MARRIED BY MISTAKE

It never occurred to Aria Hale that her sister's wedding day would end with her own marriage license. Pushing through the glass doors of the New York City Marriage Bureau, she held the manila envelope to her chest. Immediately, chaos erupted: clerks yelling names, couples yelling over paperwork, and phones ringing nonstop. A bride in a discolored white gown was yelling at her groom about his mother while a baby cried close to the fountain.

Aria wanted to disappear-one job. Deliver the documents. Leave. Invisible, like always. "Next!" a clerk barked, waving impatiently from behind the scratched plexiglass. Aria stepped forward. "Hi, I'm here to-" "Name?" "I'm not-" "NAME?" "Aria Hale. I'm just delivering-"Ariana Hale!" Her stomach dropped.

"No, that's my sister. I'm Aria, not-" "You responded to the name. Good enough." The clerk shoved a clipboard through the slot. "Fill this out. Your groom's already twenty minutes late. If he doesn't show in ten, you forfeit your slot."

"But I'm not getting married!" Aria's voice cracked. The clerk finally glanced up, expression neutral. "Everyone's nervous, honey. Just breathe and sign when he arrives." Aria checked her phone. Nothing. No texts. No calls. Just a curt message from her sister: ARIANA: Emergency. Can't make it. Leave the papers. Thanks! No apology. No explanation. Just an order.

She typed and erased responses she would never send while her fingers lingered over the screen. After twenty-four years of being forgotten, invisible, and cleaning up other people's messes, she was rewarded with a room full of strangers who couldn't even pronounce her name correctly. The doors burst open.

Every head turned. A man walked in like a storm given human form. Broad shoulders, dark hair, grey eyes, sharp enough to pierce steel. Leon Mercer. Billionaire. CEO. The man her sister was supposed to marry.

He stopped in front of her. "You're late." Aria opened her mouth. Closed it. Wrong person. Wrong sister. Wrong everything. "Save it. Let's get this over with." He grabbed her elbow. Warm. Firm. Unyielding. Trapped. "Wait, you don't-" "Ariana Hale and Leon Mercer!" The clerk slid the papers across. "Sign now." Her hand shook. She looked down at the certificate. Aria Hale. Not Ariana. Not her sister. Her own name.

She froze. Her heart pounded in her chest. "Sir, I think-" "Think later. Sign now."

His Patek Philippe gleamed in the overhead light as he checked his watch. Aria's mind raced. Run? Scream? Call her parents? But who would believe her? Who would take her side when she had just signed the papers herself? Her hand moved on its own. Aria Hale.

The pen scratched across the page. The clerk stamped it with a heavy thump. "Congratulations. You're married." Time slowed. Every sound dulled. Leon's grey eyes lifted to hers. Cold. Furious. Ice. "You're not Ariana." "I tried to tell you-" "You signed." He held up the certificate. "Aria Hale."

With a low voice that cut like a knife through the chaos, he said, "You trapped me.". "You will