Chapter 1

After she found out I made a million a month, my housekeeper took it upon herself to set me up with her son.

She brought him straight into my house and, all confidence, introduced us.

"Ruby Galloway, my son Roy Dickerson is a good, honest man. The two of you are a real match. Get to know each other a little, then pick a date and get the wedding done."

I stared at the balding, potbellied, greasy man in front of me and questioned every life choice that had led here.

On the principle that the one who's better off should be the one to give ground, I didn't blow up on the spot. Swallowing my disgust, I turned him down. "Aunt Irma, I'm sorry, but I'm not thinking about my personal life right now."

Irma Dickerson's face darkened. "Ruby, you're not exactly young anymore. Keep putting off marriage and kids and you'll be an old maid nobody wants. I only introduced my son to you because I think you meet the standard to be my daughter-in-law."

Roy opened his mouth in a grin full of yellow teeth. "It's Ruby, right? I know you're ambitious about your career. Don't worry. After we're married, you can keep working. I'll raise the kid myself, won't get in the way of your career at all."

I understood at once.

It wasn't just that they had no sense of their own place.

They also thought I was some little girl they could push around, that they could waltz in and take over.

Too bad they had no idea what I did for a living.

Try to push me around, and it would end badly for them.

1

"Sorry, I'm not interested in you, and I will never marry you."

I hated this kind of self-satisfied, boundary-less behavior of theirs, and I dropped the politeness and made my position clear.

Irma bristled instantly. "Oh, come on, Ruby, I'm doing this for your own good. My son is a steady, honest man who knows how to build a life. Marry into the Dickerson family and you won't come out the loser."

A wave of nausea rolled through me, and I warned her, my tone hard. "Aunt Irma, you're just the housekeeper I hired. You don't have the standing to worry about my personal affairs."

At those words, Irma's face fell in an instant.

"Ruby, you can't cook, you don't do the housework. Lazy, fine. But you also love throwing money away. What kind of woman who knows how to run a household is that? If it weren't for your decent circumstances, I'd never let my son marry you!"

Beside her, Roy chimed in, fierce. "Heh, you really don't know a good thing when you see it. Watch how you talk to my mother. A woman who doesn't even understand respecting her elders. No manners at all."

I could see it clearly now. There was no reasoning with people like this.

"Aunt Irma, as of this moment, our employment is over. Both of you, leave."

Too tired to keep tangling with them, I settled her wages right then and told them to get out.

But the second she heard she was being fired, Irma didn't so much as flinch with shame. She flew into a rage and shrieked at me.

"Ruby, don't push your luck. You haven't even married in yet and you already dare to throw your mother-in-law out? Look at you, so full of yourself!"

Roy let out a cold snort, his face going dark. "Hmph. If you don't fix that temper, don't blame me for setting you straight later."

I laughed in spite of myself.

All this time, I'd thought it was hard on Irma, still working at her age.

On top of free room and board, I paid her ten thousand a month, and slipped her a red envelope for every holiday.

Every few days I'd buy her clothes or little gifts too.

I never imagined that the better I treated her, the less she'd know her place.

"Aunt Irma, I'll give you one hour to pack your things, take your wages, and go. That way we can all keep it civil."

I stopped indulging them, and delivered the ultimatum in a voice cold as ice.

But Irma wasn't grateful for the courtesy. She just planted her hands on her hips and turned shameless. "You little brat, give you an inch and you throw the whole thing back in my face. I'm not leaving. What are you going to do about it!"

Roy's menace came out in full. "Out there you can put on your high-and-mighty airs, but at home you'd better act like a gentle, dutiful woman. Today I'm going to beat that snobbish, looking-down-on-people attitude right out of you!"

And with that he actually rolled up his sleeves, looking ready to get physical.

I could see it now. Reasoning with ignorant, self-important people like this was pointless.

I needed a harsh move.

Make them afraid!