Chapter 3: Say Yes… or Lose Her
1344 Words
The silence didn’t break.
It cracked.
“You’re insane.” Alina’s voice was sharper than she intended, but she kept her hands stuffed into her pockets to hide how they trembled.
He didn’t flinch. Didn't even blink.
“If that helps you process it,” he said, his tone infuriatingly level, “then yes.”
Her breath hitched. “You want me to walk into a death trap, play house with you... and I’m just supposed to agree?”
“I expect you to understand the stakes.”
“I do!” she snapped, taking a step back. “And I’m not doing it.”
The words hung between them. Defiant. Final.
He didn't move for a long moment, just watched her. Then, he reached into his jacket pocket.
Not the ring. His phone.
Alina frowned, her heart stuttering. “What are you”
He turned the screen toward her.
The room felt suddenly, impossibly cold. The screen showed a photo. Grainy, distant, but undeniable.
Her sister.
Alive.
Sitting in a dim room, her head bowed, with someone standing just out of frame behind her.
Alina’s breath hitched.
“No…” She took a step closer, voice barely a whisper. “Where did you get that?”
“Two hours ago.”
Her heart slammed against her ribs. “She’s in danger.”
“Yes.”
“You said this isn’t a choice, she’s”
“Out of her depth,” he finished quietly.
Panic rose, sharp and suffocating. Alina looked up at him. “Then we have to help her.”
“We are.”
Her chest tightened. “No, you’re not. You’re just standing here forcing this wedding while she”
His hand shot out. Not rough, but firm. He caught her wrist, stopping her pacing, forcing her to be still.
“Look at me.”
The low command made her obey.
His eyes were steady, cold, certain.
If I move now,” he said, his voice dropping to a low murmur, “she disappears.”
The words hit Alina like ice, leaving her paralyzed. “What…?”
“They’re watching,” he continued, his eyes scanning the room without settling. “Not just her. Me. This wedding. Every move I make. And if they think I know too much…”
Alina felt her stomach drop as the realization took hold. “They’ll kill her,” she finished, the words barely audible.
He didn't answer, but he didn't have to; the truth sat between them, heavy and unavoidable. Alina felt tears burn behind her eyes, but she forced them back, hardening her gaze. “So your solution is to just do nothing?”
My solution? Make them think I’m exactly where they expect me to be.”
He narrowed his gaze. “Standing at the altar.”
She stared at him, the realization sinking in slowly. Horrifyingly.
“You want them to think it’s normal,” she said. “To relax.”
“Yeah.”
“And in the meantime?”
He tightened his jaw. “I find her.”
Her breath hitched. “And I’m just... what? The bait?”
A beat.
“You keep them watching the wrong thing.”
Her pulse spiked. The wrong thing. Him. Their lie.
“You want me to distract people dangerous enough to take my sister,” she said slowly.
And you think I won’t break?” she challenged.
His gaze didn’t waver. “I know you won’t.”
The absolute conviction in his voice was more unsettling than the threat itself.
“Stop saying that,” she muttered, looking away.
“Why?”
“Because you don’t know me.”
He let the silence hang for a moment. “I know enough.”
The air between them suddenly felt heavy crowded with the weight of the choices they were making and the consequences they both knew were coming. Alina looked down at the phone, where the screen still glowed with the image of her sister.
Alone. Trapped. Waiting.
Her fingers curled slowly into fists. “If I do this…” she said, her voice dropping to a steady, quiet hum. “If I marry you… you bring her back.”
It wasn’t a question; it was a demand.
His attention sharpened, and for the first time, something shifted in his expression. It wasn’t softness not exactly but it was human.
“I will,” he said. There was no hesitation, no room for doubt.
Her throat tightened at the speed of his answer. “Swear it.”
It was a dangerous request, the kind that bound more than just words, but he didn't look away. “On everything that matters,” he promised quietly.
A heavy weight settled deep in her chest. Against her better judgment, she believed him and that terrified her more than anything.
The knock on the door came again, firmer this time. “Sir, we’re running out of time,” a voice called through the wood.
He didn’t look away. He was waiting, not forcing her hand, but not backing down either. Alina took a slow, steadying breath. Once. Twice.
“Fine” The word left her lips before she could take it back, hanging in the air.
“I’ll do it.”
A heavy silence fell, the kind that follows a point of no return.
She lifted her eyes to meet his, fear warring with a flicker of fire. “But this isn’t your game alone anymore.”
A warning. A line drawn.
“If anything happens to her
“It won’t.”
She cut him off. “You don’t get to promise that. You get to prove it.”
Something dangerous flickered in his gaze not anger, but approval.
“Good,” he said softly. “I prefer it that way.”
Her breath caught at the tone.
He reached for the table, his fingers closing around the ring. This time? Slower. More deliberate.
Alina’s pulse quickened, her body freezing as he stopped directly in front of her. The heat of him was intoxicating, that quiet intensity wrapping around her like a second skin.
“Last chance,” he said, his voice quiet. “To walk away.”
Her heart pounded. Loud. Unsteady. Yet, her answer remained the same.
“I already said yes.”
He paused, a flicker of something new
almost imperceptible shifting in his expression.
Then, he took her hand, making her breath catch. His fingers were warm, steady, and certain completely unlike the storm inside her. Slowly, deliberately, he slid the ring onto her finger. It fit perfectly. Of course it did. A detail that should have been impossible, unless...
Her eyes snapped up to his. “You planned this,” she whispered. Not just the wedding, not just the backup. Her.
He didn’t deny it, but he didn’t confirm it either. The silence between them said enough.
A chill ran down her spine.
“You were always going to choose me,” she said.
His gaze held hers dark, unreadable before he quietly replied, “No.”
She paused, the silence stretching until he added, “But I hoped I would.”
Her breath hitched. Before she could respond, the door opened.
“Sir” The assistant froze, eyes flicking between them, taking in the ring, their proximity, the shift in the air. He quickly recovered, his voice brisk. “It’s time.”
Time The word echoed like a countdown.
Alina looked down at her hand the ring, the promise, the trap and then back at him.
Her husband. Her ally. Her greatest risk."
“Let’s get this over with,” she said, her voice tighter than she wanted.
His lips curved into something that wasn't quite a smile definitely not safe. “Oh,” he murmured, stepping closer. “We’re just getting started.”
As he led her toward the door toward the altar, and the lie that would change everything Alina realized the danger wasn't just waiting out there. It was right beside her. And she had just chosen it.
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