She threw her arms around me, sobbing, and told me that to save the family, she'd have to obey her parents and marry some man in his fifties. She'd be his fourth wife. Her job would be to bear him five or six children.
She looked utterly helpless. The light in her eyes had gone out.
My heart broke for her. I promised I'd do everything I could.
So I sold my shares in the startup I'd co-founded with a few classmates. We'd only been running it a year, but it had just started turning a profit. I handed over millions of dollars to keep her family's business afloat.
She held me tight, tears streaming down her face. "I'll spend the rest of my life making this up to you. I swear it."
But money alone wasn't enough.
I joined Pruitt Corp. Armed with my expertise and a willingness to drink myself under the table at every client dinner it took, I dragged her family's company back from the brink of bankruptcy. More than that, I turned it into something thriving.
We got married after that. Our son came not long after.
I thought we'd be happy together for the rest of our lives.