Chapter 1

The Johnson family was cursed. Every man in their bloodline died before his thirtieth birthday — unless he married into my family. That was the only way to break it.

But on the day of my wedding to Anderson, he tore up the marriage contract in front of everyone. For his first love. He destroyed everything we had.

The elders of the Johnson family tried to stop him. Anderson glared at me with pure hatred, his voice cold as ice.

"Georgina, you're nothing but a gold-digging fraud! Your family has been scamming us — taking our money, using our men — for almost a hundred years. But it stops with me. Your little game is over!"

Alice clung to Anderson's arm and looked me up and down with a dismissive smirk.

"Why are you still standing there? Get out."

"With me here — a medical doctor — Anderson won't just make it to thirty. He'll live to be a hundred and thirty."

I thought about Anderson's pulse that morning. Faint. Barely there.

I smiled to myself.

Fine. His thirtieth birthday is in three days. We'll see who's right.

It won't be long now...