To marry Saya Rice, I happily presented two million dollars in betrothal gifts and bought gold jewelry at the end of the year.

But then, I heard a shocking piece of news.

Saya was pregnant with someone else's child, but she still pretended to be innocent and planned to choose the best one among us, her backup.

My father, Darius Moore, a billionaire who had just listed his company and was worth tens of billions of dollars, patted me on the shoulder and persuaded me.

"The gold digger must pay the price. Our Moore family won't accept her."

1

At the end of November 2022, my mother urged me to get married to Saya, who I had been dating for a year, before the New Year.

Klara Moore hoped to have a grandson soon.

The parents of I and Saya agreed to meet at the Apex Hotel to discuss the betrothal gift.

Unexpectedly, Zoe and her family took the chance to demand an exorbitant price.

My parents had just sat down and even hadn't time to sip coffee when Zoe spoke up first.

"The betrothal gift is one million. Also, you need to buy a house in the city center and a BBA of your choice. In addition, a bank cash transfer of 660 thousand dollars is required."

To be honest, it was extremely high in our city.

Her demand was so high that most people couldn't afford it.

Yet, it wasn't a big deal for my family.

My family was engaged in real estate in Faloan, opening 6 star-rated hotels and several gold shops across the country.

The real estate was managed by my father, the hotels were managed by my sister and her husband, and my mother was in charge of the gold shops.

Saya's family was well off in the past few years. They bought and sold a second-hand house and made money from it.

But in fact, they were opportunistic and didn't understand financial leverage.

Due to the impact of the epidemic in recent years, most businesses took a nose dive.

Even so, Zoe, my future mother-in-law appeared radiantly.

She had fashionable short curly hair and wore a tweed coat.

Two gold earrings were hanging on her earlobes.

A big gold chain was around her neck.

Staring at the jade bracelets on her hands, Beth, my sister, sent me a message jokingly: [The bracelets are fake.]

I and Saya knew each other while studying abroad. In my opinion, she was a gentle and beautiful girl.

Because I had been studying abroad, few people in Faloan knew my identity.

In addition, my dad used to suggest that I should not show off my wealth but be low-key.

So until now, Saya's family still didn't know about my family background. Yet, they were clear that my family was running a business.

Although Zoe's demand was high, I, at 32, didn't want to make things difficult for Saya, who was only 26 years old this year.

Besides, this amount of money was completely acceptable for our family.

Thus, my dad agreed without hesitation and without any bargaining.

For him, as long as we truly loved each other, money didn't matter.

I thought the issue of the betrothal gift was settled, but I found that Zoe, who had received our promise, was not very happy.

Instead, her expression became weird.

I saw her constantly winking at Tessa, her eldest daughter.

Just as I was wondering what was going on, Tessa stood up.

Her words made the atmosphere in the scene tense.

"You two can get married, but to be frank, you have to sign a prenuptial agreement. Otherwise, it will be hard to divide the property after the divorce. My husband and I also signed a prenuptial agreement."

2

"Tessa, we haven't even gotten married yet, and you're already thinking about what to do after the divorce? That's inappropriate!"

My parents couldn't say anything out of courtesy.

Yet, I didn't care about it, for Tessa always tried to sow discord between us.

I knew a little about her family situation.

Her husband, a son-in-law who lived in the home of her parents, often stooped to compromise.

Tessa was a high-achieving woman, and she even was bossing me around.

"Tessa is doing this for our own good."

Saya realized that I was dissatisfied and quickly stepped forward to smooth things over.

Since my fiancée spoke, I should save her face.

I also knew that she wanted a sense of security by signing the prenuptial agreement.

Tessa just mentioned it for her sake.

Since our family didn't bargain in the matter of the betrothal gift, we naturally wouldn't care about the prenuptial agreement.

Besides, if I signed the agreement, it would be good for me.

I nodded in the end. "It's okay to sign a prenuptial agreement."

Unexpectedly, my consideration of the overall situation gave them the opportunity to make further advances.

Perhaps because I was easy to compromise, Zoe winked at Tessa again.

Acting as the Rice family's spokesperson, she began to chatter incessantly.

"We should make it clear. If Saya gave birth to a boy as her first child, he would take the Rice family's surname. If it were a girl, she would take your surname. As for the second child, we can discuss it later. Once a woman gives birth to a child, she will lose the golden period of her career.

