I Married the Richest Man Instead

I was known all throughout high society as the perfect, obedient daughter. Suitors lined up at my door in droves, yet I insisted on marrying Grayson Thatcher, whose family fortune had crumbled, all because of a promise we made when we were young.

I thought we would be partners building a life together, but he fell deeply in love with his childhood sweetheart, a girl who spent her days running wild.

The night before our wedding, he went street racing with her and they both got arrested, causing him to miss the ceremony entirely. The scandal made it everywhere.

On New Year's Eve, he left me to organize the family banquet alone while he ran off with his childhood sweetheart to some crowded plaza. To see a different display of fireworks, they set fire to balloons people had released into the sky and triggered a massive blaze.

Once again, I exhausted every connection I had to get him out of the mess.

I cleaned up 999 of his reckless mistakes and kept the Thatcher family's business afloat, making sure he could live without a care in the world. I thought that eventually, he would at least remember some small part of what we meant to each other.

Yet when I fell critically ill and needed a heart transplant, he took the only available donor heart and gave it to his childhood sweetheart instead.

That was the first time I broke down and demanded answers.

He stared at me, cold and unmoved.

"You have the nerve to ask me that? If you hadn't forced yourself on me, I would've gotten together with Maeve years ago. You're as stiff as an old lady. How could you ever compare to someone like her? She's full of life.

"I've let you play Mrs. Thatcher for over a decade. I was more than generous. Maeve is going to be my wife now. When she dies, we'll be buried together. You won't even get that much."

I died consumed by bitterness and rage. When I opened my eyes again, I was back on the day of the matchmaking event.

I picked up the marriage proposal the Thatchers had sent and tore it to pieces. Then, I reached for the one from the wealthiest family in the room and smiled.

"Dad, if I have to get married anyway, I might as well marry the man with the most money and power."

"But you two had an arranged engagement since childhood. Besides, the Thatchers saved my life once. If we break off the engagement now when they're down on their luck, what will people think of me? What will they think of our family?"

I listened to Dad's troubled murmuring. The pain of death still lingered in my body. I rubbed my aching head, about to speak, when a loud voice suddenly blared through a megaphone outside.

"Calla Finley, your fiancé raped me. Are you going to do something about this or not?"

Dad's expression changed instantly.

I steadied myself. I did not need to guess who was making a scene at our door. It was Grayson Thatcher's beloved, Maeve Keller.

That familiar voice instantly pulled me back into the tangled relationships of my past life.

For the sake of repaying a debt and some careless promise I had made to Grayson as a child, I married him as planned after his family fell from grace. I became the perfect wife. I turned a deaf ear to his affairs and wild nights out. I managed both our home life and career, ensuring he lived in luxury and comfort.

In the end, all I got in return was his furious roar, blaming me for destroying his love. He watched me die from illness without flinching.

Now that I had gotten a second chance at life, I refused to make the same mistakes.

"Dad, don't worry. I'll handle this without giving anyone reason to gossip."

I had fully repaid his family's debt to us in my last life, though no one in this life knew that yet. I would make sure everyone knew exactly how shameless they were.

I stood and walked slowly toward the door. A small crowd had already gathered outside the villa.

Grayson was holding onto Maeve, coaxing her in a low voice, "Rape? We're just two people who love each other. Baby, stop making a scene. Be good and let's go home."

Maeve wore barely anything, practically draped in scraps of fabric. She pointed at the red marks on her skin and screamed hysterically, "You're about to get married, and you're still entangled with me. If that's not rape, what is? I'm getting justice today, one way or another.

"If Calla won't deal with this, I'll go to the police. Let's see where you rich people can hide your faces then."

The neighbors started whispering and pointing when they saw me step outside.

Grayson turned to me like I was his savior. He grabbed my hand and begged, "Look, Maeve's really upset. This will make both our families look bad. Why don't we postpone the wedding? I'll calm her down first, then we can set a new date.

"You're so understanding. You'll think of the bigger picture and agree to this, right?"

Even though I had heard these shameless words in my previous life, they still made me feel stifled and furious. He created this mess himself, yet he expected me to bear the consequences and compromise.

He even wanted to delay our engagement just to appease his mistress. It was absolutely absurd.

I might be obedient and considerate, but I was not a fool.

In my past life, I did not give in to Grayson's unreasonable demands. Instead, I suppressed the scandal and prepared to pay Maeve off to make her disappear. It was because I did not listen to him that Grayson felt humiliated.

He pretended to go along with it, but the night before our wedding, he deliberately went street racing with Maeve and got arrested, making sure everyone knew about it. That was the first time he tried to intimidate me. Over the next decade of marriage, there were countless more attempts just like it.

I took a deep breath, forcing down the discomfort in my body. I replied coolly, "Fine."

I did not tell him that the engagement would not be postponed. It would be cancelled.

Since he loved Maeve so much, in this life, I would grant them their star-crossed romance.