1 I turned back toward the mirror to touch up my lipstick, but the loud click of the camera shutter made me freeze. In the reflection, my fiancé Carter and my twin sister Lily were pressed together, perfectly framed in the photographer’s lens. When I walked back onto the set, the entire studio fell dead silent. Carter finally realized what had happened. His smile stiffened for a fraction of a second before he shrugged it off. “You guys look practically identical anyway. Let’s just use this shot.” My throat tightened until it ached. Just because we were twins, Carter had treated her like me more times than I could count. She was the one in our family portraits. She was the one in our couple’s photoshoot. And now, she was the one in my wedding photos. I stared at the two of them. They looked exactly like a happy set of newlyweds. Reaching up, I ripped the veil out of my hair and roughly wiped the expensive makeup off my face. “Why don’t you let her marry you, too.” I turned on my heel and walked out. Carter closed the distance in three long strides, grabbing my arm. “We’re supposed to be taking our wedding photos. Why do you always have to ruin the mood?” My eyes burned with unshed tears as I forced the corners of my mouth up. In the hallway mirror, my smeared makeup made me look completely pathetic. He had no idea. Just to fit into this designer gown, I had essentially given myself an eating disorder, throwing up every meal I forced down. I had tortured myself to squeeze into the suffocating tulle and lace. And I didn’t even get the chance to step in front of the camera. Lily hurriedly stepped off the backdrop, her face a mask of perfect, innocent guilt. “Lucia is definitely jealous. I was just joking around to see if Carter could tell us apart. I guess I took the prank too far.” She tried to playfully push me toward the center of the set. Carter shifted his weight, physically blocking the spot. His voice dropped into a heavy, warning tone. “It’s just a picture. She’s your sister. Just let her have this.” There it was again. That heavy, suffocating concept. Let her have it. The plus-one ticket for the European cruise. I had to let her have it. The front seat on the rollercoaster. I had to let her have it. Carter pulled us both to stand side-by-side in front of the floor-to-ceiling mirror. “Look at you two. Nose, ears, eyes, it’s all the same. Why go through the hassle of reshooting? It’s just a waste of film.” Looking at the two nearly identical faces in the glass, I managed a smile that felt worse than crying. Carter used to trace the small beauty mark under my left eye, telling me it was the most unique thing about me. I guess I wasn’t that unique to him after all. It felt like his choice to propose to me was just a random flip of a coin. Before I could process the thought, Carter reached down and twisted the engagement ring off my finger. “Since Lily loves being in front of the camera, let her stand in for you. Go sit down and take a breather.” He slid my ring onto Lily’s finger. It was a flawless fit. Whenever I wore that ring, it squeezed my finger until the circulation stopped. A cold realization washed over me. Back in college, Carter had accidentally kissed Lily. Since that day, their dynamic had shifted into something far too close for comfort. Maybe that kiss wasn’t an accident. Maybe every time he ‘mixed us up’, he knew exactly what he was doing. Walking out into the glaring sunlight, I pulled out my phone and dialed my wedding planner. “Hi. I need to cancel my entire wedding package.” The planner gasped loudly into the receiver. “Lucia? You’ve been putting this together for six months.” “Is there something you’re unhappy with? We can always tweak the details.” I had tweaked the three-hour ceremony a million times. Carter vetoed every single idea I had. He called my choices tacky, exhausting, or too cheap. The final aesthetic we settled on was a pastel pink fairy-tale theme. It was Lily’s dream aesthetic. The guest list was stacked with Lily’s sorority sisters and friends. The vows I was supposed to read were practically written by Lily. Even the mermaid-style gown I was wearing right now was the exact cut Lily had been obsessing over on Pinterest. I was just so tired of fighting for my own life. Glancing back through the glass doors, I watched them strike goofy, intimate poses to use up the rest of the studio time. I spoke softly into the phone. “No need.” “Cancel it. I’ll cover whatever cancellation fees we owe.” “Cancel what?” Carter’s confused voice echoed right behind me. I hung up the phone without missing a beat and shook my head. Remembering the two VIP concert tickets I had found in his jacket pocket that morning, I used them as my cover. “I meant we should cancel the trip for the music festival.” Carter froze. A flash of panic crossed his eyes. “How did you know Lily and I were going to that concert?” I stared at him, completely numb. “I figured you wouldn’t want to go, so I didn’t get you a ticket.” “But since you know, you can help us pack. Put together some cool outfits for us. Lily has been begging to see this band live for months.” The bridge of my nose stung. I was the one who had been begging to see them. I was the one who stayed up until 3 AM trying to secure tickets in the queue and failed three times. Noticing the absolute deadness in my eyes, Carter awkwardly tried to backpedal. “Look, I can FaceTime you during the best