Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

She couldn't take it anymore. The betrayal cut too deep, slicing through every memory, every shared secret, every promise. Twenty-six years of perfect obedience broke inside her all at once, shattering like fine crystal dropped on marble.

Olivia pushed the door open, her wedding dress billowing around her like a cloud of broken dreams.

They jumped apart. Shock flashed across their faces, not guilt, just surprise at being caught. Sophia's red lipstick smeared across Nathan's mouth. Her blue bridesmaid dress bunched up around her hips. His hands still gripping her thighs.

"Olivia!" Sophia's face showed shock but no shame. Not even a hint of remorse in eyes identical to Olivia's.

"This isn't what you think," Nathan said, fixing his tie with steady hands, as if straightening fabric could erase what she'd seen.

Olivia laughed, the sound ripping from her throat like barbed wire. "Really? Because I think my sister and my fiancé were just having sex on my wedding day. I think you were both mocking me while you did it."

Nathan's face hardened into the mask she'd seen during business negotiations. "Keep your voice down. There are guests arriving."

"Guests?" Her voice rose higher, vibrating with pain. "You're worried about GUESTS? I just caught you both destroying my life!"

Sophia stepped forward, reaching for her with the same hands that had just been all over her fiancé. "Liv, please. You're being too loud. We can explain."

"Explain?" The word tasted like poison on Olivia's tongue. "Explain how you sleep with the man I'm about to marry? Explain how my twin sister, my own flesh and blood, betrayed me?" Tears burned in her eyes, but she refused to let them fall.

Nathan grabbed her arm, fingers digging in so hard she knew they'd leave bruises. His grip so tight, like he was afraid she'd slip away with all his carefully laid plans.

"You need to calm down," he hissed. "We can fix this."

"Fix what? My shattered heart? Or your precious business deal?" Olivia tried to pull away but his grip tightened, pain shooting up her arm.

"Listen to me," he said, voice dropping low, dangerous. "This wedding is happening. Your parents need this merger. My family needs your family's name. Nothing changes."

She stared at him, truly seeing him for the first time, this stranger she had almost married. This monster wearing the face of the man she thought she loved.

"You expect me to marry you after this?" Her voice barely a whisper now.

"Yes." His eyes were cold as winter night. "Because that's what you do, Olivia. You follow the plan. You always have."

She turned to her twin, hoping to find some trace of the sister she'd grown up with. The girl who once held her hand during thunderstorms. Who braided her hair for school. Who knew her every fear and dream.

"Sophia? You're okay with this? With destroying your own sister?"

Sophia wouldn't meet her eyes, her gaze fixed somewhere over Olivia's shoulder. "It's just business, Liv. It's always been business. You get the ring, the name, the social status. Nathan and I get..." She trailed off, the words hanging in the air like a guillotine.

"Each other," Olivia finished. "Behind my back. In my bed. In my life."

"No one gets hurt if you just go through with it," Nathan said, as if discussing a minor schedule change. "Everything stays as planned. You'll have everything you ever wanted."

Something finally snapped inside her, the last thread holding together the obedient, perfect Olivia. She shoved against his chest with all her strength. "I'm not doing this! I'm telling everyone what you both did!"

His face transformed, something dark crossing his features like a storm cloud. He slammed her hard against the wall. Her head cracked against the plaster, stars bursting behind her eyes.

"Nathan!" Sophia sounded shocked. "Don't..."

"Shut up," he snapped. "She'll ruin everything."

His hand closed around Olivia's throat, fingers pressing into her windpipe. She couldn't breathe. Couldn't scream. Her nails clawed at his fingers, drawing blood that he didn't seem to feel.

"You're not telling anyone," he growled, his breath hot against her face. "This wedding is happening."

Black spots danced in her vision. Her lungs burned for air. This man who should have protected her was stealing her breath, her life, her future. She kicked out blindly, catching his knee. He cursed, loosening his grip just enough for her to gasp a single breath.

"Help me!" she screamed at Sophia, pleading with her twin. "Please! We shared a womb! We're blood!"

Sophia stood frozen, watching as Nathan's grip tightened again. Her eyes, mirrors of Olivia's own, filled with tears, but she didn't move.

"Hold her arms," he ordered her. "She's fighting too much."

To Olivia's horror, Sophia moved forward. Her own twin, her other half, grabbing her wrists, pinning them against the wall. Her touch gentle compared to Nathan's, but betrayal all the same.

"Just stop fighting, Liv. Please. You're making this worse." Sophia's voice broke on the words.

"Worse?" Olivia choked out, each word costing precious air. "My sister helping him kill me..."

"We're not killing you," Sophia said, but fear showed in her eyes as she watched Olivia's face turn purple. "We're just making you understand."

Nathan's hands squeezed harder. The room dimmed around the edges. Her perfect white dress now crumpled, stained with her own tears.

"Let her go," Sophia whispered. "She can't breathe, Nathan. You're hurting her too much."

"Not until she agrees to keep quiet."

Olivia saw the metal candlestick on the table beside them. With her last strength, she twisted free from Sophia's grip and grabbed it, swinging wildly. Fighting for her life with the decorations meant to beautify her wedding.

Nathan caught her wrist, bending it backward until pain shot up her arm. The candlestick clattered to the floor, the sound echoing in her fading consciousness.

His face twisted with rage. "You little..."

He grabbed the candlestick before she could move.

Pain exploded through her skull, white-hot and blinding. Warm blood trickled down her face, into her eyes, over her lips. The world tilted sideways as she fell to her knees, white dress pooling around her like spilled milk. The dress her mother had spent months selecting, now soaking up her blood.

"Oh God," Sophia gasped, hand covering her mouth. "Nathan, what did you do?"

He stood over Olivia, holding the bloodied metal. "She was going to tell everyone."

She tried to speak, to beg her sister for help one last time, but only a gurgle came out. Blood filled her mouth, its copper taste flooding her senses. Her body felt heavy, disconnected, like she was already floating away from it.

Wedding bells chimed in the distance, their cue that the ceremony should start. Five hundred guests waiting for a bride who lay dying on the floor, killed by the groom and her maid of honor.

"We need to get help," Sophia said, voice shaking as she knelt beside her twin, her blue dress soaking in Olivia's blood.

Nathan looked at her, at the growing red stain spreading across the white gown. "It's too late. Look at her."

Through fading vision, Olivia watched her sister's face change, shock turning to cold calculation. Self-preservation winning over whatever love remained. The final betrayal written in her eyes as she accepted Olivia's death.

"What do we do?" Sophia asked quietly.

Nathan knelt beside the dying woman. His eyes, the eyes she once thought held love for her, showed nothing but irritation, as if she were a stain on his expensive suit.

"I'm sorry it came to this," he said, not sounding sorry at all. "But you should have just played your part."

His hands wrapped around her throat again. She couldn't fight anymore. Her strength was gone, leaking out with her blood onto the church floor. The pressure increased, cutting off what little air remained.

Her sister stood behind him, watching. Not helping. Not stopping him. Just watching her twin die.

The darkness grew, creeping in from all sides.

Olivia's last thought wasn't of them, or her parents, or the wedding guests waiting in blissful ignorance.

It was the strange feeling of chains breaking. Of weights lifting. Of finally being free from the golden cage they'd built around her.

Then nothing.