LOVE AND LIES: THE BILLIONAIRE'S WIFE'S RETURN

Sienna’s POV

For a moment, I was lost in the glamor of the event I was covering with my team. It was a business gala where high profile business people and media elites were in attendance. And that was until the head of my team, Fiona, snapped, pulling me back into the moment.

"Sienna, could you try not to space out?" 

“Sorry.” Without looking up at her, I muttered more to myself than to her. 

I returned my focus to the notepad in front of me and scanned the room, ignoring the whispers of my teammates behind me. I didn’t have to hear what they were saying to know it was about me.

Apparently, my new colleague had also learned of the scandal that prompted me to be transferred from my former branch to the New York Branch, and they all believed the story, viewing me as the woman who had slept my way up. A scandal that was perfectly orchestrated by own my best friend.

No one cared to hear my own side of the story. And I didn’t care to explain myself to anyone.

Feeling my throat perching dry, I made my way toward the bar to get myself a drink. Once I had gotten a glass of mocktail, I turned around to return to my team but my shoulder suddenly collided with someone’s arm and the glass tipped too quickly from my grip. The drink splashes forward, spilling over the dress of a woman in a stunning burgundy red dress that screamed money.

Oh. Shit.

“Oh my God.” I said with a startled gasp, visibly shaky now. How could I have been so clumsy? “I’m so sorry. I didn’t see you…”

I couldn’t even look her in the face and just stared wide eyed at the damage I had caused to her dress. I did a quick mental calculation at the same time. It would literally take months of my salary for me to replace her dress.

“Jezz! Watch where you’re going! Do you even know how much these cost?!”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t meant to…” I stopped mid-apology as the familiarity of her sharp, angry voice hit me, causing me to lift my gaze and finally look at her in the face.

My stomach dropped as her perfectly sculpted face which looked exactly like mine greeted me. 

“Sabrina?”

She froze too, her eyes widening as she recognized it was me. For a second, we just stared at each other and the noise of the room felt like it had faded into a dull hum.

Sabrina. My twin sister whom I hadn’t seen for almost ten years now. The first person who had abandoned me, disappointed me and broke my heart.

"Sienna?" Sabrina’s eyes darted around the room like she didn’t want anyone to notice us together. As if she was ashamed of being seen together with me. "What are you doing here?"

I swallowed the lump in my throat and straightened my spine. 

"Working.” I said firmly, even though my voice wavered slightly. "I’m covering this event with my team."

“Oh. I see.” Her perfectly manicured fingers tightened around the stem of her champagne flute as her eyes flicked over me, taking in my simple black dress and neat bun, like I was made of cheap stuff.  “Seems that life has been good to you, Sienna."

Her condescension hit like a slap, but I didn’t flinch. I replied to her sarcastically. 

"And I see life’s been even better to you. A guest in the Montgomery’s business gala. How reputable.”

The corners of Sabrina’s lips lifted in a smirk and before she could reply, a deep, oddly familiar voice cut through the tension.

"Who are you talking to, honey?” 

I froze.

“Sweetheart.” Sabrina cooed and immediately slipped behind me to hug the owner of the voice. “Remember my twin sister I told you about? Sienna? That’s her.”

My heart thumped loudly in my chest and my breath caught in my throat as I turned slowly to see who it was. And just like I had suspected, the voice belonged to him.

Roman. My ex husband who had disappeared from my life on the same day I gave birth to our daughter eight years ago. He looked the same, if not better. Broad-shouldered, sharp-jawed, and dressed in an American tuxedo that fit him like a second skin.  

"Roman?” I stared wide eyed at him in pure disbelief, blinking a few times and hoping that this was a dream. But it wasn’t. 

This was Roman, flesh and blood. My Roman. 

Roman raised a brow with his face cold and expressionless. And the way he stared at me, it was as though I was a total stranger to him. Like he hadn’t met me before.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Sienna. My wife has told me so much about you.”

The world tilted. ‘A pleasure to finally meet me’? ‘My wife’? 

I looked from him to Sabrina and back to him again, completely lost and confused. What the hell was going on? Why was he referring to my twin sister as his wife and pretending not to recognize me?

“Aren’t you… aren’t you Roman?” I stuttered, furiously blinking back the tears that were beginning to well up in my eyes. Roman raised a brow at me again.

“Yes, I am. Roman Montgomery. Have we met before?”

"Seriously?" I couldn’t stop the tears from spilling down my cheeks this time. My heart squeezed tight in my chest and I felt fresh pain like I felt when he disappeared exactly eight years ago. "You’re going to act like you don’t know me?"

Before Roman could reply me, Sabrina slipped her arm through his and flashed him a honeyed smile.

"She must be mistaking you for someone else. Sienna’s just here to cover the event. Let’s give her some space.” 

I scoffed in disbelief as they turned to leave and before I could think twice, I closed in on them and grabbed Roman’s arm, yanking him back to face me.

His once expressionless face broke into a shocked and confused one before slipping back into his usual one of cold indifference.

"You abandoned me!” My voice was raised and loud now, attracting the guests and everyone else that I didn’t care were watching. "You abandoned your own wife, and now you’re married to her?!”

“You know, all these while, I thought Sabrina was only making up stories when she said that her twin sister was a selfish, greedy bitch who hated her and would do anything to take her life away. But finally meeting you now, I can see that she was never wrong…”

Before he could complete his sentence, I raised my hand and smacked him hard across the face. The sharp sound of the slap echoed through the hall, earning gasps from everyone around us. They began to pull out their phones to record the moment. 

But I didn’t care. I was blinded by rage and needed to take revenge for what Roman had done to me and our daughter. For everything he had put us through, only for him to deny me after all these years. After promising me so much and claiming he loved me more than anything else.

Roman’s fingers felt his cheek as he stared at me wide eyed in shock. Sabrina gasped in shock. 

“How dare you?!” He hissed at me. “I will have you locked up and arrested for this!”

“No. No. No, please.” Sabrina quickly stepped between us, looking up at Roman with tears floating in her eyes. "Please, don’t punish her. She’s my sister. I know she hates me and wants to ruin my happiness, but she’s my only sister and I love her. Please, don’t do this."

More tears rolled down my cheeks. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. She was playing the victim, right here in front of everyone, and they were eating it up. To them, I was the bad guy. The envious, evil twin sister.

Roman glared at me for a couple of seconds as if contemplating whether he should listen to Sabrina or not. My heart broke even more, seeing him glare at me with those eyes that had once stared at me with infinity love.

The next second, Roman signaled to security, his jaw still tight with anger.

“Have her thrown out.”

"No need." I wiped the tears on my face with the back of my hand. "I’ll leave now.”

But as I turned to go, I tripped and fell to my knees over Sabrina’s heel that I could swear she had set on purpose. 

As I forced myself up with a face bathed in tears and a heavy lump in my throat, I did not fail to catch a glimpse of Sabrina’s face as she quickly masked a smirk.

And then, I ran out of the hall, humiliated and in tears while cameras flashed on me. As I ran and wept, the only words that echoed in my head were…

Why did Roman leave me just to get married to my own twin sister who hated me so much? And most importantly, why was he pretending that he had never met me before?