Chapter 1

As soon as the door opened, Sophie Brown froze at the sight of two bodies tangled together on the couch.

The whole way over, she'd been imagining how surprised Harold Williams would be when she suddenly showed up at his place, telling him their two-year-long-distance relationship was finally over.

She never expected to walk in on such a disgusting scene.

Sophie clenched her fists. The people on the couch were so into it, they hadn't even noticed her.

Fighting back her nausea, she pulled out her phone and switched to video mode.

When they changed positions, the woman finally caught sight of Sophie and let out a scream.

Harold freaked out too, quickly grabbing a blanket to wrap around himself while hiding the woman behind him.

"Why are you back? What are you doing?"

Sophie's eyes were red. "Such a great scene, of course, I have to record it and post it on Facebook."

Hearing this, Harold ignored the naked woman behind him, wrapped the blanket around himself, got off the couch, and tried to grab Sophie's phone.

"If you take one more step, I'll send it to everyone," Sophie threatened.

Harold didn't believe her. He kept coming.

Sophie hit send to all contacts.

Harold was shocked.

The usually sweet and understanding Sophie could be this ruthless!

"Sophie, you want to die!" Harold was so angry the veins on his forehead bulged. He wanted to kill Sophie.

Sophie held up her phone, 911 already on the screen. "I'm calling the police."

Harold's eyes went wide, speechless. "You..."

Seeing how cold Sophie looked, Harold pointed at her. "Fine, you win!"

Sophie's eyes were full of coldness. "Two years, completely wasted."

After leaving Harold's place, Sophie went to her best friend Emily Johnson's house.

She stayed at Emily's for five days, and Emily spent all five days cursing out Harold.

One morning, seeing Sophie looking down at her phone, Emily came over and put her arm around her. "Harold is a total scumbag. He's not worth being sad over."

Sophie shook her head. "I'm not sad about him anymore. I'm just thinking about that marriage arrangement Walter found for me."

"What?"

Sophie's father had found her a marriage match and kept pushing her to come back and talk about it.

Walter said the guy's family was well-off, he was tall and handsome, and an only child.

If she agreed to marry him, his family would give her a million dollars. If she got pregnant within two months, there'd be a ten million dollar bonus. As long as she had a child, she'd have endless wealth.

Emily clapped her hands and laughed mockingly. "That's got to be your stepmother's idea. If this was really such a good deal, wouldn't she have her own daughter marry him? It's obviously a trap."

"You know something about this?"

"What they told you is true. But they left out one important detail."

"Huh?"

Emily said, "The guy's name is Matthew. He really is good-looking, rich, and powerful. Women in Silverlight City used to be dying to marry him, or at least sleep with him if they couldn't marry him."

"Matthew..." Sophie murmured the name. "Sounds kind of familiar."

Emily snorted. "Everyone in Silverlight City knows that name. Last year it came out that he has a terminal illness and doesn't have much time left. I heard he had a girlfriend, but she went abroad after finding out. Marrying a dying man is like marrying a corpse."

So that's it. Pretty tragic.

Emily pursed her lips. "When you get a stepmother, you lose your real father too. That saying is so true. Your stepmother wants you to marry him so you can be a widow."

Emily's eyes went wide. "Wait, you're actually considering it? The guy's on his deathbed. Who knows how awful he looks now? Plus, looking for someone to marry at this point, isn't it just to have a kid before he dies?"

Sophie said quietly, "But the money's good."

"And when he dies, I can inherit his fortune." Sophie's expression was calm. "Then I'll have money and freedom. That's something most people can only dream of."

Emily was stunned. "Are you in shock or something?"

"Really, I'm not." Sophie looked serious. "We work so hard to make money and achieve financial freedom, right? Now there's a shortcut. Why wouldn't I take it?"

Emily said, "Why does that actually make sense?"

Sophie smiled. "Because that's just reality."

That night, Harold called Sophie from someone else's phone.

Sophie hung up, and he called from another number. After blocking several numbers, she finally turned off her phone.

The next day, when Sophie turned her phone back on, messages flooded in.

Most were from Harold, saying all kinds of things.

The Facebook group chat had exploded. Even though Sophie and Harold had never even slept together, Harold was spreading rumors in there that Sophie had fake boobs, calling her slutty while pretending to be innocent...

Basically, each comment was worse than the last.

Sophie took a deep breath, believing everything happens for a reason.

God wanted her to see Harold's true colors early, which is why she saw what she saw.

She called Walter and agreed to his proposal.

Father and daughter went to the Moore Mansion, but didn't see Matthew - his parents met with them instead.

Learning that Sophie was willing to marry Matthew, they could barely contain their excitement.

Sophie had only one requirement: register the marriage first.

Her reason was to make it legal.

As for a wedding ceremony, she didn't need one.

The other side naturally had no objections. They were just afraid she wouldn't go through with it.

Both parties quickly agreed, and Andrew Moore even had a marriage registration office worker come to the house to process the marriage certificate.

It was then that Sophie saw Matthew's photo.

The man in the photo was, as Emily said, strikingly handsome, especially his eyes, deep and expressive.

A top-tier man like this - if he wasn't sick, it would never be her turn.

When the marriage certificate was handed to Sophie, she carefully admired the joint photo.

Evelyn Moore took out a bank card and gave it to Sophie. Even though there wouldn't be a wedding, the betrothal gifts remained. She also gave her living expenses.

In short, Evelyn was very generous. The amount was so large that Sophie felt the card was heavy in her hand.

She didn't refuse, accepting it openly.

Looking at the marriage certificate again, her eyes fell on the name "Matthew." She wondered what the man's reaction would be when he found out his parents had "sold" him.

Leaving the Moore Mansion with her father, Walter was all smiles, very happy.

"The Moore family gave you quite a bit of money, didn't they?"

Walter froze, looking uncomfortable. "What are you talking about?"

"Stop pretending." Sophie stopped and looked at him. "If there wasn't money in it for you, you wouldn't have thought of me."

Walter looked embarrassed. "Sophie..."

Sophie raised her hand, not wanting to hear his high-sounding excuses.

She walked ahead, saying flatly, "This is the last time. Don't contact me again."

When Emily found out she'd actually married Matthew, she spun around in circles.

Unfortunately, it was done - no taking it back now.

"Your dad is so cruel, pushing you into a fire pit when he knew that's what it was. And you're stupid too - why did you register so quickly? If he tortures you and you don't have the certificate, you can run. But once you've registered, even if he wants to kill you, running won't help." Emily was anxious, angry, and worried, her eyes turning red.

Seeing her friend so upset, Sophie felt warm inside. She smiled and comforted Emily. "I registered the marriage, but I'm not planning to actually meet him."

Emily stared at her.

Sophie's eyes gleamed cunningly. Though the idea was a bit evil, it was the truth.

"Didn't you say he won't live past February? That's less than three months away. I'll just hide for now, and when he's lying in a hospital bed, then I'll show my face."

Sophie's plan seemed perfect, but reality was harsh.

Just a few days after saying this, someone came looking for her.

"Mr. Matthew Moore would like to meet his wife."