I Was the Secret Wife. My Sister Was the Chosen One. Not Anymore.

Chapter 1

EVELYN POV

It has been five years since Jason and I became husband and wife.

Five years without love. Without affection. Without a single evening that felt like it belonged to just the two of us.

He never spent time with me. Not really.

Every time I asked, he had an excuse already prepared, like he'd been waiting for the question just so he could say no to it.

"Jason, can you take me to the cinema? I want us to watch something together, just the two of us."

I asked with hope.

I always asked with hope. That was my mistake.

"I'm sorry. I can't come today, it's Amelia's night party."

"But I don't need money, Jason. I need you there. It's just one hour."

"I have to be there for her," he said. Like that settled it. Like it always settled it.

"Can't you stop, just once, and be there for me instead?" I whispered.

"Enough of this nonsense." His voice sharpened the way it always did whenever her name came up in the same sentence as mine. "I already told you, spend my money however you like. Do you want me to disappoint your sister? Must you always compete with her?"

He walked away angry.

Like I was the one who had done something wrong.

It was days before I saw him again after that night. All he knew, all he cared about, was my younger sister, Amelia.

They had grown up together. Childhood friends since before I ever came into the picture. I hadn't been raised in this house. I grew up with my grandparents in the countryside, far from all of it, while Amelia stayed close enough to become the person Jason trusted before he ever had to trust me.

Not many people know that Jason and I are married.

He wanted it that way from the start. A quiet marriage, kept away from the public, so that everyone believed he and my younger sister were the perfect couple. Our marriage was legally registered. Only our families knew.

Jason simply didn't want the world to know he was married to me. He only married me because his grandparents favored me over her. To him, I was never a choice. I was a bride forced on him, and he has never once let me forget it.

Today is my parents' wedding anniversary, and I was supposed to bring Jason with me. I called him. Again and again. His number never went through.

I tried once more.

"Hello." His voice, low and unbothered, like I was interrupting something.

"Today is my parents' anniversary. They want us both there."

"You can go. I'll come with Amelia."

He hung up before I could answer. I stared at my phone silently.

Amelia again.

It was always Amelia.

A small, bitter smile touched my lips.

Today made it the ninetieth time he had chosen her over me. I keep count. Not because I want revenge. Only so I know exactly how many times my own husband has looked at me and decided I wasn't worth staying for.

I walked to the antique store to collect the gift I'd already ordered for my parents, a piece they'd been wanting for months. I had it all pictured already. Their faces tonight. The dinner. One good thing I had gotten right.

I was reaching for the door when I heard a voice I would know anywhere, even in a crowd of a thousand.

"This is Amelia. My soon to be wife. We'll be announcing our engagement soon."

My steps froze.

Slowly, I turned my head.

Standing not far away was my husband.

Jason.

His hand rested against my sister's waist in a gesture far too intimate for the men and officials filing past them toward the restaurant.

My mind went blank.

Future wife?

Engagement?

Did he just say that? Out loud. In front of all these people. Like it was simply true.

Then what was I? A secret? A replacement? A plaything he kept in a drawer until he no longer needed the pretense?

"Your future wife is truly beautiful. You two are a perfect match," one of the men said, laughing.

"Your children will definitely be beautiful," another added.

My heart tightened at their words. They all looked at Amelia as if she had always been his wife. As if I had never existed at all.

"Thank you, everyone. Let's go inside," Amelia said, glowing.

I stood there for a moment. Unable to move. The gift bag was suddenly heavier in my hand than it had been a second ago.

Then I turned around and walked away. It wasn't that I still loved Jason the way I used to. At least, that was what I wanted to believe.

But I expected loyalty. I expected the bare minimum of respect a wife is owed, even in a marriage built on nothing but paper and family obligation.

Apparently even that was too much to ask. Does he wish I would simply disappear?

My vision started to blur. No. Not now.

I found a bench and sat before my legs could decide for me.

My sister and my husband. The two people I should have trusted most in this world. Had betrayed me.

The people I should have been able to trust were the ones who hurt me the most.

And now I couldn't stop the thought from circling, quiet and cold, underneath everything else.

Did Jason plan to divorce me?

Even hidden from the public, I was still legally his wife. How would he explain that to the officials who had just called Amelia his future wife? How would he choose between the wife he kept secret and the woman he proudly showed to the world?

For five years, I had been living as Mrs. Blackwood.

But today, sitting on a bench with chocolate dissolved on my tongue and my whole life rearranging itself without my permission.

I finally understood something I should have known from the start. I had never truly been his wife at all.