Chapter 2: Full blown betrayal

~Clarissa’s POV~

This couldn't be real.

But it was.

I couldn't believe it. Let alone understand it.

My sister…….Mia? My own flesh and blood?

Could betray me so deeply, as I watched her intimately entangled with the man I had dedicated five years of my life to and was to marry hours ago. But here he was, having the time of his life at my expense.

Time seemed to stop, as I felt the walls close in on me. With the crushing reality staring me dead in the eye.

My breath got caught in my throat, as tears spilled freely, blurring my vision.

My heart ached, like a sharp dagger was driven into it, when my knees gave out, as I stumbled back lightly.

How? How could two important people in my life do this to me...... especially Eric?.

The bitter thought gnawed at my chest that ached from watching what unfolded before me, as a mix of pain and rage engulfed me still rooted down in the same spot I stood.

But I knew one thing for sure, I would rather get hit by a moving truck, than watch them make a fool of me any longer, as I barged through the doors hysterically.

“Eric!. I bawled out. “How could you do this to me? and with my sister of all people?”. I questioned, my voice hoarse with disbelief.

Upon my intrusion they hastily pulled apart from each other, but rather than feeling remorseful, Eric whose eyes once filled with adoration, now glared back cold and contemptuous. While a sickening, defiant smirk stretched on Mia's lips, who stood behind his frame like a child seeking protection.

"What are you doing here Clarissa?" he asked, his voice devoid of warmth.

"What am I doing here?" I shrieked, my voice raw with disbelief and fury, at the level of his sheer audacity to ask me that.

“Shouldn’t I be the one asking that?” Today is our wedding day, Eric! Our wedding day!"

“But instead of being at the alter, you ditched me just to be in bed with her!”. my gaze now snapped to Mia, with her face twisted into a victorious smug.

"And you, Mia! How could you? My own sister!" I bellowed, as my fingers made jabbing gestures at both of them.

Mia stepped forward, her eyes glinting with a malicious satisfaction. "Oh, Clarissa. Always so naive, aren't you? Did you really think he'd marry you? she scoffed. You're nothing but a gold digger, chasing his money and his status. That's all you've ever been."

My mouth opened, but no sound came out. Only gasps.

Dry. Desperate. Choking.

“What are you talking about?” I finally questioned, my sore eyes widened with disbelief at her pronouncement.

"That's a lie! and you know it" I screamed, with fresh tears streaming down my face.

"I love Eric! And I have always been faithful to him! Always!".

“Your the one who has never liked him, and constantly wanted me to break up with him, just because you presumed he was arrogant and with me just for fun. But it's clear now that it was all just a facade to hide your true intentions”. I furiously spat out, as I sized her up with sheer disdain.

My eyes darted back to Eric who stood silent, watching us bicker before him, as my irritation grew rapidly.

“Eric say something!”. I demanded, but his countenance remained unchanged.

“What do you want me to say, Clarissa” he scoffed, a harsh, dismissive sound that pierced my heart. Sounding nothing like the man whose voice always spoke lovingly to me.

“You can start by explaining yourself, why you abandoned me on the most important day of our lives”. I retorted, as my nostrils flared and my brows furrowed into a scowl.

But rather than speak up, he turned away, grabbed at an envelope on the bedside table, and aggressively threw it in my direction, as a stack of photographs went flying out in the open air, falling at my feet like confetti.

I looked down and didn't need to pick them up to reveal it's content, when I saw unflattering, scandalous images of myself on the night of my bachelorette, in bed with two strange men whose faces were blurred and unrecognizable. I knew this because I was wearing the exact same dress from that night, with my eyes closed.

My breath hitched.

My stomach churned, and I felt a wave of heat over me as beads of sweat formed across my forehead, staring wide eyed at the horrifying images before me.

“W....where did you get these?

How did you get these pictures?” I asked, visibly enveloped by confusion.

“Does it even matter how or where I got them” Eric snarled.

“You preach about being faithful. You call this faithful, Clarissa?. Gesturing his fingers at the explicit pictures on the floor. “You swore you were a virgin! You denied me for months, for years, for this? While you were out cavorting with God knows who in this damn city?". Eric venomously spat out, his voice dripping with contempt.

"No!" "No, this isn't real! I don't even know these men!

“I.....I was drugged, Eric! I woke up in an unfamiliar room, I don't remember anything from last night! I swear, I am still pure! I was saving myself for you! Believe me”. I cried, my voice cracking with desperation, in my attempt to persuade him, to remember the years of devotion, and the sacrifices I had made.

Our relationship may look perfect to the outside world, but we could never seem to get past one deal breaker......No sex until marriage. Which constantly made us argue but we always found a common ground and made up just like any other couple. Heaven knows I have never laid with any other man, not to talk of fantasizing about sleeping with anyone who wasn't Eric.

But neither did I think he would actually cheat on me, just to quench his sexual thirst.

Eric didn’t even flinch.

