Five Years, A Beautiful Placeholder

Chapter 4

Word Count: 669 | Released on: 02/07/2025

smile fixed on his face, while my stomach churned. He came back to our table, his eyes shining with false sincerity. "Isn't th

so blissfully unaware that I knew everything, was a special kind o

. She was holding a small, beautifully wrapped gift. "Ava," she said, her voice sof

ping up my spine. Her eyes met mine for a brief second, and I saw a fl

a isn't feeling well. Perhaps another time." He was trying to protect his public image

't mean to intrude." She took a step back, and then, with a theatrical stumble, she

re you alright? What's wrong?" He helped her into a chair, his face a mask of genuine

ears welling in her eyes. "I thin

ant woman. I was forgotten, an inconvenient prop in their drama. He barked orders a

zzy, my vision tunneling. I had only taken a few sips of water all evening. I looked at the glass on the table, a sudden, horrible suspicion forming in

fied, stealing my breath. "Liam," I managed to whisper, but he didn't hear me. He was al

was a friend of my family, the only person I could think to trust. But my vision was blurring, t

s invisible, abandoned. The pain was all-consuming now, a fire spreading through my body. I slumped forward, my head hitting the

Chapter End

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Five Years, A Beautiful Placeholder

Cinderella's Sister Romance

“Tonight was supposed to be perfect, our fifth wedding anniversary, and I, Ava Monroe, was glowing, a secret smile playing on my lips for the news I planned to share with my loving husband, Liam. But then, a strange, unlocked phone in his study revealed a picture: Liam with another woman, Sophia Chen, whose hand clung to his with an intimacy that made my blood run cold. Hidden, I heard his voice, tender and intimate, confirming my worst fears about Sophia and a chilling dismissiveness towards me: "Ava doesn\'t suspect a thing. She\'s probably in the kitchen, playing the perfect wife, just like always." He then spoke of a "real, legally binding" marriage that wasn\'t ours, calling our five years "a beautiful placeholder," a "five-year arrangement that\'s about to end." My perfect life shattered, exposing his carefully constructed deceit. My heart hammered with a terrifying realization: I was pregnant with his child, a child conceived in a lie, while he was secretly married to another woman. Then, at a charity gala, with my arm still bruised from Sophia\'s staged fall and Liam\'s furious accusations, I saw them. Under the table, while he held my hand for the cameras, his other hand stroked hers-a secret, intimate gesture meant for me. The sheer audacity, the cold, calculated performance, didn\'t even hurt anymore; it simply filled me with a profound, soul-crushing boredom. I just wanted out. Suddenly, a searing pain ripped through my body, as I collapsed, instinctively knowing Sophia had poisoned me, and Liam, blinded by his own narrative, walked away, leaving me to my fate. Waking up alone in a sterile hospital room, no longer pregnant, I learned the truth: Sophia had tried to kill me, and Liam' s betrayal went deeper than I ever imagined. I would disappear, but not before leaving behind the unedited truth of his monstrous betrayal.”