One year ago, my sister pushed me down the stairs and killed my unborn baby. However, instead of mourning his own child, my husband chose to bring the murderer into our home. With her crocodile tears and fake kindness, she successfully moved in and bit by bit pushed me out of existence. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, she got pregnant. And that man — the same man who stood coldly by when I suffered the miscarriage — promised my sister he would raise her baby like his own.
View MoreELISHA’S POV
One year ago today, I lost my daughter, Carrie.
She hadn’t been born yet… it didn’t matter. I knew it was a girl, and I knew I’d name her Carrie.
In the quiet, pastel pink and mint green nursery, I sat on the rocking chair and folded her clothes.
Again.
For the hundred-millionth time.
As if it would dull reality and make my fantasy come alive.
The sharp ring of the doorbell startled me. I glanced at the tiny onesie slipping from my fingers and stood quickly.
Anthony probably forgot his key again.
I hurried down the stairs and swung open the front door, ready to tease my husband for his memory, ready to pretend everything was fine.
But Anthony Möller wasn’t alone.
My sister Natalie stood beside him, glowing like sunshine. “Hey, sis. Anthony invited me to crash here for a while!”
She didn’t wait for an answer, breezing past me into the foyer as Anthony trailed behind, lugging two massive duffel bags that he dropped heavily onto the floor. He didn’t meet my eyes.
How long was “a while”?
Why was she here?
My throat tightened.
How could my husband bring home the woman who killed our baby?
Natalie spun around, grinning with false sweetness. “So? Where’s my room?”
The question lingered between us like poison.
I watched as Anthony motioned for the butler to pick up his bags and show Natalie the guest rooms.
Natalie was my parents’ biological daughter. She had gone missing twenty years ago, which devastated our mother. On the brink of taking her own life, our father adopted me from an orphanage.
As some sort of replacement.
They named me Elisha… Elisha Montgomery.
I was raised by a wealthy family in a wealthy neighborhood and had a life most people only dream of. Good parents, a loving brother, a great school, all the bags, shoes, cars, and vacations a girl could dream of.
And we spent most of our time with the Möller family. Together, our families had several businesses and practically owned the city we lived in.
I believed I was the happiest, luckiest little girl in the world.
But two years ago… Natalie came back. Every DNA test confirmed that she was, indeed, my parents’ real child.
Cameras flashed outside the mansion gates. Reporters buzzed with excitement, chasing the tragic fairytale reunion: “Missing Montgomery heiress found after twenty years.”
My mother sobbed into Natalie’s shoulder like she’d never stopped waiting for this moment, while my father stood behind them, too stunned to speak, his hand trembling on the staircase railing.
The Möllers stood by my parents in solidarity, thrilled and relieved that we were finally reunited.
I stood in the back as the relentless barrage of questions hit both families.
But I wasn’t upset about that. After all, Natalie deserved her moment.
But things didn’t exactly go back to normal after that…
Soon enough, I became an afterthought. First, it was like I didn’t exist. Then, it became like I was a nuisance. A burden.
I was being tolerated, while Natalie was being endlessly celebrated. Any new family photos that were taken after her return, my grandparents insisted I stay out so they could capture the “real” family. My mother would only shoot me an apologetic glance, but never come to my defense.
Nobody did.
It made me feel like I was a thief. Someone who snuck in, stole someone’s life, and was now just around because she couldn’t be thrown away.
Even Anthony, whom I had married years before, was technically promised to her by the Möllers.
Out of guilt, I tried to spend time getting to know her. My long-lost sister. Nat. When she was showered with love and praises, I joined in. I was just happy to have a sister.
But she didn’t feel the same way about me.
She had little inside jokes with Anthony. Her compliments to me were always backhanded, making comments about my clothes, my hair, or my body. I’d find the gifts I gave her in the trash. She started taking over any rituals or routines I had with my parents—tea time with my mother, playing golf with my father.
Bit by bit, she pushed me out of existence.
