The Billionaire Deception Deal

When Karina was younger, she wished that she was a princess. That one day, a handsome prince would come, sweep her off her feet, and take her away. She wanted to be loved, worshiped, kissed silly for no reason, and whispered the most romantic things into the late hours of the night.

The number of romance movies she watched greatly impacted the way she saw the world, and she could very well say that her standards in men were pretty high. Or as her sister called them, 'borderline unreasonable'—but that was coming from the girl who once dated a guy because he held the door open for her at a Starbucks. Peak chivalry.

As Karina got older, she expected that she would never find someone as perfect as she imagined, but she still held out hope that maybe one day...

But you know what they say...

Be careful what you wish for.

She was gone. Lenora was gone. And right as the deal to save their family from bankruptcy was about to be made. Right as Karina was about to be free from her sister's tyranny.

That bitch.

A single door was the only thing separating the benefactors of the deal from the catastrophe that was unfolding. They didn't know what was going on and it needed to stay that way.

Lucinda, Karina's mother, was a few sentences away from a conniption as she paced around the living room, sporadically glancing in the direction of the office where the Valaire family heads were.

"Panicking is not going to do anything. We don't know how far she could have gotten." Karina's father placed his hand on Lucinda's shoulder, attempting to calm her down.

"That girl was always trouble, we should have known that she was not going to come quietly. Selfish and irresponsible as always," Lucinda spat viciously. "If we can't make this deal then we're done for. There has to be something that can be done... are you sure that you looked for her properly?" She directed her question to the maids, who shrank back from her gaze.

Before any of them could answer, her husband spoke up. "It does not make sense to ask something like this now. Looking for her again would waste more time than we already have and I'm not sure how much longer I'm willing to keep the Valaires waiting."

"Deacon..."

"We don't have time to look for Lenora, so we'll just have to improvise for the time being." He turned his gaze to his other daughter.

As soon as Lenora was reported missing, Karina knew what her parents would resort to next. The only reason that she was not the first choice was because, to them, Lenora had a better sense of people and could handle herself in situations better than Karina could. That was a misconception, but Karina did not care to correct them.

Karina looked up at them from her position on the couch. Her hands were folded between her legs and her posture was perfect. That's what she was to her parents, their perfect child. The speak-when-spoken-to, obedient child. But in reality, Karina just didn't want to add to the chaos that was her family. She preferred to watch and blend into the background. The last thing she ever wanted was to get their attention, so if she acted like she was not there, then they would forget about her.

Well, that was until they needed to sell her.

"Karina..." Her father's tone was gentle and his gaze softened. "We need you to do this for us, but just until we find your sister. You know how important this is. It could save our business if we make this deal. I promise that as soon as we find your sister, we'll switch the two of you out."

He stooped in front of the couch, placing his hand on her knee. It was like that action triggered something in her and it progressively became harder to breathe. Her insides churned with anxiety and anger. What about her? What about what she wanted? Unlike her sister, she actually wanted to achieve great things in her life. The only thing that Lenora could achieve was being knocked up before twenty-one.

"Father, please, there has to be another way. Can't we... I don't know... make them wait a little longer?" She knew the answer to the question, but she still had to try. Karina was not going to give up without a fight—even if it was a small one.

"We can't, sweetheart. They gave us a date and if we make them wait then we could lose the deal." His expression showed that he was truly sorry for what was going on, but Karina was not so sure about his heart. "It will be brief, we'll find your sister as soon as we can. This was her one chance to be useful and she up and ran away."

Lucinda let out a deep sigh and stood at Karina's side next to the couch. "Please help us with this. If you don't, then the Matsuoka family will lose everything, and none of us will end up happy."

So that was it. They were planning to pull a switcheroo just because she had the same face as Lenora. The situation reminded her of a movie she watched a long time ago, but her case was not as easy as putting on a blond wig and learning how to balance a book on her head. And the person she was getting sent off to was no prince either.

"Go freshen yourself up quickly and come back to the office." Her mother pressed a kiss on her head before she and her father disappeared into his office.

A heavy silence came over the living room, but it only lasted a couple of seconds. "Miss Karina..." one of the maids began softly, but Karina held up a hand to stop her. It was shaking.

"I will be back in a few minutes." She swallowed down the lump in her throat and made her way across the living room and up the stairs to the third floor.

Once she was in her room, she changed out of her casual home clothes and into something more presentable. She tried to think of all the positives that could come out of the arrangement she was getting herself into, but she came up short. Once again, she was being her parents' good girl and doing everything they told her.

"I hate you." She glared at her face in the mirror, but in reality, she was imagining Lenora.

They both had the same pale skin and slanted eyes from their Asian heritage. Her round face and heart-shaped lips gave her a more innocent look than her sister, who had a slightly longer face and fuller lips. Those subtle differences were the subject of Karina's insecurity for years—they were twins, but Lenora seemed to have gotten the better face.

She brushed her loosely curled, waist-length black hair over her shoulder and passed her hands over the floral dress she changed into before she went back down.

Karina stopped in front of the wooden office door. Once she stepped through, she would be engaged to a man she'd never met. She would be a truce between two feuding families. She would be an insurance policy, a promise that the Matsuoka family was forever indebted to the Valaire family.