Chapter 3

CELINE'S POV:

When we reached the black car waiting for us, Jace carefully helped me into the back seat. I didn’t even have time to see what brand it was, but it was a beautiful luxury car. He told the driver, “Roy, take us to the reception venue.”

“All right, boss,” came the driver’s calm response.

I sat nervously beside Jace in the rear seat.

I shifted away from him, but then I remembered that I had to pretend to be my sister.

Jace didn’t say anything. He only looked at me and held my hand in his.

“How do you feel about this day, my love?” he asked.

I opened my mouth to speak, thinking about what Clara would have said if she were the one sitting beside him.

I was still overwhelmed, so I told him the truth. “I am just overwhelmed.”

“Why is that? You didn’t believe me when I told you that I would marry you and no one else. I love you, Clara, and I meant every word I used to confess my feelings to you. So you don’t have to be afraid and think that this marriage is a trap. I will always support your modeling career. How about your twin sister? I didn’t see her at the wedding.”

Jace looked at my face lovingly, and I knew that this was the right time to tell him that I wasn’t Clara, his woman. But I recalled my father’s warning that Jace would deal with all of us if he found out that Clara had fled before her wedding day.

“Clara,” he called my sister’s name, and I snapped out of my thoughts, reminding myself that my new name was Clara.

“Yes. Celine traveled to help me with my modeling shoot abroad. You know that I told you it means so much to me. So she had to travel in my place, and that’s why she couldn’t attend our wedding.”

I faked a smile and met Jace’s gaze. His curious black eyes held my blue ones, and he smiled.

“All right. I know that you said your sister normally covers for you, but you should have allowed her to attend our wedding, at least,” Jace said, drawing closer to me in the back seat as he kissed my neck.

I gulped hard and told him, “It doesn’t change anything, as long as I am here with you.”

“I know, but a wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime event. You shouldn’t have sent Celine away. Maybe she could have traveled after our wedding. You never let me meet your sister, you know,” Jace said to me once more.

My jaw dropped, and I looked at his handsome face in shock.

I recalled that each time Clara asked me to accompany her to visit her boyfriend at his house, I normally refused.

“Yes. You don’t have to worry about Celine. She will meet you once she returns,” I lied.

“How about her bakery shop? I haven’t gone there, but you said that she has a shop. Wouldn’t her bakery goods spoil or the business experience momentary losses now that she has traveled for your modeling?” Jace looked concerned.

I felt bad that I had spoken so badly about him before, when he was a gentleman despite his wealth. I had thought of him as an arrogant billionaire, and I had been angry because my parents had refused to let me marry Martin Enzo, my boyfriend.

“About Celine’s shop, I will go there for her until she returns to take over her business,” I told Jace as the car came to a stop at the reception venue—a magnificent white hotel in the city.

“Can you cook?” Jace asked me in surprise.

I smiled. “I can try,” I lied, knowing that Clara hated the kitchen and didn’t like to cook.

“All right,” Jace agreed. Then he said, “We have arrived. Let’s go in.”

I sighed and got out of the car with him as we entered the hotel for the wedding reception.

****

The wedding reception was lively and more crowded than I had expected. A media crew recorded the event, and many top celebrities attended the wedding and congratulated Jace and me.

They obviously thought I was my famous sister, and I had to pretend that I was her. I wondered how Clara was faring abroad.

How did Clara feel knowing that I was taking her place as the bride?

It wasn’t as if I had snatched Jace. Clara was the one who had put me in this difficult situation by asking me to marry her fiancé.

Jace and I were invited onto the stage by the MC to cut the huge white cake, which had almost eight layers. I smiled, knowing that I was the one who had baked this lovely white cake for my sister’s wedding.

My best friend, Ava Kingsley, was present as my assistant. She had helped me ice the cake and prepare it for the wedding reception.

“Three, two, one, go!” the MC squealed.

Jace held my right hand gently as he sliced the cake in two.

Once we cut the cake, the audience erupted in applause for us, and I wanted to step away from Jace. I was still overwhelmed.

At one point, it felt as if I were the one getting married. But I wasn’t the real bride. Clara was.

Jace wrapped his arms around my waist as the DJ changed the music to a love song. The MC invited Jace and me onto the stage once more to dance while the guests cheered for us and brought numerous gifts and checks.

I felt nervous because I hadn’t expected this kind of elaborate wedding.

How could Clara give up her wedding day for work?

I shut my eyes, but I felt Jace bring his face closer to mine and whisper in my left ear.

“Open your eyes, Clara.”

I opened them, and he looked at me. I hadn’t expected the ceremony to be this way.

I wasn’t the media type. I mostly kept a low profile, and now I was a public figure. The lavish wedding made me sick because I knew it was fake.

I felt emotional, and Jace pulled me into a hug and kissed my forehead tenderly.

Tears welled up in my eyes, and Jace whispered in my ear again, “What’s wrong, babe? Should we go home? If you’re tired of the wedding reception, you should let me know.”

“No. I am okay.” I smiled at him sadly, knowing that this was supposed to be his and Clara’s happy day.

I tried not to think about what the future held for us because I didn’t even know when Clara would return.

I promised myself not to fall in love with my sister’s fiancé. He was her husband now, so I tried to dance and act as if I were Clara.

Besides, the wedding was supposed to be Clara marrying Jace, but now Celine was married to Jace. He was so kind that I didn’t think my sister deserved him.

An honest woman deserved him—not me or her.

The wedding reception came to an end, and Jace took me back to the black limousine.

“We are going on our honeymoon, babe. Happy marriage to us!” he said.

He brought out a champagne bottle from the car’s refrigerator and popped it open.

*Oh no! I don’t drink wine,* I thought.

For my sister’s sake, I had to make the sacrifice and do what she wanted.