A Betrayal: Tip of the Iceberg 

Gareth Anna's POV

I sauntered into the room only to see the unexpected. I could hear my heart beating louder than ever.

They were on the bed and they were naked. This was simply unbelievable. I was overwhelmed by this revelation.

I could see my boyfriend, Dan, together with my step sister, Emily, having sex. Emily was actually riding him while he grabbed her waist.

“What!” I finally screamed. It turned out that I had forgotten to scream before. I had been too overwhelmed to make a sound.

Dan and Emily finally knew I was in the room and they seemed to be quite shocked. I was hurt and my heart was in need of repairs. As I glanced at Dan, I felt like demanding an explanation.

But they didn't stop.

“Look here, babe,” Dan told Emily right in my presence. Dan began to kiss Emily and the latter responded. They were kissing passionately and this was just like stabbing my heart.

I couldn't take this scene anymore. I knew the relationship was over since Dan had acknowledged Emily in my presence.

I had been betrayed by my stepsister. 

“Wait, Anna!” Dan finally called out to me. I turned with the thought that he wanted to apologize. I ought not to have thought he would do this since he was still fucking Emily slowly as he talked to me.

Disgusting sight! 

“Since it's come to this…” Dan said slowly. “How about you join us and make this a threesome? You came here to have sex with me, didn't you?”

I turned back without giving him a reply. I was too hurt to comprehend this silly thinking of his. 

This happened on my twenty-fifth birthday. I wouldn't forget this, not in this lifetime or the next.

____________________

I am Anna Gareth, and from what I think of myself, I am one of the unluckiest people in the world. My life had been awful almost from start to finish. I was a loner and I could die and rot with no one asking about me. 

I was simply unwanted and undesired. 

My mother died days after I was given birth to and from what I heard, it was a very mysterious circumstance. She wasn't sick at all. She was very healthy until the last five minutes of her death. 

Perhaps, I wouldn't have suffered this much if my mother was still alive.

But then, fate had its special way of working. I still had my father with me and to many others, this would be a very good development. I ought to be comforted with my father's presence.

But it wasn't meant to be like that for me. My father, Sam Gareth, had no time for me. He paid my bills truly but it wasn't enough. I still needed someone to talk to but every time, he was nowhere to be found. Of course, he had enough time for my stepmother and stepsister. He treated me like one would do to an unwanted plant. I tried to indulge him multiple times and when I found out that his mind was made up, I let him go. I had to survive on my own.

My stepmother, Sally, was a different story entirely. My father didn't maltreat me in any other form apart from ignorance but then, my stepmother ticked the remaining boxes. She was especially sly, envious, and cruel. She would fabricate lies against me to get me punished by my father. She took sides with her daughter, Emily, no matter how wrong she was. I didn't mind this at all. All I blamed was fate for allowing my own mother to die at such an untimely age.

Sally got married to my father after two months of my mother's death. According to what I heard, she was already heavily pregnant for my dad and that meant that my father had been cheating on my mother even before her death. I was only older than Emily by two months.

And finally, I had Emily in the same house with me. Emily had to be the luckiest girl I had ever seen. She had her biological parents alive and she had their support no matter what she did. Emily once bit a kid in school and she even cut off a chunk of the kid's flesh. For this, Emily was spanked by the teacher and she came back home that same day sulky.

Sally couldn't take the fact that Emily was spanked and the next day, she reported to the school. The principal tried to convince Sally that Emily was wrong but she didn't accept this. Finally, the teacher was sacked because of Sally's influence in the school. 

Take it or leave it, Emily was brought up like this and this made her a spoilt brat. Even at twenty-five, she could neither cook nor wash. She couldn't read properly, speak intellectually, or understand complex situations, or act like a homemaker.

But you know that thing about fate. 

Emily still had a better future than me who could do all that had been listed. 

From childhood, Sam and Sally always sang it into my ears that Emily would be the sole inheritor of the family business. They didn't care if she understood the business or not. All they knew was that I wasn't worthy of the position.

Cool, nah! 

After Emily and I had finished college, we were left to set up our future careers. Emily, with our parent's backing, kick-started her career in modeling. I pleaded with my father, Sam, to help me get started in my acting career but he refused. He warned me sternly not to try entering the entertainment or fashion industry since Emily happened to be there.

