Chapter 3 The Woman Who Walked Out of His Bedroom

The woman still had her arms around Dean’s neck.

Dean pushed her away, his face darkening.

“Mia, why did you come downstairs?”

The moment I heard the name, I recognized her.

Mia was Dean’s biological sister.

She had always called me her future sister-in-law. Now she was wearing Dean’s shirt, and her lipstick was still on the corner of his mouth.

My stomach turned. For five years, she had called me her future sister-in-law while sleeping with her own brother. I had even bought her birthday gifts and treated her like family.

“You’re brother and sister,” I said.

Mia laughed.

Instead of backing away, she wrapped herself around Dean’s arm again.

“So what? We’ve been together for years.”

Then she kissed Dean again.

Dean didn’t move away. He put an arm around Mia and openly took her side.

Judith didn’t look surprised either. She simply walked over and closed the curtains, as if her only concern was that someone outside might see them.

After closing the curtains, she checked the front door. She didn’t care what her children had done. She only cared about keeping other people from finding out.

I asked, “You knew?”

Judith said, “Of course I knew. Mia is the woman Dean truly loves. You were only supposed to be the wife who stopped people from talking. As long as you behaved, all of us could have lived our lives.”

“So that’s why you wanted me to marry Dean?”

“Yes,” Dean said.

I looked at him. “You never intended to leave her, did you?”

“No.”

He finally admitted it.

“I was only marrying you to shut everyone up. All you had to do was play Mrs. Dean, and you never would have known.”

“Too bad she’s dying,” Mia said.

She walked over, picked up the engagement ring from the table, and slipped it onto her own finger.

“Now that the wedding is canceled, this ring has nothing to do with you.”

She deliberately held up her hand for me to see.

“You have a disease like that. You should leave quietly. Why are you still sitting here?”

I shot to my feet, knocking the chair over.

Mia flinched and hid behind Dean, but she was still smiling.

“What? You’re dying, and you still want to hit someone?”

I clenched my fists but didn’t touch her. I needed to let them say every cruel thing they had inside them.

Mia mistook my restraint for fear and became even more vicious.

She said I would grow weaker and weaker until I couldn’t even walk. Dean shouldn’t waste his time on someone who was about to die.

Dean stepped beside her.

“Mia’s right. You’ll swell up. You’ll be weak. You won’t be able to take care of me. You’ll only make me take care of you.”

“So you lied to me for five years?”

“At least I treated you well during those five years.”

Dean wiped Mia’s lipstick from the corner of his mouth with a tissue.

“If you hadn’t gotten sick, we could have kept pretending. Now you’re the one who’s become useless. You can’t blame me for that.”

Mia laughed immediately.

“Did you hear him? We’re not throwing you away. You’re simply no longer good enough to hold that place.”

Judith walked over too.

She told me that when the guests arrived, I had to tell everyone I had ended the engagement because of my illness. She also demanded that I promise never to reveal Dean and Mia’s secret.

“Why should I?” I asked.

“Because you’re going to die soon,” Judith said. “Dead people can’t take secrets with them. If you ever truly loved Dean, protect this family before you die. Don’t destroy my two children.”

Mia leaned against Dean’s chest.

“Don’t worry. After you die, I’ll take care of him for you.”

Dean lowered his head and kissed her hair.

They weren’t hiding anymore.

Mia sat on Dean’s lap. Dean held her in his arms. Judith stood nearby, ordering me to leave before the guests arrived.

In their eyes, I was already dying. No one would believe me, and no one would care what they had done to me.

My hands wouldn’t stop shaking. Not because I was afraid, but because I wanted to slap the reports across their faces right then. I held back. I wanted to hear how much worse they could become.

Dean looked at me and delivered his final blow. “You won’t live much longer anyway. Our secret will go into the grave with you.”

I waited until he finished before opening my purse.

Dean thought I was gathering my things and told me to hurry up and leave.

I didn’t move.

I took out his medical report, then my compatibility report, and placed them on the table one at a time.

Both reports were facedown.

I pressed my hand over them.

“Are you finished? Now let’s see who’s really dying.”