After her father's death, Celeste Amara Wicaksana (21) is faced with a bitter reality: her father's will states that she must marry her adoptive older brother, Alaric Ezra Mahendra (28), if she wants to claim her inheritance. If she refuses, all family assets will go to someone else. Having been raised in luxury, Celeste can't imagine losing everything. But Alaric is a cold and calculating man. They are not related by blood, yet their relationship has always been filled with tension and resentment. This marriage is a war without bloodshed. Celeste tries to find a loophole to get her inheritance without surrendering herself to Alaric, while Alaric has his own plans that trap Celeste deeper than she ever expected. Behind this forced marriage lies a dark secret that threatens not only the inheritance but also their very lives.
Chapter 1 The Inheritance
Celeste Amara Wicaksana stood before the large mahogany desk, her fingers trembling as she glanced at the will left by her late father. The document seemed to burn into her eyes, its weight pressing down on her chest as if the very air in the room had thickened with its contents. Her mind struggled to grasp the words, the meaning behind them, yet they were so clear, so final.
"To my beloved daughter, Celeste, I leave all that I have built. However, this inheritance comes with one condition: you are to marry Alaric Ezra Mahendra, my adopted son, within six months of my passing. Should you refuse, you will forfeit all claims to my estate."
The words echoed in her mind, and for a moment, she couldn't breathe. This was a cruel game her father had set in motion, one that left her with no choice but to obey or lose everything she had ever known. She had grown up surrounded by wealth, privilege, and luxury, and the thought of life without it was incomprehensible. To lose the legacy of her father-the house, the businesses, the status-was a fate she couldn't face.
But the price was steep. Marrying Alaric, her cold and calculating adoptive brother, felt like a betrayal. She could still remember the tension that had always simmered between them, the way his icy gaze made her feel like an outsider in her own home. They had never gotten along, their interactions laced with unspoken animosity and resentment. He was everything she despised-stoic, unemotional, and methodical in his every move.
The mere thought of being bound to him in marriage was revolting. She had never loved him, and she couldn't fathom how she could ever share a life with someone who seemed to care for nothing but his own ambition. Yet, her father's will had made it clear-her personal desires meant nothing in the face of his demands.
Her heart sank as she thought of the consequences. To defy the will would mean the end of her life as she knew it. No more lavish shopping trips in Paris, no more grand parties, no more charity galas where she was the center of attention. She would be nothing. Forced into a life of obscurity, stripped of the comfort and security that had been her birthright.
Celeste slammed the will down onto the desk, her hands shaking in frustration. The walls of her father's mansion, once a symbol of her power and privilege, now felt like a prison, its every corner whispering of the chains that bound her.
As she paced the room, her mind raced for a solution, a way out. There had to be something. Some loophole. A clause in the will she hadn't noticed. But the more she thought, the more she realized there was no escape. It was either Alaric or nothing.
The sound of footsteps approaching broke her from her thoughts. Her heart raced. She didn't have to turn around to know who it was. Alaric.
He entered the room with his usual calm, his tall frame casting a shadow over the room. His dark eyes were unreadable, his expression impassive as always. But there was something in the air between them now, a new tension that neither could deny.
"You've read the will, I take it?" Alaric's voice was low, controlled, and utterly indifferent, as if they were discussing the weather instead of the terms of her forced marriage.
Celeste's chest tightened. She didn't want to show him the weakness she felt, but it was hard to mask the tremor in her voice. "Yes, I have. And I don't need a reminder of what it says."
Alaric's gaze softened, but only slightly. He knew her well enough to understand the struggle in her eyes, the rebellion that burned behind the forced composure. "I'm not here to remind you, Celeste. You already know the stakes. I'm just here to offer you a choice: accept it, or face the consequences. Either way, you'll have to live with it."
His words cut through her like a knife. There was no empathy, no understanding-just the cold truth of the situation. He was no better than the will, a figurehead of the family's power, a man with his own ambitions.
Celeste turned her gaze toward the window, her eyes scanning the horizon. The city below seemed so far away, a world she might never be part of again if she chose to fight against this.
Alaric stepped closer, his presence unnervingly strong, filling the room like a storm on the horizon. "I don't want this marriage either," he said, his voice quieter now. "But we don't have a choice. We both know that."
She clenched her fists, the anger and frustration rising within her. The idea of surrendering to him, of being forced into a life that wasn't hers to live, made her feel like she was drowning. "I never asked for this."
"No one did," Alaric responded softly, though his words lacked any trace of warmth. "But now we both have to deal with it."
Silence hung in the air between them, thick and suffocating. Celeste turned to face him, her eyes burning with defiance. "You think I'll just accept this?"
Alaric's lips twitched, the smallest hint of a smirk playing at the corner of his mouth. "What other choice do you have?"
As he left the room, his footsteps echoing through the halls, Celeste knew the game was on. She would find a way out-she had to. But for now, she was trapped. And the walls of the mansion seemed to close in on her, each step forward feeling more like a step toward her own undoing.
The inheritance was her birthright, but this marriage... it was a prison she couldn't escape.
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