Chapter 2

Josie mistook my silence for reluctance. She dabbed at the nonexistent tears at the corner of her eye and gazed upon me as if I were her charity case.

"Laura, I was the one they had their eyes on, to begin with. You've simply been a replacement who'd taken care of them for three years on my behalf.

"But don't worry. I know you've put in your fair share of work looking after those three deadbeats."

She lifted her chin haughtily. "You may choose one of the remaining two after I've taken my pick. Think of it as my way of compensating you for the youth you'd wasted on them."

I scanned Josie's expression, which seemed to tell me I should fling myself at her feet in extreme gratitude, and mused inwardly at the many faces of human nature.

I stood up and nodded obediently. "Very well, Josie. I'll do as you say."

Then, with a smile, I added, "I'll pack up and get out of your hair as long as the three of them agree to be your child's father."

I took in Josie's smug grin before turning and heading toward the guest room. The trash I'd picked up, indeed. If only Josie knew that the men she'd claimed was trash all those years ago had become figures so powerful, they were way out of the Sonnenfelds' league.

Josie wasted no time in getting ready to choose her victim out of the lot.

That afternoon, she sprawled across the chaise lounge in the guest room like a queen choosing a lover to spend the night with. She began to call the three "deadbeats" she'd abandoned years ago.

The first one was Zane Lowry, the scion of a wealthy family who had once been a feckless ne'er-do-well.

Clearing her throat, Josie waited for her call to be picked up, then said, "Zane, I forgive you for being so lazy all those years ago—"

But before she could beg Zane to turn around, he growled irritably on the other line, "Shut the hell up! I'm busy right now! Leave me alone!"

The call was cut off brusquely.

Josie went still, the blood draining from her face.

Naturally, she couldn't possibly know that Zane, already the son of the most prestigious family in Kingsgrove, was wearing a pink apron with cartoon cat motifs all over it.

He was slicing onions with manic energy as he yelled tearfully into his phone, recording a voice note, "Take your bullshit elsewhere, Shaw! Tomorrow's Wednesday, which means it's my shift!

"I'm making Laura's favorite beef stew, and if you hijack my shift, I will ruin your company!"

Josie gritted her teeth, sneering, "Playing hard to get, huh? I'm not taking the bait!"

The next second, she pulled up her Instagram and found Benjamin Shaw, the student from years ago who'd been too poor to afford his tuition.

Brimming with confidence, Josie sent him a text: "I heard you started a company. If you're willing to accept my child, I could get my parents to invest a couple million dollars in your business."

A minute later, her phone chimed with a new message. A triumphant grin tugged on her lips. The poor were as easily manipulated as expected.

She clicked on the reply from Benjamin, only to find a cold, curt sentence leaping out at her: "You owe me 12 million dollars in damages including interest for breaking off our engagement years ago without notice.

"My lawyer's already sent a letter to the Sonnefelds' mailbox. Failure to pay damages will result in the seizure of the Sonnefelds' villa tomorrow."

Josie's smile slipped from her face. She nearly threw her phone on the ground.

Little did she know, the poor young man she'd once shunned had become a tech industry legend worth billions.

The same tech upstart had been on his knees before me last night, his eyes red-rimmed as he pressed the patent certificate of a billion-dollar core he'd just developed into my hand and begged, "This is my engagement gift to you, Laura. Please just consider me, okay?"

Two consecutive rejections made Josie a little desperate. She decided she'd surprise Rowan Gallagher—who, years ago, didn't have an opinion if it wasn't his mother's—by showing up at his door.

"Rowan only listens to his mom. All I have to do is win Mrs. Gallagher over, and he'll come running back to me without a second thought!"

She dressed up, piled her pregnant self into the car, and headed to the Gallagher residence.

In the end, Josie never even made it through the front door. Two bodyguards in shades picked her up like a helpless chick and tossed her into the landscaped yard outside the door.

"Mrs. Gallagher's made it very clear that the family only has one daughter-in-law! Are you deaf or something?"

"If you come back and try to scam us again, I'll break both your legs!"