Chapter 3

The next morning, I got my hands on that marriage certificate.

Liam stayed stone-faced the entire time, not even glancing at me once he finished signing, before shoving me straight into the car headed to the hospital.

That afternoon, the red light above the operating room came on.

I went under anesthesia and slept right through it.

When I woke up, I was already back in the VIP room.

A sharp pain throbbed in my side — Ian had cut a long incision, just to make it look convincing.

I weakly opened my eyes. Liam was standing by the window, on the phone.

He turned at the sound of movement, his eyes still cold as ever.

"You're awake?"

I let out a faint "mm-hm," putting on a pained expression and clutching my side.

"Liam... is Lily okay?"

"The surgery was a success." Liam walked over to the bed, looking down at me, his tone carrying not a trace of gratitude — only warning.

"Vera, now that you're Mrs. Hayes, behave yourself. I've transferred this downtown condo to your name. You'll live here from now on. You're not to show your face around Lily without my permission."

He dropped a set of keys and walked out without looking back.

I watched him go and let out a cold laugh.

Not show my face?

Don't worry. I'll have both of you begging to see me before this is over.

Over the next two weeks, I used "post-surgery recovery" as an excuse to comfortably settle into the condo, running up charges on Liam's supplementary credit card without any shame.

Hermès bags — I bought ten at a time, rotating through the colors.

Designer gowns — I had the sales reps come straight to my apartment for fittings.

Jewelry — anything with diamonds, I swiped the card without blinking.

My phone buzzed constantly with bank notification texts.

Liam saw it all, of course, but he didn't say a word.

In his eyes, this was just a vain, greedy woman cashing in her "payment" for the kidney. The more he looked down on me, the less he'd see me coming.

But the gaudy bags and watches weren't the point at all.

I resold every piece of luxury I bought, converting it all to cash. Add that to the remaining thirty million from the original fifty-million-dollar check, and I had a serious amount of liquid capital building up fast.

I was going to use that money to plant a time bomb right at the heart of Liam's business empire.

Two weeks later, my "wound" had "healed."

And Lily had "recovered" and been discharged.

To celebrate Lily's new lease on life, Liam rented out the most luxurious yacht in the city and threw a massive charity gala.

As Liam's secret wife — the one he kept hidden in the shadows — I wasn't supposed to show up.

But I was going to show up anyway.