My Ex Became My Sister-in-Law

On the day Izabella Dobson learned she was two months pregnant, she was also diagnosed with terminal liver cancer.

Sitting in the taxi, the doctor's words echoed in her ears again. "Miss Dobson, your body is weaker than most. An abortion now would accelerate the cancer. You have only three months left. Why not go home and discuss chemotherapy with your family? You're still so young..."

Izabella folded the report and slipped it into a hidden compartment in her bag. She leaned back against the seat and let out a soft, bitter laugh.

How perfect. Only three months left.

The moment she opened the door to the villa, laughter drifted from the dining room.

She looked up and saw two extra people at the usually cold dinner table.

Izabella froze.

Over the past two years, Carson Gilbert had paraded countless women past her. He loved watching her flinch and flee while he held different beauties in his arms.

Then, in the room separated by only one wall, he spent entire nights lost in pleasure.

The breathless moans and cries tore through the silent nights like screams from hell, shredding her nerves.

But today marked the first time he brought a woman home to eat with the family.

She thought she had grown used to it, yet sharp pain still flooded her chest.

She hesitated, wondering if she should skip dinner and head straight upstairs, when the girl spotted her in the entryway. "Izzy, you're finally back! We've been waiting forever!"

Izabella's head snapped up. Only then did she realize the girl was her half-sister from her father's second marriage, Margaret Dobson.

How could Carson be with her...

Carson's mom, Madison Gilbert, shot her an impatient glare. "Do guests have to wait for you?"

Izabella shrank into her seat and spoke softly. "The medical report took longer than expected."

Carson sat directly across from her. She kept her head down. She looked even thinner than before, her small face almost buried in her bowl. "Why did you suddenly decide to get a checkup?"

Izabella paused mid-chew.

Margaret glanced subtly at Carson and smiled. "How were the results? Nothing uncomfortable, I hope?"

"Everything was fine."

Madison snorted. "Trouble lingers forever. What illness could she possibly have? She's tough as nails. She's the one who brings death to others."

Izabella's hand trembled around her fork. She bit her lip hard to hold back the flood of tears.

Two years earlier, she married Carson's older brother, Richard Gilbert, to bring him good luck during his illness. That very wedding night, Richard died from a sudden attack.

Since then, she became the cursed bringer of misfortune scorned by the entire Gilbert family. Insults and mockery had become daily routine for two years.

Yet she was the true victim in all of it.

Back in college, she and Carson had been deeply in love, already talking about marriage.

No one could have guessed that those marriage plans would mark the beginning of her life's misery.

Richard had always rivaled his younger brother. Anything Carson wanted, Richard took.

His fiancée was no exception.

Madison favored her eldest son. When Richard told her he liked Izabella too, she forced Izabella to marry him.

Izabella refused at first, but her father's company faced bankruptcy and desperately needed funds. When pleading failed to sway her, he threatened to stop paying for her mother's treatment if she did not agree.

In the year they loved each other most, Izabella broke up with Carson.

The proud man knelt in the pouring rain outside her dorm, begging over and over not to end things. He clutched her legs and asked what he had done wrong, promising he would change.

The storm lasted three days and nights. Carson knelt there the entire time until he collapsed with a high fever. Margaret, returning from class, found him and took him to the hospital.

Even delirious, Carson called Izabella's name. The nurses took pity and phoned her to visit.

All she said was, "If he dies, he deserves it."

From that moment, the lover became the enemy. Carson hated her completely.

Before she could pull herself from the memory, a piece of seasoned beef suddenly appeared in her bowl.

Margaret smiled brightly. "I made the crabs myself. Try it!"

Izabella frowned slightly. "No thanks. I'm allergic to crabs..."

"What's one bite going to do?" Carson cut in coldly. "Will it kill you?"

His eyes were icy, his gaze toward Izabella full of open mockery.

Izabella's breath caught.

