Emily's POV

I went back to the bathroom and closed the door behind me, hoping in vain that I could lock out the pain threatening to drown me. The sobs echoed off the tiles, raw and unrelenting.

I slid down against the cold wall, huddling on my knees as the truth came crashing down on me like a tidal wave. My husband, Nathan, was cheating on me with Rachel, of all people.

Rachel. My sister, but never really my sister. The girl my parent adored. She wasn't even biologically their own, but that never seemed to matter. She was the golden child, the first daughter, the cherished one.

They thought she'd been theirs until one day, while sick as a child, they ran tests at the hospital and discovered otherwise. Rachel wasn't their flesh and blood. I was. We were mistakenly exchanged at birth

They found me, living in poverty with my frail grandmother, they took me into their world in rich possessions and privilege but without love.

Rachel, from the moment I stepped into their lives, hated me because she believed I was the reason for some truth I had no hand in. I became the shadow of her light, the outsider in a family I was biologically tied to.

Nathan had been my refuge, my only family. I gave him everything my trust, my heart, my sacrifices. And now? He betrayed me.

I instinctively placed my hand on my abdomen. The life within me was supposed to draw us closer to a real family. Now, I wasn't even sure about telling him.

A knock came suddenly. I hurriedly washed my tear-streaked face and straightened up before opening the front door. Nathan was there, one of those bright smiles on his face, arms extending to pull me into a hug. I let him, though the contact made my skin crawl. He kissed me softly, the gesture feeling hollow for me.

"Hey again, what's up?" he asked. "I thought we were having dinner together tonight. The house looks... empty. So I assumed you were planning some surprise."

I had to force a smile and say, "I was, but I just didn't feel well enough to go.'"

Nathan frowned. "Not feeling well? What have you been doing that's exhausting for you?"

His words rummaged deeper, I bit the insides of my cheeks to keep the furious spark from spilling over.

I was tempted to scream in his face and tell him I was working, I was keeping us alive while he was pretending to be a corporate executive at his father's company. I was bringing home the paycheck and paying the bills of his favorite lifestyle.

But I said nothing and let the silence stretch. Nathan chuckled and shook his head. "Well, maybe it's for the best. You didn't have to plan anything. Get ready because we're heading out

"Where to? I asked

"To your family house. Rachel is back and they're giving her a welcome party." He replied plainly

I stiffened. "I'm not going."

"What? He laughed, the sound grating against my nerves. "What are you talking about? Of course, you're going. This isn't up for debate. If you want me to have a good birthday, you'll do this for me, besides your parent aren't going to be there, its just Rachel"

I wanted to scream at him, tell him to leave, never come back. But there was a foolish, desperate part of me that hung on to the ridiculous hope, that maybe if I tell him about the baby, he would change. Maybe he would stop his affair with my sister. So I nodded and retreated to get ready.

The moment we got to the mansion Nathan whispered into my ears low and grave. "Tonight, you don't embarrass me. You get your best behavior into check."

I swallowed the bile rising in my chest and nodded.

As soon as we entered the house, Rachel came running toward us with a big smile and open arms. "Emily! It's been ages!" She wrapped me in an involuntary embrace while the pronounced sweetness of her tone turned my insides.

"I missed you" she coos. "Why haven't you called me? Why haven't you come to visit me? After all, we are sisters!"

Sisters? I tightened up my smile as I cut her words painfully through my memory and then had flashback memories of how she used to mock me. Her sharp words cut deeper than the blades.

Nathan excused himself to meet his friends, now, I'm left with Rachel. That syrupy tone disappeared the moment he went out of her earshot.

"Nice dress," she said, then smiled, twisting it into a smirk. "Did your grandma lend it to you?"

"Don't even start, Rachel," I said softly. "No trouble."

"Trouble?" she discussed, feigning oblivion. "Oh, I just don't get how you're always so uptight. After all, you took everything from me."

"What? My parents love you. My brother worships you. How did I take anything from you?" I asked, my voice rising.

"Nathan," her eyes spark.

My heart sank. "Nathan?

