child for Mr. O'Brien before the year is up!"

His words settled deep and made my stomach churn. Marry a man I don't know? A man who was supposed to marry the first daughter of Edmund Alexander, Aphrodite, not me.

Yet, my uncle wanted me to assume his precious daughter's identity, take her place as the wife to a man who she no longer wanted.

As always, my cousin's fascination with the man ended in less than a year or rather, in the hours her mother tried to convince her to bear his children. She didn't want to ruin her 'perfect body'.

But the marriage was meant to clear half a century old debt between the families, a merger of some sort.

The way my uncle reacted, I knew there would be consequences.

But I could not bring myself to care.

"You should be grateful," Bethany spat, her eyes narrowed into slits, "No one knows who you are, as a nobody you're being given the opportunity to take my daughter's place, do you know how many people would kill for such an honor?"

"Then by all means..." I glared at my aunt, "Let those honored people take her place... I'm not doing it!"

It took three steps for my uncle to close the distance between us, before he raised his palm and slammed it hard against my cheek. So hard that the taste of metal bloomed on my tongue and I fell to the floor in a pathetic heap.

My ears rang even as the sting in my cheek morphed into a blistering ache.

It hurt, God it hurt!

"Don't play dumb!" Edmund snarled, the sharp tone keeping me in place. I knew that tone and it made my stomach sink even further. He was going to hit me again.

Fear iced my veins as I struggled to meet his eyes, he stood above me, looking every inch the menacing demon he was.

"You know exactly why you're being chosen for this!" Edmund said, "The O'Briens are a very powerful family, we cannot simply renege on our deal with them...you must do it, you must be the one to do it!"

Yes, I knew it all too well.

Aphrodite and I could pass off as twins, identical twins if you looked past the rare blue eyes I'd inherited from my mother's grandmother. I was a few inches taller than my cousin but unfortunately that was where the difference ended. It also meant that for my whole life since I was ten years old and freshly orphaned, I've been a fraud, I've taken my cousin's place in everything she lost interest in, everything public she was obliged to but didn't want to do.

I've spent the last nine years living more as Aphrodite Alexander than I have as Moon Alexander.

But this... marrying a man I don't love?

Getting pregnant on my cousin's behalf?

That's where I draw the line.

I shook my head, "What happens when they find out we're lying to them?"

"They won't." Edmund's jaw clenched tight, "And if you dare to say something, know that they'll probably kill you first, before coming for the rest of us."

That made the ice in my veins drop even further in temperature.

Kill...me?

Bile threatened to choke me as I directed my gaze to the marble floor and my trembling, clenched fists beneath me.

"I...I..."

Was indebted to them. For not letting me go into the system, for adopting me, feeding me, clothing me.

But this...

I couldn't leave, I had no access to the shares my father had left behind, to the fortune my parents had intended to hand over to me when I turned eighteen.

There was nowhere in the country I could run, especially broke, that my uncle wouldn't find me.

"The marriage is only supposed to be for three years and you're meant to be pregnant within the first year, once the child is old enough to live without a mother...then the divorce will be finalized."

God, I was going to throw up.

"Aphrodite isn't ready for that kind of commitment." Edmund finished. I bit back a bitter laugh.

And I am?

Aphrodite is a year older than me.

But when has that ever mattered to any of them?

"Don't worry, Moo Moo," This time it was Aphrodite's high pitched voice that reached me, "Think of it this way...you finally get to go to art school, in my place, all expenses covered."

Oh.

That might be...the only advantage.

Edmund never intended to pay for my college, he'd gifted my college funds to my aunt a few years prior and though he had more than enough to replace it, he never did.

"Look at this greedy two-faced bitch!" My aunt scoffed, "Look how the wheels are turning in her head."

Her words stung, even more so than my cheek.

But I remained on my knees, I kept my eyes down and bit down on my bottom lip to ground myself with the sting of it.

I wouldn't cry in front of them. I just couldn't.

"I will get the certificate in my name."

"This isn't a bargain!" My aunt snapped, closing the distance between us, moving her husband out of the way and grabbing fistfuls of my hair.

Sharp pain lanced through my scalp as she made my eyes meet hers, "Don't be ungrateful...after everything this family has done for you!"

A lone tear slid down my cheek and my lips stretched into a bitter smile, "Why not do one more thing for me?" Then I met my uncle's eyes "You will make the school draft the certificate in my name." I repeated more firmly.

Bethany's grip tightened and I cried out but I didn't back down. I was done giving...this time, even if it's just one thing...I will take for myself.

"Fine." My uncle said in a dismissive tone.

"You will marry Mr. O'Brien, and give him a child...and once you graduate, it'll be your name on that degree."

Biting back a sob, I nodded. "Deal."