Billionaire Husband Chose My Sister, I Chose To Divorce

The scenery blurred past the car window. I swallowed hard against the bitterness rising in my throat.There had been good times once. I'd stood by Adrian through the years when he was framed and went bankrupt.He'd held my hand and given me a beautiful wedding, and I was the only one he saw.Whenever my mother or I was wronged, he'd been angrier than we were -- stubborn enough to chase down whoever was responsible and demand they make it right. Back then, he was just a small-time businessman, a far cry from who he was now.He'd said: "Lily, I'll take care of you and Mom for the rest of my life."Now I sat in the back seat, watching Rose ride shotgun, laughing without a care in the world.She caught me looking and turned around. "Lily, don't be mad at me. I'm doing this for your own good. It's not like you can use it anymore. At least with my name on it, people actually see it. Without me, it'd just sit in a drawer."I bit my lip until it bled and said nothing. Today was the day my moth

He set me down on the hospital bed and held me with such care, as if I were something precious he was cradling in the palm of his hand.A knock at the door. I caught a flash of triumph on Rose's face before it vanished.Adrian stood quickly. "Get some rest. You need it."I said nothing, just nodded -- then quietly slipped out behind him."Adrian, Mom's already been taken to the crematorium.""How much longer do we keep this from Lily?""She's emotionally unstable. The longer we can put it off, the better."My body slid down the wall before I could stop it. I pressed both hands over my mouth to keep from making a sound.Their voices kept drifting through."I only wanted to visit Mom. I didn't mean to lose my balance. I never meant to push her off the bed. I feel so terrible about it.""Rose, it's not your fault. Nobody could have predicted her head would hit the wall like that. It was an accident.""You've always been so kind to me. That year I ran out of money abroad, you wired me $500

It had been a full month, and Lily hadn't called. Not once.Adrian finally broke. The unease that had been gnawing at him for weeks swelled into something he could no longer ignore -- a hollowness, as if something vital had been ripped away. He crushed out his cigarette and decided to go home.Rose sidled up to him, clinging to his arm. "It's Valentine's Day. I was hoping we could spend it together."But he brushed her hand away without a second thought. All he wanted was to get home and find out what Lily was doing, why she'd gone so quiet.She'd never gone this long without reaching out. Maybe he'd really pushed her too far this time.Maybe he should apologize. Tell her that he'd been thinking about her every single day.Adrian pressed the accelerator harder. He wanted to see her. Hear her voice.The truth was, he did love her -- had loved her all along. What he felt for her was no less than what he'd felt for Rose. If he told her that, she'd be overjoyed. He was sure of it.Years of

It didn't take long for Rose's plagiarism to explode across the art world like a bomb.And my name rose with it.Everyone learned the truth: the award-winning work that had launched Rose Thornton's career had been mine all along -- and I would never paint again.At the same time, the photo of me being forced to publicly apologize resurfaced and spread like wildfire online. Rose became a pariah, universally condemned. She was finished.The paintings I'd sold abroad were now fetching astronomical prices, and collectors lined up to make offers on the pieces still in my possession.I turned them all down.I'd never painted for money or fame. I'd picked up a brush because I wanted to capture the beauty of the world and the people in it -- nothing more.Now all I wanted was to keep my remaining work safe, so that someday, when I was old, I could look at them and remember what happiness felt like.Then the bullying came to light.Rose had kept a phone hidden away, and on it were recordings of

The day we signed the divorce papers, the weather was gorgeous. Elliot had insisted on coming with me, and I'd given up trying to talk him out of it.Walking out of the County Clerk's Office, I felt lighter than I had in years. Every last bit of misery was finally behind me. The sun was blazing overhead, and I squinted against the glare.Adrian reached up and shielded my eyes with his hand -- the same instinctive gesture from those sweltering summers when we were young, when he used to block the sun for me without being asked.Something stirred in my chest. I glanced at him. He'd cleaned himself up, dressed in the white button-down and dark trousers I'd always liked. That face was still handsome, but the life had gone out of it.When he noticed me looking, he fidgeted with his collar, then offered me a small, uncertain smile -- the kind meant to please.And just like that, something inside me unclenched."Adrian, you did help me once.""That summer when Rose first moved in -- you took