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My Husband Gave My Million-Dollar Car to His Sister-in-Law
NovelShort
Hoàn thành
I've always had a hot temper and a sharp tongue. My husband's foster brother had just died, and the very next thing I knew, the Porsche I'd just bought was listed for sale online: Brand-new limited-ed...
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第1章
I've always had a hot temper and a sharp tongue.
My husband's foster brother had just died, and the very next thing I knew, the Porsche I'd just bought was listed for sale online:
Brand-new limited-edition Porsche. My husband passed away and I can't drive it. Highest bidder takes it.
I thought she was joking. Swallowing my anger, I screenshotted it and sent it to my husband: Your sister-in-law sure loves a good joke.
He was silent for a long while before he spoke: The car's registered under my brother's name. Now that he's gone, naturally it goes to her.
I thought I'd misheard him: Isn't this the dowry car my parents paid for in full? Even by the wildest stretch, there's no way it could've become yours!
His sister-in-law rolled her eyes at me: The car was registered under my husband's information. Now that he's dead, why shouldn't I be allowed to sell it?
My husband spoke up, looking pained: You went to the restroom when we bought it. My brother had an old car to trade in, it saved us a few thousand. And besides, my sister-in-law is carrying his unborn child. Just think of the car as money for the baby's formula.
I laughed in pure fury: Using my eight-million-dollar dowry car as formula money? Is your sister-in-law carrying a golden egg in there?
Or is the kid actually yours, and you set this whole thing up to milk my car to raise your bastard?!
——
At my words, my husband, Rhys Gilbert, instantly knit his brows and ground out a warning through his teeth:
"There's nothing improper between me and my sister-in-law. What nonsense are you spouting?"
I gave a cold laugh: "If there's nothing between you, then what exactly do you call helping her steal my dowry?"
Rhys stared hard at me, paused for a long moment, and finally forced out a single line:
"My brother did right by me. He gave up his chance to go to college so I could go. Just think of it as helping out a widow and her orphan."
Rhys's eyes reddened slightly, clearly remembering the days as a child when there was never enough to eat.
It wasn't that I was unwilling to help Rhys's family.
It was that I couldn't stomach being lied to and schemed against!
When we bought the car, I'd stepped away for just a few minutes to use the restroom, and by the time I came out, Rhys said it was all taken care of.
Because I trusted him, it never once crossed my mind that those few short minutes were enough for something to be done behind my back.
My heart kept sinking, but in the end I gave him one more chance:
"Get the car back. If your sister-in-law ever runs into trouble down the road, I can help. I can even arrange a job for her at the company with good pay and benefits."
Saying that much, I'd already given them more than enough face.
But Rhys's sister-in-law, Tracey Fox, rolled her eyes at me outright:
"You think a salary of a few thousand bucks is going to trick me out of my eight-million-dollar car? Have you lost your mind?"
She clung to Rhys's arm, eyes red, milking the pity: "Rhys, it was your brother who took your place in that sweatshop and got two fingers crushed, left crippled for it. If your fingers had been broken, I'd like to see how you'd install precision instruments then!"
"You can't go through life with no conscience. You're really just going to stand there and watch your wife bully me?"
Rhys looked at me with the expression of a man caught in an impossible bind.
We'd known each other nearly ten years and dated for eight. I knew exactly what Rhys was thinking.
I'd said it before. Out in the world, he was decisive and ruthless.
But the moment it was family, he went soft with no limits whatsoever, and that kind of softness would ruin him sooner or later.
We were barely married, and his sister-in-law was already walking all over me.
Maybe it was that I couldn't bear to throw away ten years of feeling, and because Rhys hadn't crossed any major line of principle, I spoke up one last time:
"Back when you got into college, your family wanted you to drop out and work so your brother could study. If your brother hadn't skipped class and gotten himself expelled, do you think the chance would've ever come to you?"
"And he didn't go into that sweatshop to earn money for your tuition. He went so he could buy a computer to play games, insisted on it, and no one could stop him. When it all went wrong, you were the one who ended up with a broken leg, and I nursed you for the better part of a year before you healed!"
"After you graduated you made eighteen grand a month, and your mom said she'd save it for you, gave you five hundred for spending money. She never once handed any of it over when you married me, and after the wedding you went right on giving your money to her. The cash for your acute gastroenteritis? I covered that too! Your mom said all the money got lost on your brother's investments. Are you an idiot? Don't you have any sense at all?!"
第2章
Every one of these things, Rhys had told me himself.
My heart ached for the way his family ground him down, and because I'd fallen for him I started looking after him on my own, until one thing led to another and we ended up together.
I had carried his suffering in my heart all along. Yet he himself had forgotten it.
I thought saying all this would shake Rhys back to his senses.
I never expected him to suddenly fly into a rage.
"You don't need to drive a wedge between me and my family! Marrying you doesn't mean I have to cut ties with them!"
"My brother's grades were bad, but he really did skip school on purpose for my sake! Saying he wanted the money for a computer was just so I wouldn't feel guilty! I was the one who misjudged him back then."
"It's my own fault the betrothal gift was so small, but you have no right to slander my family!"
Rhys and Tracey Fox stood off to one side, as if I were the one tearing this family apart.
The sweetness of being newlyweds had shattered completely. Even with my eyes stinging, I didn't back down.
"Fine. The hardship you went through was a misunderstanding, the wrongs you suffered were a misunderstanding. But the car is part of my dowry, and that is no misunderstanding!"
When we got married, Rhys said his family had no money for a house, and he wouldn't agree to let my parents pay for one either.
To spare his pride, I took only an $18,000 betrothal gift just to go through the motions, and after the wedding I moved out here with him to this run-down house in the distant suburbs.
His workplace was only a ten-minute commute away, but it took me a solid hour-plus to get back to my own company!
My parents were furious that I'd insisted on marrying Rhys, who was so far beneath us.
But they still couldn't bear to see me suffer, so they quietly bought me the car I loved most as a dowry gift.
Who would have thought that I registered the title yesterday, and today Tracey listed it on a used-car site.
I used to think it was enough that Rhys and I loved each other. Now I could see.
My parents were right. Rhys's heart was never in this little home of ours at all!
"What do you mean, your dowry? You married Rhys, so what's yours belongs to the Gilberts. I'm carrying a Gilbert child in my belly, and selling the car to raise the baby is only right and proper!"
Tracey turned to Rhys and goaded him.
"Your wife clearly doesn't think of herself as a Gilbert. Drawing such hard lines, isn't she?"
"Your brother's dead, and you're just going to stand there and watch your wife bully his widow?"
Brenda Abbott, fresh from her evening dance class, heard the shouting and immediately took their side.
"What's all this yelling, all this commotion!"
She shot a glare at Rhys. "You call yourself a man? You just stand there and let your wife throw a fit? Married barely a minute and you can't even keep your own woman in line! You spineless good-for-nothing!"
When she looked at me, Brenda smiled and asked, "Sweetheart, what is all this fuss about? Your sister-in-law's pregnant. What could be so important that you have to upset her?"
"If something's really not to your liking, you can have a proper talk after she's had the baby. Carrying on like this, if you upset her into a miscarriage, that'd be a sin on your head!"
At that, Tracey instantly clutched her belly, her face twisting in pain.
"Ow, my stomach hurts so much—"
Brenda steadied Tracey and frantically ordered Rhys around. "Hurry up and get your sister-in-law to the hospital! Are you just going to stand there and watch your brother's last bloodline slip away?!"
The three of them made to rush off.
I let out a sharp shout. "Until the car is settled, nobody is leaving!"
Tracey, who'd been playing weak a second ago, turned vicious in a heartbeat and pinned the blame on me.
"I've already gone into distress and you still won't let me go to the hospital! You shameless, poisonous woman, are you trying to kill me!"
