Chapter 2 Fraud.

VALERIE

My mom had lost it. Because that's the only thing that could explain what she just said.

My heart started racing as I stared at her. My brain heard her words but it took a few seconds to process it. I blinked. Once. Twice. Then I laughed— a humourless, disbelieving sound.

“No.” The laugh died. “No. You can’t be serious.” I looked for any sign that this was a joke on her face. But no, she was dead serious. My gaze shifted to Dad's face and his eyebrows were knitted closely together like he was already deep in thought, considering the possibility of Mom's outrageous suggestion.

“This could actually work. After all, you and Vanessa are identical twins.” Dad mused.

“No!” I shook my head vehemently. “No way!”

“Valerie, calm down. Sit. Let's think about this.” Mom stood and moved towards me. She put her arms around my shoulders and I let her lead me to sit on a couch.

“What's there to think about, Mom?”

“Think about this, Valerie. You guys are identical twins. We had a hard time telling you apart when you were younger. I doubt they'd be able to tell it's not Vanessa either.” She explained.

“Mom, are you hearing yourself? That's fraud.” My voice rose despite my attempt to pretend it. “You know that the Castillos aren't people to be messed with, and now you want me to do this? I don't think so.”

She's joking. She has to be. There's no freaking way I'd walk down that aisle pretending to be Vanessa.

“Well, what other option do we have?” Mom said, running a hand through her perfect dark brown curls. “If you can suggest a better option, a better way out of this, we'll consider it.”

I glanced at Dad. He was still deep in thought, considering this bullshit.

The wheels in my head began to work as silence ensued. But I couldn't come up with anything. “There must be another way. I can't– I shouldn't walk down the aisle pretending to be Vanessa and marry Lucas Castillo. What happens if they find out?”

Mom took my hands in hers. Her hands were warm, and the feeling was foreign, something I wasn't used to. She rarely ever did things like this to me. She was rarely affectionate towards me. It was always Vanessa. She was only doing this because she needed my help. “They won't find out. You'll make sure of that. You and Vanessa look exactly the same. They wouldn't be able to tell the difference. We'd just dye your hair and make you up like she usually does.”

“Okay, fine. Yes, we look exactly the same. They might not even notice, but what about Lucas? He knows Vanessa . He loves her. Do you think he won’t notice that I'm…not her?”

I glanced at Dad. His jaw was clenched as he continuously tapped his foot on the floor. He was losing his patience.

“That's where you put your acting skills into use. You were in the drama club in high school, weren't you?”

“But Mom–”

“You will do it, Valerie.” Dad interrupted, his tone sharp. “That wedding will happen tomorrow, and you will be the bride!”

“But Dad–”

“You heard me loud and clear, Valerie. I won't repeat myself.”

I felt a lump in my throat. We were going down that path again. This wasn't the first time something like this was happening. Vanessa always created messes and left them for someone else to clean up. Most times, that person was me—whether I wanted to or not. Now, they were asking me to clean up her mess again.

My eyes fell on my Mom's hands on mine, and something bubbled in my chest.

I remembered how excited Mom was for this wedding. How she'd be grinning during the wedding preparations, taking care of everything possible for Vanessa's sake. I wondered if she'd have been like that if it were me getting married.

“Valerie, you should also find someone to marry soon. Someone decent, at least half as decent as your sister's fiance.” She had said this when Vanessa made me tag along for her wedding dress final fitting. Now, here she was asking me to wear that same dress and marry Vanessa's ‘decent’ fiance in her stead. How ironic.

But I wasn't going to do it. I didn't want to have to be the one to clean up her mess this time around. They won't have their way this time. I pulled my hands out of Mom's and stood up. “I'm sorry but I can't do this. I won't do it.”

I didn't look at their faces or wait for them to say anything. My feet started moving, walking away from the disaster and all that it left in its wake. But I should have known it wouldn't have been that easy. I should have known there was no escaping this even before Dad's voice stopped me.

“Valerie Grace Lawson.” I halted, my heartbeat started racing again; because whenever Dad used our full name he was dead serious. I turned to face them, stomach churning.

“If you don't walk down that aisle tomorrow as your sister, you'll no longer be my daughter.”

He was threatening me. I felt something crack inside me. Despite my attempts, tears blurred my vision. “Are you threatening to disown me if I don't agree to commit fraud?”

“Can you stop saying that?” Mom snapped. Then she sighed. “It's not fraud. It's just a temporary situation, you'll just be a stand-in.”

Yeah, right. A Stand-in. A placeholder for when the real bride comes back. Vanessa's shadow.

“You haven't answered my question, Dad.” My voice betrayed me, it shook as I spoke. “Are you really threatening me?”

He met my eyes. “Yes.” No hesitation. “If it comes to that.”

I wanted to scream, to tell him to take his threats and shove it up his ass or something. Despite my eyes stinging with unshed tears, a part of me wanted to burst into laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation. My twin sister disappears a day before her wedding and how I'm being forced to be the sacrificial lamb.

They knew I couldn't walk away after hearing that. Where would I even go?

He turned to face Mom. “Get everyone and everything she'll need to make this work. There should be no mistakes whatsoever. A billion dollar contract is on the line.”

“Yes, Hon. I'll take care of everything. You should go and get some rest.” Mom assured him.

He nodded and left. Mom looked at me, standing in the same spot. “Don't worry. By the time we're done, you'll see Vanessa when you look in the mirror.”

I didn't respond. I couldn't say anything. She called for one of the maids, talking about how she needs to speak to the make-up artist and all that.

As she was about to head upstairs, she stopped at the foot of the stairs, gaze fixed at me. “You're just a stand-in. A substitute. Don't ever forget that.”

When I was finally alone in the living room, my legs gave out and I crumbled to the ground just as my life was about to. I'd always known that they loved Vanessa more than me. But now, I wasn't even sure if they loved me at all. No parent would subject their child to this if they loved them.

The tears fell freely as I remembered that whether I liked it or not, tomorrow I would walk down the aisle pretending to be who I was not.