Chapter 1 Who Put You Up To This

"Dad, have you lost your mind? You expect me to marry into the Elliott household for one hundred million dollars? You want me to become the bride of that dying old man? I won't do it!" Millie Evans snapped.

Her words had barely left her mouth when her father's hand struck her face without mercy.

Jed Evans, her father, was beside himself with rage. "The payment has already been taken. The Elliotts will hold the ceremony in three days. You'll wed Aiden Elliott. You have no say in the matter!"

His voice was laden with regret as he continued, "I should never have gone soft and fetched you from the country all those years ago! Had I left you there, you wouldn't be creating problems at every turn. You wouldn't have had the nerve to take your sister's man. You made the Evans name a joke!"

He glared at Millie and added, "What respectable man would take a disreputable woman like you as his wife? Getting to marry an Elliott is a stroke of luck people dream about! You don't get to say no!"

Linda Evans, Millie's stepmother, spoke up with false worry in her voice. "Jed, calm yourself. Getting worked up isn't good for you. Millie is still young. She doesn't grasp what crossing the Elliott family could mean," she said.

Eliza Evan, Linda's biological daughter, dabbed at pretend tears and chimed in, "If Millie hates the idea so much, perhaps I ought to take her place? After all, if we upset the Elliott family, our family will be destroyed."

This made Jed even angrier. "Stop! She's thoughtless, and you two keep making excuses for her? No more of this talk! She'll marry into the Elliott household!" he declared.

Millie held her burning cheek and spoke through clenched teeth. "I told you, I won't marry him!"

Then Millie bolted for the door.

Linda's expression shifted. "Guards! Stop her! Don't let her get away! Drag her back here right now!" she commanded.

Millie barely escaped the people chasing her. Her heart felt empty and cold.

She made fists with her hands. She swore she would never let them win.

Juliette Shaw, her best friend, was furious for her sake when they talked on the phone.

"Your father has lost his mind! Everyone's heard the stories about Aiden Elliott. He's that ancient, hideous creep whose previous brides-to-be all died. Your dad's throwing you to the wolves for one hundred million Elliott dollars! I can't wrap my head around it. You're his flesh and blood. How can he treat you so badly?" Juliette said, seething.

Millie held her phone in a tight grip. Her heart sank deeper into hopelessness.

Her mother had passed away when giving birth to her.

Jed, her father, had remarried Linda. He had sent Millie to the countryside. Her grandmother had raised her there.

When they finally brought her back to the Evans home, she had still hoped for love from her family.

But Eliza had plotted against her time and again. Her father had favored Eliza blindly. Now he was marrying her off to a dying man. The small amount of love she had kept for her father was completely gone.

"I absolutely won't marry Aiden!" Millie said firmly.

"But your dad took the money already. The Elliotts are holding the wedding three days from now. Can you even get out of this?" Juliette observed with concern.

"Aiden paid one hundred million dollars. The woman he marries must have an impeccable name. If people hear that I was with a different man right before the wedding, he won't marry me. Not if he has any pride at all," Millie said with resolve.

"What? You want to spend the night with someone else? And let people know about it? If Aiden learns his future wife betrayed him before the wedding, won't he take his rage out on your family? Won't that be terrible?" Juliette was stunned by what Millie planned to do.

Millie spoke slowly and coldly. "I want him to turn his anger on them. They've earned whatever comes their way! If I'm headed for doom either way, I might as well go big. I'll drag some of them down with me!"

After that, Millie ended the call. She headed straight to the Azure Hotel.

She had reached out to a nearby nightclub earlier and asked them to send their best male escort to meet her there.

Her heart beat wildly as she thought about her next move. She couldn't stop herself from clenching her fists.

"You gave me no other option!" she murmured to herself.

The hotel's twenty-eighth floor had a long hallway. A door stood partly open there. The room beyond it was black as pitch. It seemed to swallow up all the light.

"Hello? Is somebody in here?" Millie called out as she walked inside.

She reached for the light switch in the darkness. Before she could locate it, a man's hand grabbed her throat like an iron clamp.

A low, threatening voice spoke in her ear. "You dare to plot against me? Who put you up to this?" he demanded.