THE SUBSTITUTE BRIDE

The wedding was supposed to start at 10 a.m. By 10:15, the groom was still standing at the altar, looking like a god in his black suit. By 10:30, Amara's mother was crying inside the bathroom, her father was sweating and shouting into his phone, and the 200 guests downstairs were whispering. Sophia had run away. Sophia Williams. The perfect daughter. The beautiful one. The one who was supposed to marry Alexander Edwards, the richest bachelor in Lagos. And now, her wedding dress was hanging empty on the door. Her white heels were abandoned on the floor. On the mirror, she left a note with her pink lipstick. _I can't do it. I'm sorry. Don't look for me. - S_ Amara picked up the bouquet her sister left behind. She was the younger sister. The bridesmaid. The forgotten one in a simple peach dress that she bought from Yaba market for 15k. She was supposed to just hold flowers and smile in pictures. Not fix this mess. Then the door banged open. Her heart stopped. Alexander Edwards walked in. He was even more handsome in real life. Tall, broad shoulders, jawline that could cut glass. But his eyes... his eyes were ice. That's why bloggers call him The Ice King. Everyone says he never smiles. He never loses. And today, someone dared to humiliate him. "Where is she?" His voice was quiet. Dangerously quiet. Amara's father stepped forward, shaking. "Mr. Edwards... please... just give us..." "Where is Sophia?" He cut him off. He didn't even look at the old man. His eyes were on the note. Amara's mother sobbed, "She... she left..." He walked to the mirror, read the lipstick note once. Then he folded a piece of tissue and wiped it clean, as if erasing Sophia from existence. Then he said something that made Chief Williams fall into a chair. "Chief Williams, you borrowed fifty million naira from Edwards Group three months ago. Your collateral was this marriage. If this marriage does not happen today, your company goes bankrupt tomorrow. You know that." Fifty million? Amara looked at her father. So that was why he forced Sophia to marry a man she barely knew. "Please, I beg you..." her mother cried. Alexander ignored her. Then his cold eyes turned to Amara. For the first time, he really looked at her. "What's your name?" he asked. "Amara," she whispered. "Amara Williams? The second daughter?" She nodded. "Do you have a boyfriend? A fiancé? A husband somewhere I don't know about?" "No." "Good." He put his hands in his pocket and said five words that changed her entire life. "Then you will marry me instead." What? The bouquet fell from her hands. "Excuse me?" She thought she didn't hear well. "The contract is between the Williams family and the Edwards family," he said, as if explaining a business deal to a child. "It says 'a daughter of the Williams family.' It does not say Sophia. So you will replace her." "You cannot be serious!" Amara screamed. "I don't even know you!" "You know my name. I know yours. That's enough for marriage these days," he said coldly. "One year. You will be my wife for one year. You live in my house, you attend events with me, you make my grandmother happy. After one year, we divorce quietly. Your father's debt is forgiven. And I will give you ten million naira for wasting your time. Take it or leave it." Ten million naira? Her teaching job paid 80k a month. She had just been sacked two weeks ago. Her mother needed surgery. They were drowning. And her father... he was looking at her with begging eyes. Like she was his last hope. "Amara, please..." he whispered. "Help us..." She looked at Alexander. At his cold, beautiful, heartless face. If she said no, her family would lose everything. If she said yes, she would lose herself. Her hands were shaking. "Okay," she heard herself say. Her voice was barely there. "I will marry you." For a second, just a second, surprise flashed in his icy eyes. He didn't expect her to say yes. "Good girl," he said. He checked his Rolex. "The priest is waiting. Let's go. We have kept the guests waiting for too long." He grabbed her wrist. His hand was big and warm. And just like that, wearing a cheap peach bridesmaid dress, holding her sister's discarded bouquet, Amara walked downstairs to marry a billionaire she didn't love. A man who had just bought her.