Ninety-Nine Letters, A Thousand Lies

On our third anniversary, I found ninety-nine love letters my husband wrote.

None of them were for me.

They were for Kennedy, the woman who stole my award-winning design years ago, the woman he swore he was over.

His letters spoke of a soul-deep connection, a passion I'd only ever dreamed of.

Then, my best friend called from the airport. She saw him there, with Kennedy, locked in a Hollywood-style embrace.

He wasn't just cheating. This was a long-con.

He'd married me to silence me, using my DNA to help Kennedy fraudulently claim the inheritance of the powerful Olsen family-an inheritance that was rightfully mine.

He canceled my credit cards, renounced his citizenship, and secretly married her in France, all while I played the part of the loving wife.

When I tried to fight back, he had me drugged, imprisoned, and nearly drowned, all to protect his precious Kennedy.

He thought he had erased me, a mere footnote in their grand story.

But he made one fatal mistake.

He didn't know I was the real Olsen heiress.

And I was coming back to claim everything he stole.

Chapter 1

Aubrey Burris POV:

The ninety-nine love letters weren't tucked away in some forgotten drawer.

They were right there.

Stacked neatly on Cooper' s side of the nightstand.

Beside our wedding photo.

It was our third anniversary.

The air in our bedroom, usually a sanctuary, suddenly felt like a freezer door had been left open. Chilling me to the bone.

Each envelope was thick, old-fashioned, sealed with a wax stamp. A careful, almost reverent touch that made my stomach churn.

I picked up the top letter.

My fingers trembled. The elegant script, so familiar from Cooper' s early, more romantic notes to me, now felt alien. A language I suddenly couldn' t understand. The first line blurred.

"My dearest Kennedy..."

Kennedy.

The name hit me like a physical blow. It was a name that had haunted me for years. A ghost in the periphery of my life. Always just out of reach, yet always present.

The woman who stole my winning design. My chance at that international scholarship. Years ago.

The woman Cooper had supposedly long moved on from.

I fumbled with the letter. Tearing the wax seal open in my haste. The scent of old paper and something faintly floral wafted up. Something that wasn't my scent.

Cooper' s words, painstakingly crafted, poured out onto the page.

He wrote about her "unrivaled brilliance," her "vision that reshaped his world," and a "connection that defied explanation."

It was a stark contrast to the functional texts he sent me. The terse emails.

Pick up dry cleaning.

Dinner at 7. My breath hitched. He had written these words with a passion I' d only ever dreamed of. A devotion that felt like an open wound in my own heart.

He described details of their shared dreams. Their future plans. Plans that sounded eerily like the ones we' d discussed. The life we were building.

My mind raced. Trying to reconcile the man who wrote these fervent declarations with the husband who kissed me goodnight. Often with a distant look in his eyes.

My heart shattered.

Piece by agonizing piece. Dissolving into a cold, hollow ache in my chest. Each word was a tiny shard. Piercing deeper. Twisting within me.

The elegant calligraphy now seemed sinister. A testament to a love that was never mine.

I felt a wave of nausea. A dizzying sense of displacement. My elegant wedding dress, hanging pristine in the closet, suddenly felt like a cruel joke. Our anniversary dinner, planned for a fancy downtown restaurant, tasted like ash in my mouth before I' d even left the house.

This wasn't just a clandestine affair. This was a love so profound. So deeply etched into his being. It felt like an insult to my very existence.

He was describing my husband. The man I loved. To another woman.

He spoke of her as his muse, his destiny.

"You are the architecture of my soul, Kennedy," one line read. "Every structure I build, every dream I pursue, begins and ends with you."

The bitter irony was a punch to the gut.

I specialized in architectural translation. Translating the visions of others into tangible plans. And here I was. Translating the reality of my own crumbling marriage. Word by agonizing word.

It was all a cruel, elaborate lie.

The rage simmered beneath the surface of my despair. How could he? How could we?

My phone buzzed against the bedside table. A jarring intrusion into my private hell.

It was Jonna. My best friend.

I took a deep, shaky breath. Trying to compose myself. Jonna had no filter. But she was fiercely loyal. She wouldn't mince words if I told her. But I couldn't bring myself to speak.

"Aubrey? Happy anniversary, girl!" Jonna's voice, usually a bright, energetic burst, sounded strained. "Listen, I just saw something. I... I think you need to see this."

There was a pause. A hesitant uncertainty in her tone that was rare for Jonna.

"What is it, Jonna? I... I can't really talk right now," I managed. My voice thin and reedy.

"No, you have to. It's Cooper. At the airport." Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "He's hugging Kennedy. Like, a full-on, Hollywood movie, swept-off-her-feet embrace. She just got off a flight."

The blood drained from my face. My hand tightened around the letter. It felt like the universe was conspiring to twist the knife deeper.

Not just letters. But a public display. On our anniversary.

"What?" I whispered. The single word a mere breath.

"Yeah. And she's got this smug look on her face. Like she just won the lottery. Cooper... he looks absolutely smitten, Aubrey. Like he's found a long-lost treasure." Jonna's voice was sharp with disbelief and growing anger. "He's practically beaming. They're heading towards the car now."

A cold, hard knot formed in my stomach. The letters. The airport embrace. It was all real. It was all happening.

