His Brother's Wife, My Parents' Grave

On the day of the yacht party, my parents, the founders of a luxury brand, died mysteriously.

Not long after, my fiancé, Julian, broke off our engagement and married the socialite Sienna instead.

While I was still reeling from the double blow, Julian's brother, Caleb, proposed to me.

He promised to leverage the full power of his corporation to find the person responsible for my parents' deaths.

For the sake of revenge, and to protect the core team my father had left behind, I married him, folding my father's company into the Blackwood Group.

Seven years passed. The killer was never found. Justice was never served.

It wasn't until today, when I accidentally overheard a conversation between Caleb and his chief assistant outside his study, that I learned the truth. Someone had seen Sienna on the yacht, at the scene where my parents had died.

But Caleb had silenced that witness. He terminated the investigation, convinced that Sienna was innocent—that her presence was merely a coincidence.

And yet, in a photo taken just before my mother died, she was clutching one of Sienna's custom-made cufflinks.

This wasn't justice. It was a meticulously planned cover-up. My seven-year marriage was built on a monumental lie, all to protect the true culprit.

This time, I would take my revenge.

Alone.

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1

"Caleb, Sienna is all over the yacht's surveillance footage. This is the leverage we need. If we use it against Julian, he'll drop out of the CEO race, no question. Why are you looking for a workaround?"

Chief Assistant Marcus's voice cut through the quiet study, his frame blocking the half-open doorway, obscuring my view of the man at the desk.

I was eavesdropping through the crack in the door, and his words made me freeze.

Then, my husband of seven years spoke the words that stopped my heart.

"No. I will never harm Sienna for the CEO position."

"We've known each other since we were children. I know her—she's too kind, too naive. She could never do something like that."

"Besides, if she hadn't accepted my brother's proposal, do you really think I would've married Aria, the daughter of a ruined house?"

I stood frozen outside the door, listening to the husband who had promised me a marriage of convenience heap praise on another woman.

A bitter laugh escaped my lips as the memories crashed over me.

On the day of my wedding to Caleb, his family's warmth and blessings made me lower my guard. I brought my father's team with me to the Blackwood Group, thinking I had found a new sanctuary.

The next day, however, I was met with the cold, distant gazes of the Blackwood family and the silent scrutiny of the entire corporation.

For my team, and for the chance to find my parents' killer, I endured every slight.

But all I got in return was Caleb's betrayal.

For seven years, I'd poured my soul into the group's luxury line, concocting one sensational perfume after another. I never stopped to ask if I was burning myself out. And for what?

This. This betrayal.

I glanced coldly at the two men in the room and retreated in silence, the last of my warmth bleeding from my eyes.

I tuned out the rest of their conversation. My hands clenched into fists, a single word echoing in my mind: Evidence.

In seven years of marriage, I had barely set foot in Caleb's study.

I never would have imagined that the answer I had been desperately seeking for seven years was hidden right here, right under my nose.