Chapter 1

IVY'S POV

"You look like me, so you can marry him for me." My stepsister, Elaina, had said to me.

"I always knew you were crazy, Elaina," I stated, "but this is madness."

She twirled her hair around her finger, a wide smile plastered across her face.

"Oh, you poor thing. I have a bright future ahead of me, you know. Unlike you, I actually want to become a model."

Her eyes traveled down my worn-out gown and dirty flats.

"It's such a shame that you can't want the same thing. I mean, take a look at you. You look hideous."

I could have punched Elaina's face a thousand times and I still wouldn't have been satisfied.

"You're not the only one with dreams," I said under my breath.

Elaina scoffed and walked up to me. She placed her hand on my chin.

"What did you say?" Elaina asked.

"Dreams?" she repeated. "You don't deserve to dream, Ivy, not after everything you've done to us. You are a worthless piece of trash with no father and a deadbeat mother, so you better know your place."

Elaina stared at me. She gave me that familiar look.

That look that said that I was nothing and I would never be. I had always wanted to go to culinary school to become a chef.

Now, I was going to throw it away to marry a man I had never met.

"Clean your tears, Ivy," she stated. "In three years' time, it will all be over. You can finally get the freedom you've always wanted."

She gave me that smile again. The one that didn't reach her eyes.

Then I snapped.

"I am not going to marry him," I stated firmly.

Elaina's mood changed instantly.

She grabbed the vase from the side table and smashed it against the floor. Before I could react, she bent down, picked up a jagged piece of broken glass, and pressed it against my neck.

"You little wench. You think you have a say in this, don't you?" Elaina hissed.

My breath caught as the sharp edge of the glass dug into my skin.

"You know I get to decide whether your mother lives or not, right?"

A slow smile formed on her lips, and my chest tightened at the thought of losing my mother.

"So think wisely before you make such statements," she continued.

I swallowed hard.

I could feel the jagged piece of glass scraping against my neck, the sting growing sharper with every movement.

Why did she get to live her dream life, while I got to suffer?

Before I could answer myself, the bedroom door opened.

My stepmother walked into the room with her head held high.

Bitch.

"Am I interrupting something?" she asked, taking a glance between the both of us.

Vivienne Bennett, my stepmother.

Evil stepmother, as I would like to call it.

"No, ma'am," I quickly said, finally raising my eyes to meet hers.

"Why are you looking at me?" she demanded.

"I'm sorry, ma'am."

"You know the rules."

"Yes, ma'am."

Ever since my father had died and my mother had gotten kicked out of the house, I had a set of 'RULES' I had to follow.

Anytime I defaulted, I got punished in ways I couldn't say out loud.

"Good," she uttered. "I'm sure Elaina has told you about the agreement. You'll be taking her place as Adrian Sterling's bride."

I swallowed a huge gulp, unable to speak up. My hands grazed across the cut on my left wrist. I had gotten that from the last punishment.

"Adrian is a rich man, Ivy. Very wealthy and affluent," she continued. "The perfect match for my sweet Elaina."

She moved closer to Elaina and wrapped her in a quick hug.

"Do I have a say in this?" I quickly blurted out, and her eyes darkened.

Oh no.

"You don't have a say in anything here. You'll do as I say unless your sweet mother gets cut off from all the financial support we are offering her."

I held back my tears. I wanted to scream. Punch something. Anything at all.

"What's in it for me?" I asked, this time staring at her dead in the eye.

"You'll get paid every week you stay with him for the next three years. Your mother's allowance will increase, and you'll finally get to be on your own," my stepmother said with a smile.

Elaina laughed and said, "Mother, now I'm starting to get jealous of Ivy."

I rolled my eyes at her.

"So when am I meeting this Adrian?" I asked.

My stepmother smiled as if the decision had already been made for me. I lowered my gaze, trying to convince myself that this was only temporary. Three years wasn't forever. I could survive three years.

Three years.

That's all I needed.

Three years of pretending to be Elaina.

Three years of surviving Adrian Sterling.

Then I'd disappear.

*********

The Sterling Mansion

Adrian was wealthy.

Not the I-have-multiple-cars-and-I-live-in-a-big-house kind of wealthy.

I realized this the moment I stepped foot in his mansion.

I felt like a speck of dirt that needed to be removed.

Literally speaking, because the way the security personnel looked at me the moment I introduced myself told me all I needed to know.

"You're really here to see Mr. Sterling?" he asked again for the second time, and I nodded.

He let out a sigh, looked at his phone, and back at me.

"Follow me," he said sternly, not even waiting for a reply before he turned his back on me.

He led me up a huge staircase towards a golden elevator. I steadied my breath as I stepped in.

Call me poor or whatever, but I had never been in an elevator.

A few seconds later, we were out, and I let him lead me towards another door.

He stopped abruptly, turned to me, and said something into his intercom.

I couldn't make out the words because it wasn't in English. I stared at him like a lost puppy, and he gave me a once-over, his face filled with disgust as he walked away.

I stared at my dress again.

Elaina had picked this dress for me. She said it was one of her favorites.

But I knew that was a lie. Elaina loved pink. And the only pink thing I had on was my underwear.

The door suddenly opened, and my heart almost skipped a beat.

It was Adrian Sterling.

Standing in front of me. Naked.