CHAPTER 4: Sign or Your Son Die

Alina’s POV 

I sat on the cold bench outside Leo’s hospital room.

My fingers gripped his stuffed tiger, the one he slept with every night.

My hands wouldn't stop shaking, and my legs felt heavy. My eyes burnt, but I have no more tears left.

I haven’t slept in two days and I haven’t eaten anything.

I didn’t even feel my body anymore, but I still felt pain, I felt so much pain.

Leo was inside that room, my little boy and my whole world.

He was lying in bed, with a machine helping him breathe.

The doctors said his blood was different. Rarely, they said they needed someone with the same genes.

A full match, they said I was not enough.

And now I was waiting… for him.

Sebastian Blackwell.

The man I never wanted to see again. The man who gave me this child, the man who destroyed me… and didn’t even remember.

But now… he was the only one who could save my baby.

The elevator dung.

I looked up and he was here.

Sebastian stepped out, he was dressed in all black and his coat fitted perfectly.

 His shiny shoes hit the floor with soft, strong steps.

He looked calm, but he was cold, like always.

He was like a devil in a perfect suit, he didn’t smile and he didn't say anything.

He just stopped in front of me.

My heart beat fast as he dropped something on my lap.

A white envelope. It was big, thick.

DNA RESULTS were printed in big, bold letters.

I couldn't breathe.

I slowly tore it open and my hands were shaking so much, I almost dropped it.

I found the page.

I read the words.

99.99% Match Paternity Confirmed

He was the father.

Sebastian Blackwell was Leo’s father.

I felt dizzy and my vision swam.

I looked up at him. He was staring through the glass, into Leo’s room.

His face didn’t move. But something changes in his eyes. Just for a second, and a tiny flicker.

Then it was  gone.

“I knew it,” I whispered.

“He is yours.”

Sebastian didn’t speak. Not even a nod.

Then he turned and walked away.

I stood quickly and followed him.

He walked to the end of the hallway, near a big window and the sky outside was gray. Dark clouds moved slowly like they were waiting for a storm.

He stopped and stared out the glass.

Then he spoke and his voice was quiet, but it was sharp like a knife.

“No one can know.”

I blinked. “What?”

“You don’t talk to the press. You don’t tell your friends. You don’t even tell your shadow.”

I stared at him. “I wasn’t going to..”

He cut me off. “Don’t lie. Everyone wants something. Fame. Money. Power. I have seen it before.”

“I don’t want anything from you.”

He turned his head slowly. “Then you are a fool.”

I felt anger burning in my chest, but I bit my tongue.

He pulled something from his coat.

A folder and gave it to me.

I opened it and  froze.

It was a marriage contract.

I read the first line out loud.. “This contract binds Alina Reyes to Sebastian Blackwell in a legal marriage for the duration of one year…”

I stared at him. “You want me to marry you?”

“For one year,” he said simply. “Live in my house. Pretend to be my wife. Stay quiet. And when the year ends, you disappear.”

“Why?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I need silence. You need money. It’s simple.”

“And my son?” My voice broke.

“He gets everything,” he said. “Doctors. Nurses, private rooms. Anything he needs.”

“And after that?”

“You walk away. With enough money to start ten new lives.”

I clenched the paper in my hands. “So I sell myself to you for one year?”

“You already sold your pride when you came to me,” he said.

I wanted to slap him. I wanted to scream.

But I didn’t.

Because I heard something through the glass wall.

Leo.

He was coughing, a soft, weak sound.

I turned quickly and saw his small body shifting in bed. The tubes in his arms. The wires on his chest. His lips were dried and pale.

My heart broke again.

I looked back at Sebastian.

His face was stone with no emotion.

He put a silver pen on the table beside me.

“You have five minutes,” he said and then he walked away.

He left me standing there with the contract and the pen.

I sat back down on the bench and I couldn’t think straight.

My fingers touched the paper again and the numbers at the bottom made my stomach twist.

It was enough money for Leo to live. To grow up and to go to school. To be happy.

But it  was a price I had to pay.

One year.

Living with a man who has no heart.

Pretending to be a wife when I was nothing to him.

I closed my eyes and I heard Leo’s breathing. The soft beep of the machine.

I opened my eyes again and I wiped my tears.

Then I picked up the pen and my hands shook as I pressed it to the paper.

I will write my name.

Alina Reyes.

And just like that…

I became Mrs. Blackwell.

The pen slipped from my hand and fell to the floor with a soft click.

I stared at the signature and my chest rose and fell.

It was done.

I had  just married the coldest man on earth…

To save the only person I love