Betrayed Spotlight
Chapter 54: Unexpected Guest

Chapter 54: Unexpected Guest

Mason didn’t return the entire night and Sarah slept worriedly.

She woke up the next morning to the sound of voices downstairs. She looked at the clock - it was only seven in the morning.

Curious, she got out of bed and put on her robe. As she walked downstairs, she could hear Mason talking to someone - a woman with a sweet, high voice.

"Sarah," Mason called when he saw her coming down the stairs.

In the living room, Sarah saw a young woman sitting on their couch. She looked to be about Sarah’s age, maybe a little younger. She had long, straight black hair and was wearing expensive designer clothes - a white silk blouse and dark jeans.

"Sarah, this is Jayla," Mason said. "Jayla, this is my wife, Sarah."

Jayla stood up and smiled brightly, showing perfect white teeth. "Sarah! It’s so wonderful to finally meet you. Mason has told me so many nice things about you."

"It’s nice to meet you too," Sarah said politely, though she felt surprised. Why did his sister come over?

"I’m sorry to arrive so early," Jayla said, looking apologetic. "But there was some trouble at my condo yesterday - someone tried to break in - and Mason insisted I come stay here where it’s safe."

Sarah looked at Mason with concern. "That’s terrible. Are you okay?"

"I’m fine," Jayla said quickly. "Just a little shaken up. Mason was so sweet to come pick me up this morning."

"Of course," Sarah said. "You’re welcome to stay here as long as you need to."

"Thank you," Jayla said. "I’ll only be here for two days. Then I’m flying back to Europe."

Mason checked his watch. "I need to get ready for work," he said. "Make yourself at home."

"Don’t worry about me," Jayla said with a sweet smile. "I don’t want to be any trouble."

After Mason went upstairs to get dressed, Sarah offered to make breakfast for Jayla.

"That would be wonderful," Jayla said. "You’re so kind."

As they sat in the kitchen eating, Jayla was nothing but charming and polite. She complimented Sarah’s cooking, asked interested questions about her music career, and seemed genuinely excited to learn more about her.

"I’ve heard your songs on the radio," Jayla said. "You have such a beautiful voice. I can see why Mason fell for you."

Sarah felt pleased by the compliment. "Thank you. That’s very sweet of you to say."

"Mason is so lucky to have someone who takes care of him," Jayla continued. "He’s always been hopeless at domestic things."

When Mason came back downstairs, dressed in his usual business suit, he nodded at them.

"I’ll see you both tonight," he said.

"Thank you, Mason," Jayla said. "You’re the best big brother ever."

Sarah could see that Mason wasn’t that comfortable, but she kept quiet.

After Mason left for work, Sarah and Jayla spent the morning talking and getting to know each other better. Jayla seemed genuinely interested in Sarah’s life and career, and Sarah found herself starting to like her.

"You’re such a good cook," Jayla said when Sarah made them lunch. There were servants, but she felt the need to take care of her stepsister in-law.

"Thank you, Jayla," Sarah smiled.

Around three o’clock, Sarah’s phone rang. It was Zachary calling about a meeting with some music executives.

"I’m sorry," Sarah said to Jayla after she hung up. "I have to go to a work meeting. It shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours."

"Don’t worry about me," Jayla said with a bright smile. "I’ll just rest here and maybe watch some TV. Thank you so much for being so welcoming."

Sarah grabbed her bag and headed for the door. "Make yourself at home. Call the servants if you need anything."

But as soon as Eli drove Sarah outside the gates, Jayla’s sweet smile completely disappeared. Her whole face changed, becoming cold and calculating.

She immediately started walking through the house, looking at everything with sharp, judgmental eyes. She picked up photos of Sarah and Mason when she stumbled into

Sarah’s bedroom, studying them with an expression of disgust.

"So this is the little wife," she muttered to herself. "She’s not even that pretty."

She walked around the room, touching Sarah’s things and opening drawers without permission.

In Sarah’s closet, Jayla looked through all of her clothes, pulling out dresses and making faces at them.

"These are so cheap," she said to herself. "Mason could afford to buy her much better clothes than this."

She found some of Sarah’s jewelry and held up a simple gold necklace that Mason had given Sarah as a gift.

"This is what he gives her?" Jayla scoffed. "I’ve seen him give better jewelry to his business partners."

Jayla continued snooping through Sarah’s personal belongings, looking through her makeup, her books, and even her private journals.

When she found some of Sarah’s song lyrics written in a notebook, Jayla read them and sneered.

"So basic," she said. "Anyone could write this stuff. I don’t know what Mason sees in her."

After going through everything in the bedroom, Jayla went to Mason’s office. She tried to open his desk drawers, but they were locked. This seemed to annoy her.

"Still keeping secrets, are we?" she said to herself.

For the next hour, Jayla wandered around the house, clearly making herself at home but not in the way Sarah had intended.

She found Sarah’s laptop in the living room and tried to open it, but it was password protected.

"Stupid," Jayla muttered. "What is she trying to hide?"

When Sarah returned home around six o’clock, she found Jayla sitting on the couch watching TV, looking perfectly sweet and innocent again.

"How was your meeting?" Jayla asked with a bright smile.

"It went well, thank you," Sarah said, though she felt tired. "How was your afternoon?"

"Very relaxing," Jayla said. "I hope you don’t mind - I borrowed some of your face lotion. My skin gets so dry when I travel."

"Of course," Sarah said, though she hadn’t given Jayla permission to go through her things.

As she went to put her bag away, she noticed that things in her looked slightly different than when she had left. Some books were in different positions, and she could have sworn she had left her coffee cup on a different table.

But she decided not to say anything. Maybe she was just being paranoid.

That evening, as they sat together watching TV, Sarah noticed that Jayla kept asking subtle questions about her relationship with Mason.

"How long have you two been married?" Jayla asked during a commercial break.

"Not very long," Sarah said.

"That’s sweet," Jayla said. "Mason never gets very close to women. I guess you must be really special to change his mind."

Something about the way Jayla said this made Sarah feel uncomfortable, but she couldn’t put her finger on why.

"Did you two date for a long time before you got married?" Jayla continued.

"Not really," Sarah said, not wanting to go into the details of their contract marriage.

"Wow," Jayla said, raising her eyebrows. "That’s so romantic. Love at first sight?"

Sarah felt her cheeks blush. She didn’t know how to answer that question without lying.

"Something like that," she said quietly.

Jayla seemed to sense that she had touched on a sensitive topic, so she changed the subject. But Sarah noticed that throughout the evening, Jayla kept making little comments that seemed designed to make her feel insecure about her relationship with Mason.

"Mason has such high standards," Jayla said at one point. "He’s always been very picky about the people he spends time with."

Later, she said, "I hope Mason is treating you well. He can be pretty demanding sometimes. He expects a lot from the people in his life."

Another time, she mentioned, "Mason used to date some really sophisticated women. Models, actresses, you know. Very glamorous types."

By the time Mason came home around nine o’clock, Sarah was feeling anxious and unsure about a lot of things.

"Did you have a good day?" Mason asked dryly.

"We’ve had such a lovely day," Jayla said, jumping up to hug him but he side stepped her. "Sarah has been taking such good care of me."

"I’m glad to hear that," Mason said, smiling at Sarah instead. "Thank you."

"Of course," Sarah said, forcing a smile.

"Jayla seems nice," Sarah said the moment she found a seat to sit in Mason’s office. Yes, he had come to see him.

"She’s had a rough time," Mason replied. "Grandma doesn’t like her much."

"Woah, Grandma doesn’t like her?" Sarah ad shocked nut didn’t show it.

Mason nodded calmly.

Sarah nodded, but something still felt off about the whole situation. Maybe she was just not used to having another woman in the house since she started living here.

After a while of silence, they both returned to their rooms. Sarah lay awake thinking about all the subtle comments Jayla had made throughout the day. Each one by itself seemed innocent enough, but together they had made her feel small and insecure.

In the guest room down the hall, Jayla was also lying awake, but she was smiling to herself in the darkness.

With so many things running through her head, she planned to execute them one slowly.

One step at a time.