Blocked!!

Eve

I didn’t expect her to smile. I didn’t expect her to argue calmly. But I definitely didn’t expect the way Clarissa’s entire face twitched when I mentioned Margot. The boardroom fell into a strange silence for a moment, as if everyone suddenly realized they were in the middle of something they shouldn’t witness.

Clarissa’s eyes swept over the table, and her voice came out smooth, polite, and almost sweet. “Everyone, please… Give us a moment. I’d like to speak with my niece privately.”

Chairs shifted. Papers rustled. They all began rising one by one, still muttering to themselves, glancing between us like they were trying to read the tension. A few shook their heads. A few whispered. But eventually, they all filed out, the heavy door shutting behind the last muttering voice.

The quiet that followed felt too big for the room.

Clarissa didn’t waste a second. She pushed back her chair and walked toward me, heels tapping sharply against the floor. Before I could even register the movement, or before I could process the change in her breathing, her hand swung.

The slap landed like fire across my right cheek.

I gasped. My hand flew up, pressing the sting. Tears pricked instantly, not from sadness but from the sheer shock of it. For a second, all I could do was stare at her, wondering when she had crossed the line between furious and unhinged.

She stood in front of me, chest rising and falling, trying to keep her voice low and controlled. “Why would you say that in front of everyone?” she hissed. “You of all people know that nobody knows about Margot’s condition. Are you trying to ruin everything? Are you trying to blackmail me?”

“I’m not blackmailing you,” I said, and even though my cheek was still throbbing, I made sure my voice stayed calm. “It’s a deal. A fair one. You get something you need… and I get something that’s mine.”

She clenched her jaw so hard I heard her teeth grind. Her eyes darted around the room, as if shadows could be listening. Then she stepped closer; so close I could feel the warmth of her breath near my ear.

“You listen to me,” she whispered. “I will talk to them, but I can’t stall forever. So here’s what I can offer.” She paused, letting each word sharpen before releasing it. “Fourteen days.”

I frowned. “Fourteen?”

“Yes. If you are not married in fourteen days,” she said, pulling back just enough to look me in the eye, “I will sign those papers. And nothing… nothing… you do will stop me.”

My heart dropped, heavy and cold. Two weeks. That was all the time she was giving me to fix everything.

And she knew exactly how impossible that sounded.

Clarissa extended her hand like she hadn’t just slapped me a minute ago. Her expression was carefully arranged, almost pleasant, but her eyes stayed sharp. “So”, she said softly, “do we have a deal?”

I stared at her hand. Every instinct in me screamed that this was wrong, that agreeing to anything she proposed was signing myself into another trap. Fourteen days. It wasn’t just rushed. It was just ridiculous. But what choice did I have? If I backed down now, Clarissa would claim everything. My father’s empire, the properties, the Onyx brand—everything he built and left behind. Everything was meant for me. I wasn’t going to let her take that, not even over my dead body.

A fake husband. That was my only plan. Find someone, marry on paper, hold out for a year, and end it once the inheritance is locked in. No emotions, no strings. I didn’t need Sage. I didn’t need anyone, actually. Just a signature, a witness, and a man willing to play along.

My throat felt dry when I finally reached out and placed my hand in hers. “Fine,” I said quietly. “It’s a deal.”

Clarissa’s smile spread instantly, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Good,” she murmured. “Then tell me… When will you donate blood for Margot?”

The question hit me like a slap, far worse than the one earlier. The way she said it, like she already owned my veins. I kept my voice steady. “As soon as you speak to the board members. Once you do your part, I’ll do mine.”

For a moment, her smile wavered. I caught the flicker—the annoyance, the brief resentment—but she smoothed it over quickly. “Alright. That’s fine.”

That was all we needed to say.

I turned and walked out. The corridor felt too bright, too big. The security men at the front entrance stared at me as if I’d walked out of thin air. Their eyes followed me, confused, maybe curious, maybe trying to piece together how I ended up inside. But since I was already leaving, nobody dared ask.

Once I reached my car, the breath I’d been holding finally escaped me. I slumped into the driver’s seat and closed the door like I needed a barrier between me and the entire world. My heart was still racing, my cheek still throbbing faintly from her slap. I reached for the bottle of water beside me, twisted it open, and drank almost everything in one go, the coolness calming my chest a little.

I dropped the empty bottle in the holder, started the engine, and pulled out of the parking lot. The whole building shrank in my rearview mirror, but the weight of the deal didn’t. Fourteen days. Just fourteen days.

This was going to be hell.

I was about to shift the car into drive when my phone beeped. The sound made me flinch because my nerves were already stretched thin. I reached for it, hoping it was Mia, but the name on the screen made me sigh out loud. It was Sage.

His message was short, careless, and exactly like him.

“I’m not the type to ignore messages, but I was busy. Anyway, when are we signing those papers? At this point, my father is on my neck. My parents are fucking about to sell me to this girl.”

I rolled my eyes so hard it almost hurt. Of course. He still didn’t get it. Or maybe he just didn’t care enough to understand. Either way, I suddenly felt very tired.

I shifted my phone into both hands, my thumbs moving quickly as I typed.

“Like I said before, Alpha Sage, I am not interested anymore in this marriage. You can go ahead and marry anyone. I also have another man in mind.”

A complete lie, but he didn’t need to know that.

“Let’s forget I ever asked you for this. I’m sorry, and I hope we never contact each other again.”

For a second, I hesitated. Not because I doubted the message, but because I doubted why I ever wasted my time on him in the first place.

Then I hit send. Before the bubbles could even pop up to show he was typing back, I blocked his number, tossed the phone aside, and finally started the car.

This time, I didn’t look back as I drove off.