Back in college, she once accidentally ate crabs and suffered a severe allergic reaction with a high fever in the night. Carson ran barefoot five miles through the streets carrying her on his back to the nearest hospital.

Memories always made a person fragile in an instant.

Izabella said nothing more. She picked up the beef and took a bite.

Madison smiled from the side. "By the way, no need for Margaret to stay at a hotel. We have plenty of rooms. Besides, you two are getting married soon. No need to be so formal!"

Carson instinctively glanced across the table.

Izabella kept her head down, focused on the beef as if she heard nothing.

Something uncomfortable twisted in his chest. He took Margaret's hand. "Perfect. Margaret's parents are coming to town tomorrow anyway. We can discuss the wedding date together and settle it soon."

Margaret blushed deeply and swatted Carson lightly. "Something that important, and you didn't tell me sooner?"

A wave of intense nausea surged through Izabella. She could not hold it back. She stood abruptly and pushed her bowl away.

"I'm full."

She did not even wait for Madison's outburst. She rushed to the bathroom. The moment she turned on the faucet, water mixed with blood from her mouth poured into the sink.

It took a while for the dizziness to fade. Izabella straightened slowly and cleaned the basin and the blood from her face.

When she looked up again, Carson's face appeared in the mirror. "What are you doing?"

Izabella's heart clenched. She kept her eyes down, afraid to meet Carson's gaze.

Her evasive, guilty look oddly pleased him. "You barely ate a bite before rushing off."

He stepped closer, leaving only a fist's distance between them. "What, jealous?"

Relief washed over her. At least he had not noticed the blood.

Izabella lifted her head and spoke calmly. "You misunderstood. How could a sister-in-law be jealous of her brother-in-law?"

She moved to step past him. The next moment, he grabbed her arm and slammed her against the wall.

Izabella struggled instinctively. "Carson, let me go..."

His hand clamped around her throat. He crushed his mouth against hers in a fierce kiss.

He kissed with urgency and hatred. Teeth clashed against teeth. He tangled his tongue with hers desperately, as if trying to steal every breath from her lungs.

His towering frame pinned her completely. No matter how hard she pushed, she could not budge him.

Izabella closed her eyes. Then she bit down hard.

"Hiss!" Their lips parted. A thin line of blood appeared at the corner of Carson's mouth.

He wiped it away with his thumb and raised an eyebrow at her. "Well now. You've learned to bite."

He leaned in closer. In her sudden panic, his voice turned colder than she had ever heard. "Why pretend, Izabella? It's not like we haven't slept together before. Last time you got drunk, you were plenty eager. Now you're playing the pure innocent?"

Izabella's breath caught.

This year, her birthday fell while Carson's parents traveled. Carson was away on business too. Izabella ordered a case of wine and drank steadily from day until night.

Numbed by alcohol, her mind grew hazy. She never imagined waking the next morning naked in Carson's arms.

Disgust and pain like never before nearly drowned her.

Even less did she expect that one reckless night would plant a seed inside her.

"Still reminiscing? Want me to help you relive it..."

As Carson leaned in again, a voice called from behind.

"Carson, where's your room? I want to see that ship model you told me about!" It was Margaret.

Izabella trembled, terrified he might do something reckless in front of Margaret. Fortunately, he straightened up. He took in Izabella's fearful expression and gave a cold laugh.

He turned, wrapped an arm around Margaret, and headed upstairs. "You like it that much? Then it's yours."

Margaret's voice rang with unmistakable delight. "Really? You're the best!"

From Izabella's angle, she clearly saw Margaret glance back and look deeply at her.

Izabella finally escaped Carson. She exhaled in relief, only to turn and find Madison Gilbert standing behind a nearby vase.

The older woman's gaze was dark and full of loathing.

Izabella shuddered and tried to explain. "Madison, I..."

"Get out and kneel!"

The garden held a long gravel path covered in sharp, jagged stones that could pierce skin and draw blood with the slightest misstep.

