Substitute Marriage: My Lethal Comatose Husband

“At seven years old, I hid in a closet and watched a man stab my mother to death before setting the room on fire. I survived, changed my name, and spent fifteen years hiding in a rundown garage behind a hideous, fake red birthmark. My fragile peace shattered when my biological father, Declan Thorne, suddenly tracked me down. He didn't come to save me from poverty, but to sell me. He and my half-sisters forced me to marry Sterling Montgomery, a wealthy heir who had been in a coma for six months. They needed my "ugly, bastard" status to unlock a massive trust fund, fully expecting me to spend the rest of my life rotting beside a dying corpse. They laughed at my cheap clothes and disfigured face, locking me in a room to ensure I wouldn't ruin their payday. "You have no right to refuse. I gave you life. This is how you pay me back." They thought I was just a terrified, pathetic pawn they could easily control. They didn't know I was the sole disciple of an underground medical genius, and I had deliberately let them sell me to use the Montgomery family's impenetrable fortress as my shield. When I finally stood alone in the medical wing, I checked my comatose husband's pulse, only to realize his failing vitals were entirely faked. As I reached out to rip off his oxygen mask, the "dying" man suddenly shot up from the bed, his hand clamping around my throat with lethal force.”