Chapter 1My Wallet, His Rules

I'm Isabelle Thorne, the sole heiress to Thorne Industries.

When I was ten, my grandfather handpicked four boys from an orphanage to groom as potential husbands. They were to be cultivated into brilliant men, with the hope that one of them would one day stand by my side, helping me helm the Thorne empire.

The business world called them the "Four Prodigies of Crestwood."

But they all seemed to keep me, the heiress, at a careful distance.

Even Aiden Vance, the one I had secretly adored for years, had given his heart to someone else.

Now, from his sickbed, my grandfather asked me which one I would choose.

I left my fate to the spin of a wheel, a random draw to decide my future husband. I never imagined it would land on the most rebellious of them all: Caleb Blackwood.

At our engagement party, however, Aiden showed up, his eyes bloodshot, and begged me not to cast him aside.

I just offered him a small, cool smile and dangled our freshly signed marriage certificate in front of his face. "You're too late, Mr. Vance. My husband is taking me home now."

As I turned away, I heard the sound of shattering porcelain behind me, followed by Aiden's choked, desperate whisper.

* * *

My grandfather’s gaze settled on the name at the top of the list, his brow furrowed in concern.

"Isabelle, are you sure? We can choose someone else."

I knew what he was worried about. For years, anyone with eyes could see how I felt about Aiden Vance. Whenever he was in the room, my attention drifted to him like a compass needle to true north.

The joke was, he never once looked back.

I shook my head. "No, Grandpa."

"I believe this is fate."

He sighed, knowing better than to argue. He knew that once I'd made up my mind, a team of wild horses couldn't drag me in another direction.

When I stepped out of the study, the four men were lounging on the sofas in the living room, chatting casually.

"So, Izzy, who did you pick?" Leo Martinez asked, his eyes dancing with a familiar, gossipy light. He was always the most animated of the group.

Ryan Sterling slung an arm around Aiden’s shoulders, grinning. "Do you even have to ask? It’s gotta be our boy Aiden. The man’s got charm; he was bound to win the prize!"

Aiden shoved his arm off with a look of disgust, his cold eyes landing on me.

"Even if your grandfather forces me to marry you, I will never love you. My heart will always belong to Georgia."

A bitter laugh escaped me, but the familiar sting in my heart was impossible to ignore. Ever since we were children, whenever someone bullied me, he was always the first to step in, my self-appointed protector.

Back then, I truly believed he was my knight, my fated prince.

But everything changed the summer he turned seventeen.

Seeing my silence, his tone softened, though it was laced with condescension. "We can be married in name only, but we can't announce it to the public. And I'm going to keep seeing Georgia. You are not to do anything to hurt her."

The words were a slap to my pride.

What did he take me for? Some desperate, scheming woman willing to do anything to marry him?

I shot back a cold smile. "What makes you so sure I'd ever choose you?"

Aiden scoffed, his eyes dripping with contempt. "Not choose me? Isabelle, who else could you possibly choose?"

His arrogance was nauseating. What on earth gave this man the right to think I was his for the taking? Just because I’d been foolish enough to love him once?

"You really don't have to disgust me like this, Aiden," I said, my voice flat. "Go marry whoever you want."

"What are you talking about?" he demanded, his brow furrowing.

Just then, a delicate, white figure burst into the room.

Georgia Summers fell to her knees before me, her face a mask of perfectly crafted tears. "Miss Thorne, please, I'm begging you, don't take Aiden from me. He's all I have…"

Before I could even speak, Aiden was already rushing to her side, helping her up with a pained expression. He glared at me. "Isabelle, look what you've done! Do you have any idea how much Georgia has suffered because of you over the years? And now you force her to beg you out of your own selfishness!"