Substitute Bride, Stolen Heart

Chapter 8: The Sister Who Came Back

I woke before Killian did, the memory of his voice in the doorway still sitting warm in my chest “I might start thinking I got lucky, marrying the wrong sister.” I lay there a long moment, tracing the words over in my head like I could wear them smooth.

Then my phone buzzed on the nightstand, and the warmth cracked straight down the middle.

AVERY: I need to see you. Today. It's important.

I stared at the screen. Three days since the wedding. Not a single message from her since the ceremony not even a congratulations, not even a lie of one.

ME: Important how?

AVERY: Not over text. Please, Ava. Just this once.

The old nickname did something to me it shouldn't have. I typed back before I could stop myself.

ME: Come at ten. I'll tell the gate to expect you.

I didn't tell Killian.

I told myself it was because it wasn't a big deal just my sister, just a conversation, nothing that needed his permission. But some smaller, more honest part of me knew exactly why I kept it to myself. If he saw the message, he'd want to be there. And some fragile, foolish piece of me still wanted to believe there was a version of Avery worth protecting from him the version who used to sneak me dessert, not the version who'd looked at this house like an inventory list to resent.

She arrived at 10:04, sunglasses pushed into her hair despite the overcast sky, standing at the gate like she still expected doors to open just because she'd asked.

I met her in the receiving room instead of the front hall, some instinct telling me to keep this contained, small, controllable.

"You came," she said, like she hadn't expected me to actually agree.

"You said it was important."

"It is." She sat on the edge of the chair, hands twisting in her lap, and for one unguarded second she looked exactly like the sister I remembered nervous, young, out of her depth. "Mom and Dad haven't stopped fighting since the wedding. Elias Voss called the house. He wants to know if the Whitmore side of the merger can still be trusted."

My stomach dropped. "What does that mean?"

"It means if this falls apart, if Killian decides you're not worth the scandal, we lose everything, Ava. The house. What's left of the company. Everything." Her voice cracked. "I know I have no right to ask you this. I know what we did to you. But I need you to make this work. I need you to be... enough. For all of us."

There it was. Not an apology. Not concern for me at all, not really just fear, dressed up in my name.

"I didn't ask to carry this family," I said quietly.

"I know." Her eyes finally lifted to mine, and something in them had gone harder than I remembered. "But you're the one who ended up with the power to save it. Doesn't that count for something?"

Before I could answer, the door opened without a knock.

Killian stood in the frame, still in his shirtsleeves, a folder in one hand he'd clearly come looking for me, not expecting to find my sister sitting in his receiving room instead.

"Avalene." His eyes moved from me to Avery, and I watched something in his expression shift, cool and assessing, the way it had at the dinner table with his father. "You didn't mention we had a guest."

"I didn't think it mattered," I said, which was half a lie and we both knew it.

"It matters." His voice stayed level, but there was an edge underneath it now, aimed at Avery more than me. "Especially when the guest's family is currently the reason my father is questioning whether this marriage is worth the risk to a merger worth nine figures."

Avery paled. "Mr. Voss, I only came to—"

"I know why you came." Killian crossed the room, close enough to stand beside me, close enough that his presence settled something jagged in my chest even as it sharpened everything in his voice. "You came because your parents sent you to make sure Avalene understands she's the only thing standing between your family and ruin. You came to remind her that her worth to you begins and ends with what she can save you from."

"That's not—" Avery started.

"Isn't it?" His eyes didn't leave her face. "Because in the three days since your sister married into this family, not one of you called to ask if she was safe. If she was treated well. If she was happy. The first contact any of you has made was to ask what she owes you."

The room went silent enough that I could hear my own pulse.

Avery's eyes filled, and for a moment I thought it might be real until her gaze flicked to me, and I saw something calculating underneath the tears, something that made my stomach turn colder than his words had.

"You don't understand what it's like," she said, voice shaking, "watching everyone decide the adopted daughter is suddenly worth more than the real one."

The word landed like a slap. Real one. Nineteen years of feeling like a placeholder in my own family, and there it was, finally said out loud.

"Get out," I said, before Killian could.

Avery blinked. "Ava—"

"Get out, Avery." My voice didn't shake, and I felt something settle in my chest as I said it some old, exhausted weight finally cracking loose. "I spent my whole life being told I wasn't real enough to matter in that house. I'm not doing it in this one too."

For a moment she just stared at me, like she didn't recognize the person standing in front of her.

Then, quietly, she stood and walked to the door and stopped, hand on the frame, not looking back.

"You'll regret choosing him over your own family," she said. "When this marriage falls apart, and it will, you'll have no one left."

The door shut behind her, soft and final.

I stood there a long moment, chest heaving, before I felt Killian's hand find mine.

"She's wrong," he said quietly.

"Is she?" I turned to face him, some of my composure finally cracking. "What if this does fall apart, Killian? What if your father decides I'm not worth the risk? What happens to me then?"

He didn't answer right away. Instead he reached up, tilting my chin toward him the way he had before, his eyes steady on mine.

"Then you'll still have this house," he said. "This name. And me. None of that was ever conditional on your family's approval, Avalene. It never will be."

"You can't promise that."

"Watch me," he said, low and certain, and something about the way he said it made me believe for the first time since I'd walked down that aisle in my sister's place that maybe I finally had.

My phone buzzed again in my pocket. I almost ignored it.

Then I saw the name on the screen, and every ounce of relief I'd just felt drained straight out of me.

UNKNOWN NUMBER: I know what your parents did. I know who you really are, Avalene. And I know they're not the only ones with secrets. We should talk before Killian finds out what you're really hiding.