I Married a Stranger to Ruin My Groom novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: Russell's Debt

The house on Alder Street had been my father's, and then my mother's, and for the last eleven years it had also been Russell's.

I let myself in with my old key.

Russell sat at the kitchen table in his undershirt with a bottle of bourbon, and Mallory leaned against the counter in sweatpants.

Harvey came in behind me and stopped in the doorway.

"Take a chair," Russell said. "Tell your bodyguard to take one too."

I did not sit.

I laid the hospital's page on the table, with his signature facing up.

"April," I said. "A year ago. The cardiologist said she needed the valve repaired, and you refused it in writing."

He looked at it and did not touch it.

"You don't understand the situation," he said.

"Explain it."

"The policy had a deductible. Forty thousand. I didn't have it."

"You had it for a boat."

"That boat is a business expense."

"You lied to her," I said. "She nearly died on Monday, Russell."

He drank, set the glass down and wiped his mouth.

"Fine," he said. "You want it, here it is. I owe Cory's father a hundred and forty thousand dollars."

I waited.

"The dealership took a loan against the lot. He bought the paper. He could call it in any day he liked." Russell looked at the tabletop. "He said if his son married into my family, the debt would become a family matter."

← Chapter 8 · All chapters · Chapter 10 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend