Chapter 1

Question: If your husband gave you fifteen thousand dollars a month, never came home, and didn't require any "marital duties," would you be willing to live such a lonely, miserable life?

Answer: This kind of life is simply too painful. Please, let me suffer through it alone!

But wait, what's going on? Why is my superstar brother-in-law looking at me with such intense, burning eyes?

1.

My name is Riley Ford, and I'm the one who answered that question.

I was a girl as ordinary as they come. But at twenty-two, right after graduation, I started living a life most women couldn't even dream of. Or, as I call it, my "tragic" life.

My mother's childhood friend, Martha Quinn, married a wealthy man and moved abroad years ago. Last year, she brought her whole family back and became our neighbor again.

One night, her eldest son, Silas Quinn, stopped me at the gates of our community. He dropped a bombshell: he had a boyfriend back in Europe.

While I was still reeling from the gossip, he suddenly dropped to one knee and pulled out a diamond ring!

"I'll give you fifteen thousand dollars a month in spending money. Extra for the holidays. I'll provide a three-bedroom apartment in the city," he said.

"You won't have to perform any marital duties. You won't live with my parents. You won't even have to see me. All I need is for you to show up at family dinners once a year and play the part. Under these conditions, will you marry me?"

"Is this actually happening?" I whispered to myself.

Men are usually heartless creatures anyway.

Take my ex, Caleb Miller. He pursued me since freshman year, and we dated for four years. Then, at our graduation ceremony, he dumped me without a second thought.

He'd caught the eye of a rich heiress and decided to trade our love for a shortcut to the top.

The irony? That heiress was Felicia Ford, the daughter of my wealthy, arrogant uncle.

But I'm not the type to take a hit lying down. He embarrassed me in front of the whole school on the only graduation day I'll ever have. He really thought he'd just walk out of those gates unscathed?