Woman of Straw

Extremely wealthy and powerful Charles Richmond usually gets what he wants, and if he doesn't, he prevents others from getting it. Condescending, he seems to relish other people's pain. He treats everyone horribly, especially two of his black servants, brothers Thomas and Fenton who he treats literally worse than dogs. Beyond these issues, his nephew Tony Richmond, his closest living relative who works for the family company and acts as his personal secretary of sorts, hates him because of how he treated both his now deceased parents, Charles who he blames for the death of Tony's father, his own brother. Further, Charles has just revised his will following a terminal illness diagnosis which may kill him tomorrow or several years down the road and which has left him wheelchair-bound, he leaving Tony with a pittance with most of the money going to charity more as a matter of spite. Requiring a constant nurse, Charles sees her physical attractiveness a necessary attribute more than her capabilities as a health care provider. Vetted by him, Tony sees Charles' latest nurse, Maria Marcello, as the perfect person for his plan: to become the next Mrs. Charles Richmond so that he will revise his will leaving all his money to her, Tony and Maria to split the inheritance. While the two of them embark on a secret relationship on the side, Tony figures Maria cannot cut him out of the plan as he is the one who will manipulate the situation for Charles to want to marry her. While Maria realizes that this plan may be for the long haul and that putting up with Charles' abusive behavior will be something difficult to tolerate, the nature of the plan may turn on a dime as is often the case in matters of wealth versus poverty, of right versus wrong, of love versus hate, and of life versus the possibility of imminent death. Written by Huggo