His Substitute Bride

Chapter2

SOFIA’S POV

I stood in front of the wedding hall doors, my hands shaking. This wasn’t a happy wedding—it was a punishment. I was being discarded like trash.

My heart pounded in my ears. I clutched the silky dress they forced on me, feeling trapped. I couldn’t believe this was happening. My father and Martina had promised Alessia to a man, but when it came time to pay the price, they gave him me instead.

Anger twisted in my stomach. They had always treated me like nothing, while Alessia was their perfect daughter. Even my mother hadn’t been spared from their cruelty—it had driven her to her grave. And now, they expected me to take Alessia’s place, to be sold off for a debt that wasn’t mine.

Suddenly, Martina’s sharp voice pulled me out of my thoughts. "Open the door and go in," she ordered, standing beside me with her arms crossed, watching me closely like a predator. Her face expressed irritation, as if my hesitation was some great inconvenience to her. Then, as if that wasn’t enough, she ordered, "Put on a smile while you do it."

A smile?

A bitter laugh almost escaped me.

I had spent my whole life obeying, enduring, swallowing every bit of pain they threw my way. I had accepted every insult, every slap, every cruel punishment without a word, without fighting back. But something about tonight—something about standing in front of these doors, knowing that if I stepped inside, my life would never truly be mine again—it broke something in me.

For the first time in my life, I couldn’t stay silent.

I turned my head slightly, my voice coming out before I even had time to think. "I’m not going in."

Martina blinked, her lips parting slightly in surprise. "What did you just say?"

I swallowed hard, but my body felt too tense, too full of anger to back down now. "I said I’m not going in. I’m not marrying him."

A thick, suffocating silence settled between us.

Her surprise quickly turned to a dark frown, her teeth clenching. Her eyes narrowed dangerously, her mouth twisting into a tight scowl. "You don’t have a choice," she said in what sounded like a low growl, taking a step toward me. "You will do as you’re told, like the servant that you are."

I felt my breathing grow heavier, my chest rising and falling rapidly as I clenched my fists. "No," I said, my voice louder, stronger this time. "I won’t do this. I won’t let you use me like this to save your brat of a daughter."

Martina’s eyes darkened, her body stiffening as she glared at me. "You ungrateful little—"

She reached for my wrist, her grip tight and bruising as she tried to shove me toward the door. But I fought back.

I jerked my arm away and took a step back. When she reached for me again, I turned and ran.

I heard her gasp, then her furious voice shouting behind me. "Sofia! Get back here!"

But I didn’t stop.

I didn’t look back.

I ran through the hallways as fast as my legs could carry me, my dress dragging around my feet, my breath coming in quick, sharp gasps. My heart was racing, my chest burning, but I didn’t care. I didn’t care if my father would be furious when he found out. I didn’t care what punishment waited for me after this.

I just knew I couldn’t go in there.

I couldn’t let them take away the last bit of control I had left.

When I reached my room, I shoved the door open, slammed it shut behind me, and locked it. My whole body trembled as I pressed my back against the door, my breaths coming out uneven and shaky.

I lifted my hands to my dress, my fingers fumbling with the necklace they had forced onto me, trying to yank it off. But my hands were shaking too much, and before I could pull it away, a choked sob escaped my lips.

The tears came quickly after that, hot and uncontrollable, streaming down my face as my knees buckled and I sank onto the floor. I covered my face with my hands, trying to muffle the sounds, but it was useless. The pain in my chest was unbearable, an ache so deep that it made it hard to breathe.

"I miss you, Mom," I whispered through the sobs, my voice barely audible.

More tears spilled over as the memories flooded in.

I was twelve when I lost her.

Twelve when my whole world was ripped away from me.

I remembered that day so clearly—the day she died, and my father wouldn’t even let me see her body. I had begged him, pleaded with him through my tears, but he had only given me a cold, blank stare.

"Get out of here," he had said.

And then, just like that, he had me dragged away.

Even now, years later, I still didn’t know where she was buried. I had no grave to visit, no place to say goodbye. She was just... gone.

The knock on my door made me flinch, drawing me from my thoughts. My breath caught in my throat as I quickly wiped my tears, my heart racing in my chest. I had no doubt it was Martina. She must have followed me here, ready to drag me back to the wedding hall, ready to shove me into the life they had forced on me.

But then, a voice came through the door, and my entire body went cold.

It wasn’t Martina.

It was him.

"SOFIA!"

The deep, thunderous roar of Antonio DeLuca sent a violent shudder through me. My hands trembled at my sides, my knees felt weak, and for a brief moment, I forgot how to breathe. I had always feared him. He wasn’t a father—he was a monster dressed as a man, a shadow that had loomed over my life since the moment my mother died. No, since before that. I had been nothing to him from the very day he brought in his new wife and her daughter.

