Chapter 1

Natalie's POV

It was a Saturday evening, and I watched my husband laughing heartily with my older sister, Amelia Jackson. What hurt me the most was seeing how well he got along with her.

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

Amelia Jackson was my older sister, sharing the same father but having a different mother. My mother was my father's mistress, and as the unwanted child, my family didn't like me.

I had three older brothers, James, Asher, and Felix, who all doted on Amelia. Although we were the same age, Amelia was a month older than me, making her my elder sister.

We were both fair-skinned, but while she was tall, I was short and chubby. Frank was a billionaire in the part of the city where we lived, and he never liked me, his wife.

Our marriage was a mistake, one I shouldn't have accepted.

Three years ago, my father and Frank's father were best friends. During a business party at our home, where many tycoons were invited, 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 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, as Frank's family was also disappointed. Everyone knew I was the illegitimate daughter of my father, and they wondered why he kept me instead of letting me go.

After my wedding with Frank, I discovered Amelia had a hidden crush on him. She regretted drugging my drink, which I had served to Frank when he came to speak to me that night.

Many guests came with their adult children, but none spoke to me.

At 22 years old, naive, and caught in a compromising position with Frank, we got married while Amelia wept that Frank was supposed to be her husband.

Frank didn't like me. After that night, we never slept together, and I never conceived. Even though it was my first time.

We lived 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 now, he's 30.

I watched as Frank, wearing a white singlet, revealed his muscular abs. He loved to work out. He was fair-skinned and more handsome than any other man I had seen.

His skin glittered like the sun, and I saw how Amelia was drooling over him. Frank is very tall. His arms and thighs are big. I'm not even up to Frank's chest; to tell you, I'm short. Although I have an hourglass figure, Frank doesn't find me attractive at all.

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

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 because Frank mandated that I wouldn't work since I didn't have any meaningful qualifications.

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 it was a useless profession. He called me ugly and said I wasn't fashionable.

He didn't like to take me out with his friends or give me money for personal expenses.

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

"It was fine, Frankie." I hated how Amelia and my husband called each other pet names. This was my matrimonial home, and Frank only called me "Natalie!"

In short, he shouted my name with so much rage, like he didn't want to see me. "Natalie! Is the dinner ready?" he asked 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 and at my husband and half-sister.

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

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

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

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

"Where are you taking the tray of food to? Have you lost your mind?" Frank slapped me as he approached and took the tray from my hands.

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

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

"Frank, you slapped me because of what? I cooked this food, and you cannot eat it."

"Why? Didn't I 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 for the slap. Come, Amy, don't mind your sister. That's how silly she behaves," Frank called out to Amelia, and I watched as she seductively stood up from the couch in her brown dress that 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 Frank served her the delicious plate of pounded yam and vegetable soup that I had labored to cook.

I knew Amelia was my sister, and I wasn't supposed to be jealous. But Frank had never served me any food before, not to mention the one I cooked myself.

Frank also saw that I hadn't served a bowl of water and went to the kitchen himself to bring a bowl of water for Amelia to wash her hands.

He sat across from Amelia, who was blushing, not caring to ask me to join them in eating.

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

"What's wrong with you, Natalie? Should we leave this food for you to eat? Come, Amy, let's go out to get something more palatable to eat," Frank said, standing up from the dining table. I hated it whenever I labored to cook and my husband would have to 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 if you have poisoned 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 shared different bedrooms. "You shameless slut! Aren't you ashamed to be dating your sister's husband? As beautiful as you are, you can't use your beauty to find your own husband!" I cursed at Amelia, and she hissed.

"Get out of my house!" I was enraged, remembering that Amelia and her brothers never liked me. They mostly mistreated me, and I had thought that by getting married, I would have my own happiness and family. Yet 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.