Amara woke up sprawled on the sofa, her head pounding, her throat dry. The faint scent of whiskey clung to her skin. She blinked against the soft morning light filtering through the curtains.
She didn't remember much from the night before, only fragments. Laughter that wasn't real, a familiar face, the clinking of glasses. But one thing was certain. She was done.
Dragging herself off the couch, Amara made her way to the bedroom. The moment the hot water hit her skin, tears mixed with it, silent, tired tears that carried away the last pieces of denial she'd been holding onto.
When she stepped out, she looked at herself in the mirror. Her reflection stared back, puffy-eyed, fragile, but strangely calm. For the first time in years, she felt certain about something.
She dressed simply, packed her bags with steady hands, no hesitation, no drama. Just the quiet resolve of a woman who'd finally reached her breaking point.
She was tired and wanted to take a break. She reached for her phone, ready to call her driver. But a notification flashed across the screen.
She opened it and froze.
It was a photo posted online. A seemingly random travel shot, Elara Langford smiling brightly, Seren beside her. And there, just behind them, barely visible, was Sebastian, his face half-hidden in the frame.
The caption read: "A perfect day with the people who mean the world to me."
Her stomach clenched. The world tilted for a second.
For the smart woman she'd always believed herself to be, Amara had never felt so utterly foolish. The signs had been there all along, she just refused to see them. Maybe she'd been too confident, too proud, too certain that her Sebastian would never betray her.
Her thumb hovered for a moment… then she tapped like.
The irony wasn't lost on her.
She set the phone down on the table, stared at it for a long moment, then hurled it onto the bed. It bounced off the sheets and hit the floor with a dull thud, the screen shattering like the last illusion she'd been clinging to.
Amara exhaled slowly, her eyes burning. "No more," she whispered to herself.
What a fool she had been. How could she have missed it? All the subtle signs, all the small inconsistencies, she had brushed them aside because love had made her blind.
Just then, her phone began to ring again, muffled under a pile of clothes. She dug through them and pulled it out, her chest tightening when she saw the caller ID.
Sebastian.
She hesitated, then answered. His face appeared on screen, flawless smile, perfect lighting, that same familiar charm that once melted her heart.
"Miss Langford and I were on a work trip," Sebastian began casually, "and we happened to pass by my mum's place, so we took Seren to Akasara's Top Family Restaurant."
Amara's lips curved into a faint, brittle smile. "Is that so?" she asked quietly.
"Yes, my love," he said smoothly. "The view here is beautiful. The three of us should come here next time."
There won't be a next time, Amara thought, the words echoing bitterly in her mind.
"Sweetie, I saw you liked Miss Langford's story just now," Sebastian added quickly, his voice tinged with guilt. "Don't misunderstand. I just wanted to take Seren out, that's all."
"Mrs. Creed, I shouldn't have posted that photo," Elara's voice chimed in softly as she leaned into the frame.
Amara's gaze hardened. Then she saw it, the golden bracelet gleaming on Elara's wrist. The same bracelet Sebastian had once promised was one of a kind, made only for her.
Her heart sank.
And then, as if the universe hadn't mocked her enough, Seren's little voice piped up.
"Mummy, please don't blame Miss Langford," the girl said, trying to cover Elara's wrist with her tiny hands. "I wanted a family meal and asked her to share it."
Amara's breath caught in her throat.
Even Seren knew.
Six years of raising her, loving her, protecting her, and all along, they had treated her like a fool.
Her composure snapped.
"Am I just a joke to you?" she shouted, her voice shaking with rage and grief. "Every single one of you makes me sick!"
Amara's grip on the phone tightened as her vision blurred with fury. Her voice trembled at first, but when she spoke, it was sharp, cutting, almost trembling with years of suppressed pain.
"How dare you, Sebastian?" she began, her tone shaking but fierce. "How dare you lie to me all these years? You made me your mistress, your damn mistress, and paraded me around like your wife while the real one was out there living your truth!"
Sebastian froze on the screen, eyes wide, mouth opening to speak, but Amara's rage didn't let him.
"How sick are you?" she spat, tears spilling down her cheeks. "How could you betray me like this after everything we went through? After everything I gave up for you?"
"Sweetie, please, listen,"
"Don't you sweetie me!" Amara snapped, her voice breaking. "If you had just told me the truth, we would have kept trying. Maybe… maybe I would have accepted the real you, the truth, the pain, all of it. But you lied, Sebastian. You built an entire life on deceit and called it love!"
Her words came faster now, every sentence heavier than the last.
"You disgusting fool! I can't even say I want a divorce because…" she choked on her own breath "because I'm not even your wife, am I? She is! Elara Langford, she's your wife!"
Sebastian's face tightened, his lips parting as if to explain, but Amara's anguish turned to something colder in clarity.
"So, what does that make me then?" she continued, her voice quiet but venomous. "The third wheel? The outsider? The charity case you kept around to ease your guilt?"
Tears streamed down her face now, hot and relentless. "Tell me, Sebastian, when you kissed me goodnight, did you think of her? When you held me, when you called me your queen, did you whisper the same words to her, too?"
"Amara… please, calm down—"
"Calm down?" she laughed bitterly through her tears. "You've stolen seven years of my life, Sebastian! Seven years of lies, and you expect me to calm down?"
She paused, trembling, her breathing uneven. Then, quietly, she said the words that broke her own heart:
"I was so blind. I thought we were soulmates. But you," she swallowed hard, her voice cracking, " you were just my biggest mistake."
"Sweetie," Sebastian said again, softer this time, reaching for her through the screen.