Chapter 1

I went after Louise Ackman for one reason: her money.

She was a hopeless romantic, the kind of girl who happily spent money on her boyfriend.

Back when I was so hungry I was gnawing on plain bread rolls, the thing I envied most was the school heartthrob, Paul Brennan, who wore a two-million-dollar watch before he'd even graduated.

What I couldn't understand was why he'd throw away a rich girl like Louise just to run off with that scholarship girl.

So when Paul slapped Louise across the face and turned to walk away, I blocked his path at the classroom door. "You two really broke up?"

He gave my worn-through school uniform a look of contempt and shook my hand off in disgust. "Yeah."

"Then can I ask her out?"

He looked my ragged clothes up and down and couldn't hold back a laugh. "Sure, go for it. If you actually land her, I'll give you this watch."

I stared at the two-million-dollar watch Louise had given him and nodded.

But at our class party after senior finals, the moment he saw Louise walk in with her arm hooked through mine, his smile froze.

While Louise was in the restroom, he requested a song for me.

When the lyrics hit the words "cheating lowlife," the whole room went quiet, and every head turned toward me.

"Tiger Ford, you're a bastard." Paul sneered at me.

I knew exactly what Louise saw me as.

Even so, I opened a bottle of liquor and poured the whole thing over Paul's head. Then, while I was at it, I helped myself to his watch.

"A bet's a bet. If you didn't want me going after her, you shouldn't have gotten engaged to that scholarship girl."

"Tiger!"

Paul roared and lunged at me, but someone threw herself in front of me.

Louise took the slap for me.

She dragged me out of the bar and didn't say a single word all night.

I figured it still hurt her, deep down.

And I knew exactly where I stood.

I quietly followed Paul's Instagram. Every time he posted a new outfit, I bought the exact same one and wore it on our next scheduled night together as husband and wife.

Every time she saw me dressed like Paul, there was something in her eyes I couldn't quite read.

I knew she secretly followed him too. Every time she looked at me, it was like she was looking at the man she used to love.

My best friend, Joel Cooper, thought it was unfair to me. I was her husband, for crying out loud.

But I thought it was fine.

Every month I asked for a million, and she wired me two. I upped the ante and asked for three. She sent me five.

So what if there was no love? With a life like that, who cared?

I was born into a family with no love and no money. The moment any chance to make money showed up, I'd throw myself at it, shame be damned.

While Louise was still interested in me, of course I was going to do my job and do it well.

On our first wedding anniversary, Paul posted a new update on Instagram. He'd gotten a skull tattooed on his neck.

The pain had me grinding my teeth so hard I thought they'd crack, but after ten hours, I finally had a matching skull on my own neck.

When Louise came out of the shower and saw the tattoo peeking out from the collar of my purple shirt, the hand toweling her hair went still.

"What? Doesn't it look good?"

"Don't do that again."

She didn't seem the least bit interested in my skull. "And get rid of all your purple clothes."