Chapter 1

It was our third wedding anniversary.

I had spent the whole day preparing a candlelit dinner for David—dressing up, setting the table, even opening a bottle of his favorite wine.

Then, just as I was waiting for him, he called. His voice was tired. Apologetic.

“Baby, I’m sorry. Something urgent came up at the company. I have to go to a neighboring city for a business trip.”

I stood in front of the mirror, still fully dressed for him, staring at my reflection as disappointment quietly settled in.

Still, I forced a smile into my voice. “It’s okay. Work comes first. I’ll wait for you.”

After hanging up, I ended up alone in our empty villa. The TV went on. The World Cup final was playing.

The stadium roared with energy. The camera kept sweeping across the crowd.

And then, during stoppage time, I froze.

Because I saw a face I recognized immediately. David. The man who was supposed to be in another city.

And beside him, pressed tightly against his side, was my younger sister, Lily.

Before I could process it, the two of them kissed. On live television. In front of millions of viewers.

The camera held on them for five full seconds.

The world kept cheering, but everything inside me went silent.

No tears came. I simply picked up my phone and recorded the screen.

Then I called him.

“Baby? What’s wrong? I’m busy right now.”

His voice was still warm. Casual. In the background, the stadium roared—exactly like the TV.

“Busy watching the match?” I asked softly.

Silence.

A few seconds later, panic broke through his voice.

“Ruby, listen to me, it’s not what you think—”

I hung up. And sent the video to David, Lily, and both of our families.

Then I sat back down on the sofa and froze the TV on that frame—the kiss.

The villa felt colder than ever. The steak was untouched. The expensive wine sat unopened. Everything suddenly felt like a joke.

Less than half an hour later, the front door slammed open.

David and Lily rushed in.

Their faces turned pale the moment they saw me and the frozen image of their kiss on the screen.

“Ruby… baby… please listen—” David started.

I stepped aside. He reached for my hand. I avoided him.

He stumbled forward, panic written all over him.

“It’s a misunderstanding! Lily was drunk. I was just helping her, bad angle, that’s all—”

“David!”

Lily cut him off. She stopped panicking. Instead, she straightened up, and a look of defiance settled on her face.

“Since Ruby already saw it, there’s no point hiding it anymore.”

She walked to David’s side and linked her arm through his.

“We’re together.”

“And we have been—for a long time.”

David froze. He stared at Lily in disbelief, as if he hadn’t expected her to admit it so openly.

My chest tightened. I couldn't breathe. I stared at the absurd scene in front of me—my husband of years, my own sister standing beside him so intimately, as if an invisible hand was squeezing my heart.

And then I laughed. Until tears finally spilled out.

“Lily… you really did this to me?”

“I’m your sister.”

Lily lifted her chin, a smug, almost gleeful light in her eyes like she had been waiting years for this moment.

“It started the first year you married him,” she said.

“You really believed those business trips were actually business?” she went on, her voice sharp with amusement. “You really thought those limited-edition bags were something he went out of his way to get for you?”

“Ruby, you really are too innocent.”

“He spent more time with me than he ever did with you,” Lily continued. “And everything he gave me was better. More expensive. More thoughtful.”

Every word landed like a strike I couldn’t dodge. Slow. Precise. Cruel.

I turned to David. The man who once knelt in front of me, holding my hands like I was the only thing that mattered in the world, promising me forever.

“Is that true?” I asked quietly.

David’s lips trembled, a thin sheen of sweat breaking out across his forehead.

He couldn’t meet my eyes, just kept shaking his head over and over, as if denying it hard enough might make it untrue.

“No… no, that’s not—Ruby, don’t listen to her. She’s lying. She’s crazy.”

“Crazy?” Lily let out a soft, disbelieving laugh. She reached into her designer purse. And pulled out a set of keys. She let them dangle between her fingers, catching the light.

“Do you recognize these?”

My breath caught.

“These are the keys to David’s apartment in West City,” she said lightly. “He told me it had the best view. Perfect for stargazing.”

For a moment, I couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe.

That apartment… I had given it to him as a wedding gift.

I had thought it was our private little sanctuary, just the two of us, a place we could escape to and call our own.

I never imagined it had become the love nest where he and Lily carried on behind my back.

The marriage I thought was perfect. The sister I trusted more than anyone in the world.

Gone.

All at once.

The anniversary dinner I had spent days preparing suddenly felt like a cruel joke I had dressed up for.

Something inside me went very still. Not broken. Just… cold.

I stood up slowly.

I pointed toward the door. My voice came out steady. Final.

“Get out.”

A beat.

Then I added, quieter—but sharper than before:

“Both of you. Get out of my house.”