Page 14 of His Black Onyx

But I shake my head.

"Not quite, little girl. Yes, I do want you to pretend to be her, but no, you won't have to marry anyone."

"But you just said–"

"I just told you about the deal we have with them," I cut her off as if I didn’t even hear her. "The Scivola family expects us to bring them a bride, but we never had any intention to subject our Lailah to that. This mission is all about pretending. The wedding will never take place."

I pause, giving her time to process what I just told her, and to ask questions, because I'm sure she's still overflowing with curiosity.

But she remains quiet, lowering her eyes while she swallows the last bite of her sandwich. She looks confused and lost.

"I don't get this," she whispers. "They think Lailah will marry one of them, but she won't? What will happen instead? How do you even simulate something like that?"

"Trust me, it's for your own good to know as little as possible," I insist. "Right now, all you have to worry about is becoming as much like Lailah as you possibly can. You have to learn a lot, and you have a ton of catching up to do. Like I said, she's been preparing for this for years."

The girl's eyes are heavy with sadness when she looks up at me.

"Or you'll kill my parents." Her whisper is laced with a pain so deep that even I am not immune to the effect of it.

I nod, hoping that she won't try to dig any deeper at this point. It's hard enough to get her to play along this far. I'm sure it would be downright impossible if she knew the whole story. Lailah's job is not an easy one, even for a girl who was willing and ready to go through with it.

It'll be nothing short of a miracle if this girl can pull it off.

And I'll do everything in my power to make this miracle become a reality, not only for my sake. It's not just my own life that hangs on this, but that of my men as well.

And now, hers. Her attractive appearance alone makes it easy to be as devoted to ensuring her safety as I was to Lailah’s.

"Won't they notice?" she wonders out loud. "I mean, as much as I may look like this Lailah, I'm not her twin. How can you be so sure those Scivola people can be so easily fooled?"

I nod along as she speaks, relieved at the simplicity of her question. "They haven't seen Lailah in years. She hasn't been in Rhode Island since the one time they laid eyes on her, and we never invited them up here."

"Rhode Island?" she repeats, looking at me as if I'd just spilled a wonderful secret to her.

"That's where they operate."

Our eyes lock onto each other, her gaze wide and hopeful, while I try to figure out what brought out this excited expression in her.

"So, I'll go back to Rhode Island for this?"

Back to Rhode Island?

Then the realization dawns on me.

"That's where you're from," I say, cautious to phrase it as a statement and not a question. I'm supposed to know where she's from because I threatened her family. How could I pose a threat if I don't even know that basic detail?

She nods, lowering her gaze to her lap where she nervously fidgets with her fingers. The notion of being sent back home changes something in her. I can almost see it unfold, the weight being replaced by a newfound determination to do what she has to do, if it means she'll be sent back to her home state.

It's a start. The confusion remains. It underlines the expression on her pretty face when she takes a deep breath as if to prepare herself for the daunting task ahead.

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