Hinovel
App Store
Google Play
Library
Summary
“Will you marry me?” “I don’t need money, a house, or a car. I just need a husband.” Fresh out of prison, a young woman was determined to escape the marriage her parents had arranged for her — a union with a disfigured, disabled heir from a powerful family. Desperate and out of options, she stopped a stranger on the street and asked him to marry her. To her shock, the man who agreed was impossibly handsome. Her new husband insisted he was nothing special, just an ordinary man. He warned her not to fall for him, because loving him would only end badly. So she kept her heart guarded. No attachment meant no heartbreak. But the longer they stayed married, the harder it became to ignore the way he looked at her… or the way he quietly inserted himself into her life. Then one night at a gala, she saw the childhood friend she had loved for years and realized the feelings were gone. Unfortunately, her husband noticed too. And he did not take it well.
Chapter 1: A Good Marriage After Prison
South Covand Penitentiary.
"2246, you're free to go."
The woman had features that were exquisite, yet she looked as though the spark of life had been extinguished from her soul. She stared blankly at the iron bars, her gaze hollow and detached.
"2246!"
The officer raised his voice, shouting the number again. Only then did Ariella Ellerker turn her head toward him.
"Once you're out, remember to stay on the right path," the officer advised. He looked at her and felt a pang of pity. It was a genuine tragedy for such a beautiful woman to waste three years of her prime in a place like this.
Ariella nodded silently and began to walk toward the exit.
A black BMW sat idling on the bleak, desolate street outside the gates.
"Ariella, get in the car!"
Ariella lifted her eyes and felt a rush of emotion. It was her father. "Dad..."
"Mm. We've come to take you home," Robert Ellerker replied.
A wave of gratitude washed over Ariella. She still had a home. Her parents had not abandoned her after all. It felt like a small mercy after the nightmare that began three years ago today.
That day was supposed to be her engagement banquet with Patrick Davis. Instead, it became her descent into hell. After drinking a glass of water handed to her by her younger sister, Esther, Ariella had become disoriented and retreated to a bedroom to rest.
In her clouded state, a man entered the room. Believing him to be her fiancé, she gave him the most precious thing she had. But the scene shifted cruelly. The mysterious man vanished, and Esther appeared, screaming at the top of her lungs that Ariella had committed adultery. Ariella had reached out, desperately trying to hold her sister, begging for a chance to explain.
Suddenly, Esther began bleeding from her eyes, nose, and mouth, screaming, "Sister, don't kill me!"
Terrified, Ariella fled and sought out Patrick, pleading with him to believe her innocence. His response was cold and ruthless. He called the police and, amidst a torrential thunderstorm, struck her across the face with such force that he declared her a heartless murderer of her own kin.
That slap left her head ringing. Blood trickled from her ear, mixing with the rain. She suffered from a high fever for ten days following her arrest. When she finally woke, doctors confirmed her eardrum was perforated. Since then, her hearing was a fractured, unreliable thing. That storm had turned her into a shell of herself—partially deaf and stripped of her pride.
As Ariella climbed into the car, she realized her mother was sitting in the back seat.
"Mom, where is Esther? I want to see her. What happened back then—it was actually Esther who—"
Ariella didn't finish. Katrina's eyes flashed with pure hatred and blame.
"You have the audacity to bring up the past? I thought you would have changed, but you're still as stubborn and jealous of your sister as ever!" Katrina snapped.
"Do you have any idea that the poison nearly killed Esther? She went abroad for two years of grueling treatment, all alone and miserable. And what about you? You just spent three years in prison, eating well and sleeping well!"
Katrina's voice trembled with rage. "The biggest mistake of my life was having a daughter like you. You are a loose, disgraceful woman who has shamed the entire Ellerker family! Thank god Esther was strong enough to clean up the mess you left behind. She's doing great with Patrick."
Ariella clenched her hands into small, trembling fists. She couldn't understand it. She was only three years older than Esther, yet why had her mother always shown Esther a special favoritism? Since they were children, every argument ended with Ariella being the one at fault.
"Enough. It's a good thing she's out. There's no need for this undignified shouting," Robert said, glancing back at his wife and daughter.
He looked directly at Ariella. "Ariella, you're twenty-six now. I have arranged a good marriage for you. You will marry Kingston Carswell. Frankly, marrying into the Carswell family is a massive step up for someone like you."
The Carswell family.
They were the pinnacle of power in South Covand, with members dominating the worlds of business and politics. They were the elite of the elite. However, there was one black mark on their lineage—a man who was considered the family's great shame.
That man was Kingston, the mysterious young master who had been nearly consumed by a house fire when he was ten years old.