Billionaire's Broken Trust

NATALIE.

At 6 p.m. on Saturday evening, I finished cooking dinner in the kitchen. I placed it on a tray and walked out of the kitchen to the dining room to serve it. However, I saw that my half-sister, Amelia Jackson, had arrived.

I watched my husband, Franklin Howard, laughing so hard with my sister in the living room.

What pained me the most was seeing how well he got along with her.

Franklin had never laughed like that with me before, yet here he was, laughing happily with my sister in the living room.

Amelia Jackson was my half-sister. We had the same father but different mothers.

My mother had been my father’s mistress, and because I was the unwanted child, my family didn’t like me.

I had three older brothers—James, Asher, and Felix—all of whom doted on Amelia.

Amelia and I were agemates, but she was only a month older than me, which made her my elder sister.

We were both fair in complexion, but while she was tall, I was short and chubby.

Franklin was a billionaire in the part of the city where we lived, and he never liked me, his wife.

It was a mistake that led to Franklin and me getting married—a mistake I should never have accepted.

Taking you back to three years ago, my father and Franklin’s father had been best friends. While my father was hosting a business party at home, he invited many tycoons.

One thing led to another, and Franklin and I were caught in my room.

I knew Amelia was the one who had set us up, but no one believed me. Even Franklin didn’t believe me. He thought I was the one who had drugged him and lured him to my room so that he would sleep with me.

Our parents forced us to become a couple to hide the embarrassment, as Franklin’s family was also disappointed.

Everyone knew I was my father’s illegitimate daughter, and they must have wondered why my father had kept me instead of kicking me out and allowing Amelia to marry Franklin.

It was after my wedding to Franklin that I discovered Amelia had a hidden crush on him. She regretted drugging my drink, as that was what I had served Franklin when he came to speak to me on that eventful night.

Many invitees had also come with their children, who were already adults, but none of them came to speak to me.

I was 22 years old then—naive, and caught in a compromising position on the bed with Franklin. We got married while Amelia wept, claiming that Franklin was supposed to be her husband.

Franklin didn’t like me. After that night, we never slept with each other, and I didn’t conceive, even though it had been my first time.

We lived like neighbours who hated each other, and now that Amelia had graduated, Franklin wanted to divorce me so he could marry her.

How shameless of a sister to want to date her younger sister’s husband?

Amelia was so shameless. Franklin was five years older than me. Since I was twenty-five years old, he was thirty.

I watched Franklin, who was wearing a white singlet that revealed his masculine abs, as he loved going to the gym. He was fair in complexion and more handsome than any other man I had ever seen.

His skin glittered like the sun, and I saw the way Amelia was fawning over him.

Franklin was very tall. His arms were big, and so were his thighs. I didn’t even reach his chest. To tell you the truth, I was a shorty, although I had an hourglass shape. Franklin didn’t find me attractive in any way.

“How were your studies, Amy?” I heard Franklin ask Amelia.

He had switched from calling her Amelia to Amy, her abbreviated name.

Amelia blushed as she picked up the glass cup that Franklin had refilled. I sat at the dining table, setting up our dinner.

We had no maid at home simply because Franklin had insisted that I wouldn’t go to work when I didn’t have any meaningful certificate.

As the illegitimate child of my parents, I hadn’t furthered my education. I had been forced by my stepmother to learn tailoring while Amelia went to the university and became a certified accountant.

I wasn’t even allowed to sew, because Franklin felt it was a useless profession compared to becoming a fashion designer.

Franklin called me ugly and said that I wasn’t fashionable. He didn’t like taking me out to hang out with his friends. Neither did he give me money for upkeep.

I only managed to get money for my upkeep when he gave me money to restock the house with foodstuffs. Only then could I save some money for my personal use.

“It was fine, Frankie,” Amelia said.

I hated that Amelia and my husband were calling each other pet names.

This was my matrimonial home, yet Franklin only called me by shouting, “Natalie!”

In short, he shouted my name with so much rage, as if he didn’t want to see me.

“Natalie! Is the dinner ready?” Franklin asked me as he settled across from Amelia on the next black couch in our exquisite living room.

I had finished preparing the delicious African delicacy of pounded yam and vegetable soup.

I looked at the food I had prepared, then at my husband and my half-sister.

“Natalie! I am talking to you!” Franklin shouted at me again.

“Hmm, there’s no food for you both,” I replied and covered the food I had already served.

Firstly, I hadn’t invited Amelia to my home. Neither would I serve her any food. She should get out, return to our father’s house, and look for her own husband to call pet names.

Franklin immediately rose from the couch and dashed over to me.

“Where are you taking the tray of food to? Have you lost your mind?” Franklin asked as he approached me. Then he slapped me, and collected the tray from my hand.

I looked at him irritably, then at Amelia, who smiled and rolled her eyes. I knew her target. She wanted to take my husband.

She had sent me a text message the previous month, telling me that she was coming back to collect everything I had stolen from her, including my husband.

“Franklin, why did you slap me?” I asked him, my left hand holding my cheek. “I cooked this food, and Amelia cannot eat it.”

“Why? Did I not give you the money you used to prepare the meal? Did you work for the money? Move away and get me a bowl of water to wash my hands. And don’t think that I will apologize to you because of the slap. Come, Amy. Don’t mind your sister. That’s how silly she behaves.”

Franklin called out to Amelia, and I watched as she seductively stood up from the black couch in her brown dress, which made her look like a model. The dress accentuated her hips and bosom.

Amelia walked up to the dining table, and I stood there watching as Franklin served her the delicious plate of pounded yam and vegetable soup that I had suffered to cook.

I knew Amelia was my sister, and I wasn’t supposed to be jealous. But Franklin had never served me any food before, not to mention food that I had cooked by myself.

Franklin also saw that I hadn’t brought any bowl of water, so he went to the kitchen by himself and brought one for Amelia to wash her hands.

Franklin sat across from Amelia, and she blushed without even asking me to join them in eating.

“Franklin!” I shouted and walked toward the plate of soup I had served for myself. It was the same portion that Franklin had served to Amelia.

“What’s wrong with you, Natalie? Should we leave this food for you to eat? Come, Amy. Let’s go out and get something more palatable to eat,” Franklin said, standing up from the dining table.

I hated it whenever I suffered to cook, only for my husband to go out of our matrimonial home to eat.

“Franklin!” I tried to stop him, but he warned me.

“Stay away from me, Natalie. Just go and eat your food since you don’t want your sister and me to eat it. Who knows if you have poisoned it?”

“What?” I gasped with a frown as Franklin's words broke my heart.

He quickly took the stairs in our living room and dashed upstairs to his bedroom.

Yes, Franklin and I had different bedrooms.

I looked back at Amelia and shouted at her, “You shameless slut! Aren’t you ashamed to be dating your sister’s husband? As beautiful as you are, you cannot use your beauty to look for your own husband!”

I cursed at Amelia, and she hissed.

“Get out of my house!” I yelled, enraged as I remembered that Amelia and her brothers had never liked me. They had mostly maltreated me, and I had thought that after getting married, I would have my own happiness and family.

Yet this very same family that didn’t want me to be happy wouldn’t let me be.

As I rushed to push Amelia out of the house, she fell down and pretended to be hurt.