One month before my fiancé and I were set to get our marriage license, my three brothers gathered my adopted sister, Ivy, and me in our parents’ memorial room. They told us we were to draw lots to decide our husbands.
“Whoever draws the card with Hayden Grant’s name marries him,” Adrian said. “The other one signs a prenuptial agreement with Sebastian Quinn, the terminally ill heir to the Quinn family.”
Sebastian Quinn was dying. Marrying him meant becoming a young widow, bound to the Quinn family for life.
This time, I stepped back and let Ivy draw first.
The room filled with relieved sighs.
Adrian turned to comfort me. “You’re a true Sterling. Even if you’re widowed, you’ll still be able to make a suitable match.”
“But Ivy is different,” Julian added. “Her position in this family has always been delicate. We can’t rest easy unless we secure her future with someone we trust.”
Hayden chimed in. “If it comes to that, after Sebastian dies, I can maintain a marriage in name only with Ivy and keep you by my side. I’ll make sure you want for nothing.”
I didn’t argue. I didn’t make a scene. I just nodded.
None of them knew I had already discovered that both cards in the box had Hayden Grant’s name on them. Whoever drew first was guaranteed to get him.
They also didn’t know that after the wedding, the Quinns would move their entire business operation to Miami. Once Sebastian died, I would be silenced by their illicit family customs.
Later, on the day I was meant to return for a family dinner after the wedding, my three brothers waited outside for me.
But the car that was supposed to bring me home never arrived, not even after the New York snow piled past their knees.
The Widow’s Fate They Chose Was My Escape Plan Chapter 38 Sunlight fell across the metal, reflecting a warm glow. Sebastian stood waiting for me in the ocean breeze. He had not fully recovered; he still needed to rest if he walked too long. But he was no longer the man who had once struggled
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The Widow’s Fate They Chose Was My Escape Plan Chapter 37 Half a year later, I held another small ceremony on a Miami beach. There were no business guests, no agreements meant to stabilize a company. Mia came from New York. The moment she saw me, she burst into tears. After the Sterling family fell,
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The Widow’s Fate They Chose Was My Escape Plan Chapter 36 I stared at it. “Three years ago, we got married to escape our own situations,” he said. “You helped me stabilize the company. I helped you leave the Sterlings.” “Now the threat from Hudson Crest is gone, and you have a career of your
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The Widow’s Fate They Chose Was My Escape Plan Chapter 35 After the chairman was removed, Hudson Crest reexamined all of his decisions. He had wanted to use the review to overturn Quinn Industries’ relocation. Instead, the board confirmed that the original business plan had been formally approved and that Sebastian’s health had not been
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The Widow’s Fate They Chose Was My Escape Plan Chapter 34 At last, the chairman panicked. He turned to his lawyer, but the man silently closed his file. “So you’re all going to dump the blame on me?” No one answered. The assistant who had delivered the report for him three years ago was the
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The Widow’s Fate They Chose Was My Escape Plan Chapter 33 The second hearing was moved to the next day. The chairman was no longer so composed. His lawyer kept insisting that the report could have been leaked by anyone with access. I sat at the other end of the long table without a word.
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The Widow’s Fate They Chose Was My Escape Plan Chapter 32 “Members of the Sterling family died one after another. Why did you never go back?” I didn’t answer that last question. Instead, I had my staff project my state registry certification, agency license, and the investment portfolios publicly delivered by the Quinn family at
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The Widow’s Fate They Chose Was My Escape Plan Chapter 31 Before the hearing ended, the special committee passed a resolution suspending the chairman’s access to any internal Quinn Industries information. He slammed the door on his way out. Watching him retreat, Eleanor said coldly, “A trapped beast is the most dangerous. He won’t give
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The Widow’s Fate They Chose Was My Escape Plan Chapter 30 Every eye in the room turned to the chairman. That urgent report was the one he had personally thrown at Adrian three years ago. “You’re lying!” the chairman shouted, lurching to his feet. “That report was compiled from external sources. It had nothing to
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The Widow’s Fate They Chose Was My Escape Plan Chapter 29 The chairman tried to shove all responsibility onto the security contractor. “He was the one who reported the critical condition. If the information was false, the negligence was his.” No sooner had he said it than the hearing room door opened. The contractor entered
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