Chapter 5
1129 Words
Alina stared at Alex like he had just asked her to jump off a cliff.
“Marry you?” she repeated, breathless.
Footsteps echoed faintly from the other end of the corridor. Time was ticking and her pulse thudded in her ears.
Alex didn’t look rushed.
He looked certain.
“Yes.”
“That’s your solution?” she demanded. “I tell you my stepmother might have murdered my mother, my fiancé is planning to kill me, and your response is let’s get married?”
“My response,” he said calmly, “is that you need protection, real protection. Not running through back staircases in blue hair and panic.”
She glared at him. “Don’t insult the hair.”
“I’m not insulting it,” he replied. “I’m questioning the timing.”
Despite everything, her lips almost twitched.
“Alex,” she said more seriously, “this isn’t about the bet. This isn’t about you winning. This is my life.”
His eyes darkened. “I know.”
“Then stop talking like this is simple.”
“It is simple.” His voice lowered. “They can’t touch you if you’re my wife.”
The weight of those words pressed against her ribs.
The Lincoln name carried power, influence and resources.
Fiona had money.
Alex had reach.
Alina searched his face. “Why are you really here?”
He didn’t hesitate. “Because something felt wrong.”
That answer unsettled her more than anything.
“I heard about the wedding two weeks ago,” he continued. “It didn’t sit right with me. You were reckless, yes. But you weren’t stupid. Throwing away a lifelong betrothal for Liam never made sense.”
“You sound offended.”
“I was,” he admitted easily. “But that’s not the point.”
“Then what is?”
His jaw tightened slightly. “Your mother’s accident.”
Her stomach dropped.
“What about it?”
“There were inconsistencies,” he said. “I looked into it back then.”
Her head snapped up. “You what?”
“Quietly.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“You had just lost her,” he said softly. “You were barely sleeping. Fiona had already moved in. If I had accused her without proof, she would’ve cut me off from you completely.”
Alina’s chest felt hollow.
“What inconsistencies?” she whispered.
“The brake failure report was rushed. The mechanic who inspected the car resigned a week later and left the country. There was also a life insurance policy update three months before the accident.”
Her knees felt weak.
“No,” she breathed.
“Yes," Alex replied.
The world tilted.
“So this isn’t just about me overhearing something today,” she said slowly. “You’ve suspected them for years.”
“I suspected,” he corrected. “I didn’t know.”
“And now?”
“Now you’ve confirmed they’re capable of it.”
The footsteps in the distance grew louder.
Alina’s brain raced.
Her mother’s death.
Fiona’s sudden control.
The whispers.
The manipulation.
The way she had been allowed to be reckless while Brielle was trained to be perfect.
It wasn’t kindness.
It was design.
“They wanted me to look unstable,” she murmured. “Impulsive. So when I died, no one would question it.”
Alex didn’t deny it.
Rage ignited inside her chest.
It wasn't the wild, chaotic kind she was known for.
It was something colder...more focused.
“I can’t just disappear,” she said. “If I run, they’ll spin it. They’ll say I had a breakdown.”
“Exactly,” Alex replied.
Her eyes snapped to his. “So what do we do?”
“We don’t run,” he said.
The footsteps were close now.
Voices.
They were searching.
“We stay,” he continued calmly. “We make this public.”
“Public?” she hissed.
“You walk downstairs,” he said. “Not as a runaway bride. As my fiancée.”
Her breath caught.
“You think they’ll just accept that?”
“No,” he said. “They’ll panic. And people make mistakes when they panic.”
Alina swallowed.
“You’re insane.”
“Possibly.”
“This could backfire.”
“It could,” he agreed. “But you’re safer in the open than hidden.”
She stared at him.
This was the moment.
She could run out the back gate with Ria and hide or she could turn around and face them.
Her entire life she had been impulsive.
It was always 'jump first, think later.'
But this—
This required choice.
“If I marry you,” she said slowly, “it’s not because I’m scared.”
“I wouldn’t accept it if it were.”
“It’s not because I owe you from some stupid teenage bet.”
He almost smiled. “I know.”
“It’s because I refuse to let them win.”
Something fierce flickered in his eyes.
“Good.”
The footsteps turned the corner.
Brielle appeared first.
She stopped dead when she saw them standing close together.
Her gaze dropped to Alex’s hand still lightly holding Alina’s wrist.
Her expression changed.
“Well,” Brielle said smoothly. “I was wondering where the bride wandered off to.”
“Not a bride,” Alina said evenly.
Liam stepped into view behind her.
His eyes narrowed at the sight of Alex.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
Alex didn’t release her.
“Simple,” he replied calmly. “There’s been a change of plans.”
Fiona appeared last, her heels clicking sharply against the floor.
Her gaze swept over the scene.
She understood instantly.
Her smile was thin.
“Alina,” she said sweetly, “we were looking everywhere for you.”
“I know,” Alina replied.
Her voice didn’t shake, not even a little.
“I’ve decided I won’t be marrying Liam.”
There was a very heavy and thick silence.
Brielle’s fingers tightened around her ring and Liam’s jaw clenched.
Fiona’s eyes hardened just a fraction.
“And instead?” Fiona asked lightly.
Alina stepped closer to Alex. The movement was small but deliberate.
“I’ll be honoring my original engagement.”
For the first time since she had overheard them, she felt something close to control.
She wasn’t fleeing, crying or breaking. She was choosing.
Alex’s thumb brushed against her wrist once, grounding her.
“You don’t get to decide my life anymore,” Alina said, looking directly at Fiona.
It was the first honest thing she had ever said to her stepmother.
The hallway felt like a battlefield.
And this time—
Alina wasn’t running.
- Writer
