A huge contract

                          ~DANIEL~

I slammed the door after Miss Adams bolted from the office, her retreating figure disappearing into the night. My hand remained on the doorknob, frozen, as I tried to process what just happened.

How dare she run out like that?

I strode back to my desk, every step laced with anger. I should fire her. On the spot. No one—no one—had ever walked out on me like that, not without consequences.

But as I sat down and stared at the abandoned reports she was supposed to organize, I couldn’t bring myself to pick up the phone and make the call to HR.

Something about the look on her face… something urgent. It wasn't a rebellion. It was fear and desperation.

I sighed and leaned back, rubbing my temples.

Then came the knock.

A soft rap on the door before it creaked open. My lawyer, Edward Lane, stepped in, his salt-and-pepper hair glinting under the light. He looked like he had aged a decade in the last two days.

“You should have called to let me know that you're coming. What if I wasn't at the office?” I said to Edward.

“I know I'll find you here. You're always in your office” he teased, laying emphasis on “always”

I sighed deeply.

“Still at it, I see,” Edward said, taking a seat without being asked.

“What is it?” I snapped, not in the mood for pleasantries.

He placed a thick, embossed folder on my desk.

“This is it,” he said gravely. “The Armitage Contract.”

My breath caught.

For years, the Armitage Group had remained out of reach. The global partnership they were offering was worth billions—expansion into Europe, Middle East, Asia. 

A dream.

“This is good news,” I said cautiously.

Edward didn’t smile.

“There’s a condition,” he said.

I raised an eyebrow. “Which is?”

“They’ve done their research. Thorough research. They don’t want their partner to be some cold, isolated, work-obsessed CEO with no ‘stable personal image.’”

I stiffened.

“They want proof that you’re not just married to your business,” he continued. “They want a committed man, Daniel. A stable home life. A wife.”

I blinked.

Edward looked at me with something close to sympathy. “They gave us two months. Sixty days. Either you're married—or the deal is off the table.”

Married?

That word had never sat right with me. It felt like a cage. An obligation. A distraction from everything I’d built.

I didn't even believe in love and now they're asking me to get married??

Me?? Get married?? It must be a joke.

“There has to be another way,” I said, jaw clenched.

“There isn’t. They want a face, a story, someone beside you at press conferences. And it has to look real” he said. “Besides, Mister Albert is so keen on family. You know how much he loves family and love”

That's his business. I didn't love “love.”

My mind was already turning. I didn’t need love—I needed strategy.

“I can't get married” I blurted out to Edward.

“Then you want to lose a contract you've been wanting to get?? And what if it's given to your greatest opponent? That will definitely make him bigger than you” Edward replied.

“And don't forget, he's married, so it'll be easier for him to get the contract if it's taken to him,” he added.

I sighed deeply again.

Edward was right. 

Damon Masters, my greatest opponent in the business world, was a married man with lots of successful businesses and almost on the same level as I am.

I can't afford to let this huge contract go to him, but I didn't want to get married.

“Why must the condition be that I get married??” I lamented to Edward.

“There's nothing you can do. And it mustn't necessarily be a real marriage. It could be a contract marriage or marriage of convenience” Edward said.

“It's just for a year. The contract lasts just for a year only. You would have made a lot of money before the year runs out and end the marriage afterwards.”

He stood up slowly. “Think fast. If you want that contract, you’ll need a wife. Fast.”

He walked out, leaving me with the Armitage folder… and a million unwanted thoughts.

For the first time in a long while, I didn’t know what my next move would be.

Who could I ask to be my wife??

Clara?? No, she's just a pretty, sophisticated woman but with nothing upstairs in her head.

Melinda?? No, she's never serious with anything and just loves partying and spending recklessly.

Juliet?? No, she's as lazy as fuck. She doesn't like cooking, or doing house chores, or even doing anything at all.

Vanessa?? No, she's madly in love with me and loves commitment, and I didn't want to be committed to anyone.

Daphne?? No, her tongue’s sharper than a chef’s knife and she’s allergic to compromise—one minor disagreement and the whole neighborhood would hear the fireworks.

I groaned in frustration. All the women I had a fling with were literally useless to me and wouldn't be adding anything to my life.

I had a fling with them for the fun of it, but now I needed something serious. I needed someone disciplined, hardworking, business minded like me.

I needed someone who has no feelings for me at all, so it would be easier for us to go our separate ways after the contract is over.

As for me?? I'm never loving again and that's final.

So who could it be?? 

Who could I ask to be my wife for a year??

And then, uninvited, Jessica Adams’ face flashed through my mind.

Fierce. Fiery. Fearless.

I shook the thought away from my head immediately.

“Not her!” 

I didn't realize that I had said that aloud, until I said it again.

“Definitely not her!!”

She had no idea what she was doing, and yet she faced me down like no one ever dared to.

No. Absolutely not.

She was my secretary. She was unpredictable. She was already pushing my limits—and she had just run out in the middle of her shift without permission.

But still…

Fake marriage?

I leaned back in my chair, hands steepled under my chin, while the thought kept coming back to me.

“The fuck! Not Jessica Adams. She clearly isn't my type at all” I said, rebuking the thoughts.

“That's more reason why she's the right choice. That way, you'll never ever fall in love with her or even have a tiny bit of feeling for her” my inner voice said and I began to see reason with it.

Remembering what happened at the club the first time we met and how she had been so bitter about love and professed her hatred for men, we must be on the same page.

I concluded that she might be the right one.

Could I convince her?

Would she say yes?

Would it be worth the risk?

I rubbed my temple in frustration.

Damnit! This is going to be hard.

But one thing was certain.

I would not let Jessica Adams run away again and I would make her accept to be my wife, and by every means possible!!!