Claimed by my husband's brother.

Liliah. On my third year anniversary, I found another woman on top of my husband. “Yes, Ian… f**k me harder,” she moaned, her voice carrying shamelessly down the hallway. “Harder, please.” My heart slammed so violently I thought it would burst through my ribs. My feet moved before my mind could catch up. I pushed the door open. Ian, my husband was buried inside another woman on our matrimonial bed. Clothes were strewn across the floor like evidence no one bothered to hide. The sheets were twisted, the room thick with heat and betrayal. They both turned to look at me. “Ian,” I whispered, my voice failing me completely. He didn’t stop. His expression was cold, detached, as if I was interrupting something. The woman shifted, pulling the duvet over her naked body as she climbed off him. That was when recognition hit me like a slap. Chloe, his first love. The woman he had wanted to marry before I was forced into his life. “You should learn to respect people’s privacy, Liliah,” Ian said calmly. “A knock would have been appropriate.” For a second, I thought I’d misheard him. Respect… his privacy? I stared at him, disbelief tightening my chest. I had just caught my husband in bed with another woman, and this—this was his response? “Ian… what are you talking about?” My voice cracked, the words barely holding together. But the truth was, I had always known. He was never mine. From the beginning, from the day my parents handed me over to him to settle their debts with the hills family. He had married me because his parents demanded it. I stayed because my parents begged me to—told me to endure, to please him, to do anything so the Hills family wouldn’t pull their investments and destroy everything or possibly send them to jail. Somewhere along the way, I fell in love with him. Alone. He never looked at me. Never softened toward me. I existed only when he wanted my body, nothing more and that was even once in a while. “I don’t owe you loyalty, Liliah,” he said flatly. “You’re nothing but a slave your family sold off. You don’t get to question my choices.” The words sliced deep, reopening wounds I pretended had healed. “Baby,” Chloe murmured, curling against him again, her fingers tracing his chest. “Should we continue? I’m still so horny.” My breath hitched. My vision blurred. Ian looked at me deliberately, making sure I was watching before he leaned down and kissed her hard, possessive, cruel. Something inside me shattered. “This marriage means nothing to me,” he said coldly, his lips still brushing Chloe’s. “She’s the one I love. I can kiss her, f**k her, bring her into this house and you can’t do a damn thing about it.” He paused, his gaze locking onto mine. “This marriage is open now. I’m done hiding.” An open marriage? Was that what Ian wanted now so he could bring anyone he pleased into our home? Was this his way of breaking me completely? “Ian… an open marriage?” My voice shook despite my effort to sound composed. “That isn’t right. You can’t just—” I never got to finish. Chloe’s moan cut through the room, sharp and deliberate. Their breaths grew heavier, faster. Before my mind could process it, she had climbed onto him, moving against him openly, in my presence. My throat went dry. My fingers curled into my palms as humiliation burned through me. They didn’t even care. They wanted me to see. They wanted me to feel small. I couldn’t take it anymore. I turned and fled, my steps unsteady as I ran out of the room. My heart felt like it was being torn apart, cracked open, ripped raw. Tears blurred my vision as they streamed down my face. I rushed downstairs, barely seeing where I was going, and nearly collided with someone at the entrance. My mother. “Oh, Liliah,” she said, pausing as she took me in. “I came to see your husband, Ian.” Her eyes narrowed when she noticed my tears. She stepped closer, lifting her hand to my face, brushing my cheeks gently. “Liliah,” she asked softly, concern flickering across her features. “What happened?” “Mom… I can’t do this anymore,” I whispered, my voice breaking. “I need to leave this marriage. Ian just declared it open. He’s upstairs—with his mistress doing it right in front of me. He said he can sleep with whoever he wants now.” My mother’s body went rigid. Slowly, she withdrew her hands from my cheeks, as if my pain suddenly burned. “Men like Ian,” she said flatly, “are allowed to have mistresses. Openly. A wife’s duty is to remain faithful, no matter what.” My breath hitched. “Mom… what?” I stared at her, disbelief flooding my chest. “You cannot leave this marriage, Liliah,” she continued, her voice firm, final. “If you do, your father and I will go to prison. Is that what you want?” My heart shattered completely. “Mom…” Tears spilled freely now, blurring my vision. I had no choice. None at all. I was trapped in a marriage where I wasn’t loved, wasn’t wanted where I existed only as collateral. “Please,” she said, softer now. “You know how important this is to our family. The company. The debts. You have to endure it.” I pressed my lips together, trying to stop the sob rising in my throat, but it was useless. The tears kept falling anyway. I needed air. Space. Anything but this suffocating reality. “I can’t… I just can’t do this anymore.” Before she could stop me, I turned and ran out of the house.