My Sister’s Forbidden Love For My Fiancé Chapter 01

My Sister’s Forbidden Love For My Fiancé Chapter 01

Edmund Shaw was my childhood sweetheart, my almost-husband, and the boy I had spent fifteen years loving as fiercely as I fought him.

Whenever things got really ugly, my unhinged younger sister, Sadie Winslow, would barrel in to play peacemaker.

Her signature move? A hard, open-palm slap right across Edmund’s face.

“Yell at my sister one more time and see what happens?” she’d say, grinning like it was all a joke.

Edmund would just glare back, grinding his teeth.

I used to think she was defending me.

Then, three days before my wedding to Edmund, an anonymous video appeared on my phone.

In that footage, Edmund had Sadie pinned against a mirror. In the mirror, his eyes were red with emotion, his whole face barely holding together.

“Sadie,” he rasped, “do you want me dead?”

“Do you have any idea how much it hurts every time you call me ‘brother-in-law’?”

Sadie slapped him, but her tears fell first.

“If you leave, Rowena will die!”

“As long as my sister lives, you live.”

“And if she’s gone? I swear I’ll never forgive you. I mean it.”

The video cut out.

I stood frozen, my breath caught like someone’s hand was wrapped around my throat.

After a long moment, I dialed my wedding planner.

“Cancel the wedding.”

…

I’d barely hung up when the door lock clicked. Edmund walked in.

My eyes went straight to his collar—a faint smear of red on the inside.

The image of his bloodshot eyes from that video was still burned into my brain, and my stomach twisted.

“What’s that on your collar?”

“Funny, Sadie’s been using that same shade lately.”

His fingers paused for just a fraction of a second.

Then he loosened his tie, stepped past me, and walked to the fridge for water.

“Can you not overthink everything?” he said, filling a cup. “My location’s on your phone, isn’t it?”

Location shows where you’ve been, but it doesn’t show who you’re thinking about.

I watched him tilt his head back to drink, his Adam’s apple moving with each swallow.

After all these years, I knew every nervous tic he had.

His right thumb, rubbing back and forth against the glass—that was his tell. He was lying.

I used to look the other way.

I told myself it was just work, just playing the game.

We had fifteen years of history. At the end of the day, he always came home.

What I never expected was that he had kept the cleanest part of himself for someone else.

That someone was my sister.

I stood up, keeping my eyes down, my face calm.

“Edmund, I’m ending this.”

His hand froze mid-drink.

He set the cup down hard. Water sloshed across the table.

Shock hit him first, then his face darkened in an instant.

He crossed the room in two strides, grabbed my wrist, and shoved me back onto the couch.

“What’s the drama this time?”

“The dress? The venue? Tell me.”

“I’ve given you everything you’ve ever asked for.”

“Iceland for the photos. Custom rings. You wanted Antarctica for the honeymoon. Okay, I made it happen. What more do you want?”

He sounded like he was scolding a spoiled child—impatient, possessive, and certain I would give in.

I looked up at him from the couch, a dull weight settling in my chest.

There was a time when that kind of indulgence moved me.

The money, the time, I thought that was love.

Turns out, he just needed a reason to stay close to her.

I shoved him off and headed for the door.

He grabbed my arm, yanking me back so hard I stumbled.

Something cracked under my foot.

Porcelain shattered, and a sharp pain shot through my sole.

I gasped, my knees buckling.

Sadie came running in her pajamas, barefoot, and dropped to her knees at my feet.

“Rowena!”