Chapter 2

When I got back to the master bedroom, the mangled metal ring setting was still sitting on my vanity. I pulled the gemstone out of my pocket and set it down next to the wreckage.

With a soft sigh, I rummaged through my drawers, found a cheap tube of superglue, and sat down to piece it back together.

I was sold by my biological mother to a couple struggling with infertility.

The going rate for a child was ten grand, but because I was a girl, they haggled her down to nine thousand. She sold me off at a discount.

I was six years old back then. So I was old enough to remember everything and scrub floors.

However, a few years later, that couple miraculously managed to conceive a son. So, without skipping a beat, my adoptive parents sold me off again.

They sold me for eight thousand dollars to an old drunkard, claiming that once I was grown, I would make him a fine wife.

Less than two years later, that creep got blackout drunk and drowned in a river.

Finally, I didn't have to be bartered and sold anymore. I had to scrape and claw my way into adulthood alone.

My birth mother sold me for cash. My adoptive mother sold me for cash.

So, no one should shame me for loving money. I never had the luxury of tasting what "love" was supposed to feel like. I never had the time to stress over romance because worrying about my next meal was my daily reality.

True love? Please. Work a double shift on your feet, and you will get over that fairy tale nonsense real quick.

Luckily, I loved money, and money loved me back.

I was deep in my messy, chaotic thoughts when Sean's voice broke the silence behind me.

"I'm sorry.

"I didn't know it was your mother's keepsake."

I turned around, shook my head, and plastered on my flawless, professional smile.

"It's totally fine. You paid me for it, right? With that kind of cash, I can buy more rings than I have fingers."

He glanced at the cheap superglue in my hand. He didn't look comforted. If anything, he looked like he thought I was putting up a brave front. He lowered his eyes, hiding his unreadable expression.

When he didn't say anything, I paused and picked up my phone from the vanity. "Oh, by the way, there's actually something I need to tell you..."

Before the sentence could leave my mouth, a panicked, shrill scream erupted from the guest bedroom down the hall.

Emily shouted, "Ah! Sean! Sean, hurry!"

Sean's face drained of color. Without a single second of hesitation, he spun around and bolted out the door.

My hand hung suspended in the air, holding my phone. The screen was lit up with a digital ultrasound report, confirming I was six weeks pregnant.

I watched his back disappear into the hallway. The phone screen slowly dimmed to black, and the smile on my face faded along with it.

Sean didn't come back to our bedroom that night.

See? Money is the only thing that never walks out on you.

I wasn't sleepy. I sat there with that cheap tube of glue, painstakingly piecing the ring back together for the entire night.

It wasn't until the morning sun slanted across my vanity mirror that I finally stopped. It loosely resembled a ring again, but the jagged cracks crisscrossed the metal like ugly scars.

I picked it up and held it to the light.

I really should just throw it away.

With a heavy sigh, I tossed it straight into the trash can by the desk.

I stood up, ready to walk away, but stopped. A self-deprecating laugh escaped my lips. I turned back around, reached into the trash, and popped the valuable gemstone out of the ruined metal.

I might hold a grudge against a person, but I would never hold a grudge against an asset.

I checked the time. Sean had likely already left for the corporate office. I threw on some clothes, grabbed my purse, and got ready to head out and cash that massive check.

With Emily back in the picture, the writing was on the wall. I needed to be ready to be thrown out onto the street at a moment's notice.

As I walked past the dining room on the first floor, Emily, who was having breakfast, heard my footsteps and immediately set down her silver fork and knife.

"Anna, you're up," she drawled, her tone dripping with mockery. "You look awful. Did you toss and turn all night because Sean wasn't in your bed?"

She intentionally dragged out her words, lifting a hand to adjust the collar of her silk robe.

She made sure to expose the fresh red marks blooming across her collarbone.

Once she was satisfied that my eyes had landed on them, she smiled triumphantly.

"Sorry about that. Whenever I fly long-haul and can't shake the jet lag, Sean always stays up with me to help me adjust. You don't mind, do you?

"After all, Sean and I grew up together. That kind of history is just something you can never compete with."

I took a deep breath.

There was a sharp sting in my heart.

But it was fine. From the time I was a kid, I was expertly trained in swallowing pain.

I tilted my head and looked at her with calm eyes.

"Oh. But Sean and I are having our wedding at the end of the month, and the marriage will be official by the first week of next month."

That sentence hit her like a physical blow.

She shot up from her chair, screaming at me in rage.

"What are you so smug about?

"If his mother hadn't fought us tooth and nail back then, we would have been married years ago! I never would have been forced out of the country!

"Now that I'm back, do you honestly think you get to stay by his side?"

Watching her face twist with rage, I simply raised an eyebrow and repeated myself like a broken record.

"Oh. But Sean and I are having our wedding at the end of the month, and the marriage will be official by the first week of next month.

Emily was trembling so hard that she looked like she might vibrate out of her skin. "You bitch!" she shrieked hysterically. "You're still having delusions about a wedding? Let me tell you, you will never marry Sean! Not in this lifetime!

"I am going to have the Howard family abandon you for good!"

Looking at her borderline psychotic meltdown, I remained completely serene. I even took my time smoothing out the cuff of my blouse before delivering my breezy reply.

"Oh. But Sean and I are having our wedding at the end of the month, and the marriage will be official by the first week of next month.

"Enjoy your breakfast. I'm going out to look at wedding dresses."

With that, I turned around and walked out the front door without looking back.