songs. You know how crazy those crowds get. It’s not safe for Lily to be in a mosh pit alone. You’d be worried sick about her.” I bit the inside of my cheek so hard I tasted copper, and then I laughed. The only person worried about her was him. After the shoot wrapped, Carter’s mom, Eleanor, called and told us to come check out the newly renovated house Carter bought for us. When we pulled into the driveway, she was already waiting on the porch. “Mom! I missed you so much!” Lily practically vaulted out of the car and threw her arms around Eleanor. Eleanor pinched her cheek, her face lighting up with genuine warmth. “Look at my girl, getting prettier every day!” I stood a few feet away, feeling like a trespasser who had stumbled onto their private family reunion. I had tried calling her ‘Mom’ so many times over the years. Eleanor always shot me down with a cold stare, telling me to save it for the altar. I guess Lily had beaten me to the punch. I swallowed the ‘Mrs. Bennett’ that was resting on my tongue. As we walked up to the door, Lily casually pressed her thumb to the biometric lock. It clicked open instantly. She walked in like she owned the place. Carter didn’t blink. He just watched her with a fond, indulgent smile. Sensing my rigid posture, Eleanor let out a dry, awkward chuckle. “You’re always working, Lucia. Lily was the one who helped me pick out the tiles and the paint. Whose fingerprint was I supposed to register?” But Carter had explicitly told me his mom didn’t want ‘outsiders’ meddling in the renovation. So I had stayed out of it. Turns out, I was the outsider. Stepping into the hallway, I reached for the handle of the master bedroom. Carter’s hand clamped over my wrist, pulling it back. His tone left no room for argument. “Lily is still interning downtown. Living here is way closer to her office than her crappy apartment. My mom agreed.” I forced the corners of my mouth up, slowly pulling my arm out of his grip. “Then where are we sleeping?” Carter pointed toward a cramped guest room in the corner. It was half the size of the master. “That’s plenty of space for us.” “The master has an en-suite bathroom. You’re always paranoid about me mixing you two up, right? This way, we avoid any awkward run-ins. Win-win.” Lily leaned against the doorframe, a sly smirk playing on her lips. “Oh please, it’s not like you’d actually mix us up. Lucia doesn’t exactly have my curves. I’m way out of her league.” Carter’s gaze instinctively dropped to Lily’s chest, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed. He suppressed a grin. “Stop messing around.” Watching the two of them flirt right in front of me made my stomach churn with violent nausea. Without a word, I turned and walked into the tiny guest room. Through the thin drywall, I could hear them wrestling and laughing in the hallway, accompanied by Eleanor’s fond, enabling chuckles. I swallowed the bitter taste in my mouth and texted my Aunt Valerie overseas. “That guy you wanted to set me up with. I’ll meet him.” The next evening, Carter drove Lily to the neighboring state for the concert. My phone buzzed with an Instagram notification. Lily had posted a photo. The stage lights illuminated their faces in the dark crowd. Surrounded by cheering fans, they were making out. Deeply. The caption read. [Someone’s kissing skills haven’t improved at all. I’ll give him a C-minus.] Carter had commented publicly, entirely shameless. [You’re the gross one. I had to use three bottles of mouthwash after.] Their flirty banter filled up my entire screen. I sat on the edge of the guest bed, zipping up my suitcase. I opened my browser and booked a one-way flight for the following morning. At 2 AM, a phone call shattered the silence of the room. “Is this Lucia? Are you related to Lily? She and Carter are down at the precinct. They were picked up during a vice raid at a downtown motel. Come bail them out.” It felt like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over my head. When I rushed into the glaring fluorescent lights of the police station, Lily was sitting on a metal bench. She was wearing nothing but Carter’s oversized white button-down. Her bare legs were pale and exposed. She was sobbing into her hands, looking like a total victim. Carter was hovering over her, rubbing her shoulders. He didn’t even look at me when he started talking. “The show ended late. I didn’t want to drive all the way back in the dark, so we booked a room.” “But I wasn’t going to let a girl stay in a sketchy motel alone. So I stayed in the room with her.” He paused, adding defensively. “We slept in separate beds.” The sheer audacity of his lie made my vision blur. I fought to keep my voice from shaking. “If you were in separate beds, why did vice squad haul you in for suspected solicitation?” Lily looked up, her face stained with perfect, glistening tears. She stood up, trying to grab my hand. “Lucia, I broke out in hives. Carter was just helping me put ointment on my back. I couldn’t wear my clothes, so…” Carter immediately backed her up. “She’s my sister too. Stop being paranoid.” They always hid behind that ‘brother-sister’ excuse to justify crossing every single boundary. Carter did her laundry. He even bought her tampons. Lily would regularly walk into his bathroom wearing practically nothing to ‘hand him a towel’, always making sure to compliment his abs. Now, they were dragged into a police station half-naked, and