CHAPTER 3
EVELYN POV
I was too shocked to react.
My sister knelt before me, shameless, asking me to divorce my own husband so her unborn child could have a legitimate name.
Did I ask her to sleep with my husband? Did I ask her to betray me? How exactly was any of this my responsibility? Why was I the one paying the price for their mistake?
Why was I the one expected to sign the divorce papers because my younger sister and my husband chose to betray me. So now, if I refused to divorce Jason, I would become the villain.
A laugh escaped my lips.
Then another. Soon I was laughing so hard my stomach ached, tears gathering at the corners of my eyes.
The sound was strange, even to me. It was heartbroken.
"How could you be so shameless, Amelia?" I asked, disgust thick in my voice.
"How dare you speak to her like that." Jason glared at me. "Watch your tone."
"No, Jason." Amelia's voice trembled. "She has every right. I'm the one who betrayed her."
Seeing her cry only softened him further. He helped her to her feet, his arm wrapping around her like she was something fragile.
"How is this your fault?" he asked gently. "We were both drunk that night. I'm the one at fault. It was just a mistake."
I stared at them.
"Wow." A bitter laugh slipped out. "What a beautiful mistake. My husband slept with my sister, and now she's carrying his child."
The room went quiet.
"Evelyn. Enough," Jason snapped.
"No." I shook my head slowly. "You call this a mistake? The two people I should have trusted the most betrayed me, and now you're standing here asking me to bless it?"
My voice was calm. It was too calm. Maybe because somewhere underneath, my heart had already shattered past the point of reacting properly.
My mother slammed her teacup onto the table.
"That's enough. It isn't as if you've given Jason a child in five years of marriage."
"So?"
"So you should be happy your sister can do what you couldn't," she said, without a trace of guilt. "Do you want Jason to remain childless forever?"
Before I could recover, she kept going.
"And besides, Amelia isn't taking anything that was ever really yours. You're the one who took what belonged to her. She and Jason have always loved each other."
For a second, I couldn't breathe.
So this was what they truly believed. That I was the thief. That I had stolen him from her, though I had never once asked to marry Jason. It was his own grandfather who'd insisted I become his granddaughter-in-law, over Amelia, and my parents had agreed only because the arrangement was tied to the partnership between our families. Not once had anyone asked what I wanted.
And still, somehow, I had become the villain in everyone's story.
Amelia stepped forward again, tears fresh on her cheeks.
"Sister. Please. I can't let my baby be born without a father." She reached for my hand. I pulled it away. "I don't want my child to be illegitimate."
"So," I said quietly, looking between them, "in your eyes, I'm the selfish one?"
"No! That's not what I mean." She wiped her tears. "I don't want you to leave Jason either. You can divorce him on paper, but still stay by his side. He'll marry me publicly, and you can stay with him privately. We can all still live together."
She smiled through her tears, like she was offering me a kindness.
"I know you love him. I know you can't bear to leave him. So please, sister. I'll treat you well forever."
I stared at her. Did she hear herself?
"So you think you're doing me a favor," I said.
"Yes," she answered, immediate, certain.
Jason spoke before she could add anything else.
"If she hadn't begged me to let you stay, I wouldn't have even considered it." His eyes were cold. "I never loved you. I married you because my grandfather demanded it. You were nothing but an obligation."
Five years. Even knowing he'd never loved me, I hadn't expected him to say it so plainly. So cruelly. As if five years of my life deserved nothing more than that one sentence.
I hadn't wanted this marriage either. But somehow I was the only one being punished for it.
"So now," I said, "I'm supposed to gracefully step aside and hand my husband to my sister."
"Why should I be the one paying the price for their mistake?”
"Yes. It's only right." He glanced at Amelia, then back at me. "You can't give me children. She will." His mouth curved, almost generous. "You don't have to leave, though. You can stay. Become my mistress. Help raise the child."
The room went silent.
For a moment I wondered if I'd heard him right.
His mistress. Me. His legal wife.
"Yes, sister," Amelia said, eager. "The baby will call you mother too. You won't lose Jason. You'll still be part of this family." She reached for my hand again.
I withdrew it before she could touch me.
My mother sighed, impatient. "They've already given you a way out. Why can't you be grateful, for once? Must you always cause trouble? Amelia's belly will start showing soon."
My father spoke for the first time that night, his voice quieter than my mother's. "You've always been a sensible child. Just agree. Nothing will really change."
Nothing would change. Everything had already changed, the moment Jason chose my sister over me, the moment my own family decided I was the one who had to sacrifice.
I looked at each of their faces. One by one.
Not a single person was standing on my side.
Not one.
I rose to my feet.
"I do not agree."
Amelia's smile froze. Jason's expression darkened.
"What did you say?"
"I said I won't divorce you." I met his eyes without flinching. "Have you informed your grandparents about this?"
His face turned ugly at the mention of them. "That's none of your business."
"It is. I'm still your legal wife." I folded my arms. "Why should I be the one to leave? I'm Mrs. Blackwood. If anyone should be ashamed, it's Amelia. She knowingly slept with a married man. If anyone should become the mistress, it's her. She made her choice. She should bear the consequences."
"How dare you." Jason's voice cracked with fury. "I'm divorcing you whether you agree or not. Amelia has thought of you this whole time, and this is how you repay her. You're heartless. Ruthless."
Amelia burst into louder sobbing and dropped to her knees, both arms wrapping around my leg.
"Sister. Please. Don't use his grandparents to threaten him. I don't want my baby called a bastard."
"Let go," I said.
She shook her head. "No. I'll do anything. Just let Jason marry me."
My patience broke. "I said let go."
I tried to pull my leg free. She tightened her grip instead.
"I won't. I am not divorcing him." My voice rang through the silent room. "There is nothing any of you can do. If your child is born illegitimate, that's the consequence of sleeping with another woman's husband."
The words had barely left my mouth when my father's hand cracked across my face.
My head snapped to the side.
For a second, everything went silent. I lifted my hand slowly to my burning cheek.
"You ungrateful girl," he shouted, his hand still trembling. "After everything this family has done for you, this is how you repay us?"
My eyes stung. Not from the slap.
From finally understanding I had no family left at all.
I looked down at Amelia, still clinging to my leg.
"Let go."
I tried once more to pull free.
She lost her balance.
Her body fell backward, hard, both hands flying to her stomach as her face drained of color.
Jason's eyes went wide. "Amelia!"
She looked up at me through her tears, and something in her expression shifted, fear, then something colder, something deliberate.
"Sister." Her voice broke. "Why did you push me?"
"My child…"
"My child.”
