Chapter One

The door to the top floor office of Turner Group opened without a sound.

The room was cold. The air conditioning blew directly against my throat, intensifying the dryness that had been making it difficult to breathe.

Behind the wide executive desk, a man sat without even tilting his head.

Edward Turner.

His black hair was neatly styled, with a touch of silver at the temples. The black suit he wore fit perfectly across his broad shoulders. Not a single crease marred his clothes, just as nothing had ever tarnished his reputation as the head of the Turner family.

He was the man feared by every businessman in the city.

And he was the father of James Turner—the man I had still called my boyfriend just twenty-four hours ago.

“You have three minutes, Allana,” Edward said.

His deep, low voice cut straight through my footsteps.

He didn't even look at me. His eyes remained fixed on the documents in his hands, his fingers holding the pen with steady precision.

I clenched my hands at my sides, gathering whatever courage I had left.

“I know you need a wife before next week's shareholders' meeting.”

Edward stopped writing.

His hand froze above the paper.

Slowly, he raised his head and looked straight at me. His eyes were a dark shade of gray, cold and completely devoid of emotion.

“James dumped you last night,” he said flatly. “And now you're standing in my office offering yourself to me?”

There was no mockery in his voice.

Somehow, that made his words cut even deeper.

This man knew everything.

He knew James had stolen the entire design for my project, claimed it as his own, and then thrown me out of the apartment after deliberately parading his new woman in front of me.

“This isn't me offering myself,” I shot back.

My voice trembled slightly at first, but I managed to steady it.

“This is a business proposal.”

Edward leaned back against his leather chair. He folded his hands on the desk, studying every one of my movements with careful attention.

“Explain.”

I took two steps toward his desk.

“James claimed the design for the new shopping mall project as his own. But he's an idiot. He only stole the final presentation files without realizing that all the patent licenses and preliminary legal documents were registered under my personal name, not the company’s.”

I pulled a thick brown envelope from my bag and placed it on Edward's desk.

“If you marry me, the license will legally become a joint asset and automatically fall under Turner Group's protection,” I continued. “That will secure your position on the board against your uncle's faction. You'll win a project worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and the company's stock won't plunge.”

Edward didn't touch the envelope immediately.

Instead, his gaze remained fixed on my face, studying my expression as though searching for the slightest trace of a lie.

“What do you get out of all this, Allana?” he asked.

“Revenge.”

I didn't hesitate.

“I want my rights back. And I want to see James lose the position he's so proud of—a position he stole his way into.”

Silence suddenly filled the room.

The hum of the air conditioner seemed louder between us.

Edward didn't laugh.

He didn't look surprised either.

He simply stared at me with those calm gray eyes.

Several seconds passed before he finally leaned forward and picked up the brown envelope.

His long fingers broke the seal before he pulled out the documents inside. He skimmed through them, turning each page with meticulous care.

“You spent two years designing this,” Edward said quietly, his eyes still on the documents.

“Three years,” I corrected him. “And your son took it in three minutes.”

Edward closed the documents.

He placed them neatly on the side of the desk before rising from his chair.

His height forced me to tilt my head upward as he stepped out from behind the desk. His movements were slow but deliberate, without a trace of hesitation.

He walked toward me and stopped directly in front of me.

We were close enough that I could clearly see the hard line of his jaw.

“Do you think marrying me will be easy, Allana?” he asked.

His voice was dangerously close.

“I'm not looking for easy,” I answered honestly. “I'm looking for victory.”

Edward stared at me in silence for several seconds.

His gaze was so intense that it felt as though he were weighing whether I was strong enough to bear the consequences of my own decision.

“James is my son,” Edward said quietly. “You're asking me to destroy his position for your sake?”

“He used your name and influence to act however he pleased,” I challenged. “He didn't just destroy me. He damaged the reputation you've spent years building. A man like him doesn't deserve a seat on the board.”

The corner of Edward's lips lifted slightly.

Barely noticeable.

Yet somehow, it sent an unfamiliar flutter through my chest.

He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out his phone before pressing a single button.

“Prepare the standard marriage documents,” Edward said to the person on the other end. “Bring them to my office in twenty minutes.”

He ended the call without waiting for a response and slipped the phone back into his pocket.

His eyes locked onto mine again.

“You have until those documents arrive to change your mind,” he said. “Once you sign them, there's no turning back. You'll enter the Turner family as my wife.”

“I won't back out.”

My voice was firm.

Edward stared at me without blinking.

“Good.”

Less than twenty minutes later, Edward's personal assistant entered carrying a black folder.

Without the slightest hesitation, I picked up the pen and signed my name across the white paper.

Edward followed, placing his signature right beside mine.

Within seconds, my legal status had completely changed.

Edward closed the folder and handed it back to his assistant, who immediately excused himself and left.

The thick wooden door shut behind him, leaving the two of us alone in a silence that suddenly felt much more intense.

“Starting today, you're Mrs. Turner,” Edward said quietly.

I exhaled slowly, trying to keep my voice steady.

“Then what's our next step?”

Instead of answering, Edward stepped forward.

His measured stride brought him closer, erasing the distance between us until the tip of his shoe nearly touched the hem of my dress.

The warm, woody scent of his masculine cologne drifted from his body, immediately filling the air around me.

I held my breath, refusing to take even a single step back despite the sudden pounding of my heart.

Edward reached out.

His long, warm fingers gently traced the line of my jaw before slowly lifting my face until I was looking directly at him.

His thumb brushed lightly across my lower lip, the delicate touch sending an unfamiliar shiver through my entire body.

“The next step?”

Edward's voice was low and deep, slightly husky at the end.

His dark gray eyes deepened as his gaze dropped to my lips before returning to lock with mine.

“Shouldn't the next step for newlyweds,” he whispered again, lowering his head until his warm breath brushed against the skin of my neck, “be enjoying their wedding night?”

My body went completely still.

A strange mixture of heat and cold swept beneath my skin as Edward's lips lightly grazed the corner of my ear.

“Prepare yourself, Allana,” he murmured, closing the last remaining distance between us.

“This marriage may have started as a business arrangement…”

His voice dropped into a quiet, possessive whisper.

“But I never play games with something that belongs to me.”