Chapter 1

I traded three years of my life to buy a lifesaving miracle drug from a black market doctor, only to have my fiancé Ethan North casually feed it to his first love when she twisted her ankle.

"Vanessa's foot is badly swollen. She needs it for the pain and swelling. You're healthy—you can tough it out for a few days."

He slapped the contract terminating our engagement in my face, wiped his fingers, and walked away. He drove off in his sports car with his precious first love in his arms, not even glancing at the blood I'd coughed into my handkerchief.

No one knew that this pill was my only chance to survive my congenital heart disease.

I clutched the contract and wiped the blood from my lips. That very night, I drove to the North family ancestral estate and knocked on the iron gates that hadn't opened in ten years.

Behind those gates lived the true power of the North family—Damien North, Ethan's uncle who had been in seclusion for years.

The next day at the North family banquet, Ethan walked in with Vanessa on his arm, publicly announcing he would marry her while mocking me for not knowing my place.

The whole room was in an uproar. Everyone waited to see me humiliated.

Then Damien walked in holding my hand, pulled me tightly into his arms, and looked at Ethan with dark, menacing eyes:

"Ethan, come here and greet Emily, my wife."