Claudia POV
"Mommy, will Daddy come back home in time?"
Aurora, my daughter, broke the silence between us as we drove through the road leading to my home. She was anxious because lately, my husband Miles had repeatedly broken promises about spending time with her, claiming he was busy with work.
"Of course, dear. It's your sixth birthday. Your father won't miss this for the world," I said confidently. "He will definitely be home by the time we finish setting up the cake!"
Aurora's eyes glimmered with hope as she looked at the princess-themed cake sitting in the backseat. It seemed like her wishes were granted, because as my car entered the driveway, I saw Miles' car already parked next to the porch.
"Ah? Daddy's home early!" Aurora exclaimed as she almost jumped out of her seat.
Her excitement was justified, since Miles rarely came home these days. She quickly unbuckled her own seatbelt and dashed towards the door, leaving me to carry her birthday cake. I expected to see her hurtle through the door and scream in delight for her father.
However, Aurora stood outside the open door, her little mouth falling open in shock. I could see tears slowly forming in her eyes.
"Aurora? What's wrong?" I asked worriedly, walking towards her while carefully carrying the birthday cake. But the moment I looked up, I knew why Aurora was stunned to tears.
Inside, I saw Miles playing with a girl who was about Aurora's age. She was playing with Aurora's Barbie doll, and she was even wearing the little tiara I bought for Aurora for her birthday.
"Mommy… who is she? Why is Daddy playing with her?" Aurora asked with a sob, and I didn't know what to say. I simply gawked at the pair of them like an idiot. The young girl had the same hair and eye colour as my husband. Was this a niece of his I haven't heard about?
Then, a new voice came from the stairs.
"Oh! You've returned, sis!"
I lifted my head instinctively, and my breath hitched seeing an awfully familiar woman standing at the top of the staircase.
My breath caught in my throat as I registered her wavy brown hair, and that confident, eerie smile.
This woman… This wretched spawn of the devil was none other than my half-sister, Clarissa Reed! The same woman who was the main cause of my suffering for the first eighteen years of my life, and the reason why I ran away from home right after graduating high school.
As she walked down, I noticed many familiar pieces of jewelry hanging off her neck and wrists, and I smelled a familiar scent. She was wearing my jewelry and my perfume like they were hers!
I gnashed my teeth in anger. "What are you doing here, you thief?!"
Clarissa flicked her wrist idly as she flaunted my own bracelet on her wrist right in front of my face, a mocking smile on her lips.
"The same reason you are here, dear sister - to celebrate my daughter's birthday with her baby daddy."
Clarissa turned towards Miles and the little girl who played with him and called her, "Come here, Lara. Why don't you introduce yourself to your half-sister?"
I glanced at Miles, who looked away immediately, feigning ignorance as the little girl in his arms slowly hopped off his lap and walked towards Clarissa.
As I got a better look at her, I knew my husband had an affair. Lara's resemblance to Miles was uncanny.
Both Lara and Miles had the same curly red hair, green eyes, and freckles. Unlike Aurora—who was practically a perfect copy of me—Lara was a perfect copy of Miles.
When Lara stood right next to Clarissa, she patted the girl's head and said, "Do you know that Lara is only a month older than Aurora? But she especially waited because she wanted to surprise Aurora and celebrate their birthdays together. Isn't she such a good sister?"
"Go and shake Aurora's hand, Lara. After all, we will start living in this house from now on, so you should play nice with your little sister."
"N-nice to meet you, Aurora. I'm Lara…" the little girl said sheepishly while extending her hand towards Aurora. My daughter stood there, stricken, her cheeks pale and wet with tears while her body trembled with shock. It must've been hard for her young mind to swallow such a bitter pill.
I didn't want to expose Aurora to their cruel theatrics any longer. With a shout, I smashed Aurora's birthday cake right in front of Clarissa, splattering her with icing. Lara and Aurora both gasped in shock, while Clarissa's smile froze on her face, before it twisted into something ugly.
I grabbed my daughter's hand without waiting for Clarissa to react. "Let's go back to your room, Aurora. Mommy will handle this."
I sidestepped Clarissa and her daughter while dragging Aurora to the second floor. My eyes accidentally met with Miles, but he still looked away, acting as if I wasn't there to begin with.
"I'll deal with you later, Miles Hoffman," I hissed before going upstairs with my daughter.
I planned to confront these two cheating bastards all by myself, without involving my daughter, but Clarissa had to follow me upstairs with her daughter. So I stopped right at the end of the stairs on the second floor and turned around, "Where do you want to go now, Clarissa? Don't you know the second floor of this house is MY master bedroom and my daughter's room?"
"Since someone smashed a cake all over me, I'm cleaning myself up in my master bedroom. After all, I'm going to be Mrs. Hoffman soon," Clarissa replied with a taunt. "This entire house will be mine, let alone one bedroom."
"You are utterly shameless! How can you be so proud of being the other woman!" I hurled back an insult at her, then saw Miles running upstairs and standing right behind Clarissa.
"The other woman?" Clarissa's lips twitched. "You stupid bitch. Do you think just because you married him first makes me 'the other woman'?"
"By law, that is technically what it means," I retorted with gritted teeth. "Did you return to my life just to ruin my marriage?"
"Hm~ didn't I tell you that Lara is a month older than Aurora?" Clarissa started with a wicked smile. "Miles and I have been together for more than seven years, dear sister. Do you really think that he can be satisfied with a woman that can't even keep her babies alive?"
She shot my abdomen with a derisive glance.
"C—Clarissa—" Miles finally tried to interfere. But Clarissa was like a loose gun that kept on firing at me with one hurtful fact after another.
"Even if you married him first, you are the other woman instead of me. I am the one he loves, while you're just a placeholder. He chose me, Claudia. Unlike you, whom he married out of convenience. You had a job, and you were willing to give him money - that he then gave to me!"
I gnashed my teeth. Before I could form a reply, Clarissa continued, "You should be thankful he chose you to be his walking bank account, since your infertile womb can't contribute to his dreams of having a big family and plenty of sons. Poor Miles… he really suffered pretending to be happily married to you. But he doesn't need to pretend anymore, now that I'm here. Who knows, I might already be pregnant!" Clarissa gave me a knowing smirk and patted her abdomen. "We've been doing it every night recently, right, Miles?
Miles didn't answer, but he didn't need to. I caught the guilty look on his face. My chest tightened and I found it hard to breathe. All those nights Miles claimed he was working overtime in the office were actually spent with Clarissa. I wanted nothing more than to claw off this bitch's face right here, right now.
But then, I looked down at my daughter and remembered that she shouldn't know how cruel a betrayal could be, especially at this age.
"I don't want to involve my girl in your sick scheme," I said while trying to pull my daughter back to her room. "We will settle this later."
Clarissa's smile widened until it reached ear to ear, "You've gotten smarter, Claudia. I do have a plan to make you pay for running away from home. But you're very wrong if you think I won't involve Aurora and Lara."
"What… what do you mean?" My heart skipped anxiously.
A chilling premonition crept over me.
"For my plan to work," Clarissa said lightly, "I need to push them—like this!"
She lunged forward and grabbed both Lara's and Aurora's arms. In one swift motion, she shoved both girls down the spiral staircase. I shrieked in panic, reaching out to grab them, but I was a split second too late. The girls fell, screaming with fear.
"Mommy—!"
"AURORA!"