Chapter 1

By the time Finn Wheeler explained that it was only a bet, the crowd had already been laughing for a while. The teasing was sharp, shrill enough to feel like it was piercing straight through my eardrums.

“Tsk, Ruth. Betting on you isn’t even worth the losses. Can you use that useless brain of yours for once?”

“This is hilarious. You actually fantasize about Finn marrying you?”

That sense of humiliation was far too familiar. Almost instinctively, I clenched the fabric of my wedding dress, my fingers digging in so hard it hurt.

Finn lit a cigarette, a trace of disdain surfacing in his eyes. “Ruth, if you’re thinking about clinging to me again, I suggest you give up now.”

The laughter followed, overlapping and spreading through the room.

In the past, this would have been the moment I collapsed, crying and demanding to know why he treated me this way. However, this time was different. The moment Finn finished speaking, I turned around.

A strong hand immediately clamped around my arm.

“What are you doing?”

“Going back to get married.”

Finn froze for a beat, then let out a mocking laugh. “Ruth, when it comes to degrading yourself, no one does it better than you.”

I closed my eyes. Even so, my heart ached when I heard those words.

Right. No matter what I did, in Finn’s eyes, it was always self-degradation.

Three days before the wedding, I had sent him an invitation. I had no idea who made the call afterward, but I heard the entire bet with my own ears.

“Interesting. This time, she’s really gone all out. She’s actually marrying someone.”

Someone asked Finn, “What if she’s serious this time?”

Another voice answered first. “No way. Everyone knows she won’t marry anyone but Finn. Obviously, he has a new girlfriend now, and she’s jealous. She’s just trying to get his attention.”

Finn’s new girlfriend was named Sophie Anderson. He liked her a lot and had pursued her for a long time.

She picked up the wedding invitation, glanced at it once, then casually tossed it onto the floor, giggling. “So this is the kind of woman she is? If I were a man, I wouldn’t want her either.”

The room erupted into laughter again.

Then, Finn set his glass down on the table and asked casually, “Want to make a bet?”

“Another one? Fine. If we win, you break up with Sophie.”

Finn’s voice turned cold instantly. “Who said you could use Soph as a bet?”

On the other end of the phone, I listened as he effortlessly reshaped the wager. The bet became whether I would run off with him at my wedding.

Sophie could not be used as a bargaining chip, but I could. He had used me as a setup, gambled on a hundred times already.