Chapter 1
The lace of my wedding dress scratches my neck, but it’s nothing compared to the nervous knot in my stomach.
I look at myself in my bedroom mirror. The same room where I grew up, where I taped magazine clippings to the walls and dreamed of a future that now feels like a cruel joke. The dress is beautiful—ivory, with soft fabric that should make me feel happy. Instead, I feel like I’m being dressed up to be handed over to a man I don’t even love.
Tomorrow at this time, I’ll no longer be Madison Whitaker. I’ll be Mrs. Whitmore. The wife of a man I’ve only seen once, from a distance, and who terrified me just by the look of him.
Nothing I’ve heard about him is good. Some of it is downright frightening.
“Stand still, Madison. If you keep sighing like that, I’m going to stick you with a pin,” my mother, Evelyn, grumbles.
She’s kneeling at my feet, adjusting the hem with quick, none-too-gentle movements. To her, this isn’t a tragedy. It’s a business transaction. She’s making sure everything looks perfect before the handover.
My mother has always been this way: practical, concerned only with money and making sure she’s set for life.
“I don’t understand why it has to be tomorrow, Mom,” I say, my voice thin as I fight back tears. “I haven’t even had time to process any of this. Two days ago, I was studying for my college final, and now…”
“Now you’re saving your family,” she cuts in, standing to look me straight in the eye. “Your father got involved in business dealings he had no business touching. He signed papers he didn’t understand. If you don’t marry Jackson Whitmore, a truck will pull up the day after tomorrow, and they’ll take everything we own. Is that what you want? To see your sister Chloe and little Noah sleeping on the street?”
I lower my eyes.
That’s the burden they’ve placed on my shoulders. This isn’t just a wedding. It’s how we’re paying off the family’s debts.
Trying to give us more than he could afford, my father ended up borrowing money from the wrong people. For years, he worked as a truck driver, hauling freight from one state to another. It was grueling work. He spent days away from home and barely had time to rest. But drinking and bad decisions eventually ruined him.
A while back, he caused an accident while driving drunk. Someone nearly died, and nothing has been the same since.
Then Jackson showed up with a solution. He would pay off the debts and let us keep our house.
But I was the price.
He needed a wife to look after his son, a little boy whose mother died giving birth to him.
Noah is only eight, and my sister Chloe is twenty. As the oldest, how am I supposed to do anything less than everything in my power to protect them?
“He’s a widower, Madison. A respected man with property and money. We’re not sending you off to some miserable life,” my mother adds, her coldness sending a chill through me. “You should be grateful that out of all the women he could have chosen, he picked you.”
“You’re sending me off with a man I don’t even know,” I whisper.
But she’s already walking out of the room, ignoring me the way she always does when she doesn’t want to argue.
Alone in front of the mirror, I touch the fabric of my dress. My thoughts go straight to Ethan.
Ethan is everything Jackson Whitmore isn’t. We’ve been together for three years. He’s the guy who brings me flowers when I’m stressed about school, who listens for hours while I talk about wanting to travel and see new places.
With him, everything is simple. No debts. No strange arrangements.
He isn’t a millionaire like the man they want me to marry, but I know I could be happy with him.
How am I going to tell him?
Tonight, I’ll sneak out to see him one last time as a free woman. Just imagining the look on his face makes my chest ache.
Ethan always says we’ll leave Port Aransas and start over in a bigger city. He doesn’t have much money. He works at his uncle’s auto repair shop and barely earns enough to cover his own expenses, but being with him makes me feel safe.
He’s my only hope. The only thing keeping me calm through my mother’s fussing with the veil has been knowing that Ethan loves me.
Maybe, if he asks me to run away with him, I’ll find the courage to leave everything behind.
Maybe he’s my way out of this mess.
I hear my father’s heavy footsteps in the hallway. He stops at the open door but doesn’t come in.
He looks at me from the doorway, tired and older than his years. His hands, worn from years of work and long hours behind the wheel of a truck, tremble slightly.
“You look… lovely, sweetheart,” he says quietly.
“Does this settle your debt, Dad?” I ask without looking at him. “Is it enough to save the house?”
He sighs. The guilt in that sound hurts more than any scolding ever could.
“Whitmore is a respectable man. He’ll give you a life I never could. You won’t have to worry about money or putting food on the table.”
“I care about being happy, Dad. Doesn’t that count for anything?”
He doesn’t answer.
He turns and leaves. My father has always been a man of few words, but this time, his silence feels like a betrayal.
He raised me to get an education and make my own way in the world. Now he’s using me to fix his mistakes.
A moment later, my younger sister, Chloe, rushes into the room. She’s always been the one who brings this house to life. Or she was, before all of this happened.
“Maddie, don’t cry,” she says, wrapping her arms around my waist and resting her cheek against my dress. “This house is going to feel awful without you.”
“I don’t have a choice, Chloe. Mom says it’s what’s best for everyone.”
“It’s not fair. I told Dad I could get a job, that we could sell things… but he says Jackson chose you. That he saw you downtown in Port Aransas months ago and asked about you.”
That detail sends a chill through me.
So this isn’t just about money. Jackson Whitmore has had his eye on me for a while.
I feel cornered. This man isn’t just some stern widower. He’s someone who’s used to getting what he wants.
I take off the dress slowly, careful not to damage any part of an outfit that somehow already feels like it belongs to Jackson. Then I put on my usual clothes: an old pair of jeans and a plain T-shirt.
I feel more like myself, even if the mirror reminds me that tomorrow my entire life will change.
I look out the window. The sun is setting, and the sky is beginning to darken over the Texas coast.
It’s time.
Ethan will be waiting at the pier, our usual spot.
He’ll help me, I think as I slip quietly downstairs so my parents won’t see me leave.
If everything is going to hell, Ethan will be there for me. He’ll tell me everything will be okay and that we’ll figure something out.
There has to be a way.
I can’t believe my life is about to become nothing but looking after a stranger’s child and living with a man who can’t even be bothered to speak to me.
I head out to the street, my heart racing. The salty coastal air hits my face as I walk through the quiet streets of Port Aransas.
Every step brings me closer to the only person who loves me for who I am, instead of what debts I can settle.
Ethan has to save me.
He has to.
Because if he can’t, I’ll have no choice but to move to the sprawling Whitmore estate on the outskirts of Port Aransas and go through with a marriage I never wanted—one I’m certain will ruin my life.
