Chapter 3

"You got a vasectomy for my sake?

"Then where did the baby in Cheryl's belly come from? Did it just fall out of the sky?" I shot back.

For the first time, Joseph's eyes flickered with unease. "She lost a baby back then. I owed her another one."

I laughed until tears streamed down my face.

"So, you decided to repay that debt with the rest of my life?

"Joseph, I wish I'd never fallen in love with you."

I stopped wasting my breath on him and walked straight into the elevator.

A few seconds later, my phone buzzed with a notification.

Joseph had transferred $20,000 to my account. The transaction note said, ‘Compensation’.

Another message followed immediately.

[Lilian, calm down.]

[Once Cheryl and I have our wedding, things can go back to the way they were between us.]

I stared at the words as my hands and feet grew colder by the second.

So, after lying to me for five years and destroying five years of my life, he still expected me to stay by his side, hidden from the world as his mistress.

...

After leaving the house, I had nowhere else to go, so I headed straight to the hospital to see my sister.

However, the moment I pushed open her hospital room door, I met Yvonne Stewart's red-rimmed eyes. Clutching her blanket, she looked at me timidly.

"Sis, is Joseph going to marry someone else?

"Everyone says you’re the other woman."

My heart clenched so hard that I forgot to breathe for a moment.

I quickly pulled out my phone.

Sure enough, Cheryl had posted something on social media. The photo showed two marriage certificates, their official seals practically screaming the truth I never wanted to believe.

Her caption was just two sentences.

[Finally, I can show the world. Keeping this secret all those years was exhausting.]

The very first comment came from Noelle.

[Finally, the day we've all been waiting for! Some people really need to have some shame and stop chasing someone else's husband.]

My fingers slowly curled into fists.

Before long, my inbox was flooded with messages.

[Lilian, have you not been going around calling yourself Mrs. Harris all this time?]

[So, it turns out you were the one who broke up someone else's marriage?]

[How can you be so shameless?]

I stared at the stream of insults, my fingers trembling as I posted my own update.

[I'm the victim here. I'm not the other woman. The real homewrecker is someone else.]

After I posted it, my social media feed fell eerily silent. I did not receive a single like or comment.

Half an hour later, Yvonne's attending physician came to find me. He looked deeply troubled.

"Ms. Stewart, funding for Yvonne's treatment next month has been cut off.

"And the kidney she has been waiting for has suddenly been given to someone else.

"Have you gotten on the wrong side of someone powerful?"

My head buzzed.

Yvonne could not afford to wait any longer. She had spent eight whole months waiting for that kidney.

The moment the doctor left, I called Joseph. His voice on the other end was ice cold.

"Your social media post upset Cheryl."

My voice shook as I spoke.

"Joseph, Yvonne's life depends on that kidney!

"If you’re angry, take it out on me! Leave her out of this!"

A brief silence followed on the other end.

"Go apologize to Cheryl.

"As long as she’s satisfied, I will make sure Yvonne gets the kidney back."

It felt as though someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over my head.

"What did you just say?

"Joseph, you are using my sister's life to force me to bow to the woman who stole my marriage?"

Before I could finish, he hung up.

I sank to the floor, my entire body freezing.

I had always believed that even if he had lied to me and betrayed me, five years of living together day after day had to mean something. Surely, somewhere beneath all those lies, a little genuine affection remained.

I had been wrong.

He was willing to use my sister's life as a bargaining chip just to make Cheryl feel better.

I braced myself against the wall and struggled to my feet, stumbling toward the exit.

Before getting into my car, I absentmindedly opened my social media feed. Noelle had just posted a new nine-photo carousel.

[Oh my gosh, this is so sweet! I hereby declare these two the real deal!]

The photos were packed with group shots of our entire circle of friends.

Snowcapped mountains, Windermere Lake and endless stretches of grassland.

Joseph and Cheryl were the stars of every single picture.

The final photo showed them kissing beneath the enormous Ferris wheel in Austa City.

The moment I saw it, a sharp pain stabbed through my heart.

I had once told Joseph that I wanted to visit Austa City to see the Ferris wheel. Back then, he promised, "Once things at work settle down, I’ll take you there."

It was not that he had no time. He had simply given all his time, all his romantic gestures, and all the things I had dreamed of to someone else.

I, the fool that I was, had clung to an empty promise he had tossed out without a second thought, waiting for five whole years for it to come true.