The Bride Trades

I've kept my father's books since I was nineteen. I know every wire transfer, every invoice, every penny he pretends not to move. So when the family council found three hundred thousand missing from the accounts, I knew it wasn't me. I also knew exactly who it was. My brother. I just couldn't prove it standing on the wrong side of the table. The council gave me two choices. Stand trial for a theft I didn't commit, or marry Nino Greco and merge our families into one. I took the marriage. First night in his house, I handed him the books. Every line. I told him he could throw me out or read them. He didn't say a word. He called his lawyer. He poured two drinks. And then he asked me to start from the beginning. Now we're building a case against my own blood, and the only person in this city who believes me is a man I met three weeks before I married him.