PROLOGUE


    BLAIRE


    I was sipping my hot Americano as I stared at the pictures in my hand. Catherine, my stepsister, was


    sitting across the table. I had an urge to rip off that wicked smile from her face, but I stopped myself. I


    wouldn’t let my hand be dirty with her filthy blood. The bitter taste of my coffee was nothingpared


    to the bitterness I am feeling right now towards my husband and my stepsister.


    No matter how hard I tried toe up with an exnation for these scandalous pictures in my hand, I


    couldn’t find any. My eyesnded on the pictures once again, and my heart breaks every minute. It was


    a picture of her wrapped around my husband’s arm while they were on top of our bed. The same bed


    that we shared for thest three years.


    All text ? N?velD(r)a''ma.Org.


    “I also brought the divorce papers so you could sign them immediately,” Catherine said before pushing


    the divorce papers towards me.


    My eyes shifted to the paper on top of the table. I was deliberating what decision I should make. Should


    I sign it right away and free myself from this nightmare? Or should I stay in this marriage and let the


    three of us suffer?


    I understand that it was I who came into the picture. They were once lovers and promised to each


    other. But when my stepsister chose to run away from their engagement, my family decided to put me


    in as her recement. This marriage was nothing but a political alliance to strengthen the ties between


    the twopanies. It doesn’t matter which daughter they are going to send away for marriage.


    “Oh, one more thing. I think this will make you decide better,” she said before bringing another piece of


    paper from her bag.


    My world shattered when my eyesnded on the ultrasound result that she handed me.


    “Yes, I’m pregnant, sister. And Sebastian is the father,” she said, answering my unspoken question.


    “So, quit being a bitch and let us have our happy ending. You wouldn’t want your niece or nephew to


    grow up as bastards, would you? Now, sign the divorce paper and get out of our lives.”


    For the past three years, I’ve been nothing but a good and devoting wife to Sebastian. I tried my best to


    fill the void just to make this arrangement work. But in the end, he still chooses to cheat on me. After all


    that she did to him, he still chooses him. And despite my efforts, he had strayed, seeking sce in


    another woman’s arms. Catherine, the shadow from his past, had returned, and he weed her back


    with open arms.


    I mustered every ounce of inner strength, my voice firm as I asserted, “This matter is between me and


    my husband. I’ll speak with him before making any decisions.” Perhaps it was the tiniest flicker of hope


    thatpelled those words, a desperate wish that everything I had painstakingly built over the past


    three years had etched a ce for me in Sebasti.


    She smirked. “Fine. You want to see it with your own eyes? Here’s my key card. Room 209. Come see


    for yourself,” she said before leaving the key card on the table.


    I could hear the shrieking sound of the chair against the floor as she stood up from the table. My eyes


    remained fixed on the things above the table. I’m trying to hold myself up as I process everything.


    an’s heart.


    She, with her insufferable smirk, responded, “Fine. You want to see the truth with your own eyes.


    Here’s my key card. Room 209. Come and discover reality for yourself,” dropping the key card on the


    table with a soft clink.


    The scraping of her chair against the floor as she rose echoed in my ears, but my gaze remained


    locked on the objects resting on the table. I struggled to hold myself together, my world unraveling as I


    grappled with the painful truth thaty before me.


    *


    *


    *


    *


    My heart raced with each step as I exited the elevator. A heavy lump lodged firmly in my throat,


    refusing to dislodge. Standing before Room 209, the door that held the enigmatic secrets of my


    crumbling world, I hesitated. The number 209 had be etched into my consciousness, a haunting


    reminder of my unspoken fears. But today, I couldn’t dy any longer.


    With trembling hands, I finally found the courage to raise my knuckles and rap them softly against the


    door. The sound echoed in the corridor, the seconds stretching like an eternity.


    Just as my heart thundered with anticipation, the elevator chimed, a sound that sent a jolt of panic


    coursing through me. Without a second thought, I fled, darting into one of the shadowy nooks that lined


    the corridor. My heart raced as I dared to peek out from behind the wall, my breath catching in my


    throat.


    Then the world as I knew it unraveled before me. Sebastian, his handsome face etched with a mixture


    of anxiety and anticipation, emerged from the elevator clutching a bouquet of flowers. The sight of him


    holding those blossoms meant to win another’s heart left me shattered and vulnerable, my own heart


    aching with the weight of betrayal.


    The door opened before he could even knock. Catherine’s arms quickly wrapped around his nape as


    she pulled him inside the hotel room.


    I think that’s more than enough reason for me to leave this misery. I went straight home to pack my


    things.


    “Mrs. Foster, what would you like us to prepare for dinner?” Celia, our housekeeper, asked me as I


    stepped inside the house.


    “Go, ask the newdy of the house, Celia,” I vaguely answered before heading straight to our room.


    As I moved with purpose, carefully selecting a few pairs of jeans and shirts, I gathered my essentials


    into a travel bag-a passport, a wallet, and the remnants of a life I had strived to build. Amidst the rush,


    my gaze snagged on a piece of paper peeking from the depths of my bag. With a racing heart, I


    retrieved it and snatched up a pen from my vanity mirror, determination etched across my face.


    There, in that quiet moment, I signed the divorce papers without hesitation, the ink flowing like a


    bittersweet confession. Iid the document on top of the bedside table, a stark deration of my choice


    and a message for Sebastian to confront.


    With my essentials packed and that final act of separationpleted, I set out on a path unknown,


    away from the life that had be a web of betrayal and heartache. The airport beckoned, and


    without a second thought, I secured a ticket to the first destination that caught my eye, a beacon of


    hope on the horizon.


    ******************