CHAPTER 1
1221 Words
LENA’S POV
Hi.
My name is Lena Hart.
And I stole my sister’s fiancé before killing her.
Before you throw stones, listen to me first.
The day my sister died started like every other day of my miserable life.
I woke up early because my body hurt again. It always did. My chest felt heavy, my head spun, and my hands shook as I dragged myself out of bed. I swallowed my pills with warm water, grimacing at the bitter taste. I hated them, but without them, I could barely breathe.
By the time I finished getting dressed, my stomach rolled hard enough to scare me.
That was why I went to the hospital.
I sat alone in the white room, my feet dangling off the edge of the bed, my fingers twisting together. The walls smelled like disinfectant. I hated hospitals. They reminded me how weak I was.
The doctor came in with a thin smile and a file in his hand.
“Miss Hart,” he said, flipping pages. “We ran the tests.”
My heart started racing.
“So?” I asked. “What’s wrong with me this time?”
He paused, then looked up.
“You’re pregnant.”
The room went quiet.
“What?” I whispered.
“Congratulations,” he said again. “You’re pregnant.”
The word stared back at me from the paper he handed over.
Pregnant.
I laughed, but it came out shaky and broken. My fingers brushed over the print as if it might disappear if I didn’t touch it.
“I’m pregnant,” I said again, louder this time.
After two years. Two years of hoping, praying, crying in the bathroom so no one would hear me. Two years of being told my body was failing.
I pressed my hand to my stomach.
“Hey,” I whispered. “You’re really there.”
I needed to tell Leo.
My husband.
The man I loved even when he barely looked at me.
I grabbed my phone and dialed his number.
It rang.
Once.
Twice.
Then voicemail. It was like he was avoiding me, but that wasn’t possible because I was his wife. Right?
I frowned and tried again.
Straight to voicemail.
“That’s weird,” I muttered.
Leo never ignored calls. Not mine. I stared at the screen and my excitement started to dim. Where was he that he couldn’t answer me?
But as soon as I thought out the question, I immediately realized that I knew the answer.
He was in the same place he always was when he wasn’t with me. He was with her.
Sienna.
My older sister.
I bit my lip and pushed back the bitterness threatening to rise in my throat. I had known for a while that my husband spent more time with my older sister than he did with me.
I thought I had accepted that fact, but I still couldn’t shake off the feeling that they were a little too close.
I swallowed hard and shoved the feeling down. I had no proof. I never did.
Still, the truth sat heavy in my chest.
Leo spent more time with Sienna than with me. He always had.
They worked late together. Ate together. Attended events together.
Whenever I brought it up, he made me feel foolish.
“You’re imagining things, Lena,” he would say. “Sienna and I work together. That’s all.”
“But you barely come home,” I told him once.
He sighed, irritated. “I married you, didn’t I?”
I left the hospital with my head buzzing.
I should have known better than to expect happiness without pain.
Leo had loved Sienna first.
They had been the golden couple. They were beautiful, powerful, and perfect together. Until I came along and ruined everything.
Two years ago, I woke up naked in Leo’s bed with no memory of how I got there. My head pounded. My throat burned from alcohol.
Then I saw Sienna.
She stood in the doorway, her face pale, tears running freely.
“Lena?” she sobbed. “How could you do this to me?”
I couldn’t answer her. I didn’t remember anything beyond drinking too much wine.
So one night of too much alcohol, of blurred memories, and my entire life had changed.
I and Leo had betrayed my only sister and there was nothing I could do to change that.
After that, Leo married me to protect my reputation from the public. And for the first two years, I thought maybe—just maybe—he had learned to love me. Because I was already in love with him.
I lie to myself that he would grow to love me.
But when the doctors told us I might never conceive, he changed.
He stopped touching me. Stopped staying home.
That was when Sienna stepped back into his life fully.
But now it didn’t matter.
Now I was pregnant. So he finally had a reason to come back to me.
I drove home smiling to myself, planning how I would tell him. Maybe he would smile again. Maybe he would hold me.
The house was empty when I arrived.
I wasn’t surprised.
I exhaled, setting my purse down before heading to the living room. Maybe a distraction would help.
I grabbed the remote and flicked through the channels before stopping at a familiar news broadcast.
“And now, we go live to tonight’s charity gala, where billionaire Leo Valtieri has a special announcement.”
My fingers froze on the remote.
So that’s where Leowas?
I sat up straighter, my eyes locking on the screen as the camera zoomed in on him.
“What?” I whispered.
The camera zoomed in on him.
Leo stood tall in a dark suit, calm and confident. With the kind of presence that made people listen when he spoke.
But it was the woman beside him made my breath catch.
It was my sister Sienna
Sienna stood beside him, her hand resting on his arm like she belonged there.
My throat closed.
“Mr Valtieri,” the reporter said. “We hear you have exciting news to share.”
Leo smiled.
“Yes,” he said. “I’d like to introduce my fiancée, Sienna Hart.”
The world stopped.
Fiancée?
My sister?
No. No, that wasn’t right.
That wasn’t possible.
I stared at the screen, my ears ringing.
The reporter clapped her hands. “Congratulations! This is big news. But there have been rumors, some sources claim you’re already married. Care to comment?”
Leo laughed.
““I can assure you, I’ve only ever proposed to one woman.” He said. “Sienna is the only person I want to spend my life with. I have never been married,” The remote slipped from my hand.
He lied.
He was standing there, in front of the world, denying our marriage like it had never existed.
Like I had never existed.
He was denying us and our baby.
Oh god, our baby.
My hand flew to my stomach as nause
a hit mean hard.
He didn’t know. He didn’t know I was pregnant.
And now he never would because I had just watched my husband ask my sister to marry him.
And the worst part?
She had said yes.
- Writer
