"On my wedding night, I discovered the man I'd fallen in love with had secretly married me off to his disabled older brother, while my own family accepted money and helped hide the truth. But the cruelest twist came hours later, when I learned Ryan hadn't given me away only to repay a debt to his brother. He was clearing his future for a far more powerful bride.

On my wedding night, I discovered the man I'd fallen in love with had secretly married me off to his disabled older brother, while my own family accepted money and helped hide the truth. But the cruelest twist came hours later, when I learned Ryan hadn't given me away only to repay a debt to his brother. He was clearing his future for a far more powerful bride. My name is Emma. When my veil lifted, I expected Ryan Carter. Instead, Daniel Carter stood before me, leaning heavily on one leg. He offered me the ceremonial cup. "Drink with me, Emma. From today on, you're my wife." I knocked it from his hand and ran. Outside, the wedding guests fell silent. Then I saw Ryan. Perfect black suit. Whiskey in hand. Completely calm. "Ryan! Why am I married to your brother?" His fingers tightened around the glass. "The matchmaker didn't explain?" My stomach dropped. "I met you on Daniel's behalf." I stared at him. "So dinner was for Daniel? Giving me your coat in the rain was for Daniel?" He said nothing. "When you looked at me and promised me a home, was that for him too?" Something flickered in his eyes. Then disappeared. "Daniel took a bullet for me years ago. His leg was destroyed saving my life. I owe him everything." Ryan's voice hardened. "I wanted him to have a good wife." A good wife. That's what I'd been. Payment. I turned to leave, but my mother grabbed my wrist. "Emma, don't." I looked at her. Her eyes dropped. Then she admitted my father had already spent the Carter family's money on my brother's hospital treatment. "You knew?" She couldn't answer. Everyone had known. Everyone except the bride. That night, they pushed me back into Daniel's room. Through the wall, I heard Ryan's mother laughing with guests about Sophia, the daughter of a powerful New York crime family. An alliance. A future engagement. Suddenly, everything made sense. Ryan hadn't simply sacrificed me for Daniel. He needed me gone. Hours later, Daniel entered carrying hot noodles and an egg. He kept his distance. "I know you didn't choose me," he said quietly. "I won't touch you. My leg may be damaged, but I'm not an animal." For the first time that day, someone spoke to me like I was a person. I didn't sleep. The next morning, Ryan's mother shoved marriage papers into my hands. "Take Daniel downtown. Make it official." Outside, Ryan's men waited beside a black SUV. Daniel approached slowly, his cane tapping against the ground. "I'll go with you," he said. Ryan walked toward the SUV without looking at me. Then he stopped. "Take care, sister-in-law. Don't be late." Sister-in-law. Twenty-four hours earlier, I'd believed I was marrying him. Now I watched him leave for the future he'd chosen while I stood beside the brother he'd used to get rid of me. But as Daniel quietly opened the car door for me, I noticed something Ryan hadn't. The marriage papers in my hands weren't signed. And suddenly, neither was my future.

I stopped beside the SUV.

“Daniel?”

He turned.

“Yes?”

“Did you know?”

His expression tightened.

“About what?”

“That Ryan was pretending to love me.”

Daniel's hand closed around his cane.

For several seconds, he said nothing.

Then he answered.

“No.”