The door shook as he kicked it. A loud, terrifying thud that sent a jolt of fear through me.

Another kick.

Then another.

"Open this damn door, or I swear on everything you will not live to see tomorrow!"

I pressed my hands over my mouth, trying to keep silent, trying to regulate my breathing so he would think I wasn’t here. Maybe, just maybe, if he thought I wasn’t inside, he would leave.

But Antonio DeLuca was not a man who walked away from disobedience.

The banging on the door grew louder, heavier, more violent—until suddenly, with one final crash, the door exploded inward.

I screamed as pieces of wood flew across the room. My body curled in on itself as if I could somehow disappear, but it was useless.

When I lifted my head, the towering figure of my father filled the doorway, his dark eyes burning with anger. His broad shoulders tensed with restrained violence, and behind him, Martina and Alessia stood like shadows, watching the scene unfold.

Alessia smirked, her lips curling into a twisted smile.

"Punish her, Father," she whispered, loud enough for me to hear. "She deserves it for being so stubborn."

“What's so difficult in getting married, why can't she just stop being a baby and do it?” she added.

My heart pounded, my body frozen in place.

Father took slow, heavy steps toward me, each one suffocating the space between us. Then, without warning, his hand snapped around my throat.

I gasped, my hands instinctively flying up to claw at his fingers, but his grip was too strong. He lifted me effortlessly, slamming my back against the cold wall. My vision blurred as the impact sent shockwaves through my skull.

"How dare you?" he snarled, his voice dangerously low. His breath was hot against my face, his fingers tightening around my neck. "Do you have any idea who you’ve kept waiting at that altar?"

I tried to speak, but all that came out was a choked gasp. My nails dug into his skin, but it was useless. I had always been weak against him.

He leaned in closer, his grip tightening. "We owe him a debt. And since we cannot give him Alessia, you will take her place."

I squeezed my eyes shut as anger, fear, and helplessness swirled inside me.

"And if you do anything to ruin this, if he so much as suspects that we deceived him..." His grip loosened just enough for me to suck in a shaky breath. "I will find you. And I will kill you."

The words sliced through me like a blade.

I knew he meant it. Antonio DeLuca did not make empty threats.

"You will pretend to be Alessia," he continued, his tone was cold and emotionless. "You will be happy in this marriage. You will live as Alessia. Or else."

Something inside me cracked.

The fear, the pain, the years of silent suffering... it all boiled over.

Through the pain in my throat, I forced my voice out, hoarse but strong. "What else, Father?" I spat, my eyes burning with unshed tears. "What else can you do to me that you haven’t already done?"

His grip on my neck faltered slightly, just for a second.

I took that second and pushed forward.

"You’ve treated me like a slave all my life. You’ve beaten me, locked me away, starved me. You’ve already made it clear that I am nothing to you. You already don’t see me as your child," I said, my voice shaking with rage. "So go ahead! Do whatever you want, because nothing is new to me!"

The room fell into a dead silence.

Martina’s lips parted slightly, taken aback. Alessia’s smirk wavered.

But Father?

He laughed.

A cold, deep laugh that sent chills down my spine.

Then, with a cruel smirk, he let me go. I collapsed to the floor, gasping for air, my hand clutching my sore throat.

"So," he said darkly, towering over me. "You think you know the extent of what I can do, do you?"

I coughed, struggling to lift my head, but before I could respond, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

"You truly want to disobey me?" His voice was calm now, almost amused. "Then let me show you something."

He turned the phone toward me.

And my world stopped.

On the screen, in a dark, damp room, sat a woman. Her clothes were torn, her hair tangled, her face streaked with tears.

A woman I had mourned for ten years.

A woman I thought was dead.

"Mother..." The word barely escaped my lips.

My hands shook violently as I stared at the screen, my breath coming out in short, panicked gasps. My mother... the woman I had cried for every night, the woman I had begged to see before they dragged me away, the woman I thought I had lost forever...

She was alive.

"Please," her weak, trembling voice came through the phone. "Please... tell Sofia that I’m still alive... Please, don’t keep her away from me..."

Tears welled in my eyes. My entire body felt like it was being torn apart.

Before I could even process what was happening, Antonio’s voice cut in, sharp and cruel.

"She’s been there for ten years now," he said simply, staring down at me. "Alive. Forgotten. And completely at my mercy."

I looked up at him, my whole body shaking.

"If you disobey me, I will kill her," he said, his voice void of any emotion. "But if you listen..." His lips curled into a dark smirk."...you might just have the chance to see her again."

Everything inside me shattered.