A neighbor upstairs was blowing up the building group chat, tagging me again and again:

*It's the middle of the day on a weekend. Can the happy couple keep it down?*

*Whatever you two are doing up there, the whole building can hear you.*

I had no idea what they were talking about, and I was about to tell them they had the wrong unit.

Because this was the old house my mother lived in before she died. Nobody lived here anymore, and the only reason I was coming back today was to light candles for her.

Then the neighbor dropped a video, filmed right outside my door.

There really were sounds coming out of my apartment, faint and broken.

Uneasy, I hurried back.

When I pushed the door open, Owen Delgado and my cousin were just reaching for their clothes.

My sudden appearance cut them off, but instead of flinching, he admitted it to my face, perfectly calm:

"If it weren't to become family with Roberta Sullivan, I never would have married you.

"Just keep your mouth shut, and I'll make sure you never want for anything after the wedding.

"The three of us living well from here on out, that's what matters more than anything.

"I've booked my sweetheart a candlelit dinner. Go and change the sheets."

And with that, they reached for each other again.

What they didn't know was that one minute earlier, the call I'd placed had already connected to Roberta's husband on the other end.

If three people could live so happily together, surely four would be even livelier.

……

Owen walked over to me slowly, tipped up my chin, and sneered:

"Enya Crawford, marrying me is the luckiest thing that ever happened to your family.

"When it comes down to it, everything you have right now, Roberta handed to you.

"Otherwise, what makes you think a nobody little assistant could ever become the wife of a wealthy family?"

I never expected him to flip it on me like that.

I never asked Roberta to hand me anything.

The opposite was true. She stole five years of my research, quietly published it under her own name, and cost me my place at the institute.

But I forgave her anyway.

Because before she died, my mother told me:

"Roberta lost her parents when she was little. She's had it so hard.

"Not being able to take care of your aunt back then is the one regret I'll carry my whole life.

"So as her older cousin, you have to look after Roberta."

Even though my mother died saving her, even though my father lost the lower half of his body charging into the fire to pull her out.

I still talked myself into raising her like my own sister for ten years.

If I had known Owen wanted her, I never would have said yes to that proposal last month.

But of all days, she chose the anniversary of my mother's death.

And right in front of the portrait, she rolled into bed with my fiancé.

If my mother could see this from wherever she was, it would break her heart.

I pointed at the portrait on the wall, gritted my teeth, and looked at Roberta, my voice cold:

"Today is the anniversary of my mother's death. Doesn't your conscience hurt at all?"

Roberta gave it one glance, and her eyes went red, like she was the one being wronged.

She looked at Owen, hurt, and complained:

"I told you to hold off, to do it somewhere else.

"Now she's caught us, and she'll be using it to threaten me for the rest of my life."

That one line set Owen off completely.

He seized my throat and slammed me back against the wall.

Even when my head struck the wall hard enough to leave a smear of blood, even when my vision swam, he didn't care.

Owen leaned close to my ear and warned me, low and hard:

"Roberta has already given you more than enough. Don't be so greedy.

"Keep your mouth shut, and three days from now the wedding still happens, and your father still gets the engagement money and the better treatment.

"Otherwise, you walk away with nothing."

Two years I'd known him, and this was how Owen treated me.

That was when I finally understood.

Loving someone, it turns out, can be an act too.

But the one person who never should have lied to me was Roberta Sullivan.

When we were kids, money was tight, and Dad and I were both so afraid she'd feel slighted that we gave her the best of everything.

To save money, I told Dad I was lactose intolerant, just so the milk delivery was only ever for her, year after year.

Every scholarship I won in college, I never kept a cent. It all went to her trips, her chance to see the world.

Even when she stole my research, even when she took Rupert Stephens, my first love, and married him.

Every time she did me wrong, I chose to forgive her.

Only because I'd made a promise to my mother on her deathbed, a promise to take care of her.

But now, I was starting to regret it.

I stared straight into Roberta's face, and I couldn't stop the question from coming out. "Why?"

Her tone was all innocence, and yet every word out of her mouth was dressed up as concern for me.

"Sis, the truth is, I'm the one who's been good to you."

"You've always been the quiet type. The institute work is dull and dreary, completely wrong for you. That's the only reason I took your spot and went instead."

"As for Rupert, at first I only wanted to help you test whether he really loved you. How was I supposed to know he'd fall so hard for me, that he'd refuse to marry anyone else?"

"And to make it up to you, didn't I introduce you to Owen, who's an even better match?"

"I just never expected that Owen would still be carrying a torch for me."

"When I think it all through, feelings like these just can't be forced in the end."

By the time she finished, somehow it had all become my fault.

I refused to let it go, and I pressed Owen too. "If you love her so much, why bother? Why go through with marrying me at all?"

His face curled with contempt, his voice careless. "If Roberta weren't already married."

"You think it would ever have been your turn to walk into the Delgado house?"

