CHAPTER THREE: THE Most Ridiculous Proposal.

Elena’s POV

I was certain I’d misheard him. For a split second, I forgot how to breathe. The rooftop light blurred behind him, the wind caught in my hair, and his words kept echoing in my head like a glitch in time

The city stretched behind him through the floor-to-ceiling windows, glittering beneath the afternoon sun, but all I could focus on was the man standing in front of me.

His expression never changed.

No smile.

No hesitation.

No sign that he’d just asked a stranger to marry him.

“…Excuse me?”

Alaric Carrington slipped one hand into the pocket of his tailored trousers.

“You heard me.”

I laughed.

A short, disbelieving laugh that sounded foreign even to my own ears.

“No.”

His eyebrow lifted slightly.

“No?”

“I must have hit my head yesterday because there’s no way the CEO of Carrington Empire just proposed to me after speaking to me for less than ten minutes.”

Silence.

He watched me the way someone might watch a storm rolling across the ocean—calm, patient, entirely unaffected.

“I wasn’t proposing out of love.”

“Oh, well, that makes it so much better.”

His lips almost twitched.

Almost.

“I need a wife.”

“And I need one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

The words slipped out before I could stop them.

Heat rushed into my cheeks.

Wonderful, Elena.

Now he knows exactly how desperate you are.

“I know,” he said quietly.

Something about the certainty in his voice made me uncomfortable.

“You had me investigated?”

“I reviewed your employee file.”

“My employee file doesn’t mention my father’s medical records.”

“No.”

“Then how do you know?”

“I saw the estimate when we met outside the hospital.”

Of course.

The papers.

I looked away.

“I wasn’t trying to read them,” he continued. “The total was difficult to miss.”

Embarrassment settled heavily in my chest.

“I don’t need your pity.”

“This isn’t pity.”

“Then what is it?”

“A business arrangement.”

I folded my arms.

“Business arrangements usually don’t involve marriage.”

“In my world, they do.”

I stared at him.

He didn’t seem arrogant.

He simply spoke as though facts didn’t require explanation.

“You still haven’t answered my question.”

“What question?”

“Why me?”

He walked around his desk and picked up a thin black folder.

Instead of handing it to me immediately, he looked directly into my eyes.

“My grandfather left one condition in his will.”

I frowned.

“If I am not legally married before my thirty-fifth birthday…”

He paused.

“…I lose control of Carrington Empire.”

That caught me off guard.

“You own this company.”

“I control it.”

“There is a difference.”

He set the folder on the desk between us.

“My birthday is in six weeks.”

I blinked.

“You’re serious.”

“I don’t joke about business.”

I looked around the enormous office.

The expensive artwork.

The skyline.

The quiet confidence of a man who clearly commanded billions of dollars.

He could have married anyone.

A model.

An actress.

A billionaire’s daughter.

Someone from one of those elite families whose names appeared in magazines every week.

“So why aren’t you marrying your girlfriend?”

His face became unreadable.

“I don’t have one.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

“I don’t particularly care.”

Fair enough.

Still…

None of this made sense.

“There are thousands of women who’d marry you.”

“They would marry my money.”

“And I wouldn’t?”

His gaze held mine.

“You need money.”

“I need honesty.”

The room fell silent.

“I’ve already experienced what happens when people lie to me.”

The words came out softer than I’d intended.

Images of Xavier flashed through my mind.

His engagement announcement.

The NDA.

Eight months reduced to nothing.

Alaric seemed to understand without asking.

“I’m aware.”

“You know about Xavier?”

“I know enough.”

My stomach tightened.

“What exactly did you investigate?”

“Only what was necessary.”

“I don’t like people digging through my life.”

“I don’t enjoy wasting time.”

I sighed.

“This conversation is insane.”

“Perhaps.”

“But it’s real.”

He pushed the black folder toward me.

“Read it.”

I opened it cautiously.

The first page was titled:

Confidential Marriage Agreement

My eyes skimmed over the clauses.

Legal marriage.

Public appearances.

Confidentiality.

Financial compensation.

Duration.

Everything looked less like a marriage and more like the merger of two corporations.

I looked up.

“You’ve already had this drafted.”

“I expected to find a suitable candidate.”

Candidate?

Not woman.

Candidate.

That should have offended me.

Instead…

It somehow fit him perfectly.

“How many women turned you down?”

“You’re the first person I’ve asked.”

That surprised me.

“Why?”

His answer came without hesitation.

“Because I don’t trust easily.”

“And you trust me?”

“I trust your circumstances.”

I shut the folder.

“You don’t know me.”

“I know enough.”

“No, you don’t.”

I pushed the contract back across the desk.

“I appreciate that you’re trying to help…”

His expression didn’t change.

“…but I can’t marry a stranger.”

I turned toward the door.

My hand closed around the handle.

“Miss Brooks.”

I paused without looking back.

“If you walk out now…”

His voice remained calm.

“…your father still won’t have the money for surgery.”

The words struck like a punch to my chest.

I squeezed the handle tighter.

“I’ll find another way.”

“I hope you do.”

His answer wasn’t mocking.

It was almost…

Respectful.

I opened the door.

Just before stepping out, his voice stopped me one last time.

“There is one condition you haven’t read.”

I slowly turned.

He rested one hand on the unopened pages near the back of the contract.

His eyes never left mine.

“I deliberately left out the most important clause.”

A chill crept down my spine.

“What clause?”

He held my gaze for several long seconds.

“You’ll find out if you decide to come back.”

I walked out without another word, but the question echoed in my mind all the way to the elevator.

What could be so important that he refused to tell me?

And why did I have the terrible feeling that whatever was hidden in that contract would change everything?