I snapped back to the present as Anthony came up behind me, his arms slipping around my waist.
“You’ve seemed so down lately,” he murmured softly. “I thought having your sister here might cheer you up.”
Sister.
The word felt like window dressing on a trash can.
I moved out of his embrace, turning to look at him. “Did you forget what today is?”
His expression darkened momentarily, then smoothed again. “It’s been a year. Isn’t it time we all moved on?”
Easy words for someone who hadn’t bled.
A year ago, I suffered a miscarriage, three months into my pregnancy.
All because Natalie bumped me from the top of the staircase in Anthony’s parents’ home.
She’d cried convincingly. Everyone believed her tears, even Anthony. They all saw it as a tragic, horrible accident.
But I still remembered the cold triumph flickering in her eyes just before it happened. The smug smile she gave me as her hands stretched out in front of her, and I tumbled downward.
Anthony had never cared for the child; it hardly pained him. It hardly affected anyone in the family.
I was left alone in my grief. Left alone to mourn.
All because Natalie decided an unborn baby wasn’t as important as her being the center of attention with the Montgomerys and Möllers.
Nat walked back to where we were, smiling ear to ear. “I love the room! I’m hitting the pool until lunch. Anthony?”
He smiled. “Pool sounds great.”
I watched them disappear together, Natalie chattering away, Anthony listening with focus and softness I had never seen.
It stung more than it should have.
I turned, heading back upstairs. I wanted solitude, the nursery, quiet grief.
But Natalie’s voice sliced through the quiet again as she popped around the corner, blocking my escape.
“Hey!”
I turned around to look at her questioningly, not caring to hide my annoyance.
“Anthony said you should help set up my room!” she said brightly.
We had people for that—staff who were paid to handle these things. But Natalie didn’t want efficiency; she wanted me humbled.
“Sure,” I said softly, swallowing my pride. “I’ll handle it.”
She flashed another bright, empty smile, vanishing toward the pool.
I made my way to the guestrooms and saw the maid already setting up. Quietly, I helped her lay the sheets flat and put the duvet on.
After finishing up, I stepped onto the balcony for fresh air. Just one quiet breath before returning to my grief.
The air was thick with summer heat, tinged with the sharp scent of chlorine and coconut sunscreen. Laughter echoed from the pool, distant and shrill, as sunlight flickered through the trees in golden patches. The stone railing burned warm beneath my palms. A soft breeze stirred my hair, but it didn’t cool me.
Nothing did.
I stared at the sky until it blurred, the world moving on around me while I stayed frozen in that one moment—falling, bleeding, breaking.
But from the patio below, Natalie’s voice drifted up, clear as crystal, her words a dagger straight into my heart:
“So… if my sister weren’t around… you would’ve married me, right?”
ELISHA’S POVThe first thing I noticed was the color.A pale blue silk that matched the tone of his pocket square so precisely it couldn’t have been a coincidence. And then I saw the cut. The neckline. The pleated waist. The delicate buttons trailing down the back.My stomach dropped.Because that dress wasn’t just similar—it was mine.I felt the flush rise in my chest—not from embarrassment, but fury. The gall. The calculation. She hadn’t just raided my closet. She’d done it for this. To show up beside my husband in my dress, playing the role of the woman who’d replaced me without saying a single word.And Anthony had let her.I froze.A small group of classmates I’d been chatting with shifted awkwardly, sensing the tension but not quite sure what to do with it. The conversation we’d been having melted into silence and one of them cleared their throat and looked away.My own dress felt too tight suddenly, like it didn’t belong on me. Like maybe I didn’t belong here either.I shou
