The Bride of Deception

Cigarette smoke wafted through the narrow alley between Manhattan skyscrapers, mingling with the smell of alcohol. The alley was dark, damp, and dirty, where two people dressed in shabby clothes hid from the glare of traffic police lights patrolling the area. "Have you seen a tattooed man with a suspicious woman around here?" one of the officers asked several passersby. "They're dangerous gangsters! Report them immediately if you see them!" he shouted again, causing several people passing by to quickly speed up their pace. The woman leaning against the wall hissed softly, her eyes sharply following the footsteps of the police officers who were getting further away at the end of the alley. The woman's name was Zalea, known as the Black Swan in the gangster world. She grew up on the streets after leaving the orphanage, and her intelligence caught the attention of Jimmy Armano, the big boss of the Ravelle Syndicate, who then took her in as his daughter and heir. Under the guidance of her adoptive father, Zalea was trained to be the perfect weapon. "Miss Zalea... The District 19 gangsters have been taken down. And the goods... are in our hands." A tall man with tattoos covering his arms named Willie spoke as he offered her a cigarette. Zalea accepted it, lit the end, took a deep drag, and exhaled a thin stream of smoke into the cold air. "Good work," she said calmly. "Tell the others to avoid the police for now." "Yes, ma'am. You'd better get back to Hollow Brook right away. The boss must be impatient to hear this news." Willie continued talking, but Zalea wasn't really listening. Her gaze was fixed on something across the street. A shiny black Rolls-Royce Phantom was parked there, and Zalea recognized the license plate. The number was familiar. It belonged to the Ardane family. A small smile appeared on the corner of her lips. "The timing is perfect," she muttered softly, before looking at Willie. "Go ahead to headquarters. Tell the others not to wait for me." Willie nodded obediently and left, while Zalea stared at the car from behind the shadows. As soon as the limousine door opened, her heart pounded. The cigarette in her hand almost fell when her eyes caught sight of a woman stepping out of the car in a wedding dress. Zalea's breath seemed to stop as she stared at that beautiful face... The Ardane family's daughter, Alea Ardane. Her face, her smile, her body... everything about that woman was a reflection of herself. Alea Ardane was a part of her, Alea was none other than her twin sister, a part of her body that had been forcibly separated from her since the incident 15 years ago. Exactly 15 years ago... Zalea still bore the honorable Ardane surname. Until an accident took her leg, leaving her with a disability that was considered a disgrace to her father's ambitions as a mayoral candidate. In an instant, she was cast aside. Sent to an orphanage, erased from the family tree. When she tried to return, the doors of the Ardane family were tightly shut, as if she had never been born as their daughter. “Alea...” her voice was soft and faint. It had been a long time since Zalea had spoken that name; the last time she had tried to meet Alea was six months ago. Then the guards immediately expelled her, and a message came from Mrs. Ardane, her mother, telling her not to approach her sister again. How ironic that the world had played with her... even now, Zalea did not understand why her father and mother hated her. Her eyes were now fixed on Alea. How she wanted to run, to call out that name loudly. How she wanted to embrace her sister and congratulate her on her marriage to Lucien Volkov, the man Alea had loved all this time. But her feet seemed frozen in place. Her mind was in turmoil. If she appeared, things might fall apart. A groan escaped her lips when she noticed the faint red stain on her jacket sleeve, blood from the recent fight. What if Alea saw this? She would surely worry about her. Zalea bit her lip, then looked sadly at Alea. A thin smile formed on her lips. "Alea... congratulations on your wedding. May you always be happy, my sister. I'll send you a gift... soon." Zalea's smile froze when she saw a sports car speeding towards Alea. "Alea, watch out—!" "ALEAAA!" In a matter of seconds, Alea's body was thrown onto the asphalt, her white dress covered in blood, lying helplessly. The street was deserted. There were no screams, no pedestrians. The sports car that hit her sped away, leaving a smell of blood that began to spread in the air. "Alea...!" Zalea ran with all her might. Her cigarette fell and was trampled on, but she didn't care. Her knees almost buckled when she reached Alea's body. She gently shook Alea's shoulders, her hands trembling as she touched Alea's pale face. "No... no, don't do this... Alea! Alea, listen to me... hold on. Please... don't leave me, Alea, please hold on..." There was no response to those words. Zalea hugged the body tightly... her tears fell endlessly onto Alea’s increasingly pale face. “Alea... please... I’ll give you my whole life if you just hold on... I promise, so please hold on a little longer...” *** Zalea's gaze was vacant. The doctor's words from a few moments ago were still spinning around in her head, hitting her harder than anything else. "I'm sorry, miss... your brother's brain hemorrhage was too severe. We tried our best, but he didn't make it." Those words kept echoing... Tears streamed down her cheeks as she looked at Alea's body lying on the morgue bed, pale, cold, and lifeless. Zalea approached with unsteady steps. It felt like half of her body had died. Her hands trembled as she touched that face, a face that was exactly like hers. Her twin. Half of her soul. "Alea..." she whispered softly. Her tears fell one by one, wetting her sister's cheeks. She stared at her for so long, trying to memorize every line of that face for the last time. She would never see Alea's cheerful smile again, never hear her laughter again. Alea was everything to her, her treasure... her jewel... her world... Zalea's sobs grew hoarse, her world shattered. She held the cold body for a long time, hoping that the warmth of her own body could wake Alea. "Alea... Alea... Why did you leave... not like this... You can't leave me... Alea... you can't die!" "You can't leave me! I... can't... live without you... ALEA!!" Zalea couldn't hold back, she roared, she was nearly mad. After hugging Alea's body, she got up and punched the wall beside her blindly, venting her emotions. "Miss... please calm down!" Willie, who was guarding the front of the room, rushed in when he heard the screams from inside. He quickly held Zalea's arm and stopped her from punching the wall. "Miss... if you do this... Miss Alea won't like it..." Zalea's body almost swayed when she lifted her head and turned to Willie. Her legs couldn't support the weight of her loss. "Miss, calm down..." "Tell me... who is that person... who dared to take my sister away...?" "That sports car... belongs to Lucien Volkov, Alea's future husband." Zalea's heart was beating wildly, her lips felt stiff to say that name. "Lucien...?" she murmured. Her hands clenched into fists as she turned back to Alea's pale face. "Alea... he killed you on your wedding day..." Zalea's voice was full of rage. Vengeance, hatred, and anger swirled in her dark eyes. "Alea... I'll make sure... you go peacefully... I'll make sure that later, from up there, you smile at me as you watch me destroy that man." Zalea turned slowly, facing Willie. "Willie, keep this death a secret. No one must know," her voice grew lower, "including my family." Willie's expression was uncertain, then he replied cautiously. "But, Miss, with Alea not coming to the wedding, someone is bound to notice something strange." Zalea was silent for a moment... The misfortune that had befallen her sister made her soul wild with the desire to take revenge on Lucien right now. Various thoughts flashed through her mind. She swore she would make Lucien suffer tenfold for what he had done to Alea! "I will take care of it. I myself will attend the altar in Alea's place." Zalea's voice trembled, a cruel grin adorning her pale lips. "By becoming his wife, I will make sure Lucien experiences a hell he never imagined..."