Chapter Four

Stefan adjusted his tie in front of the dressing mirror and gave himself a fleeting once-over, his eye caught his grandfather's in the mirror, he sighed internaly before he turned to face the old man.

        Gregory Diamond was a hard man to please and his words were carved in stone that no one dares to refuse him. He was a business man who knew what he wanted and how to get it. In a way Stefan inherited some of that hard veneer although he would not like to admit it. 

      "You look handsome." His grandfather commented. "Your parents would be proud."

 Stefan scoffed. "I doubt it."

       "You will thank me later. I am only doing this for your own good."

      "No you're doing this to satisfy your own ego cause you want no one to be able to say no to you." Stefan countered. "Blackmailing me with the inheritance left to me by my parents isn't for my own good you simply want to control me." He argued. 

His grandfather smiled, the laugh lines at the corner of his eyes became prominent. He tapped his gold cane on the carpeted floor and curled his wrinkly fingers against the handle.

      "The board doesn't take seriously a man who is not married especially a young man such as yourself."

       "I doubt they care."

       "You'd be surprised at how much distrust comes with being an unwed CEO. A married man gives a more mature picture, a sense of responsibility and the ability to make important decisions."

       "I manage a chain of hotels, how many newlyweds or even married couples book a room? Exactly one in ten and guess how many affairs and one night stands happen, nine out of ten."

     His grandfather didn't give any smart quip after that and Stefan thought he won the argument. "Your argument will not make me change my mind. Miss Cortés is a lovely young lady and she would make a fine bride."

      " Right." Like he didn't just pick a frivolous party girl to be his bride. Cindy Cortés would be on the tabloids more than she'd be a wife to Stefan. 

Stefan shook his head and walked past the old man grabbing his white suit jacket draped on the couch. 

        

    "You look really beautiful Rella." Her best friend Vanessa told her as she asdjusted the veil on Rella's head. "But I wish you didn't have to do this."

      Rella sighed, smoothing her hands over her tulle wedding dress. The woman staring back at her in the mirror was souless and sad, this wasn't how she pictured her wedding day to be.

        "Better me than Cindy than I guess." 

        "So what, you don't think to you deserve to be happy? Why should you destroy your future  for your twin? This isn't middle school any more where you have to cover her ass whenever she gets into trouble. Marriage isn't a joke."

       "Of course I know that, which is why when we find Cindy we can sought this all out."

        " Hmm, I just hope that you know what you're doing and don't end up regretting it."

    Rella had a feeling she would regret it but she didn't dare say it out loud so she wouldn't manifest it.

       "Ah! there you are you look like a princess!"

Evie Cortés gushed at her daughter then kissing her on both cheeks she said, " you are my pride and joy, what will I do without you? Go make this family proud." 

She put a finger under Rella's chin to raise her head. "come on smile for me pumpkin, it's your wedding day not a funeral." Evie Cortés clicked her tongue at her daughter's seemingly bored face and Rella mustered the brightest smile she could even though it was far from what she was feeling at the moment. "The Manhattan high society would be there and I want to be able to hold my head high." She gushed. 

      Rella and Van exchanged glances with Rella shaking her head at Van who looked like she was about to say something.      

       "My daughter is marrying the one and only Stefan Diamond I know they must all be stewing with jealousy because none of the their daughters are this lucky."

      The honking of a car interrupted her little tirade and Rella let out a little sigh of relief.

       "The limo is here," her my mom announced. "I'll see you at the church."

       "Your mother is something else isn't she?" Said Van as soon as Evie left the room. 

        Rella had never experienced anything as torturous as walking down the aisle towards a man she barely knew who would soon become a part of her life. She felt like she was dreaming the whole thing up and soon she'd wake up from the nightmare but each step she took towards the altar only solidified it as her reality.    She never should've agreed to pretend to be Cindy at her engagement party. She never should've agreed to be Cindy at her wedding. Her legs felt like there was lead in them and each step was a daunting task. 

        The whole time she marched by her dad Rella half expected Cindy to walk through those doors demanding her life back and she didn't know whether to feel disappointed or elated when nothing happened. A feeling of numbness washed over her, it had wrung her dry leaving her helpless.

       On another day in another time she would've been over the moon anticipating that moment when she get to the man of her dreams at the altar and he would hold her hand and give her one of his heart-stopping smiles and then they would take their vows before the pastor and an army of witnesses.

       Instead, she was walking towards a man who wasn't hers in the first place, in a dress that belonged to another and guests who didn't come for her. 

She was a fraud.

        Rella blinked back the tears that had begun to sting her eyes and she only had to remind herself that she was only doing this for her family and that everything would be over before she knew it.

She felt her dad give her hand a reassuring squeeze telling her she was doing the right thing. 

       They reached the altar and her dad handed her to Stefan who didn't spare her a second glance, he must be anxious to get the ceremony over and done with as well. 

      She drowned out everything that ensued, only responding when necessary then froze when she heard you may now kiss the bride.

They were both facing each other and Stefan slowly lifted her veil. Rella stopped moving. Or was it time that stopped moving? 

She stared up at him in apprehension as his head started to lower towards her, her heart pounded mercilessly across her chest. But instead of kissing her lips he kissed her forehead as the crowd cheered.