Chapter 4

He came clean about his family background.

His father was the top executive at my parent company. His mother was the principal of a private school.

He said, "I didn't mention it during the blind date because I didn't want to show off."

"I studied in Switzerland for several years and had a girlfriend there. We were together for three years with a great relationship, but when graduation approached, she found out I planned to return to develop my career in this small Southern town. She thought I lacked ambition and broke up with me."

"My parents are getting older and have been pressuring me to marry and have children, which is why I agreed to the blind date."

Suddenly it all made sense.

No wonder such a high-quality man needed blind dates to find a partner.

Rowan suddenly took my hand, his tone serious.

"Sarah, I'm telling you all this because I'm not just playing around with you. I'm serious about getting married."

I looked into his sincere eyes and nodded firmly.

In our second month together, I went home with Rowan to meet his family.

His parents were wonderful people, completely satisfied with me, and even gave me a valuable gift.

Half a year flew by, and we decided to get our marriage license.

When I told my parents, they said dismissively that the family's finances were limited and they could only give me ten thousand dollars as wedding gift.

I didn't argue. I gritted my teeth and took out a bank loan, bringing my wedding gift up to one hundred and eighty thousand.

I didn't want to be looked down on at my wedding, and I definitely didn't want to be laughed at by Nina and parents.

On the wedding day, my in-laws specifically spent a million dollars to hold a lavish ceremony at the best hotel in the area.

Well-wishers came in droves—all prominent figures in the local community.

Even leaders from my company came to offer their congratulations.

But until the ceremony started, I never saw my parents arrive.

Just as I stood on stage in my wedding dress, barely able to hold myself together, I received a message from my parents. Just a few short sentences:

[Sarah, Mom and Dad aren't coming. Nina suddenly got a fever, so we have to rush to New York overnight to take care of her.]

[Your in-laws are just showing off, insisting on holding it at the most expensive restaurant. We looked at the smallest banquet hall there before—it's barely bigger than a conference room. Going would just be embarrassing. Nina's illness is more important.]

My knuckles turned white as I gripped my phone.

Only then did I realize my parents hadn't even carefully read the invitation.

Subconsciously, they didn't care about me, and by extension, didn't care about the husband and family I was marrying into.

Fortunately, Rowan's family didn't take it to heart at all.

In fact, my mother-in-law felt especially sorry for me.

They said since I was marrying into the family without money to my name, they'd let me manage all the gift money received.

Eight hundred thousand dollars in gift money.

Four times the two hundred thousand dollar wedding gift my parents had prepared for Nina.

That night, I posted our wedding photos to my feed.

But the family group chat remained silent. No one sent a single word of blessing.

Nina, however, soon posted a photo of a bowl of soup, captioned:

[Family is always the most reliable harbor.]

I wasn't angry or sad.

After all, I had eight hundred thousand dollars.

Money is the best medicine for healing in this world.

Shortly after the wedding, Rowan felt bad about my difficult commute and bought me a Ferrari.

That morning, I drove to work and passed a flower bed by the road. I took a photo of the blooming flowers and posted it to my feed.

Unexpectedly, Nina directly private messaged me, screenshotting the Ferrari logo visible in the corner of the photo, sending three question marks.

[Where did you get a car? And a Ferrari?]