Three

Anika 

The icy rain was no longer just a weather condition; it felt like a thousand needles sewing me into my own coffin as I stood there, paralyzed, watching them. 

The sound of their laughter, so warm and intimate, sliced through the rhythmic drumming of the storm until my own heartbeat sounded like a death knell in my ears. I couldn't move, couldn't breathe, not until Merrick’s head turned and his dark eyes found mine.

The laughter didn't stop—it just transformed into something pretentious. He tapped Karla’s shoulder, and they both stood up with a synchronized grace that told me they had practiced this dance for years while I was away, working myself to the bone.

"Anika?" My sister’s voice was like honey laced with arsenic, that innocent, wide-eyed look she always used to get her way perfectly in place. "You're here? Goodness, how long have you been standing there getting drenched? I got better so quickly, and the doctors said I should rest at home. I hope you don't mind, your husband was just showing me this perfect gazebo you built. It really is a masterpiece of design."

She smiled, a tiny, triumphant curve of her lips that made me feel like the world’s biggest fool. In one breath, she had dismissed the three years of agony I’d spent thinking she was on her deathbed. The transfusions, the hospital stays, the frantic late-night calls—it was all being treated like a dream I had imagined.

"How long?" My voice was a ragged, hollow thing, barely audible over the wind.

"What?" Karla asked, tilting her head with feigned confusion.

"Don't give me that! Don't you dare!" I screamed, the strength finally returning to my limbs in a surge of pure, unadulterated rage. "How long have you been well? How long have you been sleeping with my husband on my bed!"

"Well, look who couldn't even be patient enough for tomorrow," my mother-in-law’s voice drifted from behind me. I turned to see Madison approaching under a massive black umbrella, her face etched with a smug satisfaction that made my skin crawl. 

"And with the way you're screaming, Anika, you're going to scare the little angel growing up in her stomach. Do keep your voice down; we have a delicate situation here."

I stumbled back, the ground beneath my feet feeling like it had turned to liquid mud. My sister was pregnant?

I looked back at Karla.

“Pregnant…?” I whispered.

"Yes, pregnant.” Madison mocked. “In the space of three years, she has given this family two children," Madison continued, her eyes cold and piercing. 

"Something you haven't been able to achieve in all your time here. You were always just a placeholder, dear. A very useful, very gullible placeholder."

"Mother," Merrick said, speaking for the first time. His voice was like a gavel striking a block, ending any hope I had of a misunderstanding. He stepped forward, shielding Karla from the rain and from my sight. "Let me handle this."

I raised my head, my heart breaking into a thousand jagged shards. Was the entire fabric of my life just a stage play?

A low laugh escaped my lips. Wow!

“Was it all a lie?” I asked, my voice breaking despite myself. “The accident… the hospital… everything?”

Karla laughed softly.

“You’re still trying to make sense of it?” she said, rubbing her stomach. “Come out of the rain first. You look pathetic standing there. Merrick and I have absolutely no interest in helping you out of your fall this time. You’ve served your purpose."

I looked at her hand, and there it was—a diamond ring, massive and resting on her finger. The nurses’ whispers and the doctor’s observations about a fiancée wasn't a mistake. It was the truth I had been too blind to see.

 For three years, I had been the bank, the blood supply, and the shield, while they built a life behind my back.

"Why?" I gasped, the word tasting like copper in my mouth. "Why did you do this to me?"

Karla followed my gaze and smiled.

“Merrick and I were together long before you,” she said calmly. “You just came at the right time.”

My fingers curled into fists. “What do you mean?”

She tilted her head slightly. “I know you loved him. Everyone knew. So when my accident happened, we let you take my place.”

My breath hitched. “Let me…?”

“I was pregnant back then,” she continued, her voice steady. “And after I gave birth, my son had a rare blood disease and needed constant blood. Your blood.”

My ears rang.

“So we needed you close,” she added simply. “Very close.”

The rain hit harder against my skin, but I couldn’t feel it anymore.

“We also needed the company,” she said. “Grandfather left it to you, and you were too careful with it. The only way to get it was through marriage.”

My blood boiled, the heat of my fury the only thing keeping me from collapsing. I had been a pawn, a biological resource, and a financial asset to be liquidated. I looked at Merrick, seeing the way he held her, the genuine affection in his eyes that he had never, not once, shown to me.

“You willingly signed everything over,” he added. “That part was easier than expected.”

My head snapped up. “I didn’t sign anything over to you. We merged the company!” I yelled, my voice cracking.

