THE BILLIONAIRE'S BETRAYED WIFE

"Mr. Ethan Marcus has fulfilled his own side of the deal... Ensure you keep yours, Mr. Armstrong..."

" Else," Ethan's secretary, Mr. Sterling, paused with a smile.

Dad needed no one to tell him what that "else" meant before nodding.

"Good. Mr. Ethan awaits his bride tomorrow." With a slight bow, he walked out, but not without glancing at Emma, who stood beside Mom.

"Mom! I don't want to marry him!" Emma's voice rang through the living room immediately after Mr. Sterling left.

"Emma, dear, I know... but it's for our family's benefit." Dad surged towards her, but Mom shielded Emma behind her.

"Armstrong! She's too young and fragile for this! How could you make such a decision about her life without even considering her feelings?" Mom snapped.

A faint smile cracked through my parched lips as I watched them from behind the pillar where I stood. Of course, when it concerns Emma, heaven breaks loose.

The decision they took three years ago, when I was sent to the correction center for Emma's crime, was it my decision? No, it wasn't! They claimed that it was for the betterment of the family.

Were my feelings put into consideration? No! But now that it had to do with her marrying Ethan Marcus for his investment in the family's company, they suddenly wanted her approval.

"I had no other option!" Dad's tone lowered.

Mom jabbed a finger at him.

"No, you had! Elena is there. Why didn't you propose her marriage to him instead of Emma?" Mom's voice rang.

My breath froze.

I thought they were over this topic already?

Ethan Marcus clearly declared that he wanted Emma and not me, so why bring it up again when the wedding is just tomorrow?

"I did... but he wanted Emma... so there was nothing I could do.," Dad said.

Emma stepped forward, her hands pressed together.

"No... you guys have to do something! I can't marry him. I heard that he's a drunk." She sobbed.

"Armstrong, you have to do something! What if he hits her? What if he reduces her to a slave? No! I can't let that happen!"

"Then, what do you want me to..."

"Marry Elena to him in Emma's place!" Mom blurted out.

I froze completely.

How can she say that?

Am I the only one who deserves to be tortured?

"Elena?... No, I can't!" Dad hesitated.

My face brightened.

"But..." he added.

I raised my eyes, waiting for his final word.

Then his next words came like a blow that shattered me completely.

"That would be a good idea... Elena would wear the veil. No one would be able to differentiate her from Emma," he muttered.

"No one would suspect a thing, and Emma, our daughter, will be completely free." Mom's eyes sparkled.

My stomach dropped.

Their words hit me hard like a stray bullet.

 I staggered out slowly.

"What if I say I won't marry him?" I asked. My voice was loud with finitely.

They turned to me.

"Elena, you're here?" Mom asked calmly with a forced smile that didn't reach her eyes.

I walked slowly. My legs shook with every step I took closer to them.

"I was here the whole time..." I paused, my voice turned gloomy and shaken.

"Listening to my birth mother as she plans her own daughter's pain." My voice cracked in my throat as I said those words.

"It's not what you think, Elena." Emma stepped forward and grabbed hold of my hand, wearing a pitiful look.

I scoffed and shoved my hand away from her.

She screamed and fell dramatically as if I had pushed her.

Mom rushed to comfort her.

"Elena, why did you push me? I was just trying to comfort you as my sister." She sobbed fakely.

I scoffed.

"Elena!" Dad thundered, raising his hand at me.

I shut my eyes, awaiting his hand on my cheek, but it never came.

I opened my eyes to see that it was hanging in the air.

I furrowed my brows. He had never held back his hand toward me when it came to Emma's sake.

So why now?

"Don't make me do what I would..."

"Regret?" I chuckled.

"You think hitting me would make you regret? Have you forgotten how you sent me to the correction center with your own hands, even when you guys knew that Emma committed the crime?" I paused and lowered my eyes.

I blinked away the tears that blurred my vision as memories flashed one after another.

The floggings I received daily.

The starvation.

I spent my days there in the dark.

The ill-treatment and all that I faced while I was there wash over me.

"Emma... those were for your own good," Mom whispered, her tone calm. It almost felt as if she cared, but she didn't.

"My good, you say? Have you stopped to think about what I went through in there? You guys knew that I'm nyctophobic...you knew that I can't stay in the dark..."

"Baby, it's all over..."

"Don't tell me that shit! Do you know what I went through while I was in there or the manner of torture I passed through? No, you don't! So don't pretend like you care!" My voice almost cracked through the living room.

Then silence descended.

I looked from one face to another... only Mom's face wore a grief-stricken expression.

I chuckled bitterly.

I've stopped seeing her as someone who cared since the day she decided to protect her adoptive daughter over me, even when she knew that I was innocent.

"Elena, you know I care a lot about you... All your father and I did was for the betterment of the family."

A bitter smile spread across my face.

"Betterment? Fine, all you guys did to me was for the betterment of the family... but what about now? Is marrying me off to Ethan in place of Emma for the family too?" I asked.

Their faces brightened as if I'd just solved a long-dragged puzzle.

"Of course, darling." Mom grabbed my hands softly, her eyes meeting mine.

"You know Emma is still very young to get married to someone as callous as Ethan," Mom said as her hands gently caressed mine.

I laughed, my eyes slowly falling to her hands.

"And what about me? I mean, I'm older than her by just two weeks, so don't you think I'm also young?" I asked.

My eyes moved to hers, anxious about her reply, even when I knew what she was about to say.

And just like I predicted, she

said the words.

"No, you know she isn't used to a life of suffering, unlike you, who grew up in the orphanage."

My chest tightened as her words hit me.