I Bet My Life on a Faithless Man Chapter 1

The young woman Royce Drayton has his eye on is fierce. He throws 200 million dollars at her, but she still refuses to leave her broke boyfriend.

In a rage, Royce locks her away in his Crescent Shores villa for seven full days and nights. The staff whisper that Royce has his ways, that he can turn even the most defiant woman soft and willing.

Afterward, he comes to me with the same easy apology he always gives. I can't even count how many times he cheats on me. Just like right now, I'm still giving him the cold shoulder over the secretary who crawls into his bed the month before, but he's already over her and on to someone new.

It makes my jealousy feel pointless and a little pathetic.

At some point, he stops even bothering with excuses and just tells me, "You're my only real wife. Isn't that enough?"

I even start convincing myself that no man can resist temptation, especially not one who owns the entire city of Grayport. He's just playing around, and his heart is still mine. That's all that matters.

But when I find out this young woman gets Royce to add her name to the Drayton family registry in just ten days, something I spent ten years trying and failing to earn, I know he's truly fallen for her.

Later, I bring the terms of an old wager to Royce's mother myself.

"I lost. I'll leave Grayport."

"Sweetheart, love isn't something you win or lose."

There's pity in her eyes, but she doesn't ask me to stay. She only asks, "Will you come back?"

I beg the Draytons for their blessing to marry Royce. I cut ties with my own parents, give up everything, and swear never to leave this city.

Now, standing at the waterfront one last time with the harbor wind on my face, I know I'm never coming back.

* * *

The moment I found out Royce Drayton took Blythe Renner to my private stable, I floored it the whole way there and slammed straight into his car, leaving it totaled.

Royce didn't even flinch. But when he noticed the bruise swelling on my arm from the impact, his expression darkened. "Does it hurt?"

"Why would you bring her here?" I shook off his hand, my voice trembling.

"Why?"

The stable was his gift to me for our third wedding anniversary, and the last safe place I had left in Grayport. The tabloids in the city used to joke that Royce's women could be found anywhere, at galas, in shopping malls, on yachts, even in our own marital bed.

This stable was the only place that was purely mine.

"It's just a stable. If you like it that much, I'll buy you another one."

Royce said it like it was nothing, and from the look on his face, he probably didn't even remember where this one came from. He'd given me too many things over the years. Anniversary gifts, holiday gifts, make-up gifts, just-because gifts, and gifts to smooth things over after cheating.

Before I could even process the sting of his indifference, I caught a glimpse of the white horse Blythe was riding, and my breath caught.

Luna was a foal I delivered with my own hands and raised from birth.

I was pregnant on our third anniversary. The baby came early and died just six hours after birth from underdeveloped lungs and heart.

My body was already fragile because of an earlier accident, and that was my sixth pregnancy. I'd spent seven months on strict bed rest just trying to hold on.

But it was all for nothing. The doctors told me I would probably never be able to carry a child again. I lost the will to live and sank into a depression so deep I nearly ended things.

Then Luna came along. The foal was stuck during delivery, still wrapped in the birthing sac, and I was the one who reached in and pulled her free with my bare hands.

She wobbled to her feet, and I was the first person she came to, looking up at me with those wide, bewildered eyes like she'd already decided I was her mother. From that day on, I raised her like she was my own child. She was gentle and affectionate, never once ill-tempered since the day she was born.

But now, the riding crop in Blythe's hand was coming down hard on Luna, again and again.