Chapter 1

My girlfriend called me in tears, sobbing that armed robbers had broken into our house and demanded a five-million-dollar ransom.

I abandoned a multi-million-dollar business negotiation and blew through every red light to race home.

When I burst through the front door, I found her throwing a wild housewarming party with her male best friend.

The whole kidnapping was nothing more than a twisted prank to test my love.

Seeing me panting in the doorway, her best friend egged on the crowd to throw me into the deep end of the pool and gambled away the entire five million dollars I had brought in cash.

I nearly drowned in that pool.

The moment I gasped for air, I reached for my phone to call the police.

My drama-queen girlfriend, Piper, merely rolled her eyes at me.

“It was just a pre-marriage loyalty test. How else was I supposed to know if you really loved me?”

“I already deleted all the security footage from the villa anyway. You’re fine, so stop being such a drama queen.”

What she didn’t know was that the five million dollars was meant to save her life.

Looking at her smug, heartless face, my heart shattered into dust.

Five years of devotion vanished into thin air in that very second.

...

When I opened my eyes again, I was lying in a sterile hospital bed.

Piper stood beside me, looking pleasantly surprised, and immediately dialed her phone.

“He’s awake. You don’t need to worry anymore.”

“No need to apologize, Chase. You did it for my own good. He’s tough as nails, so what if he took a little dip in the water?”

I couldn’t hear what Chase said on the other end, but Piper’s face darkened as she turned back to me.

“Chase insists on apologizing to you. Watch your attitude and don’t embarrass me.”

“Ever since you got admitted, his heart condition flared up because of guilt! He hasn’t slept properly in days!”

Listening to her righteous tone, a wave of cold disillusionment washed over me.

I was the one who had been shoved into the water and nearly drowned, yet she was forcing me to forgive the culprit.

She shoved the phone against my ear.

Chase immediately began his pathetic act.

“Silas, man, it’s all my fault. I swear I didn’t know you couldn’t swim.”

“Please don’t fight with Piper because of me. If you’re mad, take it all out on me!”

Back at the party, he had his thug friends hold me down and throw me in, ignoring my frantic struggles.

Now he was playing the saint?

“Save the act,” I croaked out coldly. “Just give me back my five million dollars.”

While I had been thrashing in the water, fighting for air, he and his deadbeat friends had transferred my five million dollars to gamble it away on high-stakes poker.

I could let the disrespect slide for a moment, but that money had to be returned!

Chase immediately whined like a wounded puppy.

“I already lost all of it... I can’t pay it back. Silas, your family is filthy rich, not like me. Can’t you just let it go?”

Before I could reply, shrill shouts erupted from his end of the line.

It was Chase’s group of freeloading friends.

“Chase is having heart palpitations! What do we do?”

“It’s all your fault, Silas! You had to bring up the damn money! If anything happens to him, you’re responsible!”

Piper panicked and slapped me across the face.

“What the hell is wrong with you? Are you happy now?”

“It’s just money! Is five million dollars more important than Chase’s life? Look at yourself, you disgust me!”

The slap left my ears ringing.

I stared at her in complete shock.

“That’s it! I’m going to check on Chase. Stay here and think about what you’ve done!”

She slammed the door and walked out, severing the very last thread of affection I had for her.

My family had money, but five million dollars was not pocket change.

More importantly, that money was specifically prepared for Piper’s medical treatment.

She had recently been diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer.

I hadn’t told her yet because I feared the stress would worsen her condition.

Yet she had let Chase squander her only lifeline at a poker table.