"Jonna, you need to go," I said. A sudden urgency in my voice. "Don't confront them. Just... go."

But Jonna, true to form, ignored me. "No way. I'm a journalist, remember? This is a story, and I'm not letting them get away with it."

I heard distant murmurs. Then Jonna's voice, loud and clear. "Cooper Mcknight! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

My heart leaped into my throat. No, Jonna, no!

A brief silence. Then Cooper's voice. Colder than I had ever heard it. "Jonna. I don't know what you think you're seeing, but this is none of your business."

"None of my business? That's Aubrey's husband you're pawing at, Kennedy! And on their anniversary, no less!" Jonna spat. Venom dripping from her words.

Then Kennedy's voice. Sweet and deceptively fragile. "Jonna, please. You're making a scene. Cooper and I are just... catching up."

"Catching up? You look like you're about to make out in the arrivals hall!" Jonna retorted.

"Jonna, I suggest you back off," Cooper warned. His tone dangerously low. "You wouldn't want your... private life becoming front-page news, would you? Some of those pictures you posted in college were quite revealing."

My gasp was lost in the phone. A choked sound of horror. He wouldn't. He couldn't. Jonna was fiercely private about her past.

"You bastard! You wouldn't dare!" Jonna yelled. Her voice trembling now.

"Try me," Cooper said. His voice flat, devoid of emotion. "Now, if you'll excuse us. Kennedy and I have plans."

I heard Jonna's choked sob. Then a sniffle. "Aubrey... I'm so sorry. I... I should have listened. He's a monster."

"Jonna, get out of there. Please. Now." My voice was firm. Despite the tremor in my hands. "Go home. I'll call you." He was capable of anything. I knew it now.

"But Aubrey, he can't get away with this! He's humiliating you!" Her voice was thick with tears.

"I know," I said. My gaze falling back to the stack of letters. "Just... let me handle this. Go."

I hung up. The silence deafening.

The truth hit me with the force of a tidal wave. Drowning me in pain and a terrifying clarity.

Cooper hadn' t loved me.He had used me.

His proposal. Our entire marriage. Had been a calculated ploy. He had married me to silence me. To prevent me from exposing Kennedy's plagiarism years ago. To keep her safe.

And his "punishment" for Kennedy? Secretly funding her education at a top European design school. A twisted act of devotion that solidified her supposed victimhood.

The man I married was a ghost. A mirage. He was a shell. Animated only by his obsession with Kennedy.

Every touch. Every word. Every shared dream-all of it was a performance. A grand deception orchestrated to protect his beloved.

The humiliation was a raw, burning sensation. Stripping away every ounce of dignity I thought I possessed.

The house, once a symbol of our shared life, now felt like a stage set for a play I never auditioned for.

Cooper' s relentless "home improvement" projects over the past few weeks, which I'd dismissed as his sudden interest in interior design, now made sickening sense. He' d systematically replaced all our furniture with sleek, minimalist pieces. Explaining it as a move towards a "more modern aesthetic."

It wasn' t for me.

It was for Kennedy. Her preferred style. Her taste.

Erasing my presence. Piece by piece. Before she even arrived.

My hands clenched. The love letters crinkling in my grasp. This wasn't just about a stolen design or a broken heart. This was about a calculated, systematic erasure of my identity.

A DNA sample he' d coaxed from me under false pretenses – a medical "precaution" before starting a family, he' d claimed – now flashed like a red warning sign.

He wasn' t just protecting Kennedy; he was building her a new life. Brick by fraudulent brick.

A sharp ping sounded from my phone. It was an alert from my bank. "Credit card declined."

My stomach dropped. I tried again. Declined. Panic tightened its grip. My credit card. Canceled?

Just as I was reeling from that, another notification popped up on my phone.

An anonymous news alert.

Tech CEO Cooper Mcknight Renounces US Citizenship for French Marriage to Heiress Kennedy Patel.

Heiress? Kennedy Patel?

My blood ran cold. The pieces clicked into place with horrifying precision.

He needed my DNA. To help Kennedy fraudulently claim the identity of the long-lost heiress to the powerful, media-shy Olsen family.

The Olsen family.

The name echoed in my mind. A distant, almost mythical entity in the world of architectural translation. Whispered about in hushed tones for their reclusive nature and immense influence. They were the very family I had been trying to connect with for months for my next big contract. A contract Cooper had supposedly been helping me secure.

I was not just betrayed. I was an unwitting pawn in a grand, twisted scheme.

He hadn' t just stolen my career and my husband; he was attempting to steal my very identity. My potential future. And graft it onto hers. The terror was overwhelming.

But underneath it, a cold, hard resolve began to form. They hadn't just broken me; they had awakened something fierce and unyielding.

I gripped the phone. Pushing past the terror. My mind, usually focused on the subtle nuances of architectural blueprints, now mapped out a different kind of plan.

There was a contact I had. Buried deep in my professional network. A distant relative of the Olsen family who handled their European branch. It was a long shot. A desperate gamble.

But I had nothing left to lose.

I would accept that overseas position. File for divorce. And contact the Olsen family to expose the fraud.

Cooper and Kennedy had built their empire on my ruins.

Now, I would watch it crumble.

My fingers flew across the keyboard. A surge of defiant energy replacing the despair.

This was not the end of Aubrey Burris.

This was the beginning.