Chapter 1

To save my dying brother, I signed a million-dollar contract: sleep with a comatose billionaire to secure an heir. My boyfriend swore it was just a harmless formality, so I signed the contract. However, as I nervously approached the mattress, the paralyzed heir suddenly opened his eyes. And he whispered a terrifying warning...

——

"If you hadn't wasted our money on that useless college degree, your brother wouldn't be dying in the ICU!"

A thick stack of overdue medical bills slapped hard against my face.

The sharp edge of the paper sliced a burning line across my cheek.

My mom pointed a trembling finger right at my nose.

"It is all your fault!"

"You stole all his nutrients in the womb so you could be born healthy!"

"You owe him your life!"

I quietly knelt on the peeling kitchen floor to gather the scattered bills.

There was absolutely no point in arguing with her.

My mom stepped forward and kicked my shoulder hard.

"Get up and find a way to get the money! Sell your blood if you have to!"

The apartment door suddenly swung open.

Liam stepped inside with a bag of groceries.

He dropped the paper bag and immediately pulled me behind his back.

"Don't you ever talk to her like that," Liam told my mom.

He was the only person in this miserable world who ever defended me.

I grabbed his sleeve and forced a bitter smile to stop the fight.

"She's just stressed about the hospital," I told him.

Liam turned around and took both of my hands in his.

"What if there's a way to get the million dollars tonight?"

I stared into his dark eyes.

My stomach twisted into a painful knot.

No legal job in the world paid a million dollars overnight.

But the rhythmic beeping of my brother's life support echoed in my head.

I had no right to keep my pride when he was suffocating on a hospital bed.

I swallowed the bitter taste in my mouth and nodded my head.

Two hours later, we sat across from each other in a greasy roadside diner.

Liam slid a thick non-disclosure agreement across the sticky table.

The matriarch of the Blackwood estate wanted to buy a wife for her comatose eldest son.

I stared at the black ink of the contract.

"You want me to marry a dying man?"

My voice cracked loud enough for the waitress to turn her head.

Liam reached over and squeezed my trembling hands.

"It's just a formality to make the old lady happy."

He promised me I only needed to provide an egg or go through a simple medical procedure in the future.

"I could never look down on you for saving your family."

"You are a hero."

My cell phone buzzed violently on the table.

It was a text message from the hospital billing department.

They demanded immediate payment by midnight to keep the ventilator running.

My lungs forgot how to breathe.

Midnight was only four hours away.

I looked down at the bold word 'WIFE' printed on the contract.

Marrying a corpse meant completely throwing away my future with Liam.

Liam picked up the cheap plastic pen and pressed it directly into my palm.

"Do it for him," Liam whispered softly.

I grabbed the pen and pressed the tip against the dotted line.

My hand shook so violently the blue ink smeared across the page.

I signed my life over to a dead man.

Rain lashed against the windshield as Liam drove us deep into the Blackwood forest.

Towering black pines completely swallowed the headlights.

A massive gothic estate loomed at the end of the dead-end dirt road.

The entire manor was pitch black.

Only a single sickly yellow light glowed from a window on the second floor.

A uniformed maid pulled open the heavy iron-wrought doors before we even knocked.

"Madam, she is here."

An old woman in a black velvet dress rose from a high-backed leather armchair.

Eleanor Blackwood's sharp eyes swept over my cheap clothes like I was literal livestock.

A man sat motionless on the sofa right next to her.

His tailored suit clung to a dangerously handsome frame.

He stared at me with freezing indifference.

"Good evening," I whispered to the room.

Eleanor grabbed my wrist with a brutal grip.

"We have tried every other method to no avail."

"Thank you for your sacrifice."

She dragged me toward the grand winding staircase.

The second-floor hallway smelled heavily of burning sage and sterile rubbing alcohol.

Strange occult symbols were violently carved into the wooden doorframes.

"My eldest son doesn't have much time left," Eleanor whispered without looking back at me.

"We need to complete the ritual tonight."

My feet stopped moving entirely outside the master bedroom.

Liam placed a firm hand on my lower back and pushed me forward.

"Your brother is waiting for this money to survive," he muttered right near my ear.

Eleanor twisted the knob and shoved me inside the room.

The heavy door slammed shut behind my back.

The lock clicked into place.

The dim glow of a medical monitor illuminated the dying patient's face on the bed.

I stumbled backward until my spine hit the door.

I clamped both hands over my mouth.

"Why is it you?!"