Chapter 1

Just a week before our wedding, my fiancee, Jeanette Lester, confessed that she was carrying a child conceived with frozen sperm from my younger brother, Noah Rowley.

"I'm so thankful that our love gets to live on in a different form," she fawned on social media, showing off the test results.

Noah commented, "Meeting you has been the greatest stroke of luck in my life."

Mom chimed in. "Jenny, you've suffered a lot. Nathan's apartment should be under your name alone."

I didn't even bother arguing. Instead, I simply replied with just one word—"Congratulations".

A few seconds later, my phone rang. "Your brother can't have kids anymore. It's just one child. Plus, it's still related to you. Why are you being so petty?" Mom snapped.

I let out a quiet laugh, ended the call, and dialed a different number. I asked, "Would you like to get married?"

There was a brief pause on the line before the other end erupted in shrieks of joy. "Really? You've finally thought it through! I'll book my flight back right now!

"You had better not back out. See you at the city hall next week." Then came a playful, drawn-out, "Honey."

That last word caught me off guard. My ears burned, and the flicker of regret I'd felt over acting on impulse disappeared.

Perhaps it wasn't such a bad idea after all.

Meanwhile, Jeanette updated her social feed again. Out of curiosity, I clicked on it, only to see a photo of her massaging Noah's legs. She was smiling as if she couldn't be happier.

The comments section was filled with banter from her friends. Among them, I spotted a comment from Noah. It read, "If only we'd met before you were engaged."

That comment couldn't have been any more obvious. Jeanette didn't shy away from it either, replying, "It's never too late for love." Her friends piled on with more jokes and blessings.

Everyone around her knew about her affair with my brother. Yet every time they saw me, they picked me apart from head to toe.

I used to think that I wasn't good enough. But now I realized that it was because Jeanette's heart had always belonged to Noah.

Pain stabbed through my chest. I felt like a fool.

At that moment, I received a medical report from the hospital. There was a tumor in my stomach that was at risk of becoming cancerous. Surgery was recommended. However, I needed a family member's signature to proceed.

I knew that there was no point in hoping for help from Mom or Noah.

After briefly hesitating, I called Jeanette. "Could you come to the hospital tomorrow? I need to have surgery—"

"Are you kidding me, Nathan? Are you pulling stunts like this to get my attention just because I'm pregnant with your brother's baby? Do you have any idea how pathetic you sound?" She cut me off before I could finish speaking. "Noah's feeling guilty because of your little comment. Why can't you accept your brother's child as your own?

"I'm busy taking care of him. You're not dying, so stop pestering me. Otherwise, the wedding's off!"

She hung up before I could say another word.

I laughed bitterly. I had lost count of how many times she had threatened to call off the marriage. Whenever I complained about her and Noah, she would threaten to cancel the wedding.

Things got worse after Noah's accident. "If it weren't for me, he wouldn't have been hurt! How can you be so selfish? He's your brother, and I'm his sister-in-law. What's so wrong with me taking care of him? You're just jealous.

"If it weren't for Noah, I never would have agreed to marry you. You're not even half the man that he is."

The accusations from her were endless.

But the truth was that Noah had gotten into that crash while sneaking off to see her under the guise of bringing her medicine.

While I collapsed from a bleeding ulcer after drinking myself sick to buy her dream home and afford her lifestyle, she was meeting my brother in secret.

Back then, I chose not to see it because I was terrified of losing her. I chose to apologize without a fight.

But not anymore.

"Fine. Then let's not get married."

For the first time in years, I was the one to end the call.