I Gave Up After Failing To Pull My Lover

On her twentieth birthday, Jade Anderson must draw straws to choose a husband between William Smith and Austin Smith, heirs to North Town. She has loved William for years, but no matter how often she draws, the long straw never comes. After ten years of a cold marriage, William kicks away her asthma medicine and blames her for another woman's death. When Jade opens her eyes, she is holding the short straw again, and this time she calmly chooses Austin.

Her father, Jacob Anderson, and the gathered family are stunned, for everyone knows Jade loves William. William has already sent word through Adam Reid that he is fetching his lover, Mandy Black, and that he only ever saw Jade as a younger sister. Jade refuses to redraw and insists on registering the marriage with Austin at once.

Austin warns her that once they marry, he will not let her go, and that he would rather die than be betrayed. Yet William's cruelty and Mandy's scheming still shadow Jade, and the past she remembers may not be the one everyone else recalls.