"He was supposed to be mine," she hissed. "We were perfect together. But you just had to come in and ruin everything."

"Do you even know what he has been doing behind your back?" She confronted directly, urging questions rather soon. "All those nights he traveled on your anniversary, he wasn't out of the country. He was with me."

I glared at her, yet the room spun.

"Remember that lingerie he gifted you last year? Well, he made love to me while I wore it. Then he wrapped it up and gave it to you like some... afterthought."

At that moment something snapped deep inside me. My palm flew against her cheek with a collision that echoed through the room. The party froze, and all eyes turned toward us.

Emily's POV

I never meant to slap Rachel. The moment unfolded like a slow-motion nightmare, and yet I felt trapped within it, my heart pounding against my ribcage. Rachel's incessant nagging about family and their expectations, something inside me snapped.

"Emily! What's going on?" My husband, Nathan, rushed into the living room, his voice booming, eyes wide with shock.

The attention of everyone around us shifted to my face, a mixture of curiosity and concern mingling in the air.

"Why did you slap her?" he barked, his face a mask of disappointment. I felt the heat rise in my face, but I was too embarrassed to respond.

"I didn't mean to—" I stammered, my voice quiet against the chaos.

Rachel, ever the dramatist, let her mouth run wild. "What did I ever do to you? I only asked you to come see Mom and Dad! How can you abandon this family after all they've done for you?" Her words were sharp, like daggers aimed at the heart.

Nathan turned to me, his brow furrowed in disapproval. "What did Rachel ever do to deserve this?!"

Rachel seized the moment, pretending to spring her ankle as she dramatically collapsed onto the floor."Oh, my ankle!" she wailed. I rolled my eyes, but inside I felt a twist of frustration.

"Go get the first aid box!" Nathan commanded. "I will take Rachel to her room"

"I don't know where it is!" I replied, my tone more defensive than I intended. But truly I don't know where it's been kept.

"Check your room!" Rachel whispered, a smug smile playing on her lips.

My heart sank at the mention of my room. I hadn't been back in three years, not since I cut ties with this family—a family that had treated me like an outsider. I reluctantly trudged down the hallway, memories flooding back as I approached the door.

When I finally opened it, I was met with a sight that shattered whatever remnants of love I had for this place. My room, once a sanctuary, had been converted into a storage space, filled to the brim with trash and forgotten items.

The realization hit me hard: they didn't love me. I was just a burden they had shoved into a corner. I grabbed the first aid box, my heart heavy with sorrow and anger as I walked up to Rachel's too

And then I saw it, Rachel sprawled across Nathan's chest, feigning tears, and he was comforting her. The sight twisted my gut.

"What took you so long?" Nathan barked as I entered. I handed him the box, my hands trembling.

"Why don't you bring out the cream and rub her ankle?" I shot back, anger igniting a fire inside me.

Surprisingly he did as I said, he began to massage her ankle, and he turned to me, disappointment etched across his features. "Emily, you're being senseless. Rachel only cares about you. You should be grateful."

"Grateful?" I spat. "I'm not ungrateful! She's not my sister! She was adopted!"

"Shut your mouth!" he roared, his voice like thunder. Before I could respond, his hand flew out, landing hard against my cheek.

The world spun as I fell to the ground, blood spilling from my lips, my hands instinctively went to my stomach to protect my baby. The shock of his actions left me breathless. He was about to touch me but shifted with shock and fear.

I can't believe Nathan hit me because of my sister, after how much I sacrificed for him when he was ill. Fought so hard for him, even donating a kidney when he needed it.

I had sacrificed my happiness for this man, and now he stood over me, the embodiment of betrayal.

"Why did you do that?" Rachel whined, feigning innocence. "Emily didn't do anything wrong!"

He looked at me with a hint of guilt but he didn't apologize, instead, he said"You caused this, Emily. You should never have come here."

I didn't even get the time to process what he said before my pretender of a sister chipped in "I'm truly sorry for everything, Emily."

With that, she leaped up, running from the room in tears, and Nathan contemplated on whether to go after her or stay with me.

