My father was a billionaire, and he had ordered me to choose one of seven foster brides to marry. Whoever I married would become the heir to the Sinclair family fortune. While I was quietly trying to decide who to choose, I accidentally overheard a secret about the seven foster brides.
"You guys want to know something? When is that idiot Sebastian Sinclair going to figure out that Dylan Monroe isn't even Elena Monroe's real brother?"
The speaker was one of my foster brides, Tessa Lane. She had once loved me so obsessively she threw herself off a building for me. But now her face was twisted with mockery.
"That Sebastian, he probably thinks I'm madly in love with him, right? Truth is, when I jumped off that building, it wasn't to confess my feelings. It was to scare him away."
"As for me, I spent every day forcing down my nausea to kiss his feet, because I knew he despised that kind of groveling."
"Ha. Looks like we all had the same strategy. Whatever he hates, that's what we do. That way, he won't choose us, and we can all fairly compete for Dylan's affection. Only Elena Monroe got stuck in the middle."
"And now that fool has fallen in love with her instead. I'll spare one second of sympathy for Elena, but there's no other way. Someone has to marry him eventually. Otherwise, how else can Dylan keep his position as the young master of the Sinclair family?"
In that moment, I felt like I'd been plunged into a frozen abyss. So the one they all loved was Dylan Monroe. Elena Monroe's supposedly real brother.
I stumbled forward, desperate to confront them. But then I saw her in the garden. Elena Monroe, always so cold and untouchable, like a flower blooming on a distant mountain peak. Now she had Dylan Monroe pinned against the wall by his collar, pressing him there as she kissed him with desperate hunger. In her eyes was a tenderness I'd never seen before.
Dylan's voice trembled as he whispered, "Sis, if you marry Sebastian Sinclair, I won't let you touch me anymore."
Elena's voice was ice as she replied, "I don't want to marry him either. But old man Sinclair saved our lives. Dylan, just listen to me. Even if I do marry him, I'll only give him the title of husband. I'll never let him touch me, and I'll never give him even a shred of my love."
In that instant, I felt like I'd woken from a dream. So when my father adopted Dylan Monroe, he wasn't actually Elena Monroe's brother at all. He was her childhood sweetheart.
I walked away in a daze to find my father, my voice firm as I said, "Dad, I've made up my mind. I want to marry Miss Winston."
"You mean Olivia Winston? The girl who's been crying and begging you to marry her since you were three years old? Sure. The Winstons are one of the wealthiest families in America, and Olivia Winston is beautiful. But I thought you were in love with Elena Monroe," Father Sinclair asked suspiciously. "Besides, aside from Elena Monroe, I've raised six other foster brides for you. All six of them obey you like servants. Just pick one of them. They'd spend their entire lives loving you. Isn't that better than marrying some hot-tempered heiress to serve you at home?"
Hearing this, I laughed bitterly. "Dad, you don't need to try to convince me anymore. Olivia Winston is wonderful. I can feel that she genuinely cares about me. As for Elena Monroe and the others, they're only forced by their position as foster brides, so they have no choice but to obey me."
I lowered my head to hide the disappointment flooding my eyes. But quickly, I pulled myself together, lifting my head to meet my father's gaze.
"There's one more thing. Since I'm not marrying any of those seven foster brides, our family has no reason to keep supporting them. Freeze all their accounts. And Dylan Monroe, cancel every credit card I gave him. The Sinclair family doesn't support freeloaders."
Father Sinclair nodded. "Fine. Since you're not marrying them anymore, the Sinclairs truly have no reason to keep them around. On your wedding day, I'll have all of them removed from the Sinclair estate, to prevent them from getting greedy and fighting you for the inheritance."
After finishing the discussion with my father, I left the study. But the moment I stepped toward the staircase, I ran straight into Dylan Monroe, blocking my path.
"Hey, I heard you're going horseback riding this afternoon. Could you take me with you? I really want to learn how to ride, too."
If this had been before, I would have agreed immediately. I'd never been stingy. If I was in a good mood, I would have even happily paid out of my own pocket to register Dylan Monroe for riding lessons. But now, remembering what I saw in the garden, my chest flooded with nausea. Disgust burning through every fiber of my being, I shoved Dylan Monroe's hand away violently.
"Get away from me."
The force I used wasn't actually that strong. But Dylan Monroe dramatically threw himself backward, then conveniently tumbled all the way down the stairs.
"Dylan!" Elena Monroe's panicked voice rang out from downstairs.
I looked down, only to discover all my foster brides were gathered at the bottom of the stairs.
"Sebastian Sinclair, how could you be so cruel?" My foster bride, the most hot-tempered one, Grace Chen, spoke first. "What did Dylan do wrong, that you'd push him down the stairs?"
"Stop, please," Dylan Monroe rushed to say. "It's not his fault. I just lost my balance, that's all."
He looked so careful, his eyes even welling up with tears, as if he'd suffered some terrible injustice. The act worked perfectly. All the foster brides stared at me, their eyes brimming with barely contained disgust, especially Elena Monroe. Her gaze was so cold I couldn't meet it. But she didn't say a word. She just looked at me with that icy stare, then helped Dylan Monroe to his feet and walked away, not giving me a single chance to explain.
I laughed bitterly. Fine. It didn't matter anyway. I didn't want to explain anymore. No matter what I said, they wouldn't believe me.