Sister Took My Face... But Not My Husband's Secrets

Chapter 1

My sister tried to kill me.

And the second my mom stepped in to help her, I stopped fighting back.

That was the moment I realized, I was never part of their family. Just a pawn they were ready to throw away.

Later, my dear sister got plastic surgery to look exactly like me.

She moved into my room, wore my perfume, and waited in my bed for my husband to come home.

My parents thought she could take my place.

They believed she and my husband would live a picture-perfect life, wealth, power, everything they ever wanted.

I didn't scream. I didn't cry.

I laughed.

Because they had no idea what kind of man my husband really is.

They handed her over to a monster… and they did it with smiles on their faces.

...

Liam Hawthorne comes home today.

He's been overseas for a little over two months.

I've been dead for seven days.

Nina Dawson, my sister, stood by the door, fidgeting with the hem of her sleeve as Liam stepped inside.

"Liam," she said, her voice gentle, "have you eaten? I asked the housekeeper to make your favorite, pumpkin soup."

It was supposed to be their first time meeting.

But Liam didn't even blink.

He didn't notice his wife had been switched.

Nina pulled it off.

She'd gone under the knife, reshaped every inch of herself to become me.

Same eyes. Same voice. Same smile.

She studied me through hidden cameras, mimicked every word, every gesture, until even her breathing matched mine.

Liam handed his suitcase to a waiting staff member and rubbed his temples.

"I'll have a bowl."

She followed him into the dining room, walking with the same measured grace I used to have.

"Mrs. Jenkins, bring Mr. Hawthorne some soup."

Liam glanced at her briefly.

If he noticed something was off, he didn't say a word.

But then, Liam Hawthorne never said more than he had to.

Even with all the staff in the house, I'd always done things myself.

I wasn't raised to be served.

I'd only lived in Harbor City for two years, but I never quite fit in.

Before all this, before Liam, before wealth and war, I lived in a quiet town in South Carolina.

And Nina, she was supposed to be the one in this house.

She was the one promised to him.

The Dawsons and Hawthornes were practically tied at the hip.

Our grandfathers arranged their marriage decades ago, old money sealing old promises.

Liam was heir to Harbor City's most feared family. Second only to the shadows.

But when the Hawthornes were betrayed in business, when enemies circled like vultures, my father walked away.

He smelled blood in the water and sided with the sharks.

Liam's father died trying to salvage what was left.

His mother disappeared, taking Liam and their old butler far from Harbor City.

Then Liam came back.

Not quietly. Not humbly.

He returned with Hawthorne Holdings under his arm and the city under his heel.

Anyone who had crossed his family? Gone.

Bankrupt. Jailed. Destroyed.

And people whispered, Thank God it's happening here.

Because overseas, Liam was worse.

By the time my father realized what he'd done, the Dawsons were barely breathing.

So he dusted off the old engagement agreement and tried to offer Nina like a white flag.

But Nina? She was terrified.

She begged me to take her place.

And my father, he never saw me as anything but a curse.

Nina was his golden child.

She was born on the day he sealed the deal of a lifetime.

Me? I came into this world on the day he lost it all.

He named her after peace.

He named me after death.

Literally. My name meant "early death."

If my grandfather hadn't stepped in, I would've been buried before I breathed.

Instead, my father told the world I was sick and shipped me off to "get better overseas."

In reality, he abandoned me in a backwoods town with nothing but a name and a blind widow who pitied me.

She gave me a new name, Sarah.

A chance to live.

But in the end, I still died young.

Just not the way they hoped.