THE TERMS OF OUR MARRIAGE
Elena Rossi’s life ended the day a plane went down in Milan.
One phone call stole her parents, her inheritance, and the future they built for her. What remained was a paralyzed younger brother, mounting hospital bills, and relatives who promised protection but left her with nothing. Survival becomes her only dream. Pride becomes optional. And when desperation pushes her onto a stage behind a mask, she tells herself it’s temporary.
Adrian Vale does not believe in love. As the billionaire CEO of a global fashion empire, he believes in control, strategy, and clean exits. But when his grandfather’s failing kidneys turn time into a countdown, Adrian is forced into a choice he never wanted — marry his manipulative ex or lose the only family he has left.
So he makes a deal instead.A contract marriage with the last woman anyone would expect.Two years. No feelings. No intimacy. No strings attached. He is a man who no longer believes in love and she is a girl in desperate search for mean.
What begins as an arrangement of convenience slowly becomes something far more dangerous. Between hospital corridors, shared grief, and sacrifices no one asked for, lines blur. And when their fake marriage is exposed to the world, pride tears them apart — leaving behind secrets that could bind them forever.
Because some contracts expire,but love doesn’t follow terms.
What happens when a deal meant to be temporary changes the course of your life?
Can true love actually blossom from a contract marriage?
Would their love story survive the test of pride?
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Chapter: GRANDPA'S REQUESTThe sunlight poured into the Vale Manor study, golden but not warm, as if the world outside had forgotten how to care. Adrian Vale sat behind the massive oak desk, fingers steepled, eyes trained on the ledger before him, but he wasn’t reading numbers. Not really. He was listening.“Adrian,” Mr Giovanni Vale said, his voice steady but with a sharp edge Adrian hadn’t heard in years. The old man’s hands, gnarled with age but still firm, rested on the armrest of his chair. “We need to talk about your… future.”Adrian looked up, one brow arched. Future. That word had felt irrelevant since the day he had lost both parents. Since the day Camilla had betrayed him, emptied his accounts, and walked out of his life with no regard for loyalty or love. Since then, future had been just a concept for other people.“I don’t understand,” Adrian said flatly. “What do you mean?”Giovanni’s gaze was unyielding. He leaned forward, the weight of his years pressing into the room. “I mean your grandfather do
Last Updated: 2026-03-18
Chapter: IMMORAL OFFERThe bass of the club hit my chest like a drum, reverberating through every nerve in my body. I wiped my damp hands on my apron and counted the empty cocktail glasses. The place was growing expanding faster than the management could handle and everyone could feel the strain, even me, a newbie. The bar had been chaos all evening, orders flying faster than I could pour. But chaos wasn’t new. I thrived on survival. That’s all I’d known these past months with the bills, therapy schedules and hospital corridors. Then came the proposal.“Short-staffed again,” the manager said, voice low, leaning close so only I could hear over the music. “We need you in a different role with a higher pay. Almost triple the pay, pole dancing.”I froze mid-step, the cloth I was using to wipe the counter slipping from my hands. My heart hammered in a confusing rhythm. Pole dancing with a much higher pay. Enough to finally cover Luca’s therapy bills without worrying every second.But at what cost?I had been be
Last Updated: 2026-03-18
Chapter: ELENA JOB HUNTSMorning arrived without mercy.Elena had learned that hospitals did not care about exhaustion. Bills did not care about grief and hunger did not care about pride.The envelope waited on the small plastic table beside Luca’s bed. It was an unapologetic final notice in red ink. She stared at it long enough for the letters to blur.Across the room, Luca sat propped up by pillows, conscious now but weak, his movements slow and deliberate. Recovery had come in fragments—eye contact first, then speech, then careful physical therapy sessions that left him trembling. He was healing but healing cost money.“Elena?” he asked quietly, noticing her silence.She folded the paper before he could read the numbers on her face.“Just paperwork,” she lied.She could not darethat the amount was larger than the monthly stipend they received from Uncle Vittorio even if they saved it for three months.Larger than her savings. Larger than what remained of the jewelry she had sold.She had called Uncle Vittor
Last Updated: 2026-03-18
Chapter: THE ONLY FAMILY LEFTThe runway lights in Paris dimmed to applause.Cameras flashed. Editors stood. Buyers clapped with measured enthusiasm that translated into numbers, contracts, headlines. At the end of the runway, Adrian Vale did not smile. He inclined his head once, controlled, precise, then turned before the ovation could reach his eyes.Vale Atelier had just closed the most anticipated show of the season. The collection would sell out before sunrise. Analysts would call him visionary, ruthless and untouchable just as always. He stepped backstage and removed his cufflinks with mechanical ease. His phone vibrated. He ignored it. Assistants swarmed him with congratulations. Marcus Hale, his business partner who turned friend clapped him on the back, grinning.“You just secured the Asian expansion without even trying,” Marcus said. “Your grandfather is going to gloat for weeks.”The phone vibrated again. Adrian glanced down, and saw that the caller was Thomas Reed. His driver did not call twice unless
Last Updated: 2026-03-18
Chapter: INHERITANCE THEFT AND EMPTY PROMISESGrief has a smell. It smells like overbrewed coffee, wilted funeral flowers, and strangers sitting too comfortably in your living room.Three days after we buried my parents, the house was full. Not with comfort but with opinions.Aunt Teresa stood in the kitchen wearing Mama’s apron like it had always belonged to her. Uncle Vittorio occupied Papa’s armchair, legs spread wide, flipping through company files he had no right to touch. Cousins hovered near the staircase, whispering in low voices that stopped when I walked past. They had come to “help.” I would have said something but I was too grief striken. If only Luca was here,he would have told Aunt Teresa to take off Mama’s apron and Uncle to get off Papa’s favourite chair and also probably make our cousins leave the staircase and Mama always warned us against just hovering around it.Luca was still in the hospital. I had just returned from a morning meeting with a neurologist who spoke gently about long-term rehabilitation and occu
Last Updated: 2026-03-18
Chapter: THE CALL FROM MILANI used to believe tragedy had a sound.A crash or a scream or maybe tires shrieking against wet asphalt.But when my parents died, it sounded like a phone vibrating against the kitchen counter.That was all.Just a small, mechanical tremor beside a bowl of flour I hadn’t finished sifting.I almost didn’t answer it.It was 4:17 p.m. Luca was sitting at the table,playing videos on his phone in the corner of the kitchen and still managed to keep me company while I prepared what was meant to be dinner.I was arguing with yeast that refused to rise. Mama had called that morning from Milan, laughing about how Papa had tried to bargain in broken Italian with the natives for extra packaging crates.“We’ll be home tomorrow night, tesoro,” she’d said. “Start the sauce. We’ll celebrate.”“Celebrate what?”,I asked before the line ended.“Another successful shipment of Rossi & Co. pasta to luxury grocers across Europe. Another year of steady growth. Another reminder that we had built something solid
Last Updated: 2026-03-18
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