ELISHA’S POVI didn’t answer him.I didn’t have to. Anthony was still standing in the foyer when I brushed past him, purse in hand. He followed me out the door, his voice sharp behind me.“Elisha—where are you going?”I didn’t stop walking.“You’re dressed like that for him?”I reached the waiting car, the driver already holding the door open. I slid into the backseat and said evenly, “Please drive.”The driver hesitated—his eyes flicking to the figure of my husband, who was now striding down the steps toward us.“Elisha.”“Drive,” I repeated, calmly but firmly.The driver swallowed, nodded once, and pulled away from the curb.In the rearview mirror, I saw Anthony stop at the edge of the driveway, watching the car disappear. His expression was unreadable. He didn’t chase. He didn’t call again. He just stood there, hands in his pockets, jaw locked tight.***The event was held in a high glass atrium at the university’s downtown satellite campus. White lights twinkled across the ceili
ELISHA’S POVSince the fight, Anthony and I barely spoke.We didn’t argue, but the silence between us was its own kind of war—thick, cold, and always present. Words had stopped meaning anything between us. Tone mattered much more now. Eye contact, or the absence of it. Every quiet dinner. Every door closed too softly.He’d been sleeping in the guest room. It just happened. Like everything else in our marriage, it was a quiet but big change. At first, he tried. Or said he was trying. He came back to our bed one night, made small talk under the guise of reconciliation. Said we shouldn’t live like strangers. That we needed to “try again.”I didn’t say no to the idea of fixing things. I said no to how he tried to fix it. He reached for me—not with kindness, not with remorse—but with entitlement. As if sex could smooth over everything. As if my body was still his by default, no matter how absent his heart had been.I pulled away.He didn’t push. But the rejection cut. I saw it in his fa
ELISHA’S POVAnthony stared at the folder in his hands. I watched the line of his jaw tighten, the flicker in his eyes like a match about to catch.And then—A cold, hollow laugh.Without hesitation, he ripped the divorce papers in half. Then again. And again. Until the edges fluttered like confetti to the floor. He walked to the bin and threw the pieces in as casually as if they were junk mail.I stood frozen.It wasn’t the drama of it that stunned me. It was the indifference. Like it meant nothing. Like I meant nothing.“I spent months preparing that,” I said, quieter than I meant to. “If you don’t like the terms, we can talk about it.”Anthony turned slowly, a shadow darkening his face.“You think the terms are the problem?” he sneered. “You think you get to walk away from this marriage?” I didn’t answer. The question wasn’t rhetorical, but it wasn’t honest either.He stepped forward.And then again.Until I felt the cold press of the wall behind my back.His hands didn’t touch me
ELISHA’S POVI would’ve tried again. I really would have.For another baby. Another heartbeat. Another beginning.If Anthony had been someone worth building that future with.But he wasn’t.Not after the way he acted. Not after the way he vanished from the moment I needed him most. Not after he let them all say it was just an accident—that what Natalie did to me was just bad timing.He wasn’t cruel in the obvious ways. He didn’t scream or storm out or cheat in the dark. No—his version of cruelty was quieter.He ignored grief. Minimized it.Smiled at the right times and still managed to miss everything that mattered.I could’ve lived with the insults for the rest of my life, honestly. The family coldness. Even the loneliness. Because I was always meant to be a Möller bride, and divorce was simply not an option. But… my baby deserved better.My child deserved a father who would’ve driven through a hurricane to be at my side, not one who left me bleeding alone while buying someone else
ELISHA’S POVThe pain sat in my chest like a stone. Not sharp. Not sudden. Just heavy.I stood still as the workmen brushed past me, carrying out box after box. My boxes. My baby’s things. They didn’t know, and they didn’t care. I was just another woman in a big house, watching someone else’s decision unfold in front of her.“You know,” Natalie said, arms crossed, her voice casual, “if you had any sense, you’d leave already.”I looked at her. She wore that same expression she always did when she thought she’d won something—smug, a little too relaxed. Like none of this was personal. Like it was all just… logistics.I didn’t speak right away. I wasn’t sure what part of me she expected to answer—the grieving mother, the discarded wife, the woman whose name was still on the deed but no longer mattered inside her own home.I stepped forward, slow and steady. I wasn’t angry yet. Not in the screaming way.“Nat,” I said quietly, “you don’t even know who your baby’s father is.”The smirk disa
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