Whenever Madison grew displeased with Izabella, she ordered her to kneel there for an entire day.

Over two years, Izabella lost count of how many times.

She knelt skillfully now. Even the familiar sting of stones pressing through her thin pants into her flesh felt routine.

Perhaps mindful that Margaret remained in the house, Madison said little more. She only gave Izabella a cold sidelong glare. "Don't dream of what isn't yours! Get up when you know what you've done wrong!"

Izabella kept her head down. A sudden urge to laugh bubbled up inside her.

After her mother passed away, she had considered telling Carson everything.

By then, Carson had fully taken over the family empire. In just two years, he elevated it to new heights and became the most sought-after new powerhouse in the city of Ellis.

If news broke of his entanglement with his own sister-in-law, the humiliating scandal would destroy everything he built with his own hands.

Carson's future shone brightly. It had no room for a stain like her.

She knelt until deep into the night before Madison allowed her back inside.

The moment she tried to stand, pain shot through her legs. She pitched forward and crashed heavily onto the gravel path.

Sharp stones pierced her skin and opened countless tiny cuts. The agony made dark spots dance across her vision.

She drew a shaky breath. Then she pushed against the ground, struggled several times, and finally managed to stand. She staggered back to her room.

Only then did she notice her palms were a bloody mess. Turned-over flesh held countless tiny stones embedded within.

Izabella cleaned the wounds simply and climbed into bed, exhausted.

In her drifting consciousness, she dreamed of two years earlier.

Even after waking in the hospital, Carson refused to give up. He waited for her in places she frequented. He found endless ways to reach her. Though she hung up on him countless times, he still left messages on her social pages in the middle of the night.

Everything ended on the day she married Richard.

Carson discovered that his brother's bride was the woman he loved most.

Izabella could never forget that day. In the dressing room, Carson pinned her against the wall with a hand around her throat. His bloodshot eyes held no trace of reason. "Why? Why did it have to be my brother?"

Her heart shattered into pieces. Yet she forced a cold smile. "Because your parents like him more. Marrying him gives me a better chance to become the real lady of the Gilbert Group."

She knew his deepest wound all too well.

Carson was brilliant and proud, a favored son of heaven. His only pain came from parents who always preferred his frail older brother. They even had Carson only to provide umbilical cord blood for Richard's surgery.

As expected, her words made him slam his fist into the wall.

He stared at her deeply. "Izabella, a cold-blooded person like you doesn't deserve love at all."

Even in the dream, tears soaked her pillow until dawn.

Margaret's parents arrived that evening. Though Izabella shared a father with Margaret, she cut ties completely after he used her mother's life to force the marriage.

So when the two families discussed the wedding date after dinner, Izabella made an excuse and hid in the kitchen to clean up.

"Izzy, why are you hiding in the kitchen alone? It's such a big event. I wanted your opinion too." Margaret leaned against the doorway and watched her with a half-smile.

Izabella kept her head down, washing dishes, and pretended not to hear.

Suddenly, Margaret stepped forward and swept an entire stack of plates to the floor.

Shards exploded across the tiles in an instant.

Izabella stared at her in shock. "Are you insane?"

Margaret closed in until only a hand's breadth separated them. "I'm warning you. Don't dream of taking Carson back. He's mine! Your mother was a useless failure, and you're destined to lose to me every time!"

Izabella's eyes widened. She opened her mouth to retort, but Margaret shoved her shoulders and forced her down into the pile of shards.

"What happened?" The noise drew everyone from the front room. They gasped at the scene in the kitchen.

Before Izabella could react, Margaret burst into tears first. "I... I just wanted to ask sister to join us for the wedding talk. But she warned me not to get cocky. She said she's Carson's sister-in-law and the true lady of the Gilbert Group. She told me to watch myself once I marry in!"

She held up her scratched hand and sobbed pitifully. "I only wanted to get along peacefully. But she said she needed to teach me a lesson and pushed me... pushed me into the shards..."