MARRIED TO MY EX’S BROTHER

Olivia. I couldn't stop smiling. I'd been gone for a month, and in less than five minutes, I'd finally see Nate. The bottle of wine I'd bought in Paris felt heavier in my hand as I stood outside his apartment. Spending four weeks at one of the biggest fashion events in the world had been a dream come true. Seeing some of the industry's biggest names in person and learning from designers I'd admired for years was unreal. The experience had the potential to change my career. Yet standing outside Nate's apartment, all I could think about was finally seeing him. He'd been begging me all week to Come home and I could already picture the look on his face when he saw me standing at the door. My flight wasn't supposed to land until tomorrow. This was the perfect surprise—a perfect one. I unlocked the door with the spare key he'd given me last year. The same key he’d handed me after slipping a promise ring onto my fingers. And that was the exact night he’d begged me to move in with him. I couldn’t help but smile. I missed him so much. We’d spent weeks sleeping on video calls and now we could finally sleep in the same bed tonight. “Nate?”. I called as I stepped inside. My eyes immediately landed on the red heels at the entrance. I could recognize those shoes anywhere. They were the same ones I got Lisa, my step-sister, for her birthday 6 months ago. I frowned. I didn’t want to read into it, because after all, they worked together, and she was his secretary. Maybe they were working. “Nate?”. I called again but no answer. A strange feeling settled in my stomach. I started walking towards our bedroom. And that's when I heard it. A low groan followed by a woman's breathless moans. My heart sank. No, please don't be what I think it is. My heart pounded as I opened the door with shaky hands. The scene before me left me stunned. Nate was behind Lisa and was f*****g her from the back. Her skirt rolled up to her waist and Nate's pants were on the floor. “Fuck.. Go deeper”. Lisa said as she leaned into him more “You like that”. Nate said as he pounded deeper into her. I stood frozen at the door, too shocked to move. For a moment my brain refused to process what I was seeing. They were so busy f*****g each other to notice me. A part of me wanted to run away but another part wanted to see their reaction when they noticed me. Out of shock the bottle of wine slipped from my fingers and crashed on the floor. The sharp sound finally made them look up. Nate's eyes met mine. For a split, second surprise crossed his face Then, it disappeared He calmly stepped away, pulled his pants, and looked at me as if I had interrupted them. “Well…” he said flatly. “ I guess you know now”. I stared at him My mouth opened, but no words came out. Lisa didn’t even bother looking embarrassed. She finished fixing her clothes before casually sitting on the edge of the bed, crossing one leg over another “So….”. She sighed. “Since the secrets are out, we don’t have to sneak around anymore”. My chest tightened, and I looked from one to another “You both….”. My voice trembled. “How long?”. “ four months”. Lisa answered without hesitation. “Four months?”. I whispered I'd spent four years of my life with Nate, but he casually cheated on me with my stepsister He's been lying to me for four months. It finally made sense why he'd suddenly started having late-night emergencies. Or why he always left for the office really early, just to return late at night. I'd been too blinded by love to notice how close they got over these past months. I looked at Nate “So you've been cheating on me”. He shrugged. “ I had needs, Olivia” My heart stopped. “What?” “You wanted to wait until marriage”. His voice wasn’t apologetic. I was irritated. “ I respected your decision for as long as I could”. Tears blurred my vision. “So cheating was your solution?” “What was I supposed to do?”. He asked. “Five years, Olivia”. He laughed without humor. “You rejected me every time I tried to touch you”. “ I want us to wait because I love you”. “And I got tired of waiting”. Silence. Then Lisa stood up. “She walked over until she was standing only a few feet away from me”. “You know what your problem is?”. I didn’t answer. “You spent so much time trying to be the perfect girlfriend, that you forgot men had needs”. She smiled and I felt sick. She slipped her hand through Nate's. “And unlike you….”. A smug smile spread across her face. “I knew exactly what he wanted”. I couldn’t breathe. It wasn’t just the betrayal that hurt. It was the complete lack of guilt. Neither of them looked ashamed. Neither of them looked, sorry. It was as if I were the one who walked in and ruined their moment. My gaze drifted to Lisa. She wasn’t just my stepsister. She was the only person from my family I refused to let go. After my mother died and my stepmother convinced my father to throw me out the moment I turned eighteen, Lisa was the only one I kept in contact with. I loved her like the Sister I never had. We shopped together, we celebrated birthdays together, and we even went shopping together. She was the first person I called whenever something good happened in my life. When she cried five months ago, because she couldn’t find a job, I'd done everything I could to help. I'd even called Nate and begged him to give her a chance at Nexora Technologies. I still remembered how Happy she’d been when he offered her the position as his secretary. She'd hugged me so tightly that day. “You've changed my life”. She said through tears. Never….Not even for a second did I imagine I was planting a snake inside my own home. I hadn't just introduced my boyfriend to my stepsister, I'd handed her the knife she would eventually use to stab me in the back. The cruelest part?. I had no one to blame but myself. I threw the promise ring Nate gave me on the floor and ran out before either of them saw how much they broke me.