chaptere 4

The morning sunlight of Madrid streamed through the glass walls of the Castello Group skyscraper. At exactly 8:55 a.m., Aixa Morales Vega stepped through the revolving doors of the main lobby.

Faint dark circles shadowed her clear eyes.

She had not slept a single minute all night.

She had skipped her morning classes and spent the entire night sitting frozen in the corridor of Madrid Central Hospital, waiting for the operating room light to turn off.

Fortunately, God still had mercy on her little angel.

Leo's heart surgery had gone exceptionally well. The doctors said the ten-year-old boy's condition was stable now, and all that remained was to wait for him to wake from the effects of anesthesia.

The memory of that overwhelming sigh of relief after the operation was the only thing fueling Aixa's legs as she walked into this place.

Standing inside a private executive elevator, Aixa gripped the strap of her canvas bag with cold fingers.

The moment the elevator doors chimed open on the top floor, Sebastian was already waiting there, greeting her with a flawless professional smile.

“You’re right on time, Miss Morales. Please, follow me.”

Without delay, Sebastian led Aixa toward an ultra-luxurious private conference room rather than the CEO's main office.

Aixa glanced around the silent room.

The grand chair at the head of the long table sat empty.

“Where is... Mr. Fernando?” Aixa asked, trying to hide the tremor in her voice.

“Mr. Fernando is currently leading an emergency meeting with the board of directors to stabilize stock movement following yesterday’s rumors,” Sebastian replied matter-of-factly while pulling out a leather chair for her.

A thick crocodile-leather document folder was already waiting on the black marble table.

“He delegated this process entirely to me. Please read everything carefully, Miss.”

Aixa opened the folder.

Line after line of legal clauses filled the pages before her.

Her eyes widened when she saw the compensation amount listed in the agreement.

The figure was astonishing.

It exceeded the fifty thousand euros she had requested the previous night by a staggering margin.

The money would be enough to cover Leo’s entire recovery, rent a decent apartment, and even finance her education all the way through a doctoral degree without her needing to struggle financially again.

But there was no such thing as a free lunch.

The moment she turned to the next page, her breath caught in her throat.

Her clear eyes locked onto the primary condition printed in bold letters.

The Second Party shall be obligated to provide a legitimate heir to the First Party within two years of the contract’s commencement.

Mandatory Provision: There shall be no intimate relationship or sexual physical contact of any kind between the First Party and the Second Party. Pregnancy must be achieved exclusively through an in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure.

Aixa looked up, her face suddenly pale.

She stared at Sebastian in disbelief.

“IVF? Without... any intimate relationship?”

Sebastian cleared his throat softly and folded his arms across his chest.

“Mr. Fernando is a man who values privacy and personal hygiene above all else, Miss Morales. He requires a child to solidify his position before the board of directors and the Castello family, but he has no interest in sharing his bed with a stranger who, forgive me, purchased her position with money.”

The words were delivered politely.

Yet they cut directly into Aixa’s pride.

That hawk-eyed man truly saw her as some filthy, low-class woman unworthy of being touched, even for the purpose of producing an heir.

To Fernando Castello, her womb was nothing more than a rented incubator that could be bought.

A storm of emotions churned inside Aixa’s chest.

She wanted nothing more than to throw the cursed folder into Sebastian’s face and walk out.

But the image of Leo’s pale face in the ICU stopped her.

If she backed out now, she would have to return the fifty thousand euros immediately.

And if that happened, the hospital would terminate Leo’s intensive treatment.

Aixa squeezed her eyes shut and inhaled deeply until her chest ached.

When she opened them again, all hesitation had vanished.

Only the resignation of an older sister willing to sacrifice her future for her brother’s life remained.

“Where do I sign?” she asked.

Sebastian handed her a gold-plated pen.

With a hand that trembled slightly yet remained steady, Aixa signed her name across the white paper.

A black-and-white contract that bound her freedom for the next two years.

“Done,” Aixa said, setting the pen back down.

“Excellent. From this moment onward, you are officially Mrs. Castello in the eyes of our contractual agreement.”

Sebastian collected the folder with a satisfied smile.

“Your next appointment is at Castello Group’s private fertility clinic across the district. You must undergo a complete physical examination this afternoon to determine whether your body and reproductive health are suitable for the IVF procedure as soon as possible.”

Aixa merely nodded stiffly.

She stood and walked out of the magnificent building feeling completely hollow, preparing to surrender her body to the cold machinery of a medical clinic.

On the other side of Madrid, the corridors of Complutense University buzzed with students moving from class to class.

But in one corner of the Economics Faculty hallway, Elio Santiago Alvarez stood with a deeply troubled expression.

Classes had been in session for three hours.

Yet the seat beside him remained completely empty.

The seat usually occupied by a ponytailed girl carrying thick notebooks.

“Hey, Elio! Have you seen Aixa?” one of his classmates asked after leaving a professor’s office. “Our macroeconomics group project is due before two this afternoon. She’s usually the one reminding all of us.”

Elio merely snorted and pretended to focus on his phone.

“How would I know? Not my problem.”

Although his words sounded indifferent, turmoil raged inside him.

This made no sense.

In the two years he had known Aixa, she had never skipped a single class.

The girl was obsessively responsible when it came to maintaining her scholarship.

Was this because of what happened at Velvet Bar last night?

Elio tightened his grip on his phone.

The screen remained blank.

No missed calls.

No messages from Aixa.

Normally, whenever they had even the smallest argument, Aixa would send him a long apology text in less than an hour.

Damn it. Is she really trying to act arrogant in front of me? Elio thought angrily.

His chest suddenly tightened with wounded pride.

He was convinced that Aixa was hiding in her cheap rented room, crying her eyes out over the slap he had given her.

“She’s definitely skipping class on purpose to get my attention,” Elio muttered to himself, trying to calm the strange uneasiness in his chest.

“Just wait. By this afternoon, she’ll come crawling back to me with my completed coursework in hand.”

Yet deep in his heart, an unsettling feeling continued to gnaw at him.

Elio hated this feeling.

The feeling that the control he had held over Aixa for the past two years had collapsed overnight.

“Damn it!”

Elio clenched both fists tightly