LOGINFor three years, Arabella worked as the secretary to Damian Harrison, the cold and untouchable CEO of Harrison Company. An accident had taken his legs—and, he claimed, his heart. He swore he could never love again. That’s why he offered Arabella a contract: one year as his wife, in exchange for ten million. He thought she was professional, detached, the perfect choice. What he didn’t know was that she had secretly loved him all along. What began as a fake marriage slowly blurred into something real. And now, after five years apart, Damian’s words shatter every wall Arabella built around her heart: “Now? God only knows how much I love you. How much I want to spend the rest of my days with you. How much I want to build a family with you. When you’re ready… really ready… I’m going to ask for your hand. For real this time. No contracts. No lies. Just you and me. You gave me hope again, Arabella. You made me believe I could walk again. That I could be happy again. You’re my why…”
View MoreThey say the quietest rooms hide the loudest secrets.
The boardroom was a tomb of glass and steel, the air so still it felt like the world itself was holding its breath. Twenty executives sat frozen in their chairs. One billionaire occupied the head of the table like a throne of ice. And me—Arabella Carter—standing at the edge of it all, pulse hammering against my ribs as if it already knew what was coming.
“Miss Carter. The report.”
Damian Harrison’s voice cut through the silence like a blade. Low. Unforgiving. The kind of voice that had built an empire and buried every soft thing left inside him.
I stepped forward. Placed the folder on the cold glass table. Did not look at his legs. I never did. Not in three years of watching him, of memorizing the way his shoulders tensed when the room went quiet, of loving a man who had long since stopped believing anyone could.
“Thank you,” he said. He didn’t mean it. He never did.
Damian Harrison. Thirty-two. CEO of Harrison Group. Worth four billion dollars. And he hadn’t stood on his own two feet in five years.
The accident had taken his legs. It had taken whatever was left of his heart, too—ripped it out and left only the cold, calculating shell that ruled this company like a king who trusted no one.
My assistant’s voice broke the silence from the doorway, steady where my hands were not. “Sir, your grandfather is on line two. Again.”
Because for three years I had been in love with a man who looked straight through me.
Damian’s jaw ticked once. “Tell him I’m busy.”
“You’re getting married in thirty days,” she said, quieter now, “or you lose the company. His words. Not mine.”
The room froze solid.
Damian’s hands flexed on the armrests of his wheelchair. Then he turned away from all of us—from the executives, from the glass walls, from me—and rolled toward the window, presenting only the rigid line of his back.
“Get out. All of you.”
Chairs scraped. Doors closed. And when the last echo died, only we remained.
Me. And the man who signed my paychecks… and held my heart without ever knