MARRIAGE WITH MY HUSBAND'S BROTHER

9.2 “Get dressed,”

And Alisa followed.

Their footsteps echoed softly against the cobblestone sidewalks of Tongyeong, the sea breeze brushing past like whispers of things unsaid. The world outside was quiet, almost peaceful—mockingly so. Alisa walked beside him without speaking, her spine straight and her face unreadable. But inside, every step felt like a sealed fate, one after the other, dragging her deeper into a game she didn’t fully understand yet.

They reached a boutique hotel on a quiet corner. Elegant and discreet. The kind of place that didn’t ask questions and never gave answers.

Leo didn’t pause as he stepped inside and didn’t glance her way as he gave his name at the front desk. The receptionist didn’t blink and of course she didn’t. Men like Leo had been in places like this before. Many times.

“One night,” he said coolly. That was all.

The elevator was silent, save for the soft hum of motion. The tension inside was suffocating while pressing against her skin like invisible fingers. Alisa stared ahead, unflinching while Leo stood at her side—imposing, quiet, his presence as heavy as a storm cloud.

When they reached the room, Leo stepped in first, loosening his collar with a flick of his fingers. City lights spilled through the wide window, bathing the sleek interior in a glow of gold and shadows. He shrugged off his jacket and tossed it onto the armchair, then turned to face her—finally.

His gaze was razor sharp.

“Strip,” he said, his voice quiet but absolute.

The word cut through the silence like a blade. Alisa froze, breath catching but not from fear. Not anymore.

Leo stepped closer, not predatory and not eager—just studying. Like he was dissecting something raw and unstable.

“I want to see how far you’ll go,” he murmured. “How much you’re willing to sell for revenge. Impress me… and I’ll consider helping you.”

It wasn’t lust, it was cruelty and a test.

And yet, she didn’t flinch and she didn’t look away.

Victor had chosen her sister.

So tonight, she would choose survival.

Alisa raised her hands and, one by one, began unfastening the buttons of her blouse. Her fingers were steady. Not seductive but controlled. Graceful. She wasn’t doing this for Leo. She wasn’t doing this to seduce anyone. This was war—quiet, bare-skinned war.

The blouse slid off her shoulders and pooled on the floor. She reached for the zipper of her trousers and let them fall too, standing there in her underwear, spine tall and chin lifted.

Leo’s arms were folded, his jaw set. He wasn’t smiling anymore.

“Go on,” he said, voice rougher now. “You haven’t reached your limit yet.”

Alisa’s heart thundered but her face remained a mask. She reached behind her and unclasped the bra and it slid down her arms and fell, followed by the final scrap of modesty around her hips.

She stood there completely bare, vulnerable in the physical and emotional sense.

Leo’s eyes moved, slow and methodical into her collarbone, her waist and the center of her thighs. He wasn’t admiring but was observing like she was something wild. Untamed.

“You didn’t even hesitate,” he finally said.

“I told you the cost didn’t matter,” she replied.

A long silence passed between them, the air heavy with something unspoken. His eyes darkened.

Then he moved—stepping forward, brushing the back of his fingers down the slope of her breast, then grazing his lips along her throat. Not sloppy and not desperate. Controlled yet dangerous. Like a man who knew the effect he had and enjoyed the power that came with it.

Alisa’s breath caught again—this time not from defiance but sensation. Her skin betrayed her with goosebumps as his breath tickled her neck. She swallowed a sound, but a soft, helpless moan escaped anyway.

At that, Leo paused.

His hand stilled against her waist, his lips frozen just beneath her jaw. For a second, something shifted in his expression. And then, he stepped back.

“Get dressed,” he said coldly, his voice like iced steel. “You’ve made your point.”

Alisa didn’t move.

“So… do you want me or not?” she asked, naked in every sense now—not just physically, but emotionally.

Leo leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees, his eyes a mirror of something dark and ancient.

“I want you to suffer a little first.”

The silence that followed cracked with tension.

Alisa’s gaze didn’t waver. “Then we’re not so different after all.”

She turned, gathered her clothes and began to dress. Slowly and unbothered. Unashamed. Still dignified, even as she stood stripped of everything.

Leo watched her, a slow smirk forming as he leaned back on the bed.

He hadn’t expected her to bend so perfectly without breaking.

She wasn’t the girl who cried or begged or ran.

She was fire in the shape of a woman.

And she had just passed his test.

“Fine. You win—I’ll help you. But let’s not rush into marriage just yet. We’ll start with a fake relationship. The terms and conditions of the contract will be mine to decide, and you’ll have no say in any of it. And remember—sleeping with me at least once a week won’t be optional. It’s a requirement. Do you still agree?”

She nodded and just like that, their deal was no longer just a transaction. It had become something else.

Something unholy. Something binding and whatever they were becoming, it wasn’t safe for either of them.