Chapter 2
Three years ago, my dad, Richard Sinclair, was a decorated officer with a future that seemed unstoppable.
Christopher was his star pupil.
Everyone said Christopher was the successor my dad had personally groomed.
My dad treated him like his own son, passing on everything he knew, and gave him his only daughter in marriage.
I used to think I was the luckiest woman.
I thought I was marrying for love, to the hero I'd admired since I was a girl.
However, later, disaster struck my dad.
Right before a major military exercise, there was a major leak in the zone my dad oversaw.
All the evidence pointed straight at him.
Overnight, the hero became a traitor.
The weight of the accusations and humiliation was too much for my dad. In the middle of the investigation, he suffered a heart attack and never made it out of that interrogation room alive.
The Sinclair family fell apart.
The people who once fawned over us now acted like we were poison, avoiding us like the plague.
And when I needed Christopher the most, he twisted the knife deepest.
As the Sinclair family's son-in-law, he was the very first to step up, playing the hero, and handed over what he claimed was the key evidence.
It was my dad's private diary, packed with his radical ideas for military reform.
That diary became the last straw, the thing that utterly destroyed my dad.
I would never forget the way Christopher looked in that courtroom.
He put on a show of heartbreak. "Mr. Sinclair, I'm sorry, but for the country's sake, I had no other choice."
He sold it so well that everyone there fell for his act.
He trampled all over my dad's memory, cut ties with us, and walked away with a shiny reputation as the loyal, selfless hero. After that, his path to the top was wide open.
But only I knew that I was the one who handed that diary to Christopher.
After my dad's downfall, I was lost and desperate, putting all my faith in Christopher to save us.
I thought he'd do everything he could for my dad, clear his name, and stand by our side.
Instead, all I got was his betrayal.
From that moment on, I was a completely different person.
All that remained was nothing more than a vessel for revenge.
I buried all my grief and weakness, keeping up the act of the devoted, clueless wife who loved him with all her heart.
I did everything he asked, kept the house running smoothly, treated his parents like my own, and swallowed all the cold looks, snide remarks, and petty humiliations from his family.
Even after he started messing around with Vivian, I cried in silence, playing the part of the helpless wife everyone expected me to be.
Everyone thought I couldn't survive without Christopher.
Christopher thought so too.
He loved having me at his beck and call, playing the perfect husband at home while keeping things wild with his mistress on the side.
He thought I was clueless.
What he didn't know was that I'd planted a bug in his study.
He had no clue I'd slipped a few dollars to the guy nobody ever noticed in his unit.
And he never realized I was using my dad's old contacts to piece together evidence against him.
For three years, I lived like a shadow.
Every smile, every tear, and every flicker of emotion was an act.
The only thing keeping me going was revenge.
Now, step one was complete.
I moved out of the Grant residence and checked into a regular hotel.
My phone was blowing up with calls from Christopher, his family, and a bunch of numbers I didn't recognize.
I didn't answer a single one. I turned it off.
I needed to keep my cool. I knew Christopher would never roll over and accept defeat.
With his schemes and the White family's power backing him, he'd do whatever it took to strike back.
Sure enough, the next morning, someone knocked on my hotel room door.
I peeked through the peephole and saw two burly guys in black suits.
"Ms. Sinclair, our boss wants to see you," one of them said, his face completely expressionless.
"Who's your boss?" I asked through the door.
"Mr. White," he replied.
I scoffed.
Victor White was Vivian's dad.
He finally had to make a move.
"Tell him to come himself," I replied coldly.
The guy outside clearly didn't expect me to push back. He froze for a second, then his tone turned sharp. "Ms. Sinclair, don't push your luck."
"Get lost," I said.
There was a brief pause, then I heard one of them reporting in over their radio.
A few moments later, someone knocked on the door again.
This time, I opened the door.
Standing there was Christopher, his face ashen, with Vivian right beside him.
Vivian's eyes were puffy and red, and the moment she saw me, it was like she was staring down her worst enemy.
She let out a piercing scream and charged straight at me. "Natalie, you bitch, I'm going to kill you."
Christopher grabbed her arm, his eyes cold.
"Natalie, let's talk," he said, his voice hoarse, barely holding back his fury.