Chapter Three: The Price Of a Divorce

The woman on the phone said it again, louder this time.

"Mrs. Stone? The photos show your husband kissing Miss Vanessa Croft in his office tonight while you were crying in the lobby. Our source says you are pregnant. Is it true? Do you have a comment for our readers tomorrow?"

My hand was shaking so hard I almost dropped the phone.

Someone had been watching us tonight. Someone had taken photos inside the penthouse. Through the glass walls.

I looked at Julian. He took the phone from my hand.

"Who is this? This is Julian Croft, . This is harassment. You have no confirmed source. If you publish a single photo of a pregnant woman without her consent, I will sue your newspaper for twenty million dollars. Do you understand?"

He hung up. His face was white with anger.

"Who would do this?" I whispered. "Who would sell photos to the press?"

Julian didn't answer at first. He walked to the window of the suite and looked down at the street. The rain was still falling.

"Vanessa," he said finally. "It has to be her. She loves drama. She loves attention. She wants everyone to know she is the new Mrs. Stone. If she leaks the photos herself, she becomes famous. Adrian will be forced to divorce you and marry her to save his reputation."

I felt sick. "She would destroy a pregnant woman just to be famous?"

"She would destroy her own mother to be Mrs. Stone," Julian said coldly.

Just then, my phone buzzed again. This time it was not a newspaper. It was an email. From Adrian's lawyer.

The subject line said: *DRAFT DIVORCE AGREEMENT - CONFIDENTIAL - READ IMMEDIATELY.*

I opened it with trembling fingers.

Julian read it over my shoulder. His jaw tightened with every line.

It was not a divorce agreement. It was a threat.

The agreement said:

1. I, Elena Hart Stone, agree that the pregnancy is not from Adrian Stone, but from an affair I had.

2. I agree to leave New York within 24 hours and never use the name Stone again.

3. I agree to receive ZERO dollars, ZERO property, ZERO alimony, in exchange for Adrian not suing me for defamation.

4. I agree to sign a paper saying I will never talk to the press about our marriage.

It ended with a line from Adrian himself:

_Sign this by 9 a.m. tomorrow, or I will make sure that child never has a future in this country. You know what I can do, Elena. Don't test me._

I couldn't breathe. The room was spinning.

"He wants me to say I cheated," I whispered. "He wants me to say the baby is not his. My baby... my baby is his, Julian. I have never touched another man. I have been faithful for three years!"

"I know," Julian said softly. "He knows it too. But this is how billionaires like him work when they are scared. He is scared because the press has the photos. He wants to make you look like the bad one first."

Tears were running down my face again. I was so tired of crying.

"What am I going to do? I have no money. I have no lawyer. I have nowhere to go. He will destroy me."

Julian was quiet for a long time. Then he did something I didn't expect.

He knelt down in front of me, so we were at eye level. His grey eyes were serious.

"Elena, I am going to offer you a deal," he said. "Not as a businessman. As a man who watched his own mother get destroyed by a rich man like Adrian. Listen carefully."

I nodded, wiping my tears.

"One: I will give you the best divorce lawyer in Manhattan. Her name is Margaret Cole. She never loses. She will make sure Adrian pays you what you deserve. Half of everything. That is the law."

"Two: You will stay in this hotel suite for as long as you need. Free. Food, doctor, everything. No one will touch you here."

"Three: And this is the important part... I need a wife."

I stared at him. "What?"

Julian gave a small, sad smile. "My grandfather is dying. He is ninety years old. He built the Croft empire. His last wish is to see me married before he dies. He has a condition in his will. If I am not married by next month, I lose fifty percent of my inheritance to my cousin, who will destroy the company and fire ten thousand workers. I don't have a girlfriend. I don't have time to find love."

He took a deep breath.

"So I am asking you... will you be my contract wife? For one year only. We will get married on paper. You will be Mrs. Julian Croft. You will live in my house as my wife for my grandfather to see. In return, I will protect you and your baby from Adrian. I will give you ten million dollars after the year ends, so you can start a new life with your child anywhere in the world. No strings. No touching you unless you want it. Just a business marriage to help both of us."

A contract marriage. With Julian Croft. My husband's enemy. Vanessa's brother.

It sounded crazy. It sounded like something from a movie.

But then I thought about Adrian's threat. About the divorce paper that called me a cheater. About my baby growing inside me with no future.

I thought about Vanessa smiling in my home.

My hands stopped shaking. Something cold and strong rose inside me. It was not sadness anymore. It was anger. It was revenge.

For three years, I was the good wife. The quiet wife. The naive wife who believed every lie.

That Elena died tonight in the rain.

A new Elena was born.

"Yes," I said, my voice clear and hard. "I will marry you, Julian. Not because I love you. But because I want to make Adrian Stone regret the day he broke my trust."

Julian looked surprised, then he smiled for the first time. A real smile.

"Good," he said. "Then we have a deal."

He stood up and held out his hand. I took it. His hand was warm and strong.

"Tomorrow morning, we will go to the courthouse together," he said. "But tonight, you need to sleep. Margaret will come at 8 a.m."

I lay down on the bed again, but I couldn't sleep. My mind was racing.

At exactly 5:47 a.m., my phone rang again. It was Adrian. I almost didn't answer. But something told me to answer.

I picked up.

"Elena," his voice was different now. Not angry. Panicked. Broken. "Elena, please, where are you? You need to come home right now. It's Vanessa... something happened to Vanessa..."

I sat up. "What do you mean something happened to Vanessa?"

"She... she is in the hospital. She fell... or... I don't know. There is blood everywhere. The police are here. They are asking for you, Elena. They said a witness saw a woman in a red dress running out of my penthouse last night around the time Vanessa fell from the balcony. Elena... where were you at midnight?"

My blood turned to ice.

Vanessa fell from the balcony? The police are asking for me?

I was wearing a red dress last night. I was at the penthouse last night.

But I left at 9 p.m. I was with Julian all night.

Or was I?

I looked at the clock. I had fallen asleep around 2 a.m. I didn't remember anything after that. Did I sleepwalk? Did someone use my dress?

Julian walked out of the bedroom, hearing my voice. He saw my face.

"What happened?" he asked.

I couldn't speak. I just held the phone out to him.

On the other end, Adrian's voice was screaming:

"Elena! Answer me! Did you push her? The police found your red silk scarf on the balcony! Did you try to kill Vanessa Croft?!"

Elena don say YES to Julian! Did she push Vanessa? Comment "INNOCENT" if you believe Elena!