“Did you marry him for money?”
“I married him because I was afraid of being poor forever,” I said.
“And now?”
“Now I see your family for what they really are.”
Tension grew quickly.
His daughter mocked me in public.
His son showed up with a lawyer.
Then Rick collapsed.
I held him while calling for help.
“Don’t let them silence you,” he whispered.
“I won’t.”
Three days later, he gathered the family.
“I’ll make this simple,” he said. “Layla remains my wife. She will oversee the foundation and part of the company.”
They were furious.
But he exposed everything.
Hidden payments.
Stolen money.
Manipulation.
“Layla is the only one who treated me like a person,” he said. “Not an opportunity.”
Afterward, Violet found me.
“I thought you sold yourself,” she said.
“You thought the worst of me too easily,” I replied.
She apologized.
I believed her—but I wasn’t ready to comfort her.
Rick passed away four months later.
