CHAPTER FOUR.

IVY.

After I got home , I ate dinner alone. I knew it was pointless trying to get both my parents down. I just had to find a way to fix this. 

I did my night routine and then it was time for the emergency session I booked with Nia.

We talked, well, she tried to get me to talk about what has been going on with me. I told her about the drugs I took the other day, and how I felt. She wasn't pleased. She gave me other tips that I already know. She knew this, but she chose to bore me. I also mentioned that I'd start using the private elevator. She immediately knew there was a reason, but there was no way I was going to indulge her. We spoke on my need to fix everything and she told me to calm down and let things play out. We spoke for a bit after and I genuinely felt better.

I woke up with a weird feeling and I knew it had to do with the meeting I had planned today.

I took a few minutes to think about what was going on.

I got dressed and headed over to his office. I didn't bother heading to mine first, since I already packed everything I needed.

The conference room felt too big for just two people.

Or maybe it just felt that way, because everything in my life was already slipping through my fingers.

I sat at the far end of the polished glass table, holding my pen until my knuckles turned white. My laptop was open in front of me, the presentation untouched on the screen. I had gone over it a hundred times alread. Numbers. Projections and promises I don't think I'll keep.

Seventy-two hours. That was all we had left before everything collapsed publicly.

And yet, I was here. Waiting for a man I knew almost nothing about, except that he had the power to either save us or bury us faster.

The door opened. My head snapped up.

And for a second, my brain seemed to stop working. It was him.

The man from the elevator.

The scent hit me first, clean, expensive, faintly intoxicating.I didn’t even see his face that day. Just the perfume and his back.

Now I saw everything. It hit me in a way that made me uncomfortable. He had been in my building, he had seen me. Now, I was seated in his office, at his mercy.

His dark suit sat on him like it was his second skin. His face was sharp in a way that made him look permanently unreadable, but his eyes. His eyes were worse. They were familiar in a weird way. They were observant.

He looked like he had already figured me out before I even spoke. He didn’t look surprised.

That unsettled me more than anything.

“Miss Ellis,” he said, voice low and even, as if this was just another meeting on an already busy schedule. And for some reason, that annoyed me.

I stood quickly, forcing my shoulders back. “Mr. Stone.”

So, this is the almighty “Zander Stone”.

He walked in casually, yet his aura filled the room.

It unsettled me.

“I trust you understood my email,” he said, taking a seat without asking me to sit.

Straight to business. He didn't bother with small talk. I could do that too.

“Yes,” I replied, sitting down as well. “Though I have to admit, your proposal was unexpected.”

That was the polite version. He wouldn't love the version I had in my head.

His gaze lifted to mine, steady.

“Unexpected situations call for unconventional solutions.”

My jaw tightened slightly. “What do you have to offer?”

“Total restoration. On one condition.”

I was already uncomfortable, but the way he said this made me want to run.

He just watched me. And what unsettled me more, was the fact that I sat there, waiting.

ZANDER

She was different from what I expected. Not weaker. Not softer.

If anything, Ivy Ellis was holding herself together with everything in her, and it showed in the smallest ways.

The tension in her shoulders. The careful way she chose her words. The fire in her eyes that refused to dim, even now. Especially now.

I liked it.

I had no use for someone who would crumble under pressure.

“You’ve exhausted your options,” I said calmly. “Your previous partners have withdrawn. Your creditors are preparing to move. And within the next seventy-two hours, your company’s financial state will become public knowledge.”

She didn’t move.

Impressive.

But I saw the fear flash in her eyes. It was quick. Almost unnoticeable.

“You’ve done your research,” she said.

“It’s my business to.”

I let the silence stretch, as I observed.

She didn’t rush to fill it. If she was uncomfortable, she didn't show it.

One more point in her favor.

“I assume,” she continued, “that this is where you tell me you’re our only option.”

I almost smiled.

Almost.

“I don’t deal in assumptions, Miss Ellis. Only facts.”

“And the fact is?”

I leaned back slightly, steepling my fingers.

“The fact is that I can solve your problem. Completely.”

Her breath hitched, barely noticeable.

“And in return,” she said slowly, “what do you want?”

I stayed silent.

She raised her brow at me.

“I'll let you know in due time.” I needed everything to be fully arranged. I didn't want anything to be rushed.

“There's no time left.” She insisted.

 “At what cost?” She asked again.

There it was. The real question.

“Two years,” I said. “A legally binding marriage. Public. Convincing. You fulfill your role, and in return, I secure your company’s future.”

She looked thrown off guard. But she maintained her composure. Another point in her favour.

“And what makes you think I’ll agree to something like this?” she asked.

I held her gaze.

“Because, Miss Ellis,” I said, voice dropping even though it was just two of us, “you don’t have a better option.”

IVY

I hated that he was right.

God, I hated it.

Because sitting there, staring at him, at the calm certainty in his expression, at the way he spoke like the outcome was already decided.

He wasn’t trying to convince me.He didn’t need to.

He already knew what I'd choose.

The room felt smaller now.

The air was hot. I struggled to breath but didn't show it.

Seventy-two hours. I didn't even have enough time to think.

My family.

Everything I've ever worked for. My father's sweat, could be all gone if I made a wrong decision.