Chapter 06~ Accepting his Offer

ALVINA

The staff suddenly turned, realizing I was there. The cook covered her mouth. The guards looked embarrassed. The butler bowed his head, almost like he wished he wasn’t standing.

“Miss Frost…” he whispered.

But I didn’t hear anything else.

I walked backward until my back hit the wall. Every sound around me turned blurry. The reporter’s voice echoed more like a whisper this time...

“–and trending all over social media with the hashtag: The Billionaire’s Secret Wife.”

My ears rang. My eyes burned with tears.

“No…” I whispered. “No, no, no, no–”

I pushed myself off the wall and ran.

I didn’t know where I was going. I just ran down the hallway, ignoring the shocked looks from the staff. Tears blurred my vision.

I reached Ethan’s study and slammed the door open.

He was there, sitting behind his desk with his phone in his hand. His face had this hard and unreadable expression I didn't seem to care about.

“You knew!” I shouted, tears streamed down my face. “You knew this would happen!”

He didn’t move. He didn’t even blink. “Calm down.”

"Calm down?" I sparked. "With all this happening, all you could confidently tell me is to calm down? To pretend like those bunch of liars didn't frame me up? To act like it wasn't you from the start?"

He was quiet, I guess I love it that way.

“My face is everywhere! Everyone is talking about me. Do you know what they’re calling me?!”

“Yes.”

“You don’t even care!”

He finally stood up. Those dark eyes staring right at me. “Of course I care,” he said. “But I expected this leak. It was only a matter of time.”

“Expected? You expected it and you didn’t tell me?!”

He walked closer. “You had enough to deal with last night.”

“I had a right to know!”

He didn’t deny it. He didn’t even apologize. He only looked at me with that same cold calmness that made me want to scream.

I slapped his chest with both hands. “Why didn’t you stop it?”

“I did,” he said, grabbing my wrists gently but firmly. “But someone inside my family wants to see me fall. They’re the ones feeding the media.”

I pulled my hands back. “Why would your family target me?”

“It’s not you they want.” He sighed. “It’s me.”

I shook my head, stepping back. “Well… congratulations. They got what they wanted. Now, I am ruined.”

“You are not ruined.”

“Yes, I am! They think I’m your mistress. They think I broke your wedding. They think I’m sleeping with you!”

He went silent. His eyes locked on mine.

“And what does it matter what they think?” he asked quietly. “You’re safe here.”

Safe? He kept saying that word like it meant something to me.

I hugged my arms around myself as sobs shook my chest.

“I didn’t choose this,” I whispered. “I didn’t choose any of this.”

He looked at me for a long moment. Then he picked up a paper from his desk, the contract, and held it out to me.

“You want this to stop?” he said. “You want to fix the rumors? Then sign it.”

I stared at the paper, my tears dripping onto the floor.

“Once you sign,” he continued, “you will not be a mistress. You will be my wife… officially. Legally. Publicly. And no one will question you again.”

I wiped my face with my shaky hand.

My voice came out in a whisper. "And what makes you think this would solve the damages you have caused?"

"Because it will," he said, stepping closer. “I’m giving you the only option that protects you.”

I looked at him, truly looked at him.

His face was calm, but his eyes… there was something in them I hadn’t seen before. A hint of worry, and something hidden behind a facade I couldn't clearly see through.

“Alvina,” he called my name like it was some kind of precious stone, “the world already thinks you and I are married. The only way to take control of this story is to make it real.”

He held out a pen.

“Sign it.”

I stared at the paper again, my life was no longer mine. Every word the reporter had spat on the media flashed into my memory, echoing so loud I almost thought she was right behind me.

The Billionaire’s Secret Wife?

I closed my eyes, then I took a step forward.

If they actually thought of me as his secret wife, then maybe… just maybe… it was time I made their lies become real.