He Rear-Ended Her, Threw Cash on Her Hood, and Said, “I’m Not Interested” — Three Hours Later, She Walked Into His Family’s Penthouse as the Bride They’d Already Chosen for Him

He Rear-Ended Her, Threw Cash on Her Hood, and Said, “I’m Not Interested” — Three Hours Later, She Walked Into His Family’s Penthouse as the Bride They’d Already Chosen for Him

Part 1

The first time Adrian Cole met the woman his parents had chosen for him, he rear-ended her black Mercedes in Midtown Manhattan, dropped a stack of cash on her hood, and assumed the matter was finished.

When she asked for something simpler and infinitely more difficult, an apology, he looked at her like he looked at every problem money had ever solved and said the worst possible thing.

“I’m not interested.”

Three hours later, she walked into his parents’ Park Avenue penthouse in a black coat, knee-high boots, a tattoo of dark wings rising from the side of her neck, and eyes cool enough to freeze a room.

That was how Adrian learned that the woman he had just insulted on Lexington Avenue was Sloane Mercer, the daughter of the family his father had selected for a merger disguised as a marriage.

And that was how Sloane learned the arrogant man who thought cash could replace decency was the one she was expected to stand beside at an altar in three weeks.

At 8:20 that morning, Adrian had still believed his life was predictable.

He was