My Stepsister Is Pregnant With My Fake Husband's Baby

I'd come back to my hometown for my father's birthday.

My stepsister hauled me up out of my chair and, right in front of all the relatives, jabbed a finger in my face and started laying into me.

"Do you have any sense at all?"

"From now on, when I'm standing, you don't get to sit. When I'm sitting, you'd better know your place and stand behind me, rub my shoulders, and wait on me properly."

I stared at her, then anger snapped through me.

"Are you out of your mind? Why on earth would I wait on you?"

Ina rolled her eyes and tossed a pregnancy test report at me.

"Because I'm carrying your husband's first son. Probably his only son, too."

"So you'd better take good care of me while I'm pregnant. Do that, and I'll remember the favor and make sure there are leftovers on the table for you at home."

Around us the relatives were either stunned or settling in to watch the show.

My father and stepmother just looked away and told me to do what Ina said, or my life from here on out would be miserable.

But I'd already gone blank the moment Ina pulled out that report.

Not from anger, not from rage. From sheer curiosity.

How exactly had my stepsister gotten pregnant by a husband I'd invented to get everyone off my back about marriage?

...

I looked at the ultrasound printout sitting on the table in front of Ina Summers.

I'm not a doctor, but I could read it well enough. It clearly showed twelve weeks. And from what I knew, the odds were that the result was real.

I frowned.

"Stop this nonsense."

"I believe you're pregnant. But there's no way it's my husband's child—"

I didn't get to finish.

Ina cut me off.

"It's no nonsense. This is your husband Dirk Gray's baby."

"You've been married more than two years and you've never once brought your Dirk home. That's because you were scared he'd fall for me, isn't it? I'm prettier than you."

As she spoke, she lightly stroked a belly that wasn't really showing yet.

"But hiding him got you nowhere. True love can't be hidden."

I stood there, frozen, not even sure where to begin explaining.

Except my frozen face made everyone think I'd been so furious I'd gone stupid.

Beside me, my stepmother, Paige Hughes, tucked Ina behind her, as if afraid I'd lose it and hurt her.

"Tania Summers, don't be upset."

"Honestly, Ina only wanted to test whether your husband was sincere about you at first. Who could've guessed the two of them would actually catch feelings and end up with a baby?"

"You mustn't do anything rash. This child is going to call you Mom one day too!"

Then Paige tugged at my father, Darren Summers, who'd been playing deaf and dumb at her side.

Darren was afraid of setting Paige off, so even though he didn't dare look at me, he hurried to speak up.

"Right, right."

"You've been married to the boy this long and won't have a child. What if he goes looking elsewhere?"

"Ina's doing you a favor here. Keep the good fortune in the family. So your mother and your sister are right—you ought to look after Ina through her pregnancy and be properly grateful to her."

I found the whole thing laughable.

The relatives who'd come for the birthday dinner, though, couldn't stand to listen anymore.

【Darren, you're being far too one-sided. Ina's gone way past the line here, and you won't even say a word?】

【Exactly. This isn't true love or fate. This is shameless. Back in the day, a woman would've been run out of town for this.】

【You just found out Tania's husband comes from money, so you sank your hooks into him, and now you're standing here pregnant, trying to force your way in. Don't dress it up as true love.】

The relatives were brutal, but to Ina the words landed like compliments.

After all, her lifelong dream was to marry a rich man.