His Love Penalty System Destroyed Him

For five years, Joanna has lived under the Relationship Penalty System imposed by David, the charming, disciplined man she loves. Late replies, a forgotten dish, an imagined slight against his mother—each carries a fine, paid into an account he calls their Future Fund for a dream home. A payroll specialist by trade, Joanna keeps a private ledger of every penalty, and the total has climbed past three hundred thousand dollars.

When her father suffers a massive hemorrhagic stroke and needs a hundred and fifty thousand dollars for emergency surgery, Joanna rushes to the bank with their joint card. Of the money she deposited, thirty-five cents remain. David has wired it away for his brother Tyler's down payment, and he calls her father's condition a money pit. Cornered by Patricia's demands and David's rules, Joanna must decide how much of herself she is still willing to surrender.

Then David's corporate embezzlement and identity fraud catch up with him, and he faces a decade in federal prison.