they were still playing the sibling card. I took a deep breath. Hours of suffocating grief and betrayal crystallized into a single, sharp sentence. “We’re done, Carter.” The man’s face froze. He stared at me like I had grown a second head. His shock quickly morphed into disgust. “Are you insane? You’re breaking up with me over this?” “What the hell is wrong with your brain, Lucia? We’re family! We aren’t sick freaks like you think we are!” Lily blinked her wide, watery eyes, her voice trembling. “Lucia, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to cause a fight. I’m sorry…” “You don’t need to apologize to her!” Carter barked, his glare piercing right through me. “We’ve let her get away with this jealous crap for way too long. She just wants to drag your name through the mud. God knows what kind of toxic garbage she’d pull once we’re actually married.” “Let’s go.” He shot me one last hateful look, wrapped his jacket around Lily, and walked out to his car. He left me stranded at a police station in a city I barely knew. He never called to check on me. Carter didn’t come home that night. But I didn’t call him to ask where he was. I didn’t need to. Lily posted a story on her Instagram. Carter was asleep in her bed, dead to the world. The comments were flooded with their mutual friends typing [Happy Honeymoon]. He didn’t explain. I didn’t ask. Until 3 AM, when the front door nearly came off its hinges. I opened the door to find Carter standing there, completely unhinged. He grabbed my arm and dragged me into the hallway. “She is your own flesh and blood! Are you seriously spreading rumors that she’s a whore? Defamation is a crime, Lucia!” A cold knot formed in my stomach. “Tell me the truth. Did you leak those photos online?” He shoved his phone directly into my face. On the screen, a viral post showed blurry photos of Carter and Lily being escorted out of the motel by the cops. The angles were vicious. It made them look exactly like a john and an escort. From the master bedroom, Lily was wailing hysterically. Her voice was totally blown out. “I don’t know who took those! I didn’t do anything wrong! I’m not a slut!” I pushed his phone away, staring dead into his eyes. “I didn’t post anything.” “You think I did this?” The rage in Carter’s eyes didn’t flicker. He looked at me with pure venom. “Guilty people always play dumb.” “Do you realize this is going to ruin her graduation? She’s going to be a laughingstock at her firm!” “How could you destroy your own sister’s life like this?” I dug my nails into my palms and threw his own logic back at him. “Karma never misses.” “You bitch!” Carter’s face went dangerously dark. His patience evaporated. He pulled out his phone and dialed 911. “You can tell your lies to the cops.” When the sirens wailed down the street, he literally shoved me out the front door. I pounded on the wood, begging him to open up. He knew I was up for a massive promotion at work. He knew a police inquiry would destroy my background check. But he didn’t care. As the neighbors peeked through their blinds, the officers put me in the back of the cruiser. At the station, I explained everything. The officers checked my phone, realized it was a domestic dispute, and cleared me of any cyberbullying charges. As the officer walked me to the lobby, my phone buzzed. It was an email from my department director. “Are you out of your mind? I was about to name you Head of Operations, and now HR is dealing with police inquiries about you!” “Clean out your desk. You’re done.” An automated termination letter popped up right after. Everything I had bled for over the last decade vanished into thin air. I clutched my phone to my chest, sank to the dirty linoleum floor, and sobbed until I couldn’t breathe. Lily’s graduation was right around the corner. Carter agreed to be the model for her final photography portfolio. The guy who used to complain about wearing shorts in public was now posing half-naked in front of Lily’s lens. The ‘bonus content’ of her project featured deeply intimate, boudoir-style shots of the two of them ‘sacrificing for art’. Carter didn’t even bother blocking me from seeing the posts. He fully expected me to do what I always did. Beg, cry, apologize, and claw my way back to him. But this time, I went ghost. Carter kept bombarding my phone with texts. [Take some time to reflect on your toxic behavior.] [Lily is handling the rest of the wedding prep. You just have to show up. Be grateful she’s saving you the headache.] [I expect you to be perfectly behaved on the wedding day.] But by the time he sent that last text, I was already at cruising altitude, flying across the Atlantic. Next day. The wedding venue. Dressed in a sharp black tuxedo, Carter stood at the altar. Looking around at the pastel pink floral arrangements, he felt a smug sense of victory. Lucia had finally compromised. But the dead silence on his phone left a heavy, gnawing anxiety in his gut. The officiant’s voice echoed through the microphone. “And now, let us welcome our stunning bride!” The heavy oak doors swung open to thunderous applause. The bride, face obscured by a thick veil, glided down the aisle. Carter’s heart hammered violently against his ribs. When she finally reached him, he reached out and lifted the veil. The blood drained from his face. His entire body locked up. “What the hell are you doing here?!”
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