Chapter 1
The day my family went bankrupt, I was sold.
Sent to the Hawthorne estate to settle a debt. And it was Caleb Hawthorne, the youngest son with a pench- ant for serpents, who claimed me.
Every night, he’d bring one of his cold, slithering pets into my room.
He’d let it coil around my ankle, ignoring my tears and pleas to take it away.
Beyond that, however, my life was a gilded dream. I was admired, envied, and showered with gifts.
But then, another girl arrived at the Hawthorne estate, another debt to be paid.
Because she was afraid of snakes, Caleb killed his favorite pet without a second thought.
Staring at the pool of blood on the floor, I knew. His little songbird was about to be replaced.
Coincidentally, my three-year term was up.
And so, cradling a barely-there bump, I slipped away from the Hawthorne estate, and from him.
To be honest, I was happy when I heard the family was bankrupt.
My father had eight daughters. I was the eighth.
All seven of my older sisters had been married off in strategic alliances, their partners chosen not by them out by our father. Some were wed to divorced magnates with children, others to men thirty years their senio Each of my sisters was as beautiful as a flower in bloom, and every single one of them was miserable.
My father had arranged a match for me, too. My intended was a horrifying cocktail of all my brothers-in-law’s worst traits: old, ugly, divorced, and with a kid in tow.
only caught a glimpse of him from a distance, and the sight was enough to make me gag. Marrying him, hought, would be a death sentence by starvation. I’d never be able to eat again, not with that face across the table.
When my father heard I refused, he had me strung up and whipped, then locked away. He’d dealt with rebell- ious daughters before; he had a well-practiced method.
Just as I was sinking into despair, his company hit the rocks. And the cherry on top? Not a single one of his wealthy, powerful sons-in-law lifted a finger to help.
My father was finally, gloriously, bankrupt.
I practically sent a thank-you card to the universe.
I thought I’d escaped my fate, that the threat of a forced marriage was gone forever. I should have known my
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Chapter 1
father’s shamelessness knew no bounds.
If he couldn’t marry me off, he’d sell me off.
