All Chapters of Toxic Experiment: Sell the House, Change the Groom: Chapter 1 - Chapter 8

"A riverfront villa on a private island, worth 12 million dollars. Consider it my wedding gift to you."The voice of my longtime rival, Seth Lane, came through the receiver with his usual cold certainty.I murmured an acknowledgment and hung up.A notification chimed on my phone—a bank alert confirming that 3.78 million dollars had been deposited into my account.I looked up and gave the buyer a polite smile. "The door code has been reset to six zeros."After leaving the real estate agency, I headed down to the underground parking garage.My phone suddenly rang.When I answered, my fiance, Stefan Shaw, sounded ice-cold. "You really went all out with the act this time. You even hired actors."I opened my mouth to speak, but he cut me off."You think threatening to sell the house will work on me? Too bad. You miscalculated."His tone left no room for argument."Tell your people to leave right now, then get over here and apologize to Josie. You scared her so badly she's in tear

The room went dead silent for a moment.Stefan sighed with relief and laughed. "I know you're eager to get married."He nodded before continuing, "But if Josie's unhappy, I'm not going through with the wedding. Your top priority right now should be getting back on her good side."Josie walked over and stared at me with cold detachment."Queenie, I know you're desperate to get married, but there's no reason to take it out on me. I'm not like you. I have ambitions of my own. I'm not about to spend my life playing housewife and waiting on a man."She paused and sighed. "Whatever. It's not like you'd understand anyway.""Don't bother apologizing. Just come to the DMV with us right now and transfer the car to Zane, so he won't feel awkward driving it later…"I didn't bother waiting for her to finish. I turned on my heel and walked out.Their irritated shouts followed me out, but I tuned them out completely.I returned to the small apartment I'd recently rented for myself. The momen

The crystal chandeliers in the hotel lobby cast a harsh, blinding glare.Stefan breathed heavily. After a long moment, his mouth twisted into a mocking smile."Queenie, you really went all out, didn't you?"He shook his head, his tone dripping with condescending pity. "Just to piss me off, you even hired an actor? How long did you rehearse this little performance?"Josie stood beside him, her slender fingers resting lightly on his arm. She looked at me with calm, distant eyes, filled with a strange kind of pity I couldn't quite place."Stefan, I saw right through this from the start," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper. "Queenie is just putting on a show to force you to back down. I know her type better than anyone. They're so insecure that they resort to tricks like this just to prove they still matter to you."As if his suspicions had been confirmed, Stefan straightened even more.He raised a hand and pointed at Seth behind me, his tone so certain it sounded like a

The next morning, Stefan was cornered downstairs.The hotel manager stood waiting with a polished smile, a manila envelope gripped in his hand."Mr. Shaw, Ms. Sutton didn't settle this bill. It was signed in your name, so we'll need you to clear the balance."271,300 dollars.Stefan stared at the signature on the bill.He pulled out his phone and frantically opened his banking apps to check his savings, credit card, and account balances. Altogether, he had less than 30,000 dollars.The manager's smile remained, but the warmth had completely vanished from his eyes. "Will that be card or bank transfer, sir?"Stefan asked him to wait.Stepping aside, he dialed Josie.The phone rang for what felt like an eternity before she finally picked up."Josie, how much is left of the money you took from me?"She stammered on the other end, "It… it all went into the experiment…"Stefan hung up. He turned back to the manager and tried to negotiate a payment plan.The manager finally dropp