Everyone knew that the only reason Rita had married was for money. They knew she didn't love the person she'd gotten with. They were rich, and so Rita had taken advantage of that fact. What people didn't know, though, was the exact circumstances in which they met.

Rita had been married before, to a man named Harry – an abusive wretch, he was. She'd been planning to leave him, and he'd come home to find her preparing to go. Rita's cousin Isabel had saved her from that, but not exactly discreetly. She'd shot Harry in the back, and the two had fled the scene for a better life elsewhere.

And well, that 'better life' didn't just fall into her lap. Not exactly, anyway.

Rita had very little when she left Harry, and with no way of getting any work, she resorted to working in a brothel. It wasn't what she wanted for herself, but it gave her a warm place to stay, food and drinks and clothes on her back. And it was certainly better than the streets.

After a little while, Rita started to notice she was getting quite a frequent.. visitor. They were rather well-mannered in comparison to the others than she saw, and from the way they dressed, she could tell they were rich. From the fact that they kept coming back to her, Rita knew they must like her. She'd never seen them with any of the other women in the brothel. Maybe, just maybe, if she played her cards right, she could get them to buy her the hell out of here.

So, impress them she did. And eventually, they did buy her out of there. Sure, she had just quite literally been bought, but it promised she and Isabel a better life. And she'd only be tied to them for as long as it took them to die. Wedding vows didn't account for anything beyond that. And then Rita would get her spouse's wealth, their house, their everything. All she had to do was wait.

It had been years since then. Years of Rita trying to keep as much distance as she could between she and her partner, of enduring their marriage until she would finally be free. But they made it ever so tough. Because the more Rita was around them, the more she found herself letting her guard down. She found herself smiling, even laughing with them. Feeling lonely when they weren't around. And it made her panic.

This wasn't how this was supposed to go. Rita wasn't supposed to fall in love with them – she was just there for the money, that was it. But Gods, the way her heart skipped when they came home late from work, obviously tired but still taking the tike to see her and ask how her day was. They were too good to be true. And Rita was falling hard.

But she wouldn't ever let that show. Of course not. She would keep herself reserved, giving short answers and nothing more as she usually did. She couldn't let them notice a change in her behavior. And she couldn't let herself be in love again. Her heart had already been broken once. She didn't think she would survive going through that again.