"Saya is an international student with excellent conditions, so if you want her to have a second child, you will need to pay birth compensation."

Before she finished speaking, our whole family's expression changed.

How absurd it was!

Not only did I have to provide them with high-priced betrothal gifts, but I had no right to give our children a surname.

I thought to myself, "What the hell is the birth compensation?"

Tessa and others probably noticed that we were not in a good mood, so they didn't continue the conversation.

At this time, my father asked the first question of the day. "So, what is your family's dowry?"

"Many people like my daughter, so she has no trouble finding a husband," Zoe replied.

It surprised me!

Darius ignored her, not because he looked down on women, but because he believed it was time to talk to the head of the Rice family.

However, he overestimated Arrow.

Upon entering the door, Arrow walked towards the dining table and ate the farmed sturgeon on it until only the skeleton was left.

He was submissive to Zoe and didn't utter a single useful word.

It seemed like he wasn't a qualified head of the Rice family.

My dad realized that, saying, "Let Robin and Saya discuss their own affairs first. Once they have come to an agreement, we can meet again."

The two families finally parted unhappily.

I didn't expect that even though we made so many concessions, the negotiations on the betrothal gift would break down.

Saya indeed had no trouble finding a husband, but I couldn't accept it just to marry her.

I decided to keep Saya's family at arm's length.

Unexpectedly, Saya would send me a message on WhatsApp as soon as I got home in the evening.

[I am pregnant.]

Then she sent a picture of a pregnancy test stick with two bars.

3

I was shocked and quickly reported the situation to my parents.

Darius was serious. "Let me ask you. You really want to marry Saya, right?"

I nodded in agreement. "Yes."

"Now that you have a child, the situation is different. You can go and discuss it with Saya yourself. Except for the question of whose surname the child should take, everything else is acceptable. If you can't solve it, I and your mother will intervene."

My father drew a bottom line. He decided to compromise due to the baby in Saya's belly.

I replied to Saya: [The child must take my last name, and everything else is easy to negotiate.]

Thinking that I would become a father later, I felt mature instantly and decided to take on responsibilities.

She then sent another message.

[My mother insisted on increasing the betrothal gift to 880 thousand dollars. No matter how I persuade her, she won't listen. What should I do?]

Zoe took advantage of the child to raise the price, but I had no choice but to accept it.

I couldn't be at odds with my children and future wife.

[Okay.]

I agreed in the end.

Saya didn't reply to the message for half an hour. I guessed she was negotiating with her parents.

At 10 p.m., Saya replied: [My mother said that we should buy gold jewelry tomorrow, and she will go too.]

I was delighted because it meant that the marriage was basically a done deal.

The gold jewelry cost 22 thousand dollars, and Saya chose them herself. I paid for it without hesitation.

These jewellery were all bought in the gold shop of my family.

But in the end, Zoe took a fancy to a gold bracelet worth over 20 thousand dollars.

"This one is a pair with the one I wear. At that moment, the gold price fluctuated greatly, so I didn't buy it."

I understood immediately and paid again.

Immediately afterwards, Zoe asked for a little golden rabbit.

I didn't want to cause any trouble, so I took them all.

But two days later, I unexpectedly discovered that the gold bracelet was on Tessa's wrist and the little golden rabbit was hanging around her son's neck.

I couldn't help but frown, but didn't say a word.

The wedding ceremony was scheduled for the 28th day of December, and it was around a month away.

I then said to Saya, "Let's get the marriage certificate before we get married. Your belly will be bigger after marriage, so it will be inconvenient to handle these things. We also need a marriage certificate for the child's household registration."

Saya hesitated. "My mother said that we should wait a little longer."

Later, I mentioned it several times, but she always made excuses to refuse me.

I was anxious. "If we don't get the certificate, it will be illegal. You can't just listen to your mother on everything."

Perhaps my pressure worked. After hesitating for a long time, Saya finally told the truth.

It turned out that Zoe had changed her mind again.

Saya said to me, "My mother said that the money, house, and car will remain unchanged. In addition, can you transfer the house to my name? It's also a guarantee for me. Otherwise, she doesn't allow us to get married. What should I do?"

4

My anger almost exploded.

I wondered, "Why can't she talk about the problem all at once face to face? Why does she keep asking for more? Am I a rich and stupid guy?"

With that in mind, I did not respond in person. Out of respect for my parents' wishes, I intended to go home and ask them what they thought.

