When Lies Kissed Romance

The next morning, Victor was choosing his cufflinks in the walk-in closet when I said calmly, “I’ll join you for the banquet tonight.”

He paused and looked at me in the mirror with some surprise. Before long, however, he recovered and hid his reaction with his usual smile.

“Of course you can come with me. But there will be a lot of people, so let’s leave after handing over our present.”

I was curious to see what this banquet he had so carefully planned looked like. After all, this was my last time attending a party with him as his wife.

The estate was brightly lit, and everyone in our circle was there to congratulate Summer on her pregnancy as well as her takeover of the club.

I weaved through the crowd with a glass of champagne, listening to the praise and congratulations heaped upon Summer.

“Miss Summer, congratulations on taking over the club!”

“The new game you designed was genius! The club is sure to make waves throughout the city.”

Summer reveled in the praise, smiling smugly. When she saw me, she looked guilty for just a second before hiding her conscience away.

“Zoe,” she said softly, tilting her head. “Why do you look so pale? Are you still worried about the club? Don’t worry, I’m taking over now, so you should kick your feet back and rest.”

I ignored her, focusing on the presentation of the club’s new game on the screen. My steps froze, and my heart tightened in my chest.

It was my design. Every twist and mechanism contained the fruits of my creativity.

I had never announced this design to anyone. I had planned on reporting it to the Don at the family meeting next week, but now it had become Summer’s “genius plan”?

She looked at me with a smirk and suddenly leaned in, saying in a voice only I could hear, “Do you like my new game, Zoe? Don’t be too jealous when the Don praises me.”

My whole body trembled with rage as I stared at her smirk. Before I could say anything, however, she suddenly fell backward and held her stomach, her face twisted in pain.

“Ah! Zoe, how could you hit my stomach like that?” She wailed on the ground, attracting everyone’s attention.

“What happened?”

“Summer’s pregnant! How could you hit her stomach?”

“Someone call the ambulance!”

Amid the chaos, someone darted through the crowd to gently hold Summer in his arms. It was Victor.

He did not even look at me, saving all his worry and concern for the woman in his embrace. He comforted Summer, saying, “Are you okay?”

She said, “Victor, it hurts…”

Victor looked at me with nothing but cold disappointment and suppressed anger in his eyes.

“Zoe.” He called my name, but his cool tone hurt more than any amount of yelling. “If you’re upset, you could’ve saved it until we got home. How could you do something so evil to your sister in public?”

However, I barely heard him. I just stared at him and asked, “Tell me, Victor — How did she find out about the game I designed?”

He paused for a second before avoiding my gaze and feigning ignorance. “It was probably just a coincidence. After all, you’re sisters. It’s no surprise you had a similar idea.”

A coincidence? I kept all my design ideas on the computer in my study. He and I were the only ones who knew the password.

It was obvious. Someone had betrayed me.

I had prepared this game as a fifth anniversary wedding gift, to prove that I deserved my position as the future Don’s wife. Now, it had been stolen and used as a weapon against me.

I laughed until tears gathered in my eyes.

He finally noticed something was wrong with me. After handing Summer over to a doctor, he frowned and approached me somewhat frantically. “What’s the matter? Are you feeling unwell? There are too many people here. I’ll take you home to rest.”

I looked up and stopped laughing, saying calmly, “Sure.”

He seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. Still smiling, I continued, “But I don’t want to go home. Tomorrow’s my birthday, and I want to go for a hot-air balloon ride. I want to watch the sunrise with you.”