"Go back home, Emily. We'll talk later," he muttered and dashed after her.

The cause of shock in all this was that my husband had not shown me this indifference for the last three years, and this was the first time I saw the pretense. I now realize that the signs have been there all alone, I was just too on love to notice.

I stood from the floor, took the first aid box, and cleaned the blood on my lip.

Then I walked out of the house about to stop a taxi when I remembered I had forgotten my phone so I went running back into Rachel's room to collect it. I was about to pull the door open when I heard weird sounds, the door was slightly ajar, and so I peeped through it only to discover that it was my husband and sister having sex.

I stumbled backward In shock, I already knew my husband was cheating on me with my sister, but witnessing it firsthand was more heartbreaking.

I pulled out my wedding ring and threw it away before dashing out of my family house. I just had only one thought in my mind, my marriage was over.

Emily's POV

The city blurred past me, every streetlight remembered fleetingly one life of the existence I thought I was supposed to be having. I was going home, but it was more of a prison now than anything else.

The moment I unlocked the front door of our home, the whole weight of the world crumbled. I dropped my keys on the counter and suddenly collapsed to the floor to let my tears flow freely.

Memories washed my brain, over the years trying to mud myself as the perfect wife for a man who could not love me the way I deserved. I had changed my wardrobe, changed habits, and everything about me that he thought was unworthy.

I used to wear vibrant, flirty dresses that made me feel alive, but he said they were drawing too much attention. I usually wear them to try and please him, now I wear shabby outfits that again feel like a second skin, suffocating me.

Rachel, the one he seems to find irresistible now, wearing the same clothes I had thrown away. It is as though I threw away my identity for a man whom I am now being betrayed by with my sister, The point hit me directly to the heart.

I thought having a baby would finally complete our family, I was going to tell him tonight but after what I saw, I guess not.

I have made a decision, I picked up my phone and called my best friend, I could hardly even get words out through my sobs, but she would always understand me, my lifeline in these troubled waters.

"I have tried so hard in this marriage," I choked out, "but he is having an affair with my sister."

Her silence was deafening. I could sense, though I couldn't tell if it was a reaction to what she heard or the fact that my sister was also involved in the affair.

"For how long?" she asked finally, and I could only shake my head; it felt like everything was crumbling beneath my feet. "It's been ever since we got married," I sobbed, every word tearing at my throat like glass. I was done with this. "I want a divorce."

It almost felt like a relief having the words out, quickly overshadowed by its meaning. "But he won't allow me to go, because he is going to lose the most, His father offered to give him a 30 percent share of the company as long as he stays with me"

"You need to leave without him knowing," she suggested with a glimpse of hope in me.

"Is that even possible?"

"Yes, I can arrange it for you," she assured me, and just like that gratitude flooded me. I thanked her as my heart raced under the thoughts of freedom.

It was morning with a headache and waves of nausea. Think of breathing, of clarity. I stuffed a small bag with barely enough to escape without raising suspicions and headed to the kitchen to make lunch.

I heard the door crack open and automatically knew he was the one. The moment he entered, he stopped in his tracks. The table looked astonishingly well laid out, a royal feast spread on it. I had to do my best in acting, even while my heart cried out.

He expected fury, I was all apology. "I shouldn't have slapped Rachel," I said, amazing myself at my calmness.

Nathan's eyes opened wide, and I could see the play of confusion on his face. "I know but You have to apologize to Rachel, and everyone else,"

Nathan said, and I answered him, "No problem." I watched as Nathan relaxed, perhaps thinking I was finally going to obey his perfect wife image.

Breakfast was nearly enjoyable, especially when I presented Nathan with his birthday present. "I'll check it later," he said casually. Marking time presently on his way to the shower. His aroma wafted in the air, mixing with a faint trace of Rachel's perfume.

The moment he left my cell phone buzzed. It was from my best friend, Jane "Everything is settled. Just get ready for your flight." My heart fluttered as I even thought about leaving this life behind. I listened closely as she explained the entire detail, and nodded along.