Heartless Capitalist

Gideon stared down at Hazel with cold, nonchalant, almond-shaped eyes that offered zero room for negotiation or sentimentality. Establishing his authority over their new arrangement, he delivered his instructions with icy precision.

"My villa is in Willow Garden," he stated. "I'll send the address and password to you later. You may move in tonight."

Before she could fully process the reality of moving into her boss's home, he curtly informed her of their impending schedule.

"I'll bring you to meet Grandpa tomorrow," Gideon continued, ruthlessly outlining the parameters of their transactional relationship. "We'll divorce half a year later. During this period, you just need to coax him and make him happy. Don't think about anything else."

Understanding that her bizarre tenure as 'Mrs. Hayes' was fleeting and performative, Hazel simply nodded. However, driven by her core motivation for this madness, she pressed him for concrete confirmation.

"I understand. About my father..."

Gideon checked his watch, giving a brief, definitive promise. "I'll send someone to make the necessary arrangements immediately."

"Alright. Thank you, Mr. Hayes."

Without a single backward glance, he turned on his heel, stepped smoothly into his pristine, black Rolls-Royce, and drove off. Left standing alone on the pavement, Hazel dug into her pockets. Her heart sank. After paying her half of the marriage registration fees, she had exactly two quarters to her name. She silently and bitterly cursed the heartless capitalist who hadn't even bothered to offer his new wife a ride home, forcing her to trudge to a nearby stop and catch a cramped public bus back to her miserable reality.

The moment Hazel arrived at her old apartment building, the notoriously terrible soundproofing broadcasted her adoptive mother's vicious scheming loud and clear. Even before she could slide the key into the lock, Brenda Fowler’s shrill voice echoed from the hallway.

"Don't worry, Felix," Brenda assured her biological son. "Mr. Briggs is pleased with your sister. No matter what, I'll think of a way to make her marry him. By that time, we'll have enough betrothal money to settle the gift for Chloe and secure a downpayment for your new house."

Pushing the door open and entering the suffocating space, Hazel was aggressively ambushed. Brenda cornered her, shamelessly praising the repulsive, elderly Graham as a perfectly decent match, specifically highlighting that he wouldn't even require Hazel to go through the pain of bearing a child.

Disgusted by her mother's blatant transactional view of her life, Hazel rolled her eyes in sheer defiance. She was unimpressed and revolted by the prospect of becoming a subservient stepmother to someone else's children. Standing her ground, she crossed her arms and retorted sharply.

"Say as you please, but I'll not marry him."

The outright defiance caused Brenda’s face to flush with furious indignation. She slammed her hand against the dining table, declaring her unyielding authority over Hazel's future.

In a moment of deeply satisfying triumph, a cool, detached smile touched Hazel's lips. She calmly unzipped her handbag, reaching inside to pull out the crisp, legally binding marriage certificate. Holding it up for Brenda to see, she stated with unmistakable clarity, "I'm already married. Bigamy is a crime."

Brenda let out a sharp, exaggerated gasp. "You're already married?! To whom?" Her eyes widened in sheer horror as she desperately lunged forward to snatch the official document.

Hazel’s reflexes were faster. She quickly tucked the certificate safely away, intentionally hiding her new husband’s staggering identity as the billionaire president of the Hayes Group. Instead, she tossed her standard ID onto the table and spun a smooth, flawless lie to infuriate the gold-digging woman.

"He works as a waiter in a restaurant," Hazel declared with feigned innocence. "Didn't you want me to get married as soon as possible and get out of this house? Your wish has come true."

Leaving Brenda dramatically clutching her chest in a theatrical fit of explosive rage, Hazel calmly turned her back and headed directly to her cramped room to pack her meager belongings.

Mere minutes later, the peace was shattered. Brenda forcefully barged into the room, spitting venom.

"Hazel, I don't care who you're married to!" Brenda shrieked. "Felix and Chloe are getting married soon, so you have to contribute something as an elder sister!"

"I don't have money," Hazel replied coldly.

Brenda grabbed Hazel's arm. "Then divorce the man immediately and marry Graham! We raised you all these years. As a sister, you can't brush your brother aside!"

A flash of glacial coldness sparked in Hazel's eyes as she roughly shoved Brenda's reaching hand away from her suitcase.

"Dad was the one raising me all these years," Hazel fired back, her voice dripping with accumulated resentment. "Ever since he got into that car accident, I've worked hard to earn my tuition fees at university. When did you contribute to raising me?"

Shifting her piercing, unforgiving glare to Felix, who was cowardly leaning against the doorframe watching the chaos, she delivered the final, devastating blow to their toxic dynamic.

"Moreover, I'm not your biological daughter. I have no obligation to help this younger brother who has no blood relation with me!"

The harsh truth hung heavily in the air. At the fragile age of twelve, Hazel had awoken in a hospital bed having lost all her memories in a catastrophic car accident. Thomas Brooks, a gentle man who worked at the hospital, had kindly adopted her. Over the arduous years, her deep, unbreakable bond had only ever been forged with Thomas, leaving her irrevocably detached from the manipulative Brenda and the parasitic Felix.