Listening to her interrogate me with a voice full of strength, I let out a cold laugh and shot back, "Distressed enough to plant your hands on your hips and curse at me? Then you must be in pretty good shape. The baby's made of iron, nothing's going to happen to it."
I walked to the door, locked it, and picked up my phone to call my parents.
第3章
"Something's come up over here. Have my brother bring some bodyguards and get over here to help."
My brother was a fanatic when it came to protecting me, and he'd taken home a gold medal in boxing.
The second the three of them heard he was coming, every one of them went white.
Brenda stamped her foot in a panic.
"We're all family here. What are you making such an ugly scene for?"
I almost laughed from sheer anger. "So refusing to roll over and get fleeced counts as making a scene?"
Rhys couldn't keep the look off his face. "What are you talking about? My brother just passed away. His wife only wants to cash it in because she's strapped for money. Fleeced? Don't make it sound so ugly."
Then he let out a sudden sigh. "But you're right. That car was part of your dowry. We've got no right to handle it."
Rhys turned and pointed at Tracey. "Honestly, Tracey, even if you're in a hurry, you should've talked it over with us. A car worth over eight million, and you just list it for sale like that? That's no respect for my wife at all!"
Rhys's sudden change of attitude caught me off guard.
Tracey stared at him, shocked, tears spilling instantly as she played for sympathy with Brenda.
"It's not like my husband is even your biological son. It's only natural you don't treat me as family."
Brenda fussed over Tracey, trying to comfort her, her eyes full of blame as they cut toward Rhys.
I looked at him too, deeply suspicious.
The next second, Rhys apologized to me, all sincerity.
"I lost my head for a moment there. Give me one more chance. We just got married. If your brother comes over and your parents find out, won't it just blow up into something huge?"
Hearing that, I finally understood.
No wonder Rhys suddenly backed down. So it turned out he was scared.
I sneered inwardly, but on my face I faked being moved. "Since you put it that way, husband, of course I won't hold it against anyone. As long as Tracey doesn't lose her mind again."
"I'll tell my brother to stand down in a bit."
With that, I went back to my room to rest, my expression worn out, while in fact I was texting my brother.
"Come. Now."
Outside the door, Brenda scolded Rhys for siding against his own.
"What's even the point of a wife like that? Better off just divorcing her!"
She pitched her voice loud, all but begging me to hear it.
I acted like I hadn't.
I explained to my brother what had happened today, and even through the phone he was livid.
"Sis, hang tight! I'm coming to bring you home right now."
"And don't worry about the car. What matters most is who put up the money, and besides, you two have only been married a short while."
My brother ran a law firm, and hearing him say that settled my nerves a little.
Rhys knocked and came in, carrying the little cake I loved most.
"Babe, today really was our fault."
He kept his eyes lowered and meek, gentle, just like the countless times he'd coaxed me before we married.
But I felt none of the old sweetness now, only exhaustion filling my chest.
Thinking of all our years together, I gave him one last warning.
"Your mom swears up and down that you're the real son, yet the moment your brother's involved, whether it's a shot at college or a job, you always have to give it up to him. Do you really not see it?"
"Holding on to your money, fine. But now your brother's dead, and your mom values that lump of flesh in your sister-in-law's belly more than she values you. She can't wait for us to fight our way to a divorce. Is that really wishing you well?"
I spoke with all the weight I had. "Even if we divorce, I don't want you getting cheated over and over. Sometimes you really have to wonder if you're the one who was brought home as somebody else's child."
Rhys said nothing. I thought he was taking it to heart. I ate a bite of the cake, and then my eyelids turned unbearably heavy.
My consciousness blurred as Tracey pushed the door open and walked straight in.
"I told you this drug was strong. One bite and she's bound to pass out. Hurry, get her thumbprint on the voluntary gift agreement!"
第4章
Rhys still hesitated. "What if she wakes up..."
His mother walked in too and smacked him hard on the back.
