I never intended to fall in love. Love, commitment, all of it—those were ideas I kept safely stored on a shelf, the kind of things that might come later, after I’d lived a little more. Or maybe never. After all, when you’re raised in a world where power comes before passion, and marriages are as much about image as emotion, it’s easy to become cynical about romance. So no, love was never the plan. What was the plan? Spite.

Rebellion, if you want to dress it up.I was born into the kind of wealth that smooths every edge of life. The kind of family that doesn’t just own a country club membership—but the land the country club is built on. Summer homes. Private tutors. Cars for every mood. That was my reality.