On our wedding day, Tamara Pruitt suddenly raised the bride price from the previously agreed-upon $188,000 to a full million.

"Arthur Vance, you've got half an hour. If you can't come up with the money, I'm marrying someone else. Right now."

She didn't look like she was joking. This was the wedding I'd waited seven years for, so I didn't argue. I pulled out my phone and started calling in every favor I had.

But less than thirty seconds later, Tamara grabbed another man's hand and pulled him up onto the stage.

She waved me off with a flick of her wrist, impatience written all over her face.

"Forget it, Arthur. Even if you had three lifetimes, a broke loser like you could never scrape together a million dollars."

She yanked the man beside her closer, her voice dripping with sweetness.

"Let me introduce you. Jarvis Farley. Heir to the Farley Group. And as of this moment, my husband."

My gaze settled on the man's face. Once I'd confirmed what I needed to see, I looked at Tamara nestled in Jarvis's arms and spoke, my voice low.

"Tamara, I hope you don't regret this."

"Regret?!"

Her voice shot up an octave.

"The only thing I regret is not leaving a deadbeat like you sooner!"

I watched her press against Jarvis's chest, her cheeks flushed with coy delight, and I smiled.

What she didn't know was that Jarvis Farley was nothing more than an orphan Old Mr. Farley had adopted from a children's home to ease the ache of missing his real grandson. The Farley family's only true heir had gone missing twenty years ago.

But a month ago, that child had been found.

That child was me.

——

"Arthur, you're disgusting! What the hell are you smiling about?!"

Tamara's eyes raked over me, dripping with contempt.

"Don't think I'm joking with you. I will never spend my life with some penniless nobody. Don't even think about—"

"I won't."

I cut her off, my voice cold.

"Since there's no wedding, get off my stage. I paid for all of this."

"Who the hell do you think you're talking to, you piece of trash?!"

Before I even finished speaking, Jarvis charged at me and slammed his fist into my face.

I didn't see it coming. The blow sent me staggering, and blood streamed from my nose, trickling down past the corner of my mouth like a thin red creek.

Tamara walked over, pressed her fingers hard against the wound, and hissed through clenched teeth, "Arthur, Jarvis is doing you a favor by using the venue you set up. Don't push your luck."

She waved a hand behind her.

"Someone strip the groom's suit off him. Have it cleaned and put it on Jarvis."

Before I could react, a swarm of hulking men rushed me and tore every piece of clothing from my body.

December in the capital was already bitterly cold. I stood under the spotlight in nothing but my underwear, shaking.

Roaring laughter erupted from the crowd below.

"See that? When a man's got nothing to offer, even the woman in his arms gets snatched away! Pathetic!"

"Being broke is one thing, but being stupid is another! Does he even know who that girl caught the eye of? That's the young heir of the Farley family, the richest in the city! If a man like that wants your woman, you hand her over with a bow, even if she's given you eight kids!"

"Otherwise—"

The man jutted his chin in my direction.

"You end up like that."

The jeering didn't stop until Jarvis walked back onstage wearing my suit. Then the crowd fell silent.

Tamara and Jarvis kissed shamelessly on the stage of the wedding I'd spent seven years planning.

Watching Tamara's flushed face, I knew the girl from seven years ago was gone. The one who'd shared a cramped rental with me and made me believe nothing could ever shake what we had. That girl was dead.

The truth was, I hadn't planned to let anything shake it.

But my grandfather had already set a plan in motion.

The press conference to announce my return had already been scheduled. Two days from now.

Grandfather said he'd sent people to look into my performance at the company where I'd been working all these years. He was pleased. When the time came, he would hand me control of the Farley Group directly.

As for Jarvis, that would be left entirely up to me.

The day of the press conference happened to coincide with the traditional day for Tamara to visit her parents after the wedding. I'd originally planned to surprise her that day.

But I never expected...

The emcee was egging them on again, urging them to kiss.

I swallowed the nausea rising in my stomach, grabbed a tablecloth to drape over myself, and started to leave.

"Stop him!"

The moment I stood, Jarvis's snarl cut through the air from the stage.

I turned and met his eyes, brimming with smug satisfaction.

"Jarvis, restricting someone's freedom is against the law."

"The law?!"

Jarvis shoved hard against my shoulder.

"Let me tell you something. In this city, the Farley heir standing in front of you IS the law!"

Thinking of what Grandfather had planned for Jarvis over the phone, I let my voice go cold.

"Jarvis, your days of strutting around are numbered."

A vicious glint flashed through Jarvis's eyes.

"Get over here! Stuff this piece of trash in the trunk and take him to our bridal suite. Let him serve me and my wife on our wedding night!"

When several hulking men dragged me out of the trunk, I froze where I stood.

The "bridal suite" Jarvis was talking about was the home Tamara and I had shared.

"Tamara!"

My whole body was shaking. I spun around and pointed a trembling finger at her as she nestled in Jarvis's arms.

"I bought this place with every cent I had! This is OUR home! You take this animal and get out. Now."

"Your home?"

Tamara covered her mouth and let out a soft laugh.

