Chapter 1

1

I'd just been recognized by the wealthy Hayes family when I was forced to become a stand-in bride for the real heiress, Sarah.

Her fiancé, Peter Knight, had been in a car accident on their wedding day, leaving him blind and quadriplegic.

The doctors gave him a slim chance of recovery.

Two years later, Peter made a full recovery.

Then Sarah reappeared, sobbing that I'd somehow schemed to steal her wedding.

Peter believed her, vowing revenge.

He claimed his eyes hadn't fully healed and pressured me to donate a cornea.

After the surgery, while my vision was still blurry, he dragged me to a flashing, throbbing nightclub.

He was thrilled when I started crying tears of blood from the sensory overload.

Friends urged me to leave, but I stayed.

Until he ignored my three-month pregnancy and took me bungee jumping.

I miscarried. Peter complained about the smell of blood.

After I was discharged, I took a legal document to Peter's uncle, Patrick: "The three years are up. Please honor our agreement and let me go."

......

Patrick took the agreement, tossed it aside, and kept reading his own papers: "Sign for another three years. I'll add another three hundred thousand to your foster mom's medical fund. That way, if she needs a kidney transplant, you won't be so stressed."

Patrick, head of the Knight family, was a businessman through and through.

I needed money, but I needed out more.

"No. The deal was three years with him, and then I'm free."

My voice was firm. Patrick finally looked up.

"Peter's been giving you a hard time again, hasn't he? He lost his parents, then the accident… it changed him. He's better these past three years. Don't be too hard on him."

He picked up the phone and called his assistant.

The assistant appeared with a signed check.

"If you stay, fill in any number you want."

The slip of paper felt heavy in my hand.

I thought of my foster mom in the hospital. I wavered.

Then my phone auto-answered. Peter's cruel voice filled the room.

"Summer, where the hell are you? Skipping out on your hospital room? Guess I haven't taught you your lesson yet."

"Actually, I found a new bungee spot. We'll have to try it sometime."

Sarah giggled in the background. "Peter, you're so awful! She was pregnant with your baby! Oh, wait, she lost it…"

"You complained about the smell, remember? You didn't see how ugly she looked crying. I'd have killed myself if I were her, not just hang around being an eyesore."

More laughter erupted from the phone.

"Summer, you're so good at taking it, why don't you come down to the club and play clown for my friends? Give everyone a laugh."

My hands clenched. The check crumpled in my fist.

I fumbled to end the call, meeting Patrick's sharp gaze.

"I don't want the money. I just want to leave."