"Sell the car, and you'll have millions in hand. Like you'd struggle to find a wife after that? We could get you an eighteen-year-old, no problem!"
"Besides, she fell out with her own parents for your sake. You apologize, play the poor pitiful one, and she'll forgive you on the spot. A girl who throws herself at you and even foots the bills, and you're scared she'll slip away?"
"And if she really does divorce you over eight million, that just proves she's a money-grubbing woman who never cared about you for a second."
He thought back to all the years we'd dated, when I never took a cent from him and was always slipping him money instead.
Rhys's eyes hardened.
"Right. There's no way she'd divorce me over a measly eight million."
Cold spread through my whole body, but I couldn't lift my hand with even a shred of strength.
Tracey couldn't pry my fingers open, so she gritted her teeth and just forced it.
A sharp crack. The finger snapped clean.
The pain drove cold sweat out of me, and I couldn't even manage a scream.
"Your own fault for clenching your hand so tight. It's just an ordinary sprain."
Brenda dabbed some muscle rub on it carelessly. "Don't go saying we mistreated you."
I have a respiratory condition, and the sharp sting of the muscle rub hit my nose. In an instant my breathing went shallow, and I could barely get air.
Rhys panicked. "Mom! What's wrong with my wife? Call 911, get her to a hospital!"
He'd just pulled out his phone when his mother snatched it away.
"What are you calling 911 for? An ambulance rolls out and that's eighty bucks gone. She's just asleep and can't cough it up. I'll pat her back and she'll be fine."
With that, Brenda shoved me over roughly and slapped my back a dozen times, hard.
The pain sent me into shock, and I blacked out, while she spread her hands.
"See? She's out cold, isn't she, not coughing anymore. Hurry up, let's go, the buyer's waiting."
The three of them turned and left, never once noticing how white my face had gone.
When I came to again, I was lying in a hospital bed.
Mom, Dad, and my brother all stood watch beside me, their eyes full of pain for me.
My brother's hands clenched into fists. "I will never let those animals off!"
Mom and Dad were still shaken. "If you hadn't sent your brother your location ahead of time, we might never have seen you again."
Mom kept wiping at her tears. It broke my heart, and I wanted to wipe them away for her, but I couldn't even lift my arm.
I could only force the words out. "I'm sorry, Mom, Dad. I was wrong. I should have listened to you."
My father reached out and laid his hand on my head with tenderness. "Good girl, it's all right. Now that you're awake, leave it to us to handle. All right?"
I thought of all the people my father had cornered into despair when he set a trap, and I slowly nodded.
"Okay."
Hurt this badly, even the deepest feelings get worn down to nothing.
I'm not a masochist.
Once I'd answered, my parents pulled out a tablet.
"The truth is, we had everything arranged a long time ago. We just didn't want to upset you."
On the screen, Rhys, his mother, and Tracey had met the buyer at a café.
The moment I saw the buyer sitting across from them, my eyes went wide in disbelief.
"Isn't that my brother's good buddy?"
Brenda poured him tea, eager to please. "Then it's settled, full price, eight million. My son's car is a limited edition. You couldn't get one even paying over asking."
When the man agreed without hesitation, Tracey suddenly raised the price. "I can see you rich boys just want a bargain. I just looked it up, an eight-million limited model like this could be marked up to at least ten million!"
She really had the nerve to ask.
I drew in a deep breath and waited for the cops to storm in and break up this illegal deal.
But even after the contract was signed, with Rhys and Tracey Fox cheering and throwing their arms around each other, even as Brenda counted the zeros at the end of her bank balance in a giddy daze, nothing happened.
Yet watching my brother fight a losing battle against the corners of his mouth, I knew they were finished.
The next second, Brenda screamed: "The money! My money's been frozen!"
Before Rhys could even look, the police walked in, an arrest warrant in hand.
"You're suspected of assault and the misappropriation of someone else's substantial assets. Come with us, now."