Merrick laughed, a dark, condescending sound. "You've always been so stupidly trusting, Anika. How could you not read through the documents on the day of the merger? I was actually scared for a moment because I thought you were wise enough to hire your own counsel. But you just signed wherever I pointed."

My eyes widened in horror. "What are you talking about?"

"You gave the company to me as a gift, Anika. It’s right there in the documents, though I suppose you never bothered to check your copies." He sighed, pulling out his phone and dialing a number. "James, bring the files from my study to the gazebo. Now."

The call ended, and he looked back at me.

"You fraudsters!" I screamed, moving toward them, but the rain seemed to push me back. "I could sue you! I’ll take you to court for everything! You stole my life, you stole my blood—"

"You consented to all of it, remember?" A new voice joined the choir of my destruction. I turned to see the woman I called Mother walking out from the house. 

She wasn't even wearing a coat, just watching me with a look of utter loathing. "You signed the consent forms for the 'experimental' treatments. You signed the gift deeds. It was nobody’s fault but your own."

I looked at her, the woman who had raised me. "How could you do this to me? I'm your daughter!"

She laughed, a jagged sound that stripped away my last defense. "Don't call yourself that. You were never a daughter of mine.”

The words hit harder than anything else.

“What…?”

“ Your father got a common maid pregnant months before we married, and I was forced to cater to his mistake for twenty-five years. We couldn't watch my actual grandson die for the sake of a maid's brat. You had no other use anyway."

The world turned gray. I wasn't even hers. My father’s secret, my mother’s hatred—it all made sense now. 

The countless slaps, the excessive coldness, the way I was always pushed to give more while Karla was allowed to take everything.

James appeared then, his head bowed as he handed a leather folder to Merrick. Merrick flipped through it and threw a handful of papers at me. 

They fluttered through the air, getting soaked before they even hit the mud at my feet. I knelt, my hands shaking as I picked up the wet sheets. 

My eyes became blurry instantly. There was my signature, clear as day, on a document transferring my shares to Karla. It wasn't even to Merrick. There were the consent forms for "Melvin Sterling," the son I never knew existed, the boy who lived on my blood for three years.

"Now you see you have no case to win," Madison said, her voice dripping with triumph.

I wanted to scream until my lungs burst, but my throat was tight with a grief so heavy I could barely swallow. 

  “You all. You all will pay for this. I'll fight you with all I have. I want a divorce this minute!” 

The group burst into laughter as if I had told a hilarious joke.

"Oh, darling sister," Karla giggled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "You're already divorced. How else do you think my marriage with Merrick would be possible tomorrow morning?"

I stared at her, the rain blurring my vision. "What?"

"If you aren't so incredibly dumb, check the last file in your hand. It’s a copy of the final decree. Before you left for New Orleans, I told you I had something vital to tell you, remember? You were in such a rush to hear my secret that you signed the contract approval I put in front of you without looking. It was an uncontested divorce. And that confession of embezzlement? The one the auditors asked you about and you said yes to just to get them out of your office? That’s all on record too."

I remembered that day. I had been so stressed, so desperate to please my mother, so tired from work. She had walked in, telling me she had news about Karla’s health, and handed me a stack of papers to sign so we could go to the hospital. I had signed them all. I had said yes to the auditors' questions about fund transfers because Merrick had told me those transfers were for Karla’s medicine.

I had confessed to crimes I didn't commit to save a sister who was sleeping with my husband.

Oh my God. How could I have been so stupid? How…

"You bastards," I whispered, the tears finally coming, hot and bitter against the cold rain.

"Says the one who should be thankful we decided not to pursue a criminal case," Merrick replied, cleaning his hands with a handkerchief as if touching the air around me had made him dirty. "We have the Vence name to think of, and we can't let a fraudulent maid's daughter soil our reputation further. You're lucky we're just letting you walk away."

"What have I ever done to you? You bitch!" I lost all control, lunging toward Karla, wanting to tear that smug smile off her face. But Merrick was faster. He stepped into my path and pushed me back with a single, forceful hand. I fell into the mud, the cold water soaking into my skin, my dress ruined, my pride non-existent.

"Well, I think that will be all," Merrick said, turning away. "Mother, did you say dinner was ready?"

Madison nodded, a warm smile spreading across her face. "Yes, dear. Everything is prepared."

"Alright then." Merrick pulled out his phone and dialed a number, his voice going cold and professional. "Security? There's an intruder on the south lawn near the gazebo. Throw her out and make sure she never returns to this property. Use whatever force is necessary."