Made For You

Ch. 1: Take Me Instead

WARNING: This story contains depictions of violence that may not be suitable for some readers.

Sofia

The days have started to blur after Dante. Sometimes I feel like I am only made of bones with no beating heart in my chest.

But it beats rarely, pacing like a racehorse, galloping miles per hour in moments like this.

"What?" I blurt as I watch Estella pace up and down the brightly lit space of her room, ignoring my shivering from the air conditioner being at full power.

She is in a flowing sundress, her hair curled in some places and her face full of make-up. Everything about her is prim and perfect, from her chestnut hair to her sky-blue painted toes. She walks gracefully, yet I notice the worry etched on her heart-shaped face as she digs a row of sharp straight teeth into her plump bottom lip.

"Please...Sofia," she says, glassy eyes on me. "Make this small sacrifice."

Small sacrifice? As if I haven't sacrificed enough already.

"You're joking, right?" I huff, my stomach cramping at her ignorance. "I have been sacrificing...ever since—"

"Dante wasn't your sacrifice, Sofia," she cuts me rudely. "Dante is your absolution that would never come. He's your guilt."

I clamp my jaw at her choice of words, a wave of mortification washing over me causing my legs to feel weak.

She has just told me that she was getting married—or more like was engaged to the acting Don of the Conclave. It is the organization of the Underworld where our father acts as one of the Capos. Apparently, Estella signed a deal with the Boss three months ago to marry him and have his baby. Now the day has come for her to go with him.

She signed the deal willingly but now she doesn't want to go.

Estella isn't one to ever back away from a deal. She has dreamed of being the queen of the Underworld since the day she took her first breath. If she is changing her mind now, something is wrong.

Now she wants me to take her place.

As if remembering I am her only sister, she stops with a pair of widened eyes and rushes to me, grabbing me by the shoulders.

"Please, Sofia. Just this once," she begs, emerald eyes sparkling with what I can only assume are tears.

"You can't be asking me this for real. It was you who made the deal with them, Estella!" I grouse, tearing my hands from her grasp. "What do I have to do with any of it? I don't even know him."

"The deal was made three months ago. The circumstances have changed since then. The Don is on his deathbed and Gabriel wants to fulfill his last wish to see Gabriel's wife."

"Why do you suddenly not want to go? You know you can't just back out!"

"Sofia," she says. "I can't go...because..."

She looks down as if hesitant to continue the sentence.

"Because?" I prompt, dreading what she has to reveal.

She shuts her eyes, sighing as she reveals, "Because I'm pregnant."

I stagger at the news, hitting the pillar behind me where a collage of frames of her friends and favorite celebrities are attached. My throat feels dry as I look from her face to her belly. I cannot comprehend a baby being there. She still looks the same. If she is pregnant with the Don's child, shouldn't she be more thrilled to be part of the deal?

"What? How...why?" I falter for words. "Who's the father?"

"It was a one-night stand and you can see why I can't carry out the deal anymore. If Dad finds out, he will have my head...or worse..."