I said nothing for a long moment. I didn't argue anymore.

Once I'd calmed down, I raised my phone and spoke evenly. "A minute ago, I already dialed Rupert."

"Everything you've both just said, say it again, to his face."

"If he has no objection, then I have nothing left to say."

The color drained from Roberta's face. She bolted up off the bed and lunged to grab it.

In the struggle the phone slipped free and hit the floor, the screen going black.

She froze for a second, then, as if something had just come back to her, the corner of her mouth tipped up in triumph. "Forget it. You can't scare me."

"Back then, to keep things proper between you and Rupert, you didn't even come to our wedding."

"And he changed his number ages ago. You two don't talk at all. How could you even call him?"

With that, she melted softly into Owen's arms, like a fox that had gotten exactly what it wanted.

But she'd forgotten one thing. Ever since Rupert married her, he'd been added to the family group chat.

What I'd dialed just now was a group call.

The next second, fists slammed against the door hard enough to shake it, and Rupert's furious voice tore in from the hallway. "Roberta, get your clothes on and get out here!"

Roberta was frantic, like an ant on a hot pan.

But unless she planned to jump from the seventh floor, there was no way out.

Owen had run completely out of patience with me. He grabbed me hard and dragged me into the room.

Once he'd made sure no one outside could hear, he laid out his terms. "Everything you have now, Roberta gave to you. It's about time you learned to be grateful."

"In a minute you'll smooth it over. Tell them it was a joke."

"As long as you cover for Roberta, I'll double the engagement payout."

When I just kept my face cold and said nothing, he added, smug as ever, "Don't worry. Even if I don't love you, for Roberta's sake, since she's your cousin, I can throw you a turn now and then. Help me pass the time."

【Who knows, I might even let you have my child.】

At that, Roberta forgot all about Rupert outside the door.

Jealousy flashing across her face, she stepped up and clutched at Owen's sleeve, protesting under her breath.

【You're not allowed to sleep with her.】

The whole thing turned my stomach.

I lifted a hand and cut them off, refusing.

Because no matter what he offered this time, I wasn't going to swallow it again.

The moment the door opened, I laid it all bare in front of Rupert, every word of what had just happened.

Rupert's eyes blazed with fury, but Roberta was already a sobbing mess.

Even so, she threw herself into his arms with practiced ease and choked out:

【I only came today to light candles for Aunt, and Cousin Enya insisted on slandering me, said she'd teach me a lesson.】

【Maybe she still hates me for taking you from her back then, so she wants to tear us apart.】

Rupert didn't believe her right away. Instead he shoved her off and let out a cold laugh.

【Then what about what I just heard on the phone? Did I imagine that too?】

Before Roberta could answer, a figure moved to shield her.

【Rupert, this is my fault too. I've always covered for Enya, and I spoiled her into this.】

【She was sulking at me again today, so she faked a recording to lure you here, just to drive a wedge between you and your wife.】

Owen was a master of twisting words. Two flat sentences, and he'd smoothed the whole thing over.

I pointed at the rumpled mess on the bed, and the used protection littering the floor, and asked coldly:

【Then what about these? How do you talk your way out of these?】

Owen didn't hesitate for a second. He pulled me back into his arms and feigned affection.

【Enya, stop it. Aren't those from when you and I were just together?】

【Fine, throw your tantrum at me, but why drag Roberta into it?】

I pulled out of his arms on instinct and told Rupert not to believe their lies.

But one look at Roberta's tears, and Rupert softened.

He looked at me, his eyes wavering.

【I know Roberta's character better than anyone. She wouldn't betray me.】

【And your word alone doesn't prove anything.】

【Enya, do you have proof?】

His question stopped me cold.

I wanted to say there was a neighbor who could confirm every word.

But Owen held me locked against him and breathed a threat low enough for only the two of us to hear:

【If you want your father to live a few more years, shut your mouth.】

【Or that oxygen line of his might come loose one day. No one could say how.】

I shook with rage, and there was nothing I could do.

Dad was the only family I had left in this world. I didn't dare gamble his life on my pride.

And there's no reasoning with a man hell-bent on his own ruin.

If Rupert refused to believe me, nothing I said would change his mind.

In the end, under the weight of his accusing stare, I had no choice but to take the loss in silence.

【If you don't believe me, then I have nothing more to say.】

Seeing me back down, Roberta wept as though she'd suffered some terrible injustice, tears spilling without end.

Rupert coaxed her, and all the while shot me a venomous look.

Whatever faint guilt he'd once carried toward me vanished in that instant.

To win Roberta over completely, he didn't care who was watching. He spoke up for her outright:

【Enya, I used to feel I owed you.】

【But now I see, marrying Roberta instead was the best decision I ever made in my life.】

I opened my mouth to say something, then swallowed it back down.

Roberta pressed down the smugness in her eyes and put on a show of speaking up for me: