Marry Rich? Nah. Get Rich.

The day before my wedding, my ex-boyfriend asked me to meet him in a hotel room. "I heard you're getting married," he said. "Could you meet me, just this once? There's something I need to tell you." I agreed, and that night I went to the address he gave me. But the person waiting for me wasn't him. It was my fiancé, his face like a storm cloud, and beside him, his self-satisfied childhood sweetheart, looking thoroughly pleased with herself. "See, Julian, I told you she wasn't being honest with you," she said. "She's finally slipped up." My fiancé's jaw clenched. He grabbed my wrist hard enough to bruise. "Why?" he demanded. I lowered my eyes and answered calmly, "Because I don't want to marry you anymore. This is the eighth time you and your childhood sweetheart have tested whether my feelings for you were real. "I'm exhausted. Aren't you?" Chapter 1 Julian Sussman froze for a second, then tightened his grip on my wrist even harder. His brow furrowed. "What are you even trying to argue here?" he snapped. "You're the one who planned to meet an ex-boyfriend and cheat on me right before our wedding. Don't try to pin this on Debs and me." I let out a breath and slowly unwound the scarf from my neck, revealing the ugly surgical scar underneath. The moment Julian saw it, guilt flickered across his face. He turned away, unable to look at it. Debbie Bloom didn't care, though. She pouted and rolled her eyes. "Why can't Katie just prove she's innocent instead of dragging up some old wound to change the subject?" I gave a short, humorless laugh. I wasn't about to make the same mistake twice, paying some ridiculous price just to "prove" my innocence to two people who'd only brush it off anyway. Instead, I pointed at the scar on my neck and reminded Debbie exactly where it came from. That time, to supposedly test how much I cared about Julian, she'd had him call and lie that he'd been in a serious accident, then strung a rope across the road at the meeting point. She'd told him, full of confidence, "If Katie really cares about you, she'll come in a hurry and ride right into that rope. If she doesn't care, she'll take her time, and there's no way she'll miss something that obvious. "There's no other way, Julian. I'm doing this for your own good. Your families are worlds apart. This is the only way to prove she's not with you for your money." So I'd rushed to get there, panicked and going too fast, and the rough white rope had caught me across the throat and thrown me off my scooter. I'd been rushed to the hospital and gotten five stitches in my neck. Debbie, the one responsible for the whole thing, had stood off to the side smiling sweetly, congratulating me on passing her little test as a future member of the family. Julian had held me like his heart was breaking, apologizing over and over. "Katie, I'm sorry. This is all my fault. "I shouldn't have listened to Debs and gone along with something so far over the line. Please don't be angry. "This time, I really did see how much you love me. There won't be a next time." Debbie listened to me recount everything she'd done and showed not a flicker of guilt. If anything, she looked entitled to it. "So what if I did? Everything I did, Julian's mother asked me to do. Julian agreed to it too. "Girls from families as poor as yours will do anything to climb the ladder. You have to test someone a few times before you know if it's real." Julian came back to himself and jumped in to back her up. "Katie, that really wasn't Debs's fault. She genuinely wanted to help you fit into my family. That's why she was a little harsh about it." I raised an eyebrow and looked at the man I'd loved for five years. I smirked and gave a light nod. "I understand completely. You two are perfectly matched. You trust each other so much." Chapter 2 I continued, "It was wishful thinking of me to believe we'd be together for life. "But I've finally figured it out. I'm tired, and I don't want to spend the rest of my life being tested just because I grew up poor. "Let's break up. You can find someone who doesn't need to prove her feelings are real, and I'll find someone who doesn't need to test mine. "It works out for both of us." Julian's frown deepened the more I talked. When he saw me yanking the diamond ring off my finger, he looked outright stunned. He reached out to stop me, but it was too late. I'd already pulled off the ring that had chained me down for far too long and thrown it back at his chest. I gave a careless wave goodbye. "Julian and Debbie, goodbye. "I hope I never see either of you again. May the two of you, a bitch and a fool, live happily ever after." … I walked straight to the door and stepped out into the fresh air. That was when I finally felt like I'd been reborn. Behind me, Julian came running after me, out of breath, the ring clutched in his hand. He caught my sleeve. He looked up at me with those wide, innocent eyes. "Katie, don't go. Our wedding is tomorrow. "Whatever you're upset about, now isn't the time for it. Stop being ridiculous and take the ring back. "As for Debs, if you really don't like her, fine, I won't let her be your bridesmaid. Is that better?" I used to be completely in love with those clear, innocent eyes of his. Now, all I saw looking into them was an endless stretch of suffocating darkness. Disgusted, I wrenched my hand free. "No. Debbie is going to be your bridesmaid. Not mine. I just told you clearly, we're done. The wedding is off. Everything about your wedding has nothing to do with me anymore." Caught off guard by how hard I'd pulled away, Julian fumbled and lost his grip. The ring, worth a fortune, rolled across the ground and dropped straight into a black storm drain. Debbie, who'd caught up right behind him, saw the whole thing happen. She planted her hands on her hips and glared at me. "Well, look at that, Katie. You lost the three-million-dollar diamond ring Julian bought at auction. If you can't pay for it, you can rot in prison!" But Debbie hadn't counted on me being faster than her. I already had my phone out, dialing for help. "Hello, 911? I need to report a crime. Someone's trying to scam me by claiming a cubic zirconia ring is worth three million dollars. "Yes, they're trying to extort three million dollars out of me as compensation. The address is... please send someone as soon as you can." Julian broke into a cold sweat and tried to grab the phone out of my hand, talking fast. "Katie, Debs was just joking around with you. There's no need to waste the police's time. "That ring was yours anyway. Since it fell down the drain, I'll just buy you another one. There's no reason to make such a big deal out of this." Debbie shut her mouth at that, her face turning bright red. After a long pause, she finally choked out, "Julian's right. I was just messing around." I held up my phone and played back the recording I'd just made, looping Debbie's own words for everyone to hear. The two of them, guilty written all over their faces, both spoke up at once. "Right, well, I don't like people joking around with my innocence. "If it really was a diamond ring, I'll pay for exactly what it's worth. But if it wasn't, then congratulations, you've earned yourself a few free years in prison for extortion and fraud. "The police are already here. Might as well let them sort it out at the station." Julian watched the sound of the sirens grow closer and closer. Finally, he made up his mind, snatched the phone out of my hand, and smashed it on the ground. Chapter 3 Then, before I could react, Julian slapped me across the face, his voice cold. "Enough! Katie, you've gone too far. "I told you, Debs was joking. She's basically our little sister, and we're getting married tomorrow. "What are you even so jealous about? Why are you making a scene?" His outburst was loud enough to stop a man just stepping out of his car. It was Officer Daniel Grey. He looked at us, his expression flat and unreadable. "Are you two having a lovers' spat and filing a false report?" Debbie's eyes lit up, and she quickly played the wounded party. "That's right, officer. It's all my fault; I'm the petty one throwing a tantrum. I'm so sorry to trouble you. "Julian's been standing here trying to talk sense into her this whole time. She just won't listen, and now she's even threatening to report a false crime and get me thrown in jail. "Please, officer, just go. I'm so sorry for all this trouble today." Officer Grey seemed to accept Debbie's story, and hearing Julian mention the wedding was tomorrow, he didn't want to be the one to ruin someone's happy occasion. He was just about to give a verbal warning about the dangers of filing a false report and turn to leave when I lifted my face, the right side still swollen from the slap, and spoke to him, calm and steady. "Hello, officer. I'm the one who called this in, and it wasn't a false report. I want to report Debbie Bloom for malicious extortion, and Julian Sussman for assault and intentional destruction of my property." Officer Grey's eyes went to the handprint on my face, and he startled. That wasn't a light slap. It didn't look like something from a couple getting married tomorrow. Debbie kept trying to steer the conversation, wiping at fake tears as she grabbed my hand. "Katie, please, I'm begging you, stop this. "You're both getting married tomorrow. If you go to the station over some silly fight tonight, isn't that just bad luck for the wedding?" As she spoke, she shot Julian a look, silently telling him to back her up. Julian caught on immediately. He pulled up our wedding photos and the digital invitation on his phone, doing everything he could to prove our relationship was real. "Yes, yes, officer, we really are getting married tomorrow. She's just upset with me. I'm sorry for all this trouble." I grabbed his phone out of his hand with a cold smile and zoomed in on the wedding photo, holding it up for Officer Grey to see. He frowned almost instantly. Something was off. Our faces looked pasted onto the photo, and the editing was sloppy. "This wedding photo... doesn't look right, does it?" That was when Julian remembered. Our wedding photos hadn't actually been taken by a real photographer. They were AI-generated. That had been Debbie's fifth test of whether my feelings were real. That day, Julian had shown up at my rented apartment with a devastated look on his face. He told me the Sussman family had gone bankrupt, that his mother had suffered such a shock she'd been hospitalized, and that he was now saddled with debts and had nothing left. He asked if I still wanted to marry him. I'd stayed completely calm and told him, right away, that the priority wasn't the wedding, it was figuring out a plan for paying off his debt. Hearing that, Julian had looked down, disappointed, clearly thinking I was exactly the kind of woman Debbie always accused me of being, someone who cared more about money than about him. Then he watched me pull out every bank card I owned and pull up my payment apps to add up what I had left, muttering the whole time about how the apartment I was renting was too big, that switching to something smaller would save money. In the end, I'd worked out that I could get my hands on one hundred thousand dollars right away. Chapter 4 It wasn't much, but it was enough to take the edge off an emergency. Seeing how genuine I was, Julian had pulled me into a hug, his voice cracking with emotion. "Katie, you're too good to me. Even after everything, you still want to be with me." I'd knocked my knuckle gently against his forehead and told him he was being ridiculous. I loved him, not his family's money. So for the next six months, Julian had played the part of a broke man while I worked eighteen-hour days trying to help pay off his family's supposedly massive debt. He was always anxious, saying he was scared I'd leave him, and he wanted us to take wedding photos together. But real wedding photography cost thousands of dollars, way too expensive for us. So in the end, we'd agreed to use an AI tool to generate a set of photos with our faces stitched onto some sample images instead. Later, chasing a thirty-dollar delivery fee, I'd taken a job running an errand out to a remote auction house. I'd ridden through pouring rain and howling wind in the pitch dark until my scooter's battery died. I finally made it to the auction house, all gilded and glowing with light. Security stopped me right at the entrance. My clothes were still dripping with rancid rainwater. Through the doors, I saw Julian, dressed in a tailored suit, one arm around Debbie's waist, the two of them spinning together in the middle of the dance floor. In that moment, it felt like my throat had locked shut. I couldn't make a sound. The guard noticed me staring and couldn't resist a jab. "Don't bother looking. That's the Sussman family's eldest son and the Bloom family's daughter in there. They're childhood sweethearts, perfectly matched. Not exactly someone like you has any business dreaming about." I heard myself ask, my voice flat, "Isn't the Sussman family supposed to be bankrupt?" That only made the guard laugh harder. "Their grandkids' grandkids could go broke, and the Sussmans still wouldn't be bankrupt." I nodded weakly and gave a bitter little laugh to myself. "I see." ... Julian opened his mouth, trying to explain the whole tangled mess of tests and lies to Officer Grey, but in the end, he couldn't get a single word out about what he'd actually done. It was Debbie who stepped in to turn things back around. "Officer, doesn't filing a report require actual evidence? "Julian and I have plenty of proof that she's just throwing a fit. Why don't you ask Katie if she has any proof at all that we extorted her or hurt her on purpose?" As she spoke, Debbie crossed her arms and looked at me and my phone, shattered on the ground, with pure satisfaction. That was when a man's