4

VALERIE POV

“Open it,” Leonard said quietly.

I pulled the leather folder toward me, my fingers trembling slightly as I opened the cover.

The very first line at the top of the white page made my hands freeze completely:

STERLING HOSPITALITY GROUP: EXECUTIVE CONTRACT Party of the First Part: Leonard Black Sterling

Sterling.

My mind went blank. I stared at the name, my lips barely moving as I whispered it aloud.

“Sterling... Leonard Black Sterling...” I raised my head slowly, looking at his sharp, breathtaking face. The dark hair with silvery temples, the cold grey eyes, the unyielding posture. “You’re... Delilah’s brother?”

“Father,” Leonard corrected smoothly.

“Father?!”

The word burst out of my mouth before I could stop it, echoing loudly across the high-ceilinged room. I instantly snapped my mouth shut, my cheeks burning with heat as I caught myself. I swallowed hard, forcing my voice down to a whisper, but my eyes remained wide with shock.

“The media says Delilah is twenty-four years old,” I stammered, my voice rising in confusion. “You... how could you possibly be her father?”

“I adopted her,” Leonard said, his deep baritone shutting down my panic in a single word.

He didn't offer a long story or defend himself. He simply leaned back, took a slow sip of his black coffee, and set the porcelain cup down without making a sound.

“Besides, that doesn't mean a forty-four-year-old man can't legally have a twenty-four-year-old child,” he added, his dark grey eyes holding mine.

I stared at him, the breath catching in my throat all over again. Forty-four? He looked so impossibly handsome and powerful that the number barely made sense, though he radiated a mature, dangerous authority that made Julian look like a desperate child playing dress-up. Julian’s constant stress and greed had made him look older than his years, but the man sitting across from me was timeless, lethal, and effortlessly striking.

“So, I hold full legal authority over Delilah,” Leonard continued smoothly, keeping his tone entirely flat. “On paper and in high society, she carries my name.”

My head spun. Julian really knew who to target. He hadn't just cheated on me with a random rich heiress; he had latched onto the adopted daughter of the king of the Sterling empire.

Before I could process it, I turned to the next page of the folder—and whatever faint astonishment I felt instantly faded as the air completely rushed out of my lungs.

TERMS OF AGREEMENT: LEGAL SURROGACY AND MARRIAGE The Party of the Second Part (Valerie Montgomery) agrees to enter a lawful marriage with Leonard Black Sterling. The Party of the Second Part agrees to conceive and bear a legitimate heir for the Sterling estate.

My breath hitched. “What the hell is this?” I snapped, slamming the folder shut with a loud clack. “A surrogacy marriage? Are you out of your mind?”

I glared across the table, expecting him to defend himself, but Leonard remained a mask of pure stone. He didn't argue. He didn't explain. He simply raised two long fingers, making a quiet gesture toward the side of the room.

Mrs. Evelyn immediately stepped forward, holding a sleek black tablet. The warm housekeeper demeanor was completely gone, replaced by sharp, professional authority.

“Allow me to clarify the necessity of this arrangement, Miss Montgomery,” Mrs. Evelyn said smoothly. She tapped the screen, displaying a detailed, high-resolution brain scan. “Four weeks ago, Sir was diagnosed with an atypical cerebral aneurysm. He is scheduled for a high-risk neurosurgery in a month.”

My eyes darted from the scan back to Leonard. He looked like the picture of perfect health—broad-shouldered, towering, vibrating with vitality and strength. It was almost impossible to believe that inside that head was a silent killer.

“The survival rate for this procedure is fifty percent,” Mrs. Evelyn continued, her voice tight. “If the surgery is unsuccessful, Sir’s entire estate and controlling shares of Sterling Hospitality fall into legal probate.”

She tapped the screen again, pulling up surveillance photos of Delilah and Julian walking into a high-end corporate law firm together.

“Miss Delilah is foolish and currently being manipulated by Mr. Julian,” Mrs. Evelyn explained. “Julian has already prepared legal paperwork for Delilah to claim interim executive control the moment Sir enters the operating room. He intends to use her trust fund to seize the entire company.”

The entire puzzle fell into place. Julian didn't just steal my recipes to get into Sterling—he was executing a hostile takeover of a multi-billion-dollar empire using an adopted heiress.