“Believe you? he mockingly scoffed. It's clear that ship has already sailed Clarissa”.

“You think I’d marry someone who treats me like a fool?”.

“Really Eric? So is that the reason why you slept with my sister? And for what.....payback? For something I didn't even do”. I furiously clapped back, feeling even more irritable.

"Oh, please, Clarissa. Drop the innocent virgin act? It's tired, dear sister. Eric knows the truth. You were never with him for love, were you? Just for the name, the money." Mia let out a derisive laugh, spewing out more malicious words, adding more ignition to the already blazing flame between us.

“It was you? Wasn't it?”. I shrieked

“Your the one who set me up. Tell him! Tell him the truth, you conniving snake!” I declared, seeing her deceitful smirk finally dropping, replaced by a flicker of triumph.

“And! So what if it was me? I'm just simply helping Eric to finally see you for what you are, and you aren't as good as you claim”. Mia cruelly spoke out with no ounce of remorse in her voice. As my aching chest tightened up even more, making my breath even more shallow.

“Why are you doing this Mia? Your supposed to be my sister?". the question came out as a broken sob, as tears spilled down my flushed cheeks. The sheer cruelty of her actions incomprehensible.

Her smile widened, a predatory gleam in her eyes. "Sisters?" she scoffed, her voice laced with venom. "Oh, Clarissa, you've always been so naive. Did you really think you were ever truly part of this family? Did you truly believe you were my mother's daughter?"

My mind reeled. "What are you talking about?"

Mia leaned in, her voice a cruel whisper that sliced through the last strands of my composure. "You're not 'pure blood,' Clarissa. Not like me.

You're the result of our father's dirty little secret, his affair with his mistress. She died giving birth to you, you know. That's why Mother always treated you like a second class citizen, why she always preferred me. You were never truly one of us. You were just… an inconvenient truth."

The world seemed to stop, slowing down it's gravity. As the air rushed out of my lungs.

That was impossible.

Maybe she said it just to hurt me even more. I thought.

But looking back, her words held a depth of truth. Like how Mia's needs always came first before mine. How she was constantly praised and put on a pedestal, while I was the overlooked daughter, the background character who always had to surpress my feelings and undermine my achiements just so she could shine like the star our parents painted her to be. I practically lived in her shadow.

And my mother, who had always seemed distant and unusually cold, now her behavior made a terrifying, sickening sense.

I wasn't just betrayed by my fiance and my sister; but my entire life, my very identity, was all a lie.

“Oh, and Clarissa. Mia continued, now stepping forward, pulling me into an embrace and then whispered, “You were right dear sister, It was I who drugged you and paid does men to set you up that night. Think of it as my bachelorette gift to you”. Her voice was a purr, laced with a malicious satisfaction that made my stomach churn.

I had a hunch she had a hand in it, but hearing her confess to it and with a lack of empathy or regret in her tone.

Something instantly snapped inside of me, as a guttural roar tore from my throat. All logic, all sense of reason, dissolved into a blinding haze of red, consumed by a burning rage.

I couldn't tell if it was out of instinct or a surge of adrenaline, that made me grab at her hair and yanked it back with force, enough to break her neck.

A sharp cry of pain escaped her lips as I slammed hard, painful slaps that sent a resounding crack echoing through the room, across her face. Again and again, my hand connected, fueled by years of silent suffering, of feeling secondary, of being an outsider. Mia stumbled back, her face contorting in pain and surprise, before she collapsed to the floor with a painful yelp.

Just as I moved closer to lunge at her again,to claw and scratch and unleash every ounce of the fury that had been building within me, Eric stepped forward, halting me in my tracks. As his powerful hands gripped my arms, pulling me back. His face obviously masked with disdain.

"Enough, Clarissa," he thundered, his voice laced with a disgust that pierced through my rage. He pushed me away, and for a fleeting moment, I thought he might finally see the truth, might finally choose me.

But then he turned. His eyes, devoid of any warmth, any recognition of the five years we'd spent together, focused on Mia, who was now dramatically sobbing on the floor. He knelt beside her, his arms going around her protectively. The choice was clear, agonizingly clear.

“Did you see that Eric? Can you see what she did to me? Look at my face”. she breaks down into sobs, crocodile tears glistening in her eyes, gesturing at the red marks on her cheeks.

“Is this who you really want to marry? A thug? A raging mad woman?”. Mia's voice, quivered as she spoke through tears, addressing Eric with accusation.

Eric's expression hardens as he turns to me, his tone resolute.

“You need to leave!”.

"Get out, Clarissa," he said, his voice emotionless. "Get out of my house. Now!"

"It's over. We're over. The engagement is off." Eric pronounced, his words flat, final, and devastating, resonated through the room. Each syllable a hammered blow to my already fractured heart.

I stared back, stunned.

As my world collapsed around me.

The fairy tale, the dream, the love I believed in, all shattered into a million irreparable pieces.