I MARRIED A PRISONER FOR MONEY WHILE HE WAS SERVING A TWELVE-YEAR SENTENCE — BUT AFTER HIS CONVICTION WAS OVERTURNED, HE CAME TO MY APARTMENT WITH A BLACK BOX AND SAID, “NOW IT’S MY TURN TO BE HONEST.”
When I agreed to marry Silas, I didn’t care whether he was innocent. He’d been convicted of stealing from his family’s charity foundation.
I was 27, drowning in rent notices, raising my younger brother alone. So when his mother offered me $2,000 a month to become his wife on paper, I said yes before shame could catch up with me.
“Visit twice a month,” she said. “Write letters. Let the court see he still has family.”
