Chapter 1

"A villa in Riverview Isle worth a million and two-hundred dollars. Wedding gift from my side," Ada Sutton's voice came through the phone, cool and distant as always.

I hummed once and hung up. Not long later, a notification from the bank came in.

Three-hundred and seventy-eight thousand dollars had just been received.

I looked up and smiled politely at the buyer. "I had already reset the password for the lock on the door. Six zeroes."

After leaving the agency, I walked toward the underground parking garage. It was at this time that my phone rang.

Lydia Shaw's voice was cold as she said, "You staged the whole thing so good this time. You even hired an actor."

I opened my mouth wanting to say something, but she cut me off.

"Do you think pretending to sell the house will scare me? Too bad. You miscalculated."

There was no debating with her.

"Tell your people to leave right now, then come apologize to Evan. He's angry," she went on.

Angry.

I remembered lying in the ICU as the doctor told me I had almost suffered brain death. I had almost died, but all Evan Smith had to go through was anger.

"I sold the house." My voice was so flat it sounded strange even to me. "Move out soon. Don't force the new owner to call the police."

The other end of the line went quiet.

Then, Lydia lost patience. "Enough! Take this act too far, and no one will come to comfort you anymore. Who do you think you are, Evan?"

The more she spoke, the louder she became.

"Evan's only using the house for a while! It's for a medical experiment. He has ideals and ambition, unlike you. All you do all day is get jealous. You're petty, and you embarrass me."

I laughed suddenly. "Right, of course. A medical experiment. Discuss with the new owner and see if they agree."

After saying that, I hung up. Lydia's name flashed on the screen again less than a minute later.

Her tone had changed. "You really sold it?"

I held the phone tight.

"I paid 420 thousand cash for the house, and the renovations cost another hundred and fifty thousand. I listed it for four-hundred thousand dollars, and the final sale price was three-hundred and seventy-eight thousand dollars."

I spoke every number clearly.

"The money is already in my account, and I've signed all the paperwork. The title has already been transferred as well."

The silence on the other end was deafening. After a long moment, she forced out each word as she gritted her teeth.

"James, are you insane?! That was our future home!"

"I bought it. I paid for it myself," I said.

She cut me off. "So what? You bought it so you could marry me! That was our future home. Half of it belongs to me. What gave you the right to sell it without my permission?!"