Chapter 1

Natalie Bennett and Ethan Fletcher’s marriage was the hottest topic in South City’s high society. One was the heiress of the Bennett family—reckless, rebellious, and possessed of a beauty so lethal it felt like a trap. The other was the stoic patriarch—reserved, clinical, and holding the reins of the Fletcher family fortune. Two extremes, bound together for three years. In their first year of marriage, the Fletcher family presented Natalie with a manual of the Fletcher Mandates. Three thousand rules to memorize and obey. Natalie flipped through a couple of pages. Right before the family elders, tore it into pieces and let them scatter across the floor. “What century is this? You’re still doing this?” Her eyes were full of raw defiance. The consequence? She was banished to the family chapel—a cold, hollow fortress—and locked away in silence for three days. By the second year, the chains tightened. No more clubs, no more parties. Natalie responded by grabbing her Ferrari and smashed right through the iron gates of the family estate—the very gates mean to symbolize ‘order’. The roar of the engine echoed through the whole manor. “You want to stop me from going out? Only if I’m dead!” Back then, she was locked in solitary confinement for half a month,completely cut off from the outside world. Third year—time for children. Margaret Fletcher, the mother of Ethan Fletcher, delivered an ultimatum. Natalie was dragged off to the hospital for a round of fertility testing before IVF. Cold instruments. Doctors talking in a flat, businesslike tone. It all made her sick. When a nurse approached with a needle, Natalie snapped. She flipped the tray, knocked aside the bodyguards, and sprinted straight out. She got in her car and drove straight to the Fletcher Group headquarters. Enough was enough! She’d hidden her claws for three years, trying to play the role of Mrs. Fletcher. What did she get in return? Even tighter chains. She wanted Ethan Fletcher to know—she couldn’t take these suffocating rules for even one more day! Natalie Bennett was born to be free—not to wither and die in the Fletcher family’s gilded cage. She rushed into the CEO’s private elevator. The secretary tried to stop her, but Natalie silenced her with a single glare. At the top floor, the office door was slightly open. Inside, the sound of easy, casual laughter drifted out. Natalie’s hand was on the handle when she heard her own name. “Ethan, is your wife raising hell again?” one of his childhood friends teased. “Honestly, I don’t think there’s a woman in South City more beautiful than Natalie—she’s got the face, she’s got the body, she’s incredible! Only trouble is, she’s too rebellious. Like a mustang nobody can tame.” “But seriously, Ethan, if she wasn’t your type, why go through all that trouble—staging that whole rescue at the equestrian club, making her fall so hard she’d chase you right into marriage?” Outside the door, Natalie felt as if lightning had struck her—every drop of blood in her body turned to ice. That so-called heroic rescue…was planned? Three years ago, her horse went wild at the equestrian club, heading straight for the fence. Ethan appeared like a god and caught her in his arms. Always untouched, always unbothered. That day, she gave her heart to him. She’d checked up on him afterwards, learned that they were opposites. She was blazing sunshine; he was cold discipline. She lived boldly; he held back. She loved freedom; he loved rules. She knew they were worlds apart. But what Natalie wanted, she went after—so she got close to him, tried everything, and finally made him say yes. She always believed it was her effort—her persistence, her destiny. But now? It was all just a trap he’d set from the very beginning? Why? Why would he do that to her? Just then, another man’s voice spoke, half sighing, laying everything bare. “Why else? For Vivian, obviously.” Vivian. Ethan’s sister-in-law, married to his troublemaker brother, Lucas. “Vivian’s the one Ethan really cares about. But she comes from a family without status. You know what the Fletcher family is like: rules above everything. Margaret never made things easy for her. Ethan couldn’t stand to see her suffer, so he married someone wild, someone who could stir up trouble and draw all the attention away. That way, Vivian could have a decent life here.” “And who better than Natalie? She’s beautiful with a solid family background. The most important is that she’s wild enough to set the world on fire.” “But honestly, Ethan must be madly in love with Vivian. If I had a wife as stunning as Natalie, I’d want to have babies with her! Ethan, though? He wanted all the focus on Natalie, so he secretly got a vasectomy. He cut off any chance Natalie could have kids! Talk about sacrifice…” Natalie stood outside the door, a cold wave racing up from her toes to the crown of her head, leaving her frozen. A vasectomy? He’d gone that far—for Vivian? Married Natalie just to make her the lightning rod for the family’s rage, all so Vivian wouldn’t have to suffer? It was utterly absurd, almost laughable. Her heart twisted in her chest, the pain so sharp she could barely breathe. She bit down on her lower lip, so hard she tasted blood, but she didn’t even notice. All she wanted was to hear Ethan’s answer. Even a single word of denial. The room was quiet for a long moment, then Ethan’s voice sounded—cool and measured as always. “Vivian’s too soft. She can’t handle being treated badly. Natalie…she can take it.” She can take it. So all these years, every bit of Natalie’s struggle, her defiance, her pain—he didn’t miss it. He just decided she could take it. That meant it was fine for her to be used. Fine for her to be the shield that kept another woman safe. Natalie was shaking. She was about to burst through the door, out of control—when Ethan’s phone rang.