“Sir refuses to let a fraud take control of his legacy,” Mrs. Evelyn said, shutting off the tablet. “Under company bylaws, executive authority can only be handed to direct family. If you marry Sir today, you will immediately be appointed Executive Culinary Director. You will outrank both Miss Delilah and Julian.”

I sat frozen, my heart hammering violently against my ribs. “And... the child?”

I closed my eyes tightly, my throat constricting as my mind raced over the words on the paper. Conceive and bear a legitimate heir. A cold knot tightened in my stomach. Did that mean... he and I? Was I expected to lie in bed with a total stranger, no matter how impossibly handsome or powerful he was, just to fulfill a corporate clause?

The humiliating thought made my face burn with unbearable heat, and I kept my eyes shut, terrified to look at him.

Across the table, Leonard caught my subtle shift in posture—the squeeze of my eyes, the sudden stiffness in my shoulders, the flush creeping up my neck. He didn't say a word, but his sharp grey eyes narrowed slightly, instantly reading the explicit fear running through my mind.

Without breaking his calm posture, Leonard glanced toward Mrs. Evelyn, giving her a sharp, quiet look.

Mrs. Evelyn caught his cue instantly.

“Concerning the heir, Miss Montgomery,” Mrs. Evelyn chimed in smoothly, keeping her voice completely professional to break the heavy silence. “Conception will happen strictly via clinical IVF protocols at our private medical facility. There will be no physical intimacy required between you and Sir. Everything is managed through certified, high-level medical procedures.”

My eyes snapped open. I exhaled a slow, shaky breath, relief washing over me so fast my shoulders dropped an inch.

“A legitimate blood heir guarantees the board’s loyalty,” Mrs. Evelyn continued directly. “If Sir survives the surgery, you remain the head of the culinary empire together. If he does not... you will be the widowed mother of the sole Sterling heir. The entire estate, the fortune, and Julian’s fate will rest entirely in your hands.”

Silence fell heavy across the room.

A terrifying knot tied itself back in my stomach. Money? Power? Billions of dollars? None of that erased the weight of what they were asking me to do. If he died on that table, I would be left alone—a young widow and a single mother carrying the weight of a massive, ruthless empire on my shoulders.

I wasn't a gold digger. I didn't want his billions if it meant trapping myself in a cage of grief and fear.

I cleared my raspy throat and forced myself to sit up straight, looking Leonard dead in the eye.

“What makes you think I want revenge so badly that I’d throw my entire life away for it?” I asked, my voice trembling slightly despite my best efforts. “You want me to sign away my body, my future, and my sanity. If you die, I become a single mother stuck in a snake pit full of corporate vultures. What makes you think I want my life to go in this direction?”

Leonard didn't look offended. He didn't raise his voice or attempt to sweet-talk me.

He slowly leaned back in his chair, folding his long arms across his broad chest. His razor-sharp grey eyes held mine with terrifying calm.

“I am not forcing you, Valerie,” Leonard said, his deep baritone echoing softly in the quiet room. “And I certainly won't beg. You are a free woman. If you walk out that door right now, your bail is paid, your lawyer is secured, and your grandfather’s care home is funded. You can walk away and rebuild your life from scratch.”

He stood up, his tall frame instantly casting a long shadow across the marble table. He picked up his suit jacket, pulling it on with effortless grace.

“Julian will keep your mother's recipes,” Leonard added, looking down at me as he buttoned his jacket. “He will build an empire on your stolen sweat, marry Delilah, and live like a king while you start over with nothing. That is your choice.”

He placed a silver pen beside the folder.

“You have twenty-four hours to think about it,” Leonard said smoothly. “Mrs. Evelyn will show you to your room. If the contract is signed by eight o'clock tomorrow morning, we go to the courthouse. If it isn't, my car will take you anywhere in the city you wish to go.”

Without waiting for my answer, he turned on his heel and walked out of the dining room, his heavy, measured strides echoing down the hallway until the massive front doors clicked shut behind him.

I sat completely alone in the sunlit room, staring at the silver pen resting on the dark leather folder. My head was spinning, my heart was racing, and for the first time in my life, the road ahead of me looked like an absolute battlefield.