Grace's POV
My legs buckled beneath me, the shock nearly sending me to the floor. I gripped the edge of the dresser, fighting to stay upright. No way in hell would I collapse in front of these two backstabbing pieces of shit.
Charles finally pulled his mouth away from Amara's—my sister's—chest and glanced back at me.
"Shit..." he muttered under his breath. He tried shoving Amara off his lap, but she pressed her full weight down on him and shoved his face back between her breasts.
She held him there while locking eyes with me, watching me sway on my feet. "You look ready to pass out, sis. You feeling alright?"
...
I couldn't force words past my lips, which only fueled Amara's sick game. "Relax a little. Charles already told me you two were cool with this arrangement. I'm just helping out while you're busting your ass at work."
Something inside me snapped. I squeezed the house key until it bit into my palm, then hurled it straight at Amara's forehead.
"Ow!"
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF HIM, YOU SLUT!" I charged toward them, grabbing a fistful of Amara's hair and ripping her away from him.
Amara tumbled backward, her skull smacking the floor. She wailed in pain, but I didn't give a damn about my sister's hurt feelings.
I raised my hand to slap my cheating bastard of a husband, but Charles snatched my wrist and shoved me back. "Just chill out. Let me explain."
"Explain what exactly? You're screwing around on me—with my own sister!" I screamed, my chest burning as I fought for air. Every muscle in my body wanted to tear the skin right off Charles's face.
"God, why are you being so dramatic, sis?" Amara whined, still massaging the back of her head.
"She's totally overreacting," Charles said like this was just another boring Friday night. "I'm simply swapping you out for your sister."
"Exactly. I'm doing you a solid, sis."
"What the hell—" Nausea rolled through my stomach. Were they seriously trying to mess with my head? How could these two act like getting caught cheating was no big deal?
"Oh really? I'm overreacting? Then spell out what you two were just doing. Go ahead!"
Charles let out a harsh laugh. "I'm banging your sister. Clear enough for you? But it's not cheating—I'm just asking for help since you're—"
"—unable to have kids," Amara finished his sentence. She climbed back onto Charles's lap right in front of me.
She did it so casually, like this was perfectly normal.
Like I was the insane one here!
"Charles mentioned he wants a baby, but you can't give him one because you're infertile. So I figured maybe I could step in," Amara flashed me a twisted smile. "I don't mind becoming a mom early. You'll take care of me and the baby anyway, right sis?"
I stood frozen, my brain struggling to process what was happening. I couldn't wrap my head around how my husband would betray me with my little sister—the same sister I'd spoiled rotten.
"Oh yeah, that's right," Charles chimed in. "Grace just got promoted, so she's making bank now! She can support all of us plus our baby, just like she always does. She's our personal ATM," he told Amara.
The truth stung like acid.
I was this family's meal ticket. I was the one grinding away at work to fund my lazy husband's gaming addiction and my recent graduate sister who couldn't land a job.
I was the one breaking my back for both of them without so much as a thank you...
And this was how they repaid me? Absolutely not!
I whipped my head toward Charles and exploded. "I sacrificed everything for you and your stupid dreams! I became the only income in this house so you could chase your worthless fantasy, and this is what I get back?!"
"Yeah, you owe me at least this much," Charles shot back with pure arrogance. "You can't give me kids, and I've been waiting five damn years. You've bombed as a wife and as a woman. Let's just make this an open marriage from now on—I'll screw your sister or anyone else I want, and you can do whatever. Easy enough, right?"
"Totally, it's an open thing now, sis," Amara added. "You just keep grinding at your job while I help your husband make his daddy dreams come true. Fair deal, don't you think?"
"Open marriage..." The words left me completely speechless.
I wanted to scream and beat them senseless for their betrayal. They should at least feel some shame for what they'd done.
But Charles and Amara acted like getting caught meant nothing. Charles had the nerve to declare we were in an open marriage without even asking me—hell, he shouldn't have even considered it possible!
"No way! You have ZERO right to pull this open marriage crap! You're both dead broke. You can't even buy toilet paper without my paycheck!"
"What? Just because you make money, you think you own me?" Charles scoffed. "Come on, you're just doing your job to make up for being barren. It's the least you can do."
"And what about you, you worthless piece of trash! What's the least I get from you besides a deadbeat husband dragging me down?!"
"Easy—you get me," Charles announced like he was God's gift to women. "I'm fit, good-looking, with a solid body and huge dick. I'm an actor who's gonna be famous someday."
"Plus, I've never laid a hand on you. I'm the complete package."
"He's totally right, sis," Amara said, resting her head on his chest. "Charles's gorgeous—he's always been hot, and I've had it bad for him since I was little. Meanwhile you—just look at yourself. You look like some boring office worker."
"Because I AM a working woman! Unlike you two useless wastes of space!" I cursed them both simultaneously. I wanted to douse them in gasoline and light a match so I could sleep peacefully and pretend I never had a husband or sister.
But I still had a shred of sanity left.
So I stepped back and made fists to control myself. "I don't want this open marriage bullshit, and I sure as hell don't care if my deadbeat husband cheats with my equally deadbeat sister. You two can screw each other in the gutter!"
"Get out now! Get the hell out of MY HOUSE!"
"Your house? This is OUR house. We're married, remember?" Charles reminded me, apparently thinking I'd lost my mind because I couldn't accept that he wanted more than just a walking credit card.
"Married? After all this? HA!" I snorted. "I'll have divorce papers delivered tomorrow. You two will learn exactly how worthless you are without me!"
"Divorce?!" Charles's eyes went wide. "You want to divorce me?"
"Did you seriously think I'd keep a useless cheating scumbag like you around? You're worth nothing to me!"
"Oh no, that's not good, sis," Amara pouted. She traced her finger along Charles's abs and murmured, "You can't divorce him. Don't you remember what you promised our dying mom?"
"That—" The promise hit me like a punch to the gut.
"Mmhmm, you told Mom you'd be a perfect wife to Charles. She's also counting on you having a baby soon because she wants a grandchild," Amara said. "You remember she has heart problems, right? What do you think will happen when she finds out you're divorcing Charles because he's cheating with me?"
"Yep, she'll drop dead," Amara sighed dramatically. "That's exactly why I'm okay sleeping with Charles. You need a baby to keep your word. Besides, it's an open marriage, right?"
All the blood drained from my face as the color left my cheeks. I'd gotten so furious that I'd forgotten about my mother and my promise.
"Also, don't forget our parents have been tight since we were kids," Charles reminded me. "Are you really gonna destroy the relationship between our families over something this small?"
"Don't be such a child, sis," Amara kept lecturing me. "I'm not trying to steal Charles. I'm just having sex with him and giving him a baby. Think of it like surrogacy. You can pay me—maybe a million bucks if you want to claim the baby as yours, and I'll happily hand it over."
"Oh, and our prenup. Remember how we split everything fifty-fifty even though only one of us works?" Charles smirked. "Well, looks like this place is still mine either way."
I had no fight left. It was two against one, and they kept hitting me with statements that shredded my heart and scrambled my thoughts.
I was still trying to process everything unfolding in front of me, and how these two were messing with my head, acting like what they were doing was trendy, something lots of people did, and I was the crazy one for not accepting this twisted concept.
"So, still planning to divorce me?" Charles asked with a vicious grin spreading across his face. "Think real hard about it, Grace."