Chapter 001

Natalie Jackson:

It was Saturday evening, and I watched my husband laughing so hard with my elder sister, Amelia Jackson. What pains me more is seeing how well he gets along with her.

Franklin Howard has never laughed like this with me before, and here he was, laughing with my elder sister, "hahaha," so loud in the living room.

Amelia Jackson is my elder sister; we share the same father but have different mothers.

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

I have three older brothers: James, Asher, and Felix. They all dote on Amelia.

Amelia and I are the same age, but she is only a month older than me, so that makes her my elder sister.

We are both fair in complexion, but while she is tall, I am short and chubby.

Frank is a billionaire in this part of the city where we live, and he never liked me, his wife.

It was all a mistake that led to Frank and my marriage—a mistake that I also agreed to.

Taking you back to three years ago, my father and Frank's father were best friends. While my father had a business party at home, he invited a lot of tycoons.

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

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

We were forced to become a couple to hide the embarrassment since Frank's family was also disappointed. Everyone knew I was the illegitimate daughter of my father, and they wondered why my father had kept me instead of kicking me out and allowing Amelia to marry Frank.

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

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

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

Frank didn’t like me. After that night, we didn’t sleep with each other, and I didn’t conceive either, even though it was my first time.

We were living like neighbors who hated each other, and now that Amelia had graduated, Frank wanted to divorce me to marry her.

How shameless of a sister to want to date her younger sister's husband!

Amelia is so shameless.

Frank is five years older than me.

And as I’m 25 years old now, he’s 30.

I watched as Frank wore a white singlet that revealed his masculine abs, as he loves to go to the gym. He was fair in complexion, more handsome than any other man I had seen.

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

Frank is very tall. His arms are bigger, and likewise his thighs.

I am not up to Frank's chest; I’m a shorty. Although I have an hourglass shape, Frank doesn’t find me attractive in any way.

"How were your studies, Amy?" I heard Frank asking Amelia. He had switched from calling her Amelia to Amy, her abbreviated name.

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

We have no maid at home, simply because Frank mandated that I wouldn’t be going to work since I don’t have any meaningful certificates.

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

I wasn’t even allowed to sew, as Frank felt that it was a useless profession becoming a fashion designer.

He calls me ugly and says that I’m not fashionable.

He doesn’t like to take me out to hang out with his friends, nor does he give me money for upkeep.

I only managed to get money for my upkeep when he gives me money to restock the house with food. Only then do I manage to save some for my personal use.

"It was fine, Frankie," I hated it as Amelia and my husband were calling each other pet names.

This was my matrimonial home, and Frank only calls me, "Natalie!"

In short, he shouts my name with so much rage, like he doesn’t want to see me.

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

I was through preparing the delicious African delicacy of pounded yam and vegetable soup.

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

"Natalie! I am talking to you!" Frank shouted at me again.

"Hmm, no food for you both," I replied and covered the food that I had already served.

Firstly, I didn’t invite Amelia to my home, nor will I serve her any food. She should get out and return to our father's house and look for her own husband to call pet names with.

Frank immediately rose from the couch and dashed up to meet me.

"Where are you taking the tray of food? Have you lost your mind?" Frank dragged me as he approached me and collected the tray from my hand.

I looked at him irritably and at Amelia, who smiled and rolled her eyes, knowing her target. She wanted 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.

"Frank, you dragged me for what? I cooked this food, and you 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 I will apologize to you because of that. Come, Amy, don’t mind your sister. That's how silly she behaves," Frank called out for Amelia, and I watched as she seductively stood up from the couch in her brown dress that made her look like a model, accentuating her hips and bosom.

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

I knew Amelia was my sister and that I wasn’t supposed to be jealous, but Frank had never served me any food before, let alone the one I cooked myself.

Frank also saw that I didn’t serve any bowl of water, and he went to the kitchen by himself and brought a bowl of water for Amelia to wash her hands.

He sat across from Amelia, who was blushing and didn’t care to ask me to join them in eating.

"Frank!" I shouted and walked toward the plate of soup that I served for myself, as that was the portion that Frank had served for Amelia.

"What’s wrong with you, Natalie? Should we leave this food for you to eat? Come on, Amy, let’s go out to get something more palatable to eat," Frank said, standing up from the dining table, and I hated it whenever I suffered to cook and my husband would go out of our matrimonial home to eat.

"Frank!" I tried to stop him, and 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 what you've done to it."

I frowned as Frank’s words broke my heart. He quickly took the stairs in our duplex mansion and dashed upstairs to his bedroom.

Frank and I have 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 cussed at Amelia, and she hissed.

"Get out of my house!" I was enraged, remembering that Amelia and her brothers never liked me. They mostly maltreated me, and while I had thought that getting married would bring me happiness and my own family, this very same family that doesn’t want my happiness wouldn’t let me be.

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