MY RIVAL LOVED ME FIRST

Tasha’s POV

The sheet was the only thing I had left to protect me. It felt thin, useless, trembling between my fingers as I clung to it against my chest. My whole body shook, the cold in the room slicing through my bones, but it wasn’t the air, it was fear, the kind that crawled under your skin and whispered that this was it, this was the end.

“Roman, please… please don’t do this,” I begged, voice cracking, desperate, but he only laughed. That cruel, sarcastic laugh that once used to make me smile when we were happy, before everything turned to rot.

“Who do you think you are?” he sneered, his voice dripping venom as his palm crashed across my face. My head snapped to the side, stars bursting in my vision. “You’re just a slut, Tasha. A slut not a damsel like Elsa.”

His words hit harder than the slap. My eyes, stinging from tears, trailed to where she stood—Elsa. My sister. My adoptive sister. The girl I’d once saved from freezing to death under a bridge. The girl I had loved, protected, given everything to.

My beauty used to be a song people envied, until the day Elsa poured acid on my face. The day she took everything I had left and laughed about it, leaving me with a scar I never asked for. I wasn’t the pretty one anymore. I wasn’t anything.

Roman scoffed, turning his face toward me with that same smirk that used to melt me. “It’d be too cruel to let you die a virgin,” he said, almost cheerfully, and my heart sank into my stomach. “You should know what being with a man feels like. Don’t worry, I’ve got you covered.” His laugh broke into something dark, wild, monstrous. “I hired four men for you. They might not be gentle.” He winked.

He turned to Elsa, pulling her close, kissing her right there in front of me as if I was nothing. Their lips met and my soul broke. “Enjoy your wedding gift, darling,” he whispered before they both walked out together.

“Roman…Elsa please don't leave me. I'm sorry I was wrong, please!” I screamed trembling. I screamed so loud my throat tore apart. I begged. I begged them not to leave me, to save me, to not let this happen. But they didn't spare me a glance before the door slammed shut.

My arms wrap around my knees as I drew them to my chest once more and just then the lock clicked.

Footsteps.

I couldn't summon the courage to raise my head but instead I just stared at their legs as it came closer and closer to me.

My heart was beating so bad now, fear almost bursting it open. Instinctively, I tried to run but they caught me before I even bolt off the bed.

Two arms clasped my wrist pinning me to the bed, as the rest ransacked my body, massaging my boobs and vagina.

I pushed hard against them, trying to fight them off me as tears rolled down my cheeks, but my body was weak and they were strong.

I clawed, kicked, screamed until my voice was gone. They didn’t stop. I fought until my body gave out, and the world went black.

**

My eyes flustered open and immediately pain washed through me. Every muscle, every inch of skin, hurt and my head wouldn't stop throbbing like I’d been split open.

I sat up slowly, the sheet sliding down, and that’s when I saw it, blood. Memories flooded in immediately and my breath hitched.

It wasn't a dream, I was really raped right in my own house. Raped by men arranged by my own husband.

My chest tightened so hard I thought I’d die right there. I screamed. I screamed so loud the windows could have shattered. I screamed because I didn't feel human anymore.

I could hear Roman and Elsa sarcastic laughter as they mocked me. I was ruined, every ounce of my dignity was gone.

The door flung open and there they were, both smiling. Smiling like my pain was their entertainment and sadly it was.

“I hate you!” I spat, my voice raw, trembling. “I hate you both!” I lunged forward and spat right at my so called husband’s face, and it landed right in his cheek.

Roman's eyes went cold. The next thing I felt was his hand slamming hard across my face again. Then he grabbed a stick and hit me, again and again, until I couldn’t breathe, until I was choking on my sobs and blood. He tossed the stick away and kicked me hard on my stomach. I clawed at my stomach, feeling my breath and consciousness fading away.

Roman suddenly stepped back and Elsa stepped closer, her heels clicking sassily.

She grabbed my hair and yanked my head back so hard tears flew from my eyes. “You look pathetic,” she sneered, slapping me again, her voice sharp as glass. “I have always wondered what would happen if I took everything from you.” She growled slamming my head hard against the table. I dropped again, feeling my head about to explode.

All I wanted was death, maybe I'd finally escape all this.

Elsa suddenly yanked me upward and began wrapping something cold and heavy around me…a bomb. My heart stopped. My body froze. I looked down at the wires, the blinking light, and for a moment… I felt nothing. Just emptiness. Death didn’t scare me anymore. Maybe it was the best gift I could get from them.

“Why?” I whispered. My voice barely came out. “Why are you doing this to me? I saved you, Elsa. I begged Father to adopt you when you were dying in the cold. And Roman…” My eyes found his. “I cared for you since we were kids. I gave you everything.”

Roman chuckled, wiping the spit off his face. “You never understood, Tasha. All you know is money. Money, property, wealth. You think love is something you can buy?” His smirk widened, his voice turning crueler. “Do you really think I chose you?”

Elsa smiled proudly beside him. My heart cracked open like dry wood.

“So that’s it?” I whispered, tears slipping down my cheek. “After everything I did for you both… you do this to me? Do you have any conscience left? You claimed you love me Roman!”

Roman’s laugh echoed. “I never loved you, Tasha. I never even liked you. My heart was always with her.” Those words kept resounding in my head and I didn't even notice when they made their way out, until they walked out, hand in hand, leaving me alone with the ticking bomb.

I was the fool. I was the unloved idiot.

I stared at the timer, less than a minute left. My body went numb. I let go of the fight. Maybe this was mercy.

Suddenly, a loud glass shattering sound filled the air.

I gasped, turning my head as shards fell like rain. A figure jumped through the window, landing hard. “Tasha!” a voice shouted. My eyes widened.

Jeremy.

Of all people, him. The one who had spent years trying to outdo me, the boy who spent years arguing with me. The boy who always came second. The boy I never stopped competing with.

He rushed to my side, helping me sit up, his hands trembling. “Stay still,” he ordered, already digging through my drawers like a madman.

“Jeremy…there’s a bomb!” I screamed. “Get out! Please!”

He didn’t even look at me. “Shut up,” he muttered, yanking open another drawer. A moment later, he pulled out a nail clipper, his hands shaking as he knelt beside me.

“What are you doing?!” I cried. “You don’t even know how to—Jeremy, go!”

He ignored me, eyes wild but determined. “I’m not leaving you.”

“Are you insane?!” I shouted, tugging at the wires. “You’ll die!”

“Then I’ll die with you!” he yelled back, voice cracking. “I’m not letting you go like this, Tasha. Not like this.”

I froze, staring at him, the words sinking in.

“Why?” I whispered.

He looked at me then, really looked, tears glinting in his eyes. “Because I love you,” he said. “Is that what you wanted to hear? I love you, Tasha. I’ve loved you for fifteen years. And all I ever got was your hate. If I’d known Roman would treat you like this, I would’ve fought for you, stolen you, anything, just to keep you safe.”

My throat closed. My heart throbbed painfully in my chest. I stared at the timer. Ten seconds.

He kept working, sweat dripping down his face. I wanted to scream at him to stop, but I couldn’t. The words stuck in my throat.

“Why didn’t you ever love me?” he suddenly shouted, cutting another wire. “Why couldn’t you see me?!”

Five seconds.

Tears blurred my sight. I looked at him—this man who’d been there all along, who I never saw.

If life could give me another chance… maybe I’d do it differently. Maybe I’d love him back.

Three seconds.

“Jeremy—” I whispered.

One second.

And then the world exploded into darkness.