Forced to Marry; Reborn, Exposed Sister's Succubus System

On my twentieth birthday, my parents confessed they'd gone bankrupt and owed millions to loan sharks.

Then they knelt in front of my sister and me and laid out a bet.

You're both of marrying age now. Whoever gets engaged first won't have to marry Mr. Finch to clear the debt.

I'd been the pretty one since childhood, and even I hesitated. But my plain-looking sister agreed without a blink.

Seeing me falter, my parents coaxed and cajoled.

"You're the beautiful one, so this bet already tips in your favor. Your sister isn't even arguing. What are you hesitating for?"

My sister joined in, spitting the word at me. Cold-blooded.

"I don't have an ungrateful little snake for a sister!"

In my last life, that was exactly how they cornered me. I gave in to the bet.

But I knew Mr. Finch was a pervert past eighty, so I scrambled to get my boyfriend to come propose.

Except the boyfriend I'd loved for three years took one look at my sister and swore he'd marry no one else.

They forced me into old Mr. Finch's bed, where I was abused until I died.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the moment my parents laid out their little multiple-choice question.

"Vicky, if you have any decency left, you'll save your mom and dad!"

"You've grown up prettier than your sister since you were small. If anyone should be scared, it's her, and she didn't even hesitate!"

"If I'd known I carried a viper like you for ten months, I never would've had you!"

My parents fired at me from both sides, back and forth, without stopping.

As if refusing the bet made me lower than a dog.

My sister stood off to the side, sniveling.

"I'm willing to marry Mr. Finch, to repay Mom and Dad for raising us."

"But you know Mom and Dad have always cared about fairness. That's the only reason they set up this bet."

Right. Mom and Dad had always cared about keeping things even.

From the first moment they saw me, they decided I'd come out prettier than my sister.

And to be fair, they had to make it up to their plainer daughter, over and over.

"Vicky's a natural beauty. She doesn't need to fuss over her looks."

"Evie's ordinary. We can't let her feel inferior. She has to have the best."

From the day I was born, everything I ate and wore and used was whatever my sister didn't want, had outgrown, or looked down on.

In my last life, I believed in their fairness.

That's how I ended up abused to death on my wedding night.

"I don't agree!"

Remembering how that life ended, I was absolutely firm.

"Mr. Finch is a pervert! He's already gone through eight wives"

"Crack!"

My father's eyes bulged and he slapped me across the face.

"Don't be so ungrateful!"

"That man's over eighty. What could he possibly do to you?"

"Marry him, wait a few years for him to die, and you'll have money. Then you can do whatever you want."

"Is marrying Mr. Finch to pay off the debt really the only way?"

The pain made me suck in a sharp breath. I clutched my cheek and screamed.

"We can go to the police, we can take it to court! Loan sharking is illegal!"

"Shut up!" my father roared.

"Crack!"

Another slap landed on my face.

"You wretched girl, you want to get us killed!" My mother rushed over and pinched me hard.

"If we get beaten to death, what happens to your sister?"

"This is decided, and that's final!"

My father's voice left no room for argument.

I was about to fire back when the doorbell rang.

"Enough! We don't air family shame in front of outsiders."

Hearing someone at the door, my mother shot my sister a look.

My sister, black eyeliner running down her face with her tears, went back to her room.

The door opened.

"Sir, ma'am."

"Vicky!"

The person at the door was my boyfriend, Joel Chavez.

"What are you doing here?"

Last life, to lock in a fianc before my sister could, I'd taken the bet and called him at once to come and propose.

He was an upperclassman I'd met on my first day of college.

Three years together, and he'd found ninety-nine different ways to confess to me, until everyone around us was envious.

"Vicky, when you turn twenty, we'll get our marriage license."

"I want to take care of you for the rest of my life!"

I thought that bet was mine to win.

But the boyfriend who'd loved me for three years took my call, rushed straight over to propose,

and lost himself the instant he laid eyes on my sister, Evie.

So this time, I never called him at all.

"Your sister was the one who called me." He smiled and stroked my head.

"I've never met her, but she told me over the phone it was your birthday today, Vicky, and asked me to come celebrate with you."

"I knew today was your twentieth birthday! I've finally waited long enough for this day."

"Vicky, will you"

"You must be Vicky's boyfriend!" My sister, freshly made up again, came sweeping out.

She cut right through his heartfelt proposal.

"So this is youryour sister!"

Joel's eyes lit up with delight, completely forgetting he'd been in the middle of proposing to me a second ago.

"I've never seen a girl so lovely."

"Will you" I clapped my hand over his mouth and dragged him out the door!

In my last life, this was exactly how he turned on me, dropping to his knees in front of everyone to confess.

Begging my sister to marry him.

And when my parents heard it, they weren't the least bit surprised. They were beaming.

"Since Evie's already got someone to marry, then Vicky can marry Mr. Finch!"

"What do you think you're doing!" Joel tried to wrench free of me, hard.

Lucky for me I'd minored in taekwondo in college. Handling one soft, breakable man was nothing.

I let go of him in disgust and rounded on him.