Not surprisingly, my dad refused.

He proposed the solution.

After the child was born, regardless of gender, the house would be transferred to their name.

To be fair, my father's proposal benefited both families.

That was what I thought.

Yet, Zoe refused to agree.

After I repeated questioning, Saya hesitantly gave reasons for her disagreement.

"Didn't you tell me before that your family has three houses? My mother said that you should give one more to Tessa and include it in the betrothal gift."

I didn't expect that Saya, who has always been generous and gentle, was actually a complete mama's girl.

I wondered what she took me for.

"My parents indeed have three houses. One is for my sister, one is for me, and one is for their retirement. Now that you want to give one of them to Tessa, which one do you think we should choose for her?"

"Isn't your sister married? Let her husband earn money to buy it! Why should your parents pay for it?"

"That's right. Then why don't you let Tessa's husband earn money to buy a house? How could you let my family give it to her? My family's house has nothing to do with Tessa and her husband."

The talks broke down again.

For more than a week, Saya ignored me.

At this time, I was completely disappointed, and it was time to break up with her.

But before I did that, there was one thing I needed to take care of.

5

I called Saya to discuss with her the proper way to deal with the child.

No matter what adults did, children were innocent.

I tried to get her back. If it failed, then abortion would be the only option. Also, I would give Saya reasonable compensation.

As a result, I soon discovered that she didn't answer or reply to my calls and text messages.

When I went to her house, the door was closed.

On the third day, she blocked and unfollowed me on various social media.

Just when I thought Saya's family was about to disappear from my world.

On the morning of the fourth day, she suddenly added me on WhatsApp again.

Meanwhile, her attitude changed a lot.

6

[Honey, I miss you.]

[You finally contacted me. Where are you?]

[I'm shopping at Avalon Mall, buying daily necessities for our child. Can you pay for me?]

Many payment links then were sent, but only more than three thousand dollars was for baby products.

Most of them were payment links for luxury brands, such as Hermès and Chanel.

There was a ZIPPO lighter, and it was a limited edition!

I wondered why she bought a lighter.

After all, she didn't smoke.

All of them cost more than 400 thousand dollars in total.

"Why did you buy a lighter? You don't smoke!"

"It's for my dad. He always wanted it."

I didn't pay in full but clicked on the payment link for the baby products.

Also, I paid for a not-so-expensive Hermès bag and a lighter.

After the payment was completed, Saya disappeared again.

It turned out that the Rice family was treating me as a cash machine!

No one could take my money so easily without paying the price.

The Rice family was no exception.

The next day, I brought 300 thousand in cash and met with Dalli, Saya's brother-in-law.

I should understand what they were planning.

Dalli had been married into the Rice family for 10 years, and his life was miserable.

After drinking two glasses of liquor, he began to complain.

At this time, although I had predicted the Rice family's intentions, what Zoe had done disgusted me even more deeply.

Dalli seemed to be almost driven crazy by the family over the years.

Two years ago, he was bewitched by Zoe and raised more than four million for her to invest in second-hand houses.

As a result, the epidemic hit. Although he acted in time, he suffered a net loss of more than one million.

By comparison, Zoe seized the chance to make a fortune.

Helplessly, Dalli and his family had to live in Zoe's house.

However, no one in the Rice family liked him, and everyone treated him like a servant.

Tessa even would call him a loser.

When Saya was about to get married, the Rice family wanted to settle the matter once and for all after initially investigating my family's situation.

Zoe planned to solve Tessa's housing problem by using Saya's betrothal gift.

But in fact, Zoe still had a few houses in her name. She couldn't sell them and wouldn't leave them for Tessa to live in.

Recently, when the epidemic lockdown was lifted, Zoe instigated Dalli to take out another loan to open a business.

Dalli was almost driven crazy.

Zoe had a good plan, but Dalli became a traitor in their family.

I seized the chance to make a suggestion to Dalli.

"We can cooperate on business matters. I can't guarantee that you will make a lot of money, but we will definitely not lose money."

The condition was that he had to further fish for information for me.

Dalli was still a little hesitant.

I immediately took out a bank card, saying, "I never treat my friends badly. Here is 300 thousand dollars. The password is 888888. You can spend it as you like."

Dalli took the money with excitement, drank the wine in the glass in one gulp, and then told me a secret that shocked me.