TMR | TG [✔]

02. Beomgyu

I peeked up at Taehyun through the fall of my bangs. His fists were clenched and there was a definite hard set to his jaw. He was clearly angry, but I don't think he was angry at me.

I hoped he wasn't angry with me.

Bad things happened when people got angry.

I wasn't stupid despite what Hana and my mother had always said about me. I knew I was fucked the moment Hana wouldn't let me walk away from our blind date. She'd grabbed my hand and squeezed it until I was positive she'd broken a bone. She hadn't, but my hand had ached for a few days.

And that was the beginning of the hell I'd been living in for the last few months. I'm pretty sure when I married her, I was signing my death warrant. Hana might not physically kill me, but I'd wish I was dead.

"I'm going to ask you this one more time and then I will never bring it up again. Do you want to marry Hana?"

"No," I said as firmly as I could considering I felt as if I was on the verge of shaking apart. "I don't like her. She's mean. She says I'm stupid and she won't let me do my art."

That might be the hardest part of all of this. Hana made me give up my art and go to work for her father. Oh sure, they told everyone it was so that I could be groomed to take over the business one day, but I knew it was so they could keep an eye on me.

They were always watching me.

"Why haven't you told someone about this before now, Beomgyu? Why haven't you told Yeonjun or your father?"

I snorted, but just as quickly shot Taehyun a look, wondering if he was going to get angry for that rudeness. Hana sure would have.

"Who would believe me?" I whispered.

No one had believed me when I said my mother was hurting me until after she had run off with her lover. I still wasn't completely sure they believed everything I told them. Didn't matter. I knew the truth.

People hid their evil behind friendly and polite smiles. Their wickedness only came out when they were alone with their victims, when they were in a place to hurt them, a place no one could see.

"I believe you, Beomgyu."

My gaze slowly rose to Taehyun. "You believe me?"

"Yes, I do. You have never lied to me."

Well... Omission wasn't a lie, was it?

"I really, really don't want to marry Hana, but I don't see any way out of this. If I try to leave, she will just come after me. She's determined to marry me."

"Why?"

I blinked at Taehyun for a moment before dropping my gaze. "Uh...well, I think it's because of the money."

He frowned as he sat forward. "What money?"

"My grandmother on my mother's side left me some money. I only get it if I'm married by the time I turn twenty-five."

"I'm assuming it's a lot of money?"

"A fair amount, yes."

Ten million dollars was a fair amount, right?

"So, with this prenup"—Taehyun held up my phone—"if you marry Hana today, you get nothing. It will all belong to her, every cent. You understand that, right?"

"I know."

My grandmother had adored me. Knowing the kind of horrible abuse my mother—her daughter—had put me through had broken her heart. She had decided to leave me that money so that I would have a chance at the life I wanted.