voice came from somewhere nearby. "I have proof. I can confirm everything Katie reported is true." Debbie turned toward the voice, annoyed, but her expression flipped the instant she saw who it was. She turned shy and sweet in a heartbeat, hurrying over to loop her arm through his. "Charlie? Is that really you?" Charlie Stone's face went cold. He shook her off and kept walking toward us, pulling out his phone to show Officer Grey the footage he'd just recorded. Julian lunged to stop him, teeth clenched. "Charlie, our two families go back generations. Are you sure you want to do this?" Charlie shot him a look of contempt and kept going, handing the video straight to Officer Grey. "Take a look at this, officer. I happened to be meeting a client at this hotel tonight. "I ended up witnessing the whole thing from start to finish. I hope it helps you, and this poor woman who's been dragged through all this for nothing." I looked at him with quiet gratitude. Beside us, Debbie, unwilling to let it go, tried to grab the phone out of Officer Grey's hand while loudly slandering me. Chapter 5 Debbie yelled, "I knew it. I knew there had to be a reason you suddenly dropped Julian. "You climbed your way up to an even bigger fish, the Stone family. "Charlie, don't let her innocent act fool you. Katie is scheming through and through. "Julian and I tested her eight times together, and it was only because of her ex-boyfriend that she finally slipped up. She has no shame!" Debbie was practically shouting, completely oblivious to the disgust written across Charlie's face. He cut her off, voice ice cold. "Debbie, do you really think I'm the kind of man who lets himself get played by women? Or is it that deep down, you actually have a problem with the Stone family?" That one line, delivered without much heat at all, was enough to send Debbie into a panic. She looked seconds away from tears. "No, no, I'd never. Our family has always had the utmost respect for every member of the Stone family. Charlie, please don't misunderstand. "Julian, say something, please." Julian opened his mouth, but before he could get a word out, I cut past both of them and went straight to Officer Grey, beating him to it. "Officer, if things are clear now, could you have someone fish the ring out of the drain? I'd also like to be taken in for an injury exam, and I'd like both of them brought in for questioning." Officer Grey seemed to finally snap out of his daze, looking at Julian and Debbie, both of them red in the face. He formally informed them they'd need to come down to the station for questioning. Charlie volunteered to come along as a witness. By the time we reached the station, Julian had lost all his earlier bravado. Nervous and desperate, he tried to talk me into settling things quietly, playing the sympathy card. He brought up the rainy day we'd first met, how he'd handed his umbrella to a total stranger without a second thought. All he'd left behind was a business card, asking me to reach out so he could get it back sometime. Back then, I hadn't known he came from money. He hadn't even let me see his social media. I'd just assumed he was an ordinary, kind stranger and thanked him, treating him like nothing more than that. Julian, though, had seemed genuinely interested in me. He'd gone through every post on my page and liked every single one. Then he'd asked me to meet him at a cafe the next day to return the umbrella. I'd agreed, and to show my thanks, I'd even insisted on paying for us both. We'd arrived at almost the same moment, and Julian had introduced himself with obvious enthusiasm. "My name is Julian Sussman. Just an ordinary clerk over at Sussman Group. My parents are farmers in a small village." His self-introduction had left me a little embarrassed. This wasn't a blind date. I hadn't thought we needed to lay out our family backgrounds. Still, out of politeness, I'd answered honestly. "My name is Katie Leigh. I'm an independent home designer. My parents both worked at a factory. "Thank you for lending me your umbrella yesterday; here it is back. "Order whatever you like, it's on me. Don't be shy about it." I'd thanked Julian sincerely, which for some reason made him burst out laughing. "I've never had a woman treat me to a meal in my whole life. Guess I have you to thank for the experience." At the time, I'd just found him a little baffling, the way he talked and acted. But he seemed to grow more and more interested in me after that. In the days that followed, he found every excuse he could to ask me out to dinner or the movies. Even though I turned him down nine times out of ten, he never gave up.