“Emily is your sister…” Sam had told me on that sunny afternoon. “She is a model with that body which all agencies would want to go crazy for. You want to start your acting career but I can see nothing in you. Stop it, Anna. It's not for you!”

“She is my stepsister, dad, and I would never stop her from achieving success…” I told him plainly. “However, I need to be successful as well. The entertainment industry is very different from the modeling industry. It won't affect Emily at all. I won't stand in her way!”

“Shut up!” Sam cautioned me angrily. “I don't care about that and listen up, you are not going to be an actress. Instead, sit at home.”

“I can't sit at home doing nothing!” I tried to protest angrily.

Sam couldn't take it anymore and he slapped me hard on my face.

I fell.

I watched as he bent down to see my facial expression. I cursed him in my mind. I couldn't still bring myself to believe that Sam was my biological father. 

“Your stepmother will be fifty soon…” Sam said to me with a warm smile on his face. “I want you to be a good girl and help her with chores in the house.”

“We have maids, dad…” I replied. 

“Well, I wouldn't mind if you become a support staff,” Sam told me curtly. “I have done well in training you till you finished college. Now is the time for you to contribute your own quota in this family.”

“But Emily is not doing this! Why should I?” I asked angrily. I was no longer scared at this point. He could beat me till the point of death if he felt like it.

“It's simply because she is a successful young lady!” Sam shouted at me angrily. “She is not like you who has to depend on me for every little thing!”

“Then help me get started in my career like you helped Emily…” I told him simply. I had begun to shed tears already. “I am your first daughter, dad. I should be the one enjoying all these favors.”

Sam seemed touched by my tears. He stood up and sighed. I watched him as he began to leave the room. When he got to the door post, he turned back to me.

“Different people have different roles, Anna,” Sam told me. “Emily's role in this family is to have a successful modeling career and then carry on with the family's business. Your own role is to help out with the family task and get married so you can stop being a burden!”

After saying this, Sam went out of the room. I burst into fresh tears as those words echoed in my ears. I would never forget all he said. 

Never! 

____________________

Emily had stolen a lot of things from me and I ought to have gotten familiarized with this insane attitude of hers. However, I ended up being wowed whenever she did something new.

After I caught her in bed with my boyfriend, I went to a nearby bar to have a drink. My plan was to drink myself to stupor to wash away the pain I was feeling at the moment. Today was my birthday and I was supposed to spend it with my boyfriend.

Well, he was my ex-boyfriend now. 

It was painful. Since I had no one to talk to, I drank alone. As I drank, I cried. I caught the barman gazing at me a couple of times. I didn't bother to clean off my tears. I was hurt and anyone who saw me could tell. 

I drank myself to stupor just like I had planned and I had to go back home. I could barely walk well and fortunately for me, I ran into Jake on my way. 

Jake was actually a close acquaintance who always wanted to befriend me. I tried my best to avoid him since he was way younger than me. He was eighteen years old but still more mature than most people in their twenties. He was very knowledgeable and for the few moments I shared with him, he sounded very comical but sensible.

Long story cut short, Jake helped me back home. I was surprised to see Sam waiting for me in the corridor. He was supposedly waiting for me and this was quite strange. 

I told Jake to leave me after I sighted my dad and slowly, I walked alone down to where my father stood.

I wasn't expecting a heavy slap but yeah, I received one. This slap from Sam helped me regain my full consciousness. My blurry eyes were cleared and I could see the real world.

It was harsh but necessary to bring me to my senses.

“Are you okay at all?” Sam asked me angrily. “How dare you try to seduce Emily's boyfriend?”

I was stunned. 

Sam was saying the direct opposite of what happened here. Emily was the one who had sex with my own boyfriend. I didn't know Emily's boyfriend would not talk of me seducing him.

“No, daddy…” I said angrily. “I don't know Emily's boyfriend. How can I seduce someone whom I do not know? It's impossible, dad.”

“Shut up! Why do you keep lying?” Sam continued to shout at me. “Dan has been dating Emily for a long time and you wish to destroy their relationship. This is so evil of you!”

I looked at Sam in anger. It was obvious that Emily had told him the opposite of what happened. She had made it look like I was the villain here. I had no evidence here.

“Prepare yourself, Anna!” Sam shouted at me. “Tomorrow, you will get married. I am sure marr

iage would teach you some lessons!”

“What!” I screamed. 

I couldn't believe I was going to be involved in an arranged marriage scheme.