1. YOU MUST MARRY HIM! 

~SCARLETT

I stood frozen as I felt my mother's icy cold grip against my arm. 

"You will do as you're told, Scarlett," she hissed as her usual light blue eyes turned a darker shade. "You'll wear this dress and marry Marco Bianchi tomorrow."

My eyes widened with shock as her words echoed into my ears and I turned to my reflection. I stared at the white dress which I had thought I was trying on for my younger sister. 

Maya was the one who was supposed to marry Marco. She was his fiancee, his betrothed— promised to him right from birth. This was her life!

So why was my mother forcing me to take it?

"Mother, please. . . I can't marry Marco. I don't know anything about him and I'm not ready for marriage," I dared to mutter and her icy blue eyes turned colder. 

"You ungrateful child! After everything I have done for you. After bringing you into the world when I had the option of abortion!" She yelled. 

I released a shaky breath at her harsh words as I saw the venom in her eyes. If words could kill, then I would have died a long time ago. 

Suddenly, the venom in her eyes died down and they were replaced with pain. She released her cold grip on my arm and took my hands gently in hers instead. 

"You're doing this for our family's reputation. Once an alliance is made, it cannot be broken. A Vaughn's daughter must marry Marco tomorrow or there will be trouble. Your little sister is much too precious to be tied to a man like Marco for the rest of her life and you know that." 

My heart skipped a beat at her words. Once again, she had proven to me how much she disliked me. I had never really figured out why she hated me this much but I suspected it was because I was her bastard child and whoever my real father was, probably broke her heart. 

"But it's okay for me to be tied to a man like Marco?" I muttered in a small voice. 

And her glare turned venomous as she retracted her hands from mine. 

"How selfish you are, Scarlett! So you would gladly sacrifice your sister for your own happiness? You would let her suffer?" 

I gritted my teeth. "You know that isn't what I meant, Mother. Father already promised to give Maya's hand in marriage so why must I replace her?" 

"What other purpose do you have if not to protect your younger sister? That's what big sisters do!" 

"Even at the peril of my life?" I muttered. "Maya has never done anything for me. All she does is make me please her and clean up after her every time." 

I had no idea where I had gotten the courage to speak and stand up for myself but I had to keep going because this was a matter of my future and fate. 

I had heard rumors about this Marco and I already hated him even though I had never met him before. There was no way that I could let myself get tied to him forever. 

"Very well," Mother curtly said in a deep voice after a while of watching my unwavering resolve. "I didn't want to do this but you have forced me to." 

I frowned as I watched her tall figure. She gave nothing away except for the way that her stare darkened with mischief and her lips curled into a smirk. 

"If you insist on refusing, then I no longer need you here. I will stop paying your medical bills for the insulin shots you take every time and I will cut you off from my life completely," she paused to darken her stare. "So choose wisely, Scarlett. Either you marry him or you die." 

Instant tears filled my eyes as I realised that I never had a choice from the start. This was my life, every decision was made for me beforehand by my mother and I had no say whatsoever. 

I only lived to please my mother as well as be abused by her. 

As my tears began to flow freely and I saw the satisfied expression on my mother's face seeing my helplessness, I gave in. 

"Fine, I'll marry him as you wish." 

"Good girl, now get ready to—" 

"Scarlett!" Maya's voice floated into the room as she waltzed in. 

She was clad in a short dress that was made out of shiny materials as she always liked to think of herself as a princess. 

"There you are, big sister. I got these shoes this morning," she announced as she lifted a pair of shiny glass slippers just like her dress. "But they aren't as sparkly as I want them to be. The glitters aren't enough." 

I frowned at her. Where was she getting at with this while I was in the middle of a breakdown? 

"Oh Maya dear, they aren't good enough? I'm so sorry about that. I'll get you another one before the wedding," Mother said in a softened voice as she turned to Maya as if she had not just been yelling at me. 

"It's okay, Mommy. I already ordered new ones but I need this pair returned to the shop. I couldn't get a hold of their agents to come for it. Someone has to drop them off and I thought of Scarlett," she answered in an innocent voice as if she was anywhere close to being innocent. 

I only blinked blankly at her audacity. How could she bring her shoe problems when I had greater problems than that? 

"Didn't you hear your sister? Go return them to the shop. What are you waiting for?" Mother snapped.

I parted my lips to speak but in the end, I gave up. I was already cornered. Staying inside here and arguing with my mother was not going to help. On the bright side, I could at least use the fresh air outside. 

So I took the shoes from Maya speechlessly and placed them on the bed. They left the room right after. I changed out of the white dress and picked the nearest clothes I could find. It was a black dress. 

I put it on quickly, packed the shoes in a nylon bag and hurried out of the house, avoiding to encounter my father as if he was a plague. 

The man basically behaved as if I did not exist and the little times we crossed paths, it was always disastrous. 

I stepped out of the house and noticed that the sun was already setting. I sighed and began the journey to the shoe shop, it was somewhere on the other side of town. 

I had no money for transportation so walking was my only option. 

I tried not to think about my situation as I walked down the lonely road but my mind kept replaying the exchange between my mother I. And against my wish, tears started streaming down my cheeks.

I was so lost in my head that I did not see the person before me until I bumped into them and the shoe bag dropped to the floor. 

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I didn't see you there," I muttered in a frantic voice as I bent over to pick the bag. 

"I think you're going to do more than apologise, young lady. You've ruined my day," the strange man muttered. 

I gasped and looked up to see that I was now surrounded by four men and they were all smiling disgustingly at me. 

"You have to do something to fix my mood and that of my men's," the man whom I had bumped into said. 

I began to shake my head fearfully as I realised what I had walked myself into. I could not even recognise the alley. I must have entered this place whilst lost in thought. 

How could I do such a stupid thing?

 "I— I'm so sorry. Please, you have to let me go. I promise that it won't happen again," I stuttered as fear began to rise up my spine in form of a chilling sensation. 

"An apology won't do, young lady but that something between your legs will fix everything," he concluded and my eyes went wide with shock when I realised what they were insinuating. 

They wanted me to give myself to them for a mistake such as this. 

"Over my dead body!" I yelled and in an instant, I turned on my heels and began to run with all of my might. 

The men broke into laughter. "No matter how far you go, you cannot outrun us. We will always catch you." 

My heart was hammering hard by now. My intake of breath became too heavy and I feared that if I kept running like this, I might have a crisis due to my weak health.

I began to pray hard to whatever god could be listening out there. I needed a savior, that was the only way out of this predicament.

"Please! Help me! Somebody!" I cried at the top of my lungs. 

I was about to scream again when I burst out from an alley and landed into the warm arms of a stranger. 

I froze and looked up only to be met with eyes so light brown they almost looked golden. And I could have sworn that they were glowing in the dimly lit alley. 

"Are you lost, baby girl?" He whispered with a voice that seemed to blur every sense of reasoning within me. 

And like a moth drawn to a flame, I found myself unable to tear my eyes away from his.