Chapter 1

“Fifty million dollars. If you’ll agree to be my wife.”

I stared at the number glowing on the laptop screen he’d turned toward me, then up at the man behind it. Grey eyes. Sharp jaw. The kind of stillness that made you feel like he’d already decided how this conversation would go and was just waiting for you to catch up.

“You have one minute to decide.”

I looked at him in absolute shock.

“You’re probably wondering how I ended up in this situation. Honestly? So am I…”

 

It started at six that morning — and somehow, this was only the beginning.

I opened my bedroom door and found my fiancé in bed with my stepsister.

Both tangled in my sheets, looking far too comfortable for something that was supposed to be a mistake. Soren lifted his head, said my name in that voice — the caught one, the kind that already had an explanation lined up before he’d even finished speaking.

My stepsister yanked the duvet up over her face like hiding could make this less obvious.

I closed the door. Not because I was okay with it. I just needed a second to breathe, to figure out what on earth I was supposed to do next.

I made tea I couldn’t drink, slipped on my shoes with trembling hands, grabbed my bag, and walked out before I could change my mind. I had a nine o’clock interview — and I wasn’t going to miss it just because Soren decided to ruin my morning.

Tears finally broke free on the elevator ride down — four floors of quiet sobbing. I was hurt, I was angry, and most of all I felt betrayed. When the lobby doors opened, I wiped my face, straightened my blazer, and decided: Soren and my stepsister deserved each other. And I meant it.

 

Vance Tower loomed over the city — all glass, height, and wealth, like it owned the street. I walked in with my folder tucked tight, pretending I hadn’t spent the last forty minutes crying in a lift.

“Zara Voss?” The receptionist looked up. “Here for the admin position?”

“That’s me.” I smiled — or tried to.

Then disaster struck.

“I’m so sorry. The position was filled this morning. You should’ve received the rejection email.”

My phone had died at seven. My charger died the night before — choosing the worst possible moment to quit. I’d gotten nothing.

“Of course,” I said, keeping my smile nailed in place. “Thank you.”

I turned to leave, the disappointment sinking heavy — until I walked straight into someone, hard enough to knock the breath from me.

My folder flew open. Resumes scattered everywhere. I grabbed the nearest thing to steady myself — which turned out to be the lapel of a very expensive suit jacket.

Slowly, I looked up. My stomach dropped.

Tall, dark-haired, jawline sharp enough to cut glass. His eyes met mine — not annoyed, not embarrassed. More like I was something unexpected that had just walked into his morning, and he was quietly deciding what to do about it.

I was still holding his jacket. Oh. Shit.

I let go fast. “I’m so sorry — I didn’t mean —”

“It’s fine.” He crouched down and started gathering my papers himself. No assistant summoned. No stepping around them. Just picking them up, one by one.

I dropped beside him, stunned that he was actually doing it. We reached for the same page at the same time — close enough that I saw him reading my name.

We stood together. He handed me the stack, his gaze steady on mine.

“The admin position,” he said. “Filled this morning.”

My smile faded. “Oh. Okay.”

I stared. “You’re… the CEO?”

“Yes.”

Panic flared. “I — I just grabbed your jacket — I’m so sorry, sir —”

“You did. It’s not a big deal.” A pause, then something that wasn’t quite a smile but was definitely close. “I have another offer. Five minutes upstairs. You can say no.”

Every sensible part of me screamed RUN. But my sensible part had trusted Soren for eighteen months. Maybe it could sit this one out.

“Five minutes,” I said. Let’s be real — who walks away from a billionaire’s offer? Not someone whose bills were already strangling her. Not me.

 

His office filled the entire fortieth floor — views that made the city look like it belonged to him. I tried not to gawk. Failed. Dayuuuum.

He sat across from me and got straight to it.

“I’m Caelum Vance. My grandfather left me this company on one condition — I must be married before my thirty-third birthday. If I’m not, eleven days from now, when the board votes… my stepmother’s son inherits everything.”

He leaned back, tone flat and detached. “My fiancée left three weeks ago. My stepmother made her a better offer.”

I blinked. “Your fiancée left because your stepmother offered her more?”

“Three weeks ago.”

Of all the things I expected to hear from a billionaire… this wasn’t it. Betrayal wasn’t just my problem.

“I need to marry — legally, quietly — before anyone finds out,” he went on. “Once it’s done, it’s done. Your name came back clean this morning. No ties to Vance Industries. No connection to my stepmother, Diana. Nothing she can use against us.”

“You searched for me?” Something pricked — how had I been chosen, from nowhere, this very morning?

“Fifty million dollars,” he said, turning the screen back toward me. “If you’ll agree to be my wife.”

I looked at the number. Then at him. My brain short-circuited.

“You have one minute. Once it’s gone, it’s gone.”

I thought of the tea I couldn’t drink. The elevator tears. The empty space where Soren’s photo used to sit. My mother’s medical bills stacked unopened. My sister’s tuition looming. The quiet, suffocating weight of never having enough.

I wondered if I could trust him. Then I wondered if I could trust myself to know the difference.

He wasn’t rushing me. Not pushing. Just waiting — giving me space Soren never had.

“I have conditions,” I said, surprising even myself.

One eyebrow lifted.

“You treat me with respect — always, not just in public. You don’t make decisions about my life without asking. If I’m uncomfortable, you listen.” I held his gaze. “Those don’t change.”

“Agreed.” No haggling. No hesitation.

“One more.”

“Name it.”

“Don’t treat me like a replacement. If we do this, I’m Zara. Not your wife on paper. Not someone filling a space. Zara.”

He studied me a moment, then nodded. “Zara.” Like he was making sure he’d remember it.

I reached across the desk and offered my hand.

He took it — warm, firm, holding it a beat longer than he needed to. I’d made the most reckless decision of my life, based on a number, a name, and the fact that he’d knelt down for my papers without being asked.

“We don’t have time to waste,” Caelum said, rising. “Let’s go.”

In the elevator, I caught our reflection in the mirrored doors. Dayuuuum — we looked good together. Him: composed, certain, checking his watch. Me: hair wild, mascara held together by willpower, one pink sock peeking out above my shoe.

A very questionable business arrangement.

Soren, I thought. You have no idea what you just blessed me with. 😏

But one question kept nagging — why me? And why had he found me so fast, so perfectly, the very same morning my life fell apart?