CHAPTER 1

ARYA

The cake I was holding in my hands fell out of them, plopping to the ground, as I opened the door to my boyfriend’s bedroom in the middle of the night to find him sleeping with my stepsister.

“Brian,” I called out to him, my voice wavering as I teared up at the sight.

“Arya,” he said back, both of them pulling away from each other and hiding their nude bodies under the sheets. “What are you doing here?”

“Seriously?” I frowned, not quite sure which one of them to look at in that moment; which person whose betrayal pained me more. “That’s your question. What am I doing here? Why are you… oh, my God!”

I turned around and slammed the door as hard as I could as I left the room, walking away.

If I hadn’t gone to get a cake to celebrate his birthday in a desperate attempt to be the first person to wish him a happy birthday, I wouldn’t have known that my boyfriend was sleeping with my stepsister. I started to wonder if it was better if I didn’t have to find out, or if it was for the best that I did.

“Arya, wait! I can explain!” I heard his voice behind me as he ran downstairs, now in a pair of pants but still shirtless.

He grabbed me by the hand to get me to wait, but I pulled away from his grip immediately.

“Why, Brian? Why did you do this to me? And with Rose, of all people?! My stepsister?!” I didn’t care that I was raising my voice in that moment. He didn’t have any neighbors anyway.

Just then, Rose stepped down the stairs, tugging the zip of her dress up with a neutral expression on her face. I searched for a hint of remorse on her face, but I was slammed with a brick of nothing.

“How long has this been going on?!” I demanded loudly.

“Let’s not talk about that right now, Arya. We need to talk,” Brian said.

“Talk about something other than this? Brian, I drove all the way over here so we could celebrate your birthday together, I find you with my stepsister, and you can’t tell me how long this has been going on? I’ve been nothing but a fool to you two this whole time, is that it?!”

My eyes caught Rose’s gaze, and the mere nonchalance in them was the drop that made my cup of anger overflow.

“Why aren’t you saying anything?!” I screamed, lunging for her.

She flinched in alarm and fear, taking huge steps back, but Brian held me back and prevented me from reaching her.

“Why did you go after my boyfriend? You knew how much I loved him! Why did you do this to me, Rose?!”

“Arya, just calm down—”

“Is this how much you hate me?! What do you think my mother and your father are going to think about this?!”

“I guess you’ll have to tell them to find out,” she replied with a shrug.

I pushed my way out of Brian’s arms and made my way for her again when he caught me and struck me across the cheek as he screamed: “Enough, Arya!”

The shock of it had me standing in one spot for the first ten seconds.

“Arya, I didn’t mean to—”

My palm connected with his cheek in return, and his eyes widened at the slap I had given in return.

“How dare you?” I challenged. “How dare you think you can cheat on me and slap me right after it?” I glanced at Rose and spoke to her in silence, reminding her that we lived under the same roof and our parents were going to find it.

“Happy fucking birthday, Brian,” I turned around and left before they could see the tears in my eyes and realize just how much I was hurt. 

I ignored his constant calls for me to stop and that he had something important to tell me. Whatever he had to say, he could swallow the words and possibly choke on them. I didn’t want to hear a thing from him.

~~

“Rose has been sleeping with Brian!” I announced when I got into the kitchen to find my mother and my stepfather having their usual late-night sips of red wine. I sniffled, wiping my tears, but that only gave an opening for the new tears to show up.

“Brian? Your ex-boyfriend?” Mom questioned.

“He wasn’t my ex until I found them in bed together, Mom. He was my boyfriend. I can’t believe this.” I shook my head, sitting beside her and pouring myself a glass of wine as I tried hard to come to terms with it. It still felt like a strange dream that haunted me in reality.

“Bad things happen, Arya,” was the only reply my mother saw fit to give me in that moment, causing me to whip my head in her direction and frown at her.

“What? That’s it?” I questioned.

“I’m saying Brian cheated on you because he’s not good for you. There’s someone better for you out there. Granted, what he did was horrible, but remember how I always warned you about him?”

I looked at David, my stepfather, expecting him to speak up and say something about it, but he only looked at me as if he agreed with what my mother had just said.

“It’s because of Rose, right?” I spoke up, but my voice was barely above a whisper. “You’re only reacting this way because he cheated on me with Rose and not just a random lady.”

“No, Arya. We just don’t think…”

The kitchen went silent as Rose walked into the kitchen and sighed as she sat beside her father, both of us now sitting opposite each other and getting involved in a staring competition. I was the first to look away.

“You’ve always favored her,” I said, not just referring to David – who was her father – but my mother. “Ever since you got married to David, and we moved into their house, you shoved me aside and never cared about me.”

“That’s not true,” Mom protested. “Do not act like a child, Arya.”

“She’s only your favorite child because she’s the heir of all of David’s wealth and his business. You want to get on her good side because that’s why you married David in the first place – you married him for the money.”

“Arya!” Mom and David scolded me at the same time.

That was the first time I ever said something like that to my mother, and a part of me regretted it, but I was telling the truth, and even she knew it.

I stood up and nodded in confirmation – it was pointless talking to them about this. Rose would get everything she had always wanted; just like always; even if it was something that was supposed to be mine. I was always second to everyone, right since birth. There was no point in hoping someone would see me as the first in their life.

I walked into my room and took off my clothes, heading for the shower and breaking down.

How could everyone be so blind? My father had died in an accident, and it didn’t take my mother over two weeks to get married to David; she had obviously married him for nothing but his money.

Ever since then, Rose had always had her favor. It was absolutely ridiculous, and I started to wonder if my mother had always been that greedy or she had suddenly developed it after my father died.

Maybe that was the cause of most of their fights before my father died. Was she already cheating on him with David Deville?

It took a long while for me to get the fragments of my heart back together and walk back into my bedroom, where I found my mother standing at the doorway.

“What do you want?” I asked weakly, changing into my pajamas.

“Don’t be so difficult, Arya,” she started, walking into the room. In seconds, David and Rose walked into the room as well.

“What are you all doing here?” I questioned, alarmed. It reminded me of high school; I would be crowded by my peers who only wanted to hit me and see how much it would hurt me.

“Look, I’m sorry you didn’t know about it. We all thought Brian had told you about it and that you were both broken up,” Rose explained.

“You didn’t ask me if I was okay with it,” I pointed, looking at the floor. I had never been confident enough to look at someone whenever I was in the middle of a confrontation. Sometimes my mother would say I was spineless, and it pained me to admit that she was not wrong.

“I didn’t think I needed your validation to date whoever I want,” Rose responded, her demeanor switching back to nonchalance as she glared at me.

“Look, Arya,” Mom started, “Brian was never going to get married to you, I always warned you about what kind of a person he was and what kinds of people he likes instead. He fell in love with Rose, and I don’t see why we need to stop something like this. Now that you know, why don’t we all accept things the way they are and move on?”

I stared at my mother for a long time, wondering if she really was the one speaking or if they had gotten a stunt double for it.

As if annoyed and exhausted by my inability to comprehend and accept what they were all saying, David cleared his throat with a frown.

“We’re doing this for our family, Arya. You would benefit from this union, too, and it would only be selfish for you to ruin something like this,” he said, trying to manipulate me.

“They’re getting married in two weeks,” Mom finally announced what they were all in there to tell me. “Brian is getting married to Rose in two weeks.”