"I'm the one asking what you think you're doing."

"I never knew you could be this rough! Nothing like your sister!"

"She's so gentle, so lovely. Love at first sight." The moment he mentioned my sister his voice went syrupy.

He said it like it came from the bottom of his heart.

"Whoever marries her is a blessed man eight lifetimes over."

Looking at this man who'd changed his heart out of nowhere, something in me tore open and knotted back up.

I couldn't make sense of it.

Had he secretly wanted my sister all along, and just used this chance to let it out?

I didn't have time to keep asking myself why.

"I'm warning you!"

"We've been together three years. Every friend you have, everyone you work with, I know all of them."

"If you want to end up ruined, then go ahead, go propose to your girlfriend's sister right now."

"You're impossible!" Joel cursed under his breath and walked off.

Three years together couldn't stand up to love at first sight.

Fine, good riddance. I'd hurry up and find someone else to marry, and get far away from unreliable family and unreliable men.

The second the thought landed, I logged into a well-known matchmaking app.

Posted my profile.

"Victoria Swanson, 20, currently in college at [redacted] University."

"Willing to marry with nothing. No bride price, no house, no car."

"Only requirement: no bad habits, decent values."

The moment I submitted it, the agent called.

Soon I got to the meeting spot the agent had set up.

The entrance of a housing complex still under construction, dust everywhere.

A man in a hard hat came hurrying over.

The agent said he was 23, worked in construction.

He had an honest, simple face.

"You're Ms. Victoria Swanson, the one Cheryl mentioned?"

"You've got so much going for you, do you really want to be with someone like me?"

"I'm just a bricklayer."

He gripped the hammer in his hand awkwardly, covered in mud.

"I don't mind. I only have one condition."

"What condition?" The man tensed up.

"We get married right away."

"That, that's no problem at all!" He was overjoyed.

He scrubbed his hand hard on the hem of his shirt, over and over, before reaching out to take mine.

"I'll go tell the foreman right now, and we'll go get our marriage license!"

"Little sister, this is the new guy you found?"

Hearing my sister's voice, I went rigid.

I turned and saw her not far off, wearing a face mask, waving a hand in front of her in disgust to bat away the dust.

"Yes! This is my fianc, we just settled it!" I grabbed the man's hand and announced it loudly.

"How did you even find your way here?" Her sudden appearance put me on edge.

"Can't I be worried about your safety?"

"Aunt Rhoda saw your matchmaking post online and got so worked up she called Mom, scared you were being conned!"

"Mom had to ask the app agent just to find out you'd hidden yourself away out here to meet someone."

"Little sister, you're really dead set on finding someone to marry before I do!"

She kept talking as she walked right up to the two of us.

"I'm not competing with you. What happened with your boyfriend was a complete accident."

But the very next second, the hand I was holding tore itself free.

"Is, is this Ms. Victoria Swanson's sister?"

"Miss, would you marry me with nothing?"

"What are you saying?" The turn caught me completely off guard.

"I'm saying..."

The man shoved me aside and dropped to his knees in front of my sister, devout as a worshipper.

"If you'll have me, we can go get our marriage license right now!"

My mind went blank with a roar.

If Joel had fallen for Evelyn at first sight, then what was this man's excuse?

She hadn't even taken off her face mask.

"Dad, Mom, you heard that, right!" Evelyn suddenly held up her phone.

"We heard it!" My father's voice came through the line.

"Vicky, you lost again. Get home and get ready to marry. Stop making trouble!"

My mother cut in, fighting for her turn to speak.

"You wretched girl, what's so wrong with Mr. Finch? So he's a little older."

"An older man knows how to treasure you!"

"Way better than these broke nobodies you keep finding out there!"

"Besides, he's over eighty. He won't be that strong in that department, so it won't be like it was with his last wives!"

My sister put on her wronged face.

"Mom, Dad, I'm willing to marry Mr. Finch."

"But my little sister insisted on going out to find a man. I only came because I was worried about her."

"How was I supposed to know her date would fall for me instead?"

Right. She hadn't done a single thing.

And these men, one after another, were dead set on marrying her.

"Come home with me, sis. A bet's a bet, and you lost!"

She grabbed my arm. I flung her off.

She stumbled, nearly went down, and the man lunged to catch her.

I flagged down a passing cab and jumped in.

As the door shut, I could still hear the man on the curb, aching with concern.

"Are you hurt anywhere?"

"Your sister is so rough! She's not worth a fraction of you."

I never agreed to any bet. Why should I honor one I never made?

If I couldn't find a reliable man to marry, fine. I'd stop looking.

The driver took me all the way to the next city over.

I booked a hotel room and settled in to plan my next move.

That same night, in the dead of it.

Bang! Someone broke through the door.

I opened my eyes.

Dad, Mom, my sister.

And behind them, Joel and the blind-date man.

"You wretched girl, you think hiding out here means you get out of marrying!"

"Vicky, listen to your father. Come home with us! You're getting married tomorrow!"

"I'm not going! How did you even find me!" I grabbed the lamp off the nightstand and held it up to defend myself.

