Let Me Marry Him

Leyla’s Pov

Alora didn’t let me finish. The moment I mentioned Lucien Vale, she went deathly pale. She gripped the bedsheets so hard her knuckles turned white, her whole body trembling as if she were bracing for a physical blow.

“You can’t do this,” she rasped. “I won’t let you.”

I let out a long breath I'd been holding for years. “You don’t understand, Lora. I can't let George rot in a cell. Friday is his hearing.”

The room goes completely quiet when an idea strikes me. “Are you saying this because you actually think he's guilty?” I ask, flaring up.

She looks up quickly, her eyes burning. “What? No. Never.”

That’s when I really look at her.

For the first time, my twin felt like a stranger. There’s this look in her eyes I didn't recognise, like a heavy, dark door she had kept locked for years. We had always shared everything; clothes, secrets, and even the blame for things we did. But this? This is felt different.

"I knew him," she says, almost in a whisper.

“What do you mean, you knew him?”

She hesitates for a second, long enough to know I wasn't going to like her answer.

“Nine years ago, at summer camp. Before he became…” she waves her hand vaguely, as if she couldn’t even find the right word for what he was now. “Well, all of this.”

I blink, stunned. “Summer camp? What, was ruining lives back then too?”

“No,” softly now. “He was just… charming.”

I shake my head, confused. “Wait, when? How could I not know about this?”

"You were away at school. It's when we met.”

The realization hit me like a freight train. “Wait a second,” I sit up straight. “Was he the 'Mr. Anonymous' you were always talking about? The guy you used to giggle with on the phone all the time?”

She nods slowly.

“Wow, Alora.” I reach for her hand. “You loved him. You talked about him so much that I felt a little jealous of how happy you were.”

She lets out a short, dry laugh. “Well, he broke me,” she say. “He did it so slowly and quietly I didn’t even realize it was happening until I was in pieces.”

She pause, then continues. “He made it very clear... if I ever spoke about what happened, there would be consequences.”

I squeeze her fingers. “Then why on earth would you want to go back?”

“I don’t want to,” she meets my eyes. “But he’s not marrying you because he wants a wife, Leyla. He wants control. And if he's still the same Lucien I remember…” a beat. “He needs something from you.”

I don't say anything, but my jaw hardens instead.

“Right now,” she continues, “you’re exactly what he wants you to be. You're cornered and desperate. He thinks you’ll agree to anything just to save George.”

“So what?” I snap. “Do we just let our brother stay in jail?”

“No," her voice turns cold. "We use this.”

“How?”

“By giving him a wife,” she takes a deep breath. “But not you. Let me marry him.”

“No! Absolutely not.”

“He already knows how to control you, he thinks he has the upper hand.”

“And you think he won’t do the same to you? I shot back.

“No, because I know where he’s careless. I know what he hides. And I know the one thing he never moved past.”

She looks at me with a terrifying level of focus. “I’ll find out what he’s protecting. By the time the contract ends, he’ll be the one losing everything, not us.”

I searche her face, looking for any sign of doubt. “You know how dangerous this is.”

“I do.” she didn't try to sound brave or pretend it wouldn't be hard, she just looks resolved.

“I’m not doing this for him,” she adds. “I’m doing it so you can have a life. And so our brother can, too.”

I close my eyes for a moment, the weight of her sacrifice pressing down on me. When I open them, I saw no other way.

“Fine,” I whisper. “But we’re in this together.”

I don’t sleep at all after that.

Beside me, Alora eventually drifted off, her breathing steady as if she’d finally offloaded a burden. I just stared at the ceiling, haunted by the version of Lucien Vale my sister had hidden from me and the version of my sister I was about to lose to him.