Secret Billionaire’s Contract Bride: Marrying My Enemy’s Lover

Chapter 30

“This is your sister,” my father had declared one sunny afternoon. It had been a three-hour drive to get to the huge mansion that loomed behind him, his shadow falling over me and my mother.

The little girl clutching my father’s hand smiled brightly at me, wearing a pretty violet dress that probably cost more than my mom’s apartment.

“I’m Adelaide!” my new sister cried. With her bright eyes and sweet smile, I could almost believe that she was welcoming us, even that she was excited to see me.

But my mother’s nails digging into my palm reminded me of the truth.

“It’s their fault,” my mother would always say on nights when her glass bottles lined the floors. On days when she’d cry herself to sleep, calling out my father’s name between sobs.

When I meant nothing to her.

I always knew I had a sister. My mother never let me forget as she’d tell me the story over and over. How my father married the witch and left us with nothing.

It was their fault that my father could only visit us for a few minutes once a month. Their fault we had to live in an apartment that was falling apart. It was her fault I couldn’t wear a pretty dress like her but one my mom had fixed up from a donation box.

It was all Maelyn McNair’s fault. And her daughter.

Adelaide.

She was the reason I didn’t have a father to come home to. Why the other kids teased me about my clothes being mismatched, why I didn’t have pretty dresses and a garden full of flowers.

All the things that should’ve been mine were hers.

She had taken everything from me my entire life.

If the witch hadn’t died, we still would’ve been in that dirty place, outcasts despite being a daughter of the Hildebrands, too. And she dared to smile at me, like everything we went through wasn’t her fault.

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So that day, standing in front of my new house and my new sister, I made a silent vow.

I would take everything away from her. Just like she’d done to me. We’d see how she liked being the forgotten one. The outcast.

“–And the florist is arriving at eight in the morning with the centerpieces, but they wanted an extra fee to set them all up,” I complained loudly into the phone. “I know, it’s so unfair-”

My wet hair pulled up into a towel to dry and dressed only in a bathrobe, I looked more

what my mother had taught

the front door, and I paused from talking

as Ashton stumbled his way into

growled, crossing

his words. He moved toward me but lost his balance and grabbed my table to straighten himself up. The hair dryer crashed to the floor along with all of my makeup

this week you’ve been gone all night!” I shouted, getting to my feet and ignoring the destruction he’d just caused. “May I remind you that we

back onto the bed with

huffed. “I practically had to plan this wedding by myself!”

my money!” Ashton roared at me, his eyes bloodshot as he bared his teeth

For a moment, I thought he might hit me, but instead, he sighed, rubbing a hand

in the mood for this,” he said

Chapter 30

still in his

vanity. It was better to just let him sleep off the

good drunk. Not a nice drunk.

my hair dryer off

Even if I was taking everything from

that everything he said and

ignoring me anytime I tried to speak to him and leaving for long periods at night, without telling me where he’d been or why. I could barely say a word to him before he’d

treat him like the child he was. He was going to have to get himself together. I never imagined Damon was the best of the

I dried my hair, I glanced at the phone he’d left on the bed. He let out. a shuddering snore, curling, face-down in the

relationship meant nothing to either one. of us, after all. But I would

a braid. Even if we weren’t in a real relationship, my pride wouldn’t allow me

glanced at his phone once more.

opportunity was too

a sound with my bare feet on the carpet. I

glow, showcasing the

change it from the default.

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swiped up, however, the phone locked

my eyes, glancing over at the limp form of Ashton. What he didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him.

on the bed right side up, and softly pressed his thumb on the screen’s surface. He didn’t even stir,

now open, I snatched it up and began to scroll.