He Betrayed Me For His Enemy Lover

At my forty-second birthday banquet, I thought I would receive the perfect gift. Instead, what waited for me was my son, Arthur, bringing my late husband's mistress's daughter right to my face.

"Mom, you've been too exhausted these past few years," Arthur said, his eyes brimming with mock tenderness. "The doctors said your mental state can no longer handle the heavy burden of the trust. I can't let you lose your composure in front of everyone and become a laughingstock. I've filed for conservatorship. Let me handle everything."

Before I could even respond, he turned sideways and grasped the hand of the blonde woman beside him.

"This is Maya," he said. "She and her mother haven't had it easy all these years. It's time to turn the page on past grudges. Blood ties are something you just can't sever. Dad's greatest regret before he died was failing to bring harmony to this family. We shouldn't let the bitter resentments of the previous generation delay the reunion our generation deserves."

I didn't speak. I simply watched his performance in silence.

Then, I smiled.

What a brilliant actor. It was just a pity he was using the leftover script my late husband had written.

"You're absolutely right, Arthur," I said. "People shouldn't be trapped by the past. Blood ties, indeed, cannot be severed. So... you really ought to meet your little brother."

Inside the grand ballroom of The Pierre hotel, I wore a flawless evening gown and maintained an impeccably polite smile. Tonight was my forty-second birthday, and it was also the gala where I formally took control of the family trust.

The heavy double doors swung open, and my smile froze.

My adopted son, Arthur, walked in. Half a step behind him trailed Maya—the daughter of my late husband's secret lover. Her eyes were red-rimmed as she shrank behind his broad shoulders.

"Mother," Arthur said, stopping right before my table. "Tonight, I brought our real family home."

He pulled Maya to the front. "This is Maya, the daughter of the woman Dad truly loved."

Hushed gasps rippled through the seated guests. Arthur acted as if he didn't hear them, his tone softening.

"Her mother died last month in the very prison cell you sent her to. Maya is only twenty-two. She's all alone, and I couldn't just abandon her."

Maya squeezed out two well-timed tears. "Eleanor... ma'am."

It was this exact woman's mother who, in collusion with my husband back then, had driven my biological parents to their absolute ruin. Now, her daughter stood before my guests, playing the picture of sorrowful innocence.

"Dad always said family was more important than hatred," Arthur continued. "Marrying you was just an obligation in an arranged marriage. His true love was Maya's mother. Now that they are gone, shouldn't family members forgive each other?"

He raised Maya's hand. "She is a part of our family now."

"Ma'am," Maya spoke up. "Before my mother passed, she made me promise to find Arthur. She said love could never be bound by law. My father didn't love you, and keeping him chained to a dead marriage did no one any good, did it?"

I stared at her, catching the fleeting glint of triumph hidden beneath her eyelashes.

"She never wanted to destroy your parents," Maya said, wiping her face. "She was simply blinded by love. She said she would repay her debts in heaven, and she begs for your forgiveness."

"Mom, did you hear that?" Arthur puffed out his chest. "Look how kind Maya is. Her mother prayed for you until her dying breath! Are you going to spend the rest of your life as a paranoid monster?"

My heart grew colder by the second.

This boy was orphaned at age eight, and I raised him single-handedly. When my husband died leaving behind a mountain of debt and a catastrophic scandal, I bore the brunt of the board's wrath and weathered the mockery of Manhattan's entire old-money circle just to protect him and bring him to where he stood today.

Yet, at this very moment, he was elevating the woman who destroyed my family to the status of "true love," reducing my lifetime of fierce protection to a mere obligation.

Arthur slapped a document onto the table. "I've already signed the paperwork turning the Southampton estate over to Maya. Furthermore, you've clearly suffered a mental breakdown from being tortured by the past, so I've filed for temporary conservatorship. There's a decent sanatorium in Geneva; it's time for you to rest. From now on, Maya and I will co-manage the trust."

A meticulously orchestrated trap.

Maya lowered her head and sobbed. "Arthur, let it go. I shouldn't have come. She'll never forgive me. Let me leave."

Watching her take a step back, I smiled.

I stepped closer to Arthur and raised my hand to caress his cheek—just as I used to do whenever he woke up screaming from childhood nightmares.

"My sweet boy," I said. "It's an absolute miracle you managed to think this far ahead."

"You... you agree, Mother?"

"How could I not?" I patted his shoulder, turned to face the entire ballroom, and raised my voice.

"My remarkably mature son just reminded me that a family should prioritize harmony over morality, and that true love shouldn't be constrained by the past. Well, in that case, I have an announcement of my own."

"I have another son, who turns nineteen this winter. I had him on a whim shortly after Arthur's father went to meet his Maker."

Arthur stopped breathing.

"I never dared to mention it before," I said, sweeping my gaze across the crowd. "But since my son here can welcome the illegitimate child of the very woman who ruined my life, his mother certainly can't be petty."

I turned back to him. His face was deathly pale.

"Blood ties cannot be severed, just as you said. Having a sister is a wonderful thing, so bringing a little brother home will surely turn our family into a paradise on earth, won't it?"

"You only have one son. Me."

I pulled out my phone, dialed a number I had barely called in nineteen years, and put it on speaker.

A deep, steady voice came through the line.

"Son," I said, staring straight into Arthur's trembling eyes. "Come to the banquet hall. Your older brother just brought your new sister home."

"I'll be right there, Mom."

I ended the call and raised my champagne flute in a toast to Arthur.

"Drink up, darling," I said. "When your little brother gets here, he'll teach you some manners."