Chapter one
Chapter One: The Contract
The first thing I noticed was the silence.
Not the peaceful kind—the dangerous kind. The kind that pressed against your chest and made it hard to breathe.
I sat across from the most powerful man I had ever met, my hands folded tightly in my lap to stop them from shaking.
Mr. Alexander Blackwood.
Billionaire. CEO. The man who could ruin my family with a single phone call.
The paper on the table between us felt heavier than it should have.
“A marriage contract?” My voice came out weaker than I wanted. “You want me to marry you?”
His dark eyes didn’t soften. If anything, they hardened.
“For one year,” he said calmly. “Nothing more. Nothing less.”
I stared at the bold letters at the top of the document.
MARRIAGE AGREEMENT
My heart slammed painfully against my ribs.
“I don’t understand,” I whispered. “Why me?”
A slow, unreadable smile touched his lips. “Because you’re desperate.”
The words stung because they were true.
My father’s debts. The eviction notice. The hospital bills stacked on our kitchen table like a countdown to disaster.
Alexander Blackwood had bought them all.
Every single one.
“If you refuse,” he continued, folding his hands neatly on the table, “your family loses their home by morning.”
My breath caught.
“This isn’t a choice,” I said.
“No,” he agreed. “It’s a solution.”
I scanned the document, my vision blurring.
No divorce before one year.
Public appearances required.
No emotional expectations.
Discretion mandatory.
“What happens after the year is over?” I asked quietly.
His gaze lingered on me for a moment longer than necessary.
“You walk away,” he said. “Rich. Free. Forgotten.”
Something about the way he said forgotten made my stomach twist.
“And if I fall in love?” I asked before I could stop myself.
He leaned forward then, close enough that I could smell his cologne—expensive, cold, dangerous.
“That,” he said softly, “would be your biggest mistake.”
The pen lay beside the contract, gleaming under the lights.
My future balanced on its tip.
I thought of my mother crying herself to sleep.
Of my father pretending everything was fine.
Of how close we were to losing everything.
I picked up the pen.
Alexander Blackwood watched me without blinking.
When I signed my name, the sound of the pen scratching against paper echoed through the room like a gunshot.
“It’s done,” he said, standing.
Just like that.
I looked up at him, my chest tight. “When does this… marriage start?”
He offered his hand.
“Right now,” he said. “Welcome, Mrs. Blackwood.”
My heart dropped.
I had just married my enemy.
And I had no idea what it would cost me.