"You lay a hand on me and I'll call the police!"

"Wretched girl! Watch your mouth! We're your parents!"

"When your parents give an order, you obey!"

My father barked out his final command.

My sister gave a signal with her eyes.

Joel and the blind-date man rushed me together and hauled me off.

She laughed softly against my ear.

"Mom and Dad found you by filing a missing-person report."

"See? Every man you'd marry is dead set on me. Give up. However many you find, you'll lose every time."

"You're a runaway daughter with a rebellious streak. No one will believe you."

The five of them tied me up while the hotel staff watched.

"Our daughter isn't right in the head. She likes to run away from home."

"She's trained in taekwondo. We're just afraid she'll hurt someone."

Mom and Dad explained it away to everyone around while they stuffed me into the trunk.

The moment we got home, they locked me in the bathroom.

"Take the rope off. If it leaves marks, Mr. Finch won't be pleased tomorrow."

"No window in the bathroom, so she can't smash the glass and hurt herself."

My sister was all smiles, as if every move was made with my welfare in mind.

But she underestimated me.

The moment they burst into the hotel room, I'd slipped the key card into my pocket.

Opening a lock with a card was something I'd learned back in school, whenever I forgot my dorm key.

I don't know how much time passed before everything fell quiet around me.

I eased the lock open, careful and silent.

I meant to slip out through the storage room window.

Standing at the window, my heart climbed into my throat.

"Evie, this succubus system of yours really does the trick."

It was my mother's voice, kept low.

"Of course. One look at me and any man is done for. All it takes is a single strand of my hair, and he's lost."

My sister's voice was light, airy, and yet it carried a swagger she couldn't hide.

"Once we marry that little brat off to Mr. Finch tomorrow, we'll have the money to pay the lifetime licensing fee for the system."

"And once you land your rich husband, our happy little family of three is right around the corner!"

My father's glee nearly spilled over.

They kept their voices low, but every word bored straight into my ears.

It hit me like a bolt of lightning.

The family I'd lived with every single day had been scheming against me behind my back.

A year ago, my father swapped out the compact I'd bought with money from my part-time job and filled it with expired flour.

For a whole month I went to class with a face full of rashes, mocked at every turn.

My parents said it was to keep things fair between my sister's looks and mine.

And now they wanted to trade my life for my sister's system fee.

Their happy family of three had never included me.

So I wouldn't have them either.

I took the first step of a heart that had already died, and I ran from that house.

The sky was just starting to lighten.

I walked to the end of the next street over, to an abandoned bridge underpass.

A homeless man with a habit of exposing himself had lived under it for years.

Earlier this year, my family passed by here, and he came chasing after me, tearing off his clothes and cackling.

My father said it was all my fault for being so vain, that the madman had chased me and not my sister, and it had wounded her feelings.

The moment we got home, my mother threw out the one jar of nine-ninety-nine face cream I owned.

That New Year, even my face broke out in chilblains.

I took a deep breath and dialed my mother.

"Vicky?" A disbelieving cry came through the phone.

Then three voices erupted in a hysterical uproar.

"She ran? When did she run?"

"Mr. Finch will be here in a few hours!"

"If we can't hand her over, the whole plan falls apart!"

"I'm on Fifth Ward Street. I've found someone to marry!"

I cut them off, my voice cold.

"This time, there's no way he'll want my sister!"

"We're going to get the marriage license right now!"

I hung up. I didn't run.

Instead, I dialed another number.

A few minutes later, all three of them came running, out of breath.

"You little brat, you've already lost twice! What do you mean, someone to marry!"

My mother was screaming from a hundred feet away.

The noise woke the homeless man beneath the underpass.

I raised my hand and pointed at the bridge.

"My fianc won't let you take me."

My sister came sauntering over from a distance, swaying her thick waist, smoothing her long hair.

"I'd love to see just what kind of man makes you trust him this much, little sister!"

The homeless man stood, and the second he saw my sister, no other woman existed for him.

He lunged straight at her.

"Whoa! A pretty lady!"

He knocked her flat and started yanking at his own clothes.

"Ah! Stop it! Stop!"

"Dad! Mom! Help me!"

My sister, terrified, found the strength of ten men.

She shoved the homeless man off and bolted.

But he was already hooked on her, chasing relentlessly.

My parents had never seen anything like it, fumbling their phones out in a panic.

"Don't be scared, Evie! Dad's calling the police right now!"

My sister screamed as she fled, "Don't call the police! Don't!"

I watched the chaos, my tone flat.

"The police are already here!"

Two policewomen rode up to meet them head-on.

In a few quick moves they subdued the homeless man and cuffed him to a lamppost.

My sister was so frightened she curled up off to the side.

The moment my mother saw the man restrained, she rushed over to comfort her.

My father said, excited, "Officers, your timing couldn't have been better!"

"Hurry up and take this pervert away!"

The policewoman's expression stayed calm.

"An officer from the local precinct will come to take him."

"Ms. Evelyn Swanson, we need you to come with us."