[Are you satisfied with our night?]
[Of course, honey. You really know how to make a man happy.]
[Babe, cuz I love you. Please… don't marry my sister.]
[I can't. My parents already arranged it. I have to. Just one year. Then I'll divorce her. It's only a contract marriage, nothing more.]
[But what if she finds out?]
[Then good. It'll make things easier. I should've told her anyway. I don't even like her. She's just some lowlife, uneducated girl. Look at her. Covered from head to toe like some saint. What's so attractive about that? Not like you… you make me lose control.]
My fingers froze.
The screen light burned my eyes, but I couldn't look away.
Each message sat there. Ugly, cruel, and honest.
I read them again and again.
Until the words blurred and my chest started to ache like I'd swallowed glass.
His name glared from the top of the screen. Lev Halton.
The man I was supposed to get engaged to tonight.
The man my mother called a blessing.
The same man who smiled so sweetly when he showed the ring just hours ago.
Blessing?
No.
He was a curse dressed in expensive perfume.
My hand trembled as I pressed it against my lips, holding back the sound that wanted to escape. A sob, or maybe a scream. My knees felt weak. My heart felt like it had been kicked open.
He said he didn't like me.
He called me uneducated.
He said I looked boring, covered from head to toe.
I laughed. Quiet. Bitter. Shaky.
If only he knew... its not shame, It's... I knew what men's eyes were like.
I thought he'd be different.
That my modesty would mean something to him.
That being his fiancee meant something.
But now I knew… it was just a contract.
A transaction. And I was never the woman he wanted.
Tonight was supposed to be perfect.
The night I finally gave in to my mother's wish to marry the son of her old friend. A family that once saved her life, and she carried that debt like a chain.
She said he was a safe choice.
A stable future.
At least, that's what I told myself when I said yes.
But life, apparently, had other plans.
It handed me the truth like a slap across the face. Its cold and humiliating.
When I was waiting for him earlier, he went into the dressing room to change.
That's when his phone buzzed on the nightstand.
I didn't even know what made me reach for it. Maybe I just missed him. Maybe I wanted to see our old pictures. The ones we took before I left town five years ago.
Back then, I was uneducated. I just graduated from high school anyway. While he was almost finished with his bachelor degree.
So I worked hard, studied, and pushed myself. Because I wanted to make him proud and to become a woman worthy of standing by his side as his wife someday.
I told him I was leaving to take care of my grandmother because had to, but really, I was preparing a surprise.
I thought when I came back, he'd be waiting for me.
But he never once asked how I was.
Never wondered if I was lonely, or anything.
When I thought about it. I realized that it was because someone else had already taken my place.
I stared at the screen, my breath caught in my chest.
Her name was right there.
Lilith.
My sister.
Every line of their messages mocked me.
Every baby, every love, every heart emoji that used to be mine, now belonged to her.
I read the thread over and over, praying I'd misread something.
But no. It was real.
I sucked in a deep breath, but the air refused to enter my lungs. My heart shattered. Not just from betrayal, but from the death of everything I'd believed in.
I remembered how Lev used to smile at me. The kind of smile that made me think I was his only one. The way he whispered that I was the only woman he'd ever love.
All of it was a lie.
And as I stared at those messages, the truth sank in. Like poison, slow and merciless.
I was about to marry a man who already belonged to someone else.
My own sister.
The sound of laughter drifted from the next room. Soft, polite, rehearsed. Guests had started to arrive. My mother was probably greeting them, proud and radiant, while I stood frozen with a phone that didn't belong to me and a truth that could tear everything apart.
My hands were shaking so badly I almost dropped the phone as I took screenshots of every message and sent them to my number.
I set the phone down, facedown, as if that could bury the evidence. But the words were already carved somewhere deeper inside me.
I could hear his footsteps before I saw him.
Lev walked in, adjusting the cuffs of his shirt, his face calm and perfect.
The same face that used to make my heart stutter now made my stomach twist.
"Hey," he said softly as stepping closer. "You okay? You look pale."
I smiled. Or at least, something that tried to be a smile. "I'm fine."
He tilted his head. "You sure?"
My voice was steady, but my pulse wasn't. "Your phone buzzed earlier. I saw it."
His hands froze midair. For a second, panic flickered in his eyes, then vanished.
"Oh?" he said lightly. "Probably work. Nothing important."
"Really?"
I took a step closer, my eyes locked on his. "Because last time I checked, work doesn't call you baby."
The silence that followed was deafening.
He opened his mouth, then closed it again. "What the hell, Alayna. You had no right to check on my phone."
I laughed, low and hollow. "That's all you have to say? Not even a lie to make me feel better? I'm your future wife, why can't I see your phone?"
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Listen, it's complicated..."
"Complicated?" I cut him off. "You're cheating with my sister!"
"Alayna, that's not true."
"This is the proof!" I snapped, shoving the phone toward him. The screen glowed between us, the messages undeniable. Lilith's name, the words "I miss you, love" right beneath his reply.
Lev's jaw clenched. "Give that back!"
He reached for the phone, his voice rising, but I stepped back. "No. You don't get to hide it now."
"Alayna, stop!" He grabbed my wrist, trying to snatch it away.
"Let go!" I struggled, my fingers tightening around the device as his grip grew harsher.
And then, the door creaked. And there she was.
Lilith.
Her hair perfect, her lips painted red, her dress too elegant for someone who had just ruined her own sister's life.
She froze when she saw me holding Lev's phone.
Her face paled, then she forced a shaky smile. "Alayna, wait..."