Chapter 1

Evelyn’s POV

I heaved a deep breath for the nth time as I folded my hands neatly in my lap and stared at the elaborate dinner that had since grown cold.

The dying candles I had lit cast long shadows against the dining walls, but they provided no warmth because in this house, silence was the only thing that felt real. I checked the clock on the wall. It was nearly midnight. This was the rhythm of the third year of my marriage. I was a slave, offered up for Charlie’s grief. Every night, I prepared a meal I knew he wouldn't appreciate, and every night, I waited for the man who viewed my existence as a very curse that I needed to be punished for.

I closed my eyes as my mind traveled back to the night my life truly ended. It was the night my miserable life truly began. Serena, my younger sister, had been gone for forty-eight hours, leaving behind nothing but an empty wheelchair and a house full of people who looked at me with accusing eyes. Charlie, Serena’s fiancé, had burst into my bedroom, drunk and furious with blazing eyes.

"She’s gone because of you," he had roared, his voice cracking with a pain that I had never seen before. He had grabbed my arm, his grip bruising my skin as he dragged me roughly toward the mirror. "Look at yourself, Evelyn. You have her face, her hair, her eyes. But you’re the one who ruined her. You’re the reason she can't walk, and now you’re the reason she’s vanished."

With a cry, I had looked at my parents who were standing by the doorway and begged silently for them to do something, but they only stared back with a cold indifference. They didn't stop him. They didn't tell him that Serena had always been the one to pull the strings. They didn’t tell him how Serena was actually the evil child. They let him force me into a marriage of atonement, a legal binding that was created specifically to break me.

Charlie had leaned close that night, his breath hot against my ear, and promised me that he would make my life a living hell as payment for her legs, the very legs I had been accused of taking but I never did. He had kept that promise every single day since. 

Even the nights he managed to make be intimate with me, he would moan Serena’s name while avioding my eyes. 

The sound of the front door slamming shut brought my mind back to the present and as I waited for him, I couldn’t help the pounding in my chest.

Charlie stepped into the dining room, looking as breathtakingly handsome as he was cruel. His chestnut hair was disheveled, and his blue eyes were clouded with the familiar anger that always filled them. He didn't look at the food, nor did he look at me. He simply walked to the sideboard and poured himself a glass of scotch, ignoring me totally.

"You’re late," I said, my voice barely a whisper.

Charlie paused, the glass halfway to his lips. Then, he turned slowly and his gaze raked over me like I was an insolent child.

"And yet, here you are. Still waiting and hoping for some delusion," he sneered before taking a long drink of his scotch. "Did you think that wearing your hair down would make me forget who you are? You can try to mimic her beauty all you want, Evelyn, but you will always be the black sheep. The girl who takes and destroys. But Serena has always been the opposite of you and need I remind you that she saved my life?"

I bit my lips hard as I tried to ignore his words. I had always worn my hair down before Serena started copying me, but he didn’t need to know that. "The dinner is cold, but I can heat it up for you, Charlie."

He let out a mocking laugh that strangely didn't have any warmth to it. "Do you truly believe I want anything prepared by your hands? Every time I look at you, I see the accident. I see Serena’s wasted youth and the legs she lost because of your jealousy. You are a constant reminder of everything I’ve lost and I hate you for it."

Seeing my silence, he took a step towards me, invading my personal space.

"You are only in this house because you look like her," he hissed, his eyes boring coldly into mine. "You are a placeholder and that’s what you will always be. You stay here to suffer because that is the only value you have left. Your parents were right about you. You were always the mistake they couldn't fix."

I shivered as his words washed over me while I resisted the urge to scream and tell him the truth. I wanted to tell him about the day at the lake many years ago when we were still kids, when the ice had cracked, and it was my small, frostbitten hands that had hauled him to safety while Serena watched from the shore, too scared to ruin her dress. I had been the one who saved him, yet, by some twisted fate, she was the one he worshipped.

I had so many things to say to him but like always, I swallowed them because I had learned years ago that Charlie didn't want the truth. He only wanted someone to project his anger on and I was the perfect target.

"Eat your cold dinner alone, Evelyn," he said, turning on his heel. "I have no appetite for the sight of your evil face tonight."

He strode out of the room without another word and as his footsteps faded away, I remained frozen in my seat, barely containing my emotions. When the first tear finally slipped, I quickly wiped it away, angry at myself. I would never let him know how much he hurts me, neither will I let him see my tears.

All I have ever done wrong was existing beside a sister that derived pleasure in seeing others suffer and from the moment we were kids until now, I was her perfect host and now, everyone believed I was the cause of her disappearance. Swallowing a sob, I stood up and began to clear the plates as I reassured myself I was going to be okay.