Chapter 001

Natalie's POV

I finished cooking dinner in the kitchen on Saturday evening. I placed the food on a tray and carried it to the dining room. However, I saw my half-sister, Amelia Jackson, had arrived.

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

What pained me most was seeing how well he got along with her. Franklin had never laughed like this with me, yet here he was, laughing happily with my older sister.

Amelia Jackson was my half-sister. We shared the same father but different mothers. My mother was my father's mistress, and because I was the unwanted child, my family disliked me. I had three older brothers—James, Asher, and Felix—who all doted on Amelia.

Amelia and I were the same age, but she was only a month older, which made her my elder sister. We were both fair-skinned, but while she was tall, I was short and chubby.

Franklin was a billionaire in our part of the city, and he never liked me, his wife. Our marriage was a mistake I shouldn't have accepted.

Three years ago, my father and Franklin's father were best friends. My father hosted a business party at home and invited many tycoons. One thing led to another, and Franklin and I were caught in my room. I knew Amelia had set us up, but no one believed me—not even Franklin. He thought I drugged him and lured him to my room.

Our families forced us to marry to avoid embarrassment. Franklin's family was disappointed too. Everyone knew I was my father's illegitimate daughter, and they wondered why he kept me instead of kicking me out and letting Amelia marry Franklin.

After my wedding, I discovered Amelia had a hidden crush on Franklin. She regretted drugging my drink because that was what I had served Franklin when he came to speak to me that night. Many invited guests brought their adult children, but none spoke to me.

I was twenty-two then. Naive. After Franklin and I were caught in a compromising position on my bed, we married while Amelia wept that Franklin should have been her husband.

Franklin didn't like me. After that night, we never slept together, and I didn't conceive—even though it was my first time. We lived like neighbors who hated each other. Now that Amelia had graduated, Franklin wanted to divorce me to marry her.

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

Amelia was shameless. Franklin was five years older than me. I was twenty-five now, and he was thirty.

★

I watched Franklin wear a white singlet that revealed his masculine abs—he loved the gym. He was fair-skinned, more handsome than any man I'd seen. His skin glittered like the sun, and I saw Amelia ogling over him.

Franklin was very tall, with big arms and thighs. I barely reached his chest—I'm a shorty, though I had an hourglass shape.

Franklin didn't find me attractive.

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

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

We had no maid because Franklin mandated that I couldn't work since I lacked a meaningful certificate.

As the illegitimate child, I didn't further my education. My stepmother forced me to learn tailoring while Amelia attended university and became a certified accountant.

Franklin felt tailoring was useless and called me ugly. He said I wasn't fashionable. He never took me out with his friends or gave me money for upkeep. I only managed to save money when he gave me cash to restock the house with foodstuffs.

"It was fine, Frankie," Amelia replied. I hated how she and my husband called each other pet names. This was my matrimonial home, yet Franklin only called me "Natalie!"—he shouted my name with rage, as if he didn't want to see me.

"Natalie! Is dinner ready?" Franklin asked, settling across from Amelia on the black couch in our exquisite living room.

I had finished preparing pounded yam and vegetable soup—a delicious African delicacy. I looked at the food and then at my husband and half-sister.

"Natalie! I'm talking to you!" Franklin shouted again.

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

I hadn't invited Amelia to my home, and I wouldn't serve her any food. She should leave and return to our father's house to find her own husband to call pet names.

Franklin rose from the couch and dashed toward me. "Where are you taking that tray? Have you lost your mind?" He slapped me and snatched the tray from my hands.

I looked at him irritably and at Amelia, who smiled and rolled her eyes. I knew her target—she wanted my husband. She had texted me the previous month, saying she was returning to take everything she claimed I'd stolen from her, including my husband.

"Franklin, you slapped me because of what? I cooked this food, and you can't eat it," I said, tears welling in my eyes.

"Why? Didn't I give you the money to prepare the meal? Did you work for it? Move away and get me a bowl of water to wash my hands. Don't think I'll apologize for that slap. Come, Amy, don't mind your sister. That's how silly she behaves." Franklin called Amelia, and I watched her seductively rise from the couch in her brown dress that hugged her hips and bosom, making her look like a model.

Amelia walked to the dining table while Franklin served her the pounded yam and vegetable soup I had suffered to cook.

I knew Amelia was my sister, but Franklin had never served me food before—not even the meal I cooked myself.

When I didn't serve the water, Franklin went to the kitchen and brought a bowl for Amelia to wash her hands. He sat across from her, and she blushed, not caring to invite me to join them.

"Franklin!" I shouted and walked toward my portion of soup—the same plate Frank had served Amelia.

"What's wrong with you, Natalie? Should we leave this food for you? Come, Amy, let's go out and get something more palatable to eat." Franklin stood from the table.

I hated when my husband left our home to eat after I had suffered to cook.

"Franklin!" I tried to stop him.

He warned, "Stay away from me, Natalie. Just go eat your food since you don't want your sister and me to eat it. Who knows if you poisoned it."

"What?" I frowned, Franklin's words broke my heart. He quickly took the stairs to his bedroom in our duplex mansion.

Yes, Franklin and I had separate bedrooms. I turned to Amelia and shouted, "You shameless slut! Aren't you ashamed to date your sister's husband? You're beautiful—use your beauty to find your own husband!" I cussed at her, and she hissed.

"Get out of my house!" Rage consumed me as I remembered how Amelia and my brothers had always maltreated me. I thought getting married would bring my own happiness and family, yet this same family wouldn't let me be.

I rushed to push Amelia out, but she fell and pretended to be hurt.