"Arthur, starting now, this is MY home. Consider it what you owe me for wasting seven years of my life!"

"I'm going to spend my wedding night here with Jarvis. Have babies here. Live here and—"

"Tamara, trespassing in someone's home is a crime."

I held up my phone and waved it in front of her face.

"If you don't leave, I'm calling the police."

"Go ahead!"

At the mention of police, Tamara only looked more pleased with herself.

She tossed a manila envelope into my hands.

"Call them right now, if you've got the nerve. I'd love to see who the real criminal is!"

I tore open the envelope. Inside was a brand-new property deed.

The name listed as sole owner: Tamara Pruitt.

I pulled out my phone and called the real estate agent immediately.

Ferris Lambert's groggy voice came through the other end.

"Hey, man. The deed was processed three days ago. Tamara brought me in to handle it. She said you'd agreed to put the house in her name..."

My mind went blank, a single sharp buzz drowning out everything else. I stood rooted to the spot.

Jarvis let out two sneering laughs, then ordered the men he'd brought to hog-tie me and throw me into the basement directly below the master bedroom.

A dozen minutes later, the bed above me began to rock in a steady rhythm.

Seven years together, and Tamara had always told me she was saving herself for their wedding night.

So I had never touched her. Not once.

But today, through the security camera feed on my phone, I watched her writhing beneath someone else, her face flushed and coy.

My stomach churned violently.

Wave after wave of sounds drifted down from the master bedroom, and I doubled over retching, again and again, with nothing to bring up.

I fought desperately to break free.

But every time I struggled, the ropes only bit tighter.

The coarse hemp cord, thick as two fingers, shredded my skin. A searing, stinging pain tore through my entire body.

That was when I realized the ropes had been soaked in salt water beforehand.

The sounds from upstairs never stopped all night.

Again and again, in the throes of her pleasure, Tamara let slip truths I'd never heard before.

"Jarvis, I love you. These seven years, I never loved that broke loser. I never once actually planned to marry him..."

"Why stay with him for seven years? Because he's an idiot! He never touched me and still gave me money to spend. Look, he even gave us a huge wedding gift for our marriage! This house isn't much, but it cost that deadbeat every penny he had. Still worth a few million..."

When dawn broke, the master bedroom door swung open amid a tangle of cloying laughter.

But when I heard where those footsteps were heading, every drop of blood in my body rushed to my skull.

I couldn't care less that my body was already rubbed raw. Like a man possessed, I threw myself against the basement door until it gave way, then staggered and crawled to my foster father's memorial shrine.

The moment I saw what lay before me, the blood in my veins turned to ice.

My foster father's portrait had already been set ablaze with Jarvis's lighter. The fruit offerings that had once been arranged so neatly on the table had been devoured clean by the German shepherds his men had brought in. The incense burner lay toppled on the floor, surrounded by the shredded remains of the sutras my foster mother had painstakingly copied by hand. The whole room was in ruins.

Jarvis picked up a necklace from the table and dangled it in front of Tamara.

"What the hell is this thing?"

It was my foster father's ashes pendant. The only keepsake my foster mother had left to mourn him by.

"A necklace with ashes in it. Disgusting. Don't touch it!" Tamara glanced at the pendant with open contempt and flicked her wrist to throw it away.

I clenched my teeth, lunged to my feet, and dove for the pendant. I craned my neck up and clamped it between my teeth.

Jarvis saw this and kicked me over. I lost my balance and collapsed directly onto the still-burning portrait.

The licking flames swallowed my already-festering wounds in an instant. The smell of scorched flesh filled the air as searing, bone-deep pain tore through every nerve in my body.

"Who let this piece of trash in here?!"

Jarvis planted his foot on my head and ground down with all his weight.

"Spit that filthy thing out!"

A suffocating pressure exploded through my temple. I kept the pendant locked between my teeth, glared up at Jarvis with bloodshot eyes, and forced the words through my clenched jaw.

"You animal. You'll pay for this."

"Remember what I'm telling you. Everything you've done today, I will return to you a thousandfold."

"Return it to me? Keep dreaming!"

A vicious gleam surfaced in the depths of Jarvis's eyes. He raised his fist and brought it hammering down on my skull.

"You crossed the Farley heir. You'll never crawl out from under my heel."

When I still refused to let go, Jarvis reached in and started wrenching the pendant out with brute force. The metal chain shredded the inside of my mouth. Blood streamed from the corners of my lips in a steady flow.

But Jarvis had no intention of stopping.

Crack.

The sound of a tooth snapping. I bit down harder.

Jarvis's hands were slick with blood. His patience had run out. He kicked me aside, wiped the blood off on my clothes, then pulled out his phone and shoved the screen in my face.

"You piece of garbage. If you don't spit that filthy thing out, I'll show you exactly what the Farley heir is capable of."

The moment I saw what was on that screen, I froze as if struck by lightning.

On the surveillance feed, lying in an ICU bed, was my foster mother.

"You worthless dog. I'm counting to three. If you don't let go, that old woman dies today."

"Three..."

"Two..."

Jarvis rasped an order into the phone to whoever was on the other end.