Chapter 1

• Scarlett's POV
• At the bachelor party before my wedding, my fiancé's so-called "bro"—who happens to be a woman—insisted on playing the push-up game.
• "The rules are simple..."
• Marcella put the blindfold over my eyes, her laughter piercing:
• "Titus is doing push-ups on me. You're not allowed to look, only listen."
• "If you guess how many he did," she said, "you'll win!"
• Darkness swallowed my vision. All I could hear were breathy moans and bodies rubbing together.
• “Titus, you’re pressing into me…”
• “Don’t move." Titus's voice came through. "It tickles.”
• I yanked the blindfold off.
• Then I saw Marcella was straddling Titus’s waist, her big pale boobs mashed against his pecs.
• Both of them were flushed, while the groomsmen were doubled over, howling.
• “Scarlett, hurry up and guess!” they taunted.
• “How many push-ups did they do?" they mocked me. "If you can’t guess, forget the wedding!”
• Rage shot straight to my skull.
• I grabbed a pair of scissors and snipped Marcella’s deep-V strap dress into confetti.
• “Didn’t you wanna play?” I asked, smirking.
• “I’ll let you play all you want.”
• …
• “Ah!”
• Marcella clutched her chest, her face drained of color.
• She curled into Titus’s arms, shaking like a leaf.
• “Titus, save me… Scarlett’s gonna kill someone…”
• She looked up at him innocently. “My dress… I can’t show my face after this!”
• Titus’s face went dark. He shoved me hard.
• “Scarlett! Are you fucking insane?”
• “Marcella’s my best friend!" he yelled at me. "It was just for laughs. Why are you so damn petty?”
• Marcella clung to Titus’s neck, still trembling.
• The trust-fund brats snapped out of it and started pointing and cussing me out.
• “It was just a game. Big deal!" his friends scoffed. What, never went out much, did you, you peasant?”
• “As poor girl from the projects—marrying Titus is the biggest blessing that’ll ever happen to you!" they even said. "And you still dare to make demands!”
• I gave their ugly faces a cold once-over.
• If it weren’t for Titus, they wouldn’t even be worthy to lick my toes.
• Titus ripped off his jacket and wrapped Marcella up tight, his heart still seemingly bleeding for her.
• When he looked at me, his disgust was spilling over.
• “Now. Right now. Kneel and apologize to Marcella!”
• “Or you might as well forget this marriage,” he dared me.
• I stared at Titus’s twisted face.
• Something in my chest went sour.
• Three years ago, I was volunteering in the projects.
• Marcella got married around the same time. Titus drank himself stupid over it, got behind the wheel, and plowed into a semi. I took his blood-soaked body into the ER.
• After that, he pulled out all the stops to chase me.
• Right up until the eve of our wedding, when Marcella came back, divorced.
• The man who used to be so tender and devoted flipped overnight.
• I looked Titus dead in the eye, my voice ice-cold.
• “Then we’re not getting married.”
• Before the words even settled, I slid off my engagement ring.
• In front of everyone.
• And tossed it into the trash.
• Titus froze.
• He never thought I’d be that clean-cut about it.
• Every time we fought before, who would cave first? Me.
• He figured this time was the same. He'd scare me a little and I’d fall in line.
• In his mind, I was just some broke girl who couldn’t live without him.
• The living room went quiet for a few seconds.
• Then a wave of shrill laughter blew up.
• “Ha! I’m dying!” one of his friends howled.
• “You hear that?" they guffawed. "She said the wedding’s off!”
• “Scarlett, you’ve got no house, no car, no savings," one of them told me smugly. "Without Titus, you can’t even make rent!”
• “Titus is about to seal a deal with Omega Corporation," another one added. "That’s a hundred-billion-dollar contract. Don’t come crawling back later, begging to get him back!”
• Hilarious.
• Whether he landed that hundred-billion deal or not still depended on me—the heir to Omega.