Bianca's POV
The photograph hit the coffee table with a sharp snap.
I looked down at my sister's face staring back at me from the glossy paper. She was smiling in the picture, wearing a white dress and holding flowers. It looked like an engagement photo, but something about it made my skin crawl.
"Sit down, Miss Moretti," the man with the scar said.
I stayed standing. "I asked who you are."
"My name is Marco Salvatore. I work for the Cavalcanti family."
The name hit me like ice water. The Cavalcanti family. The people Alessia was supposed to marry into. The people who were supposed to be at her funeral yesterday.
"What do you want with me?" I asked.
Marco picked up the photograph and held it next to my face. "You look exactly like her. Same eyes, same nose, same everything."
"We were twins."
"Yes, I know." He put the photo down and sat in Alessia's favorite chair. "That's why we're here."
The second man stayed by the door, watching me like I might try to run. He was bigger than Marco, with hands that looked like they could crush bones.
"We have a business offer," Marco said.
"I don't want any business with you."
"You will when you hear what we're offering."
I thought about my mother lying in that hospital bed. The machines keeping her alive. The red notice in my pocket. Twenty-four hours to find fifty thousand dollars.
"I'm listening," I said.
Marco smiled, and it was the coldest thing I'd ever seen. "Your sister was engaged to Leonardo Cavalcanti. The wedding was supposed to be in three days."
"I know that."
"The wedding is still happening."
I stared at him. "That's impossible. Alessia is dead."
"Yes, but you're not."
The words hung in the air like poison. I felt my knees go weak, but I forced myself to stay standing.
"You're crazy," I whispered.
"I'm practical. The Cavalcanti family has business deals depending on this wedding. Important deals worth millions of dollars. We can't cancel."
"Then find someone else."
"We did. We found you."
I shook my head so hard it made me dizzy. "No. Absolutely not."
"You haven't heard the terms yet."
"I don't care about the terms."
Marco stood up and walked to the window. "Your mother is dying."
"Don't talk about my mother."
"She needs surgery. Expensive surgery. Without it, she has maybe a week left."
Tears started burning my eyes. "How do you know that?"
"We know everything about you, Bianca. We know you work two jobs but still can't pay the bills. We know you maxed out your credit cards. We know you sold your grandmother's jewelry last month."
Each word was like a slap. They had been watching me. Studying me. Planning this.
"We also know you love your mother more than anything in the world," Marco continued. "And we know you'd do anything to save her."
"Not this."
"Not even for her life?"
I closed my eyes and tried to think. This was insane. They wanted me to pretend to be my dead sister and marry a man I'd never met. A dangerous man from a dangerous family.
"It's just for one year," Marco said. "Twelve months. Then you can disappear with enough money to start a new life anywhere you want."
"What about Leo? Won't he know I'm not her?"
"He's never met Alessia in person. Their families arranged the marriage. All he's seen are photographs."
I opened my eyes. "That's horrible."
"That's business."
"He loved her."
Marco laughed. "He loved the idea of her. There's a difference."
I thought about Leo Cavalcanti. I'd seen him in the newspapers sometimes. He was handsome but looked cold, like he'd never smiled in his whole life. What would it be like to be married to someone like that?
"I can't do this," I said.
"Yes, you can. You look exactly like her. You sound like her. You even walk like her."
"But I'm not her."
"Close enough."
The big man by the door stepped forward. "Maybe we should show her what happens if she says no."
Marco held up a hand. "Not yet." He turned back to me. "Let me make this simple for you, Bianca. You have two choices."
He walked to the table and picked up his phone. "Choice one: You say no. In that case, I make a phone call. The hospital gets a call too. Your mother's life support gets turned off tonight. She dies, and you get to live with the fact that you could have saved her."
My heart started beating so fast I thought it might explode. "You can't do that."
"I can and I will."
"That's murder."
"That's business."
He held up a second finger. "Choice two: You say yes. You marry Leo Cavalcanti. You pretend to be Alessia for one year. In return, all your mother's medical bills get paid. She gets the best doctors, the best treatment, the best care money can buy."
"And then what?"
"Then you disappear. New identity, new life, enough money to last forever."
I sank down into the chair across from him. My legs wouldn't hold me up anymore. This was really happening. These men were really asking me to do this impossible thing.
"What if I mess up? What if he figures out I'm not her?"
"Then you'll have bigger problems than paying hospital bills."
The threat was clear. If I failed, I'd end up like Alessia. Dead.
"I need time to think," I said.
"You have five minutes."
"That's not enough time."
"It's all the time you get."
I put my head in my hands and tried to think. But my mind was spinning like a broken record. Mama was dying. These men could save her. But they wanted me to live a lie for a whole year.
"What about my job? My apartment? My life?"
"You quit your jobs. You move out of here. Bianca Moretti disappears. Only Alessia Cavalcanti exists."
"Alessia Moretti," I corrected. "She wasn't married yet."
Marco's smile got wider. "She will be in three days."
I looked around Alessia's apartment. At her books, her pictures, her whole life frozen in time. She would never read those books again. Never see those pictures. Never live in this place.
But I could. I could become her. I could save Mama and honor my sister's memory at the same time.
"If I do this," I said slowly, "I want to know everything. About the family, about Leo, about what really happened to Alessia."
"You'll learn what you need to know."
"That's not good enough."
Marco stood up. "That's all you get."
I took a deep breath. "What happened to my sister?"
The question hung in the air like smoke. Marco's smile disappeared, and for the first time, he looked dangerous. Really dangerous.
"What do you mean?"
"The car accident. Was it really an accident?"
Marco looked at the big man by the door. They shared a look that made my blood turn cold.
"Why would you ask that?" Marco said.
"Because I found her letter. She was investigating something. Something about the Cavalcanti family."
"What letter?"
I pulled Alessia's note from my pocket. Marco snatched it before I could blink and read it quickly. His face got darker with each word.
"You shouldn't have found this," he said.
"What was she investigating?"
"Nothing important."
"Then why are you angry?"
Marco stepped closer to me. "Let me give you some advice, Bianca. Your sister asked too many questions. She went places she shouldn't have gone. She learned things she shouldn't have learned."
"What kind of things?"
"The kind that get people killed."
The words hit me like a physical blow. I stared at Marco's cold face and saw the truth there. Alessia hadn't died in an accident. She'd been murdered.
"What happened to my sister?" I whispered.
Marco smiled, and it was the most terrifying thing I'd ever seen. "Accidents happen to people who ask too many questions."