Chapter 1 Happy anniversary, wife.

Ava's POV

The door creaked open and the blood drained from my veins. Ethan was naked, slamming into not just any woman... but my step-sister.

"Ethan!" My voice mimicked the sound of a high mountain crumbling down, with raging thunder backing it up.

Pulling his hardened length out of her, he pushed his finger in and out of her before walking towards me with his dripping finger. He moved it towards my mouth and without thinking, my pale palm met his cheek with a force strong enough to turn his head to a whole new direction.

"Happy anniversary, wife," he chuckled at my despair while my step-sister, Ivana, only smirked in satisfaction when I held the wrap of the condom up.

"You couldn't even wait or leave our anniversary out of this, Ethan! How could you do this to me?!" I slapped his chest with blurry vision from my tears. Wasn't Ivana supposed to be tending to our father? Wasn't he planning a surprise? Haven't I done everything that I was supposed to do as a wife and as a woman crazily in love today and days before today? What then did I do to deserve this?!

"I'll suggest you take your filthy hands off of him," Ivana's cold and venomous voice stung me in my chest.

"He's my husband, how could you?" I spat, feeling like the earth should swallow her up already.

She just sat on the bed with her hands dancing and slowly caressing her bare body just to tick me off. I glanced over at Ethan at least to draw some sort of sympathy out of him, but his emotions towards me were as cold as ice, void as space and flat as a mirror.

"You wouldn't dare talk to her in that tone ever again, Ava," he sneered at me with disgust, crushing the part of my heart that's barely beating. "And I'm not your husband," he added with an intense gaze and clenched jaw. " I'm done with you, so get lost!"

Was it the hate in his eyes? The venom in my voice or the irritation that he exuded when he spoke to me? Everything made it clear that he was done? Everything made me question if it was truly the man I had grown to love.

I looked over to Ivana, trying hard to hold back the tears the second time, but it hurt. It hurt so bad that I felt their betrayal literally burning my skin, leaving my veins popping out and my complexion red.

"You will pay for this." I slammed the door in their faces and ran as fast as my feet could carry towards my car.

As long as I stayed within the premises, it became more difficult for me to breathe. It felt like the memory of them together drained down the air in my lungs and everything left for me to do was to run as fast I could.

Driving back to the company, I decided to stay for a while until I was a bit fit to go back home as my father would be worried sick if he got to see me like this. However, Ethan was fond of creating a romantic scene at my place of work during the past wedding anniversary. Now it was going to look strange if I walked into the company again on the day of my anniversary.

I stayed in my car, drowning in sorrow until there were no more tears to shed. My head ached as much as my heart did and when the noise began to fade, I smiled sadly hoping to finally get some peace. My phone rang for the second time today and my heart skipped one unlucky beat in anticipation of seeing Ethan's call hoping that maybe, he wanted to apologise. However, it was the nanny.

"I'm sorry I couldn't make it home quite early today, I-"

I was interrupted by an indistinctive whispering at first, then came a sniffing sound and finally an outburst.

"W-w-what's wrong?" I stammered, not ready for another bad news in one day.

Her fears spoke louder than whatever was going on in her mind, and the cryptic message her sobs sent made the hairs on my arms stand erect. My gaze was fixed in one direction and my grip against my phone tightened.

"Take it easy, okay?" I tried to soothe her across the distance. "Whatever that's happening, you have to at least try to speak," my own words were laced with the same uncertainty a diver has before he jumps from a cliff.

Seeing that she wasn't going to stop sobbing, I opted for a different approach with a fuzzy mind, but before I could ask anything, she had already spoken up.

"Please, Ma'am, I need you to come quickly to the hospital," her voice cracked.

Hospital...

Fear crippled my feet while my irresponsibility covered my mouth. Damn! How did I forget about my father's condition?!

"I-is everything okay? Is-" I swallowed, but there was nothing to go down my throat. I emptied my bag on the seat next to me while searching for both my car key and the right words. "A-are you alone there?"

"It's your father, Ava," her sobs continued. "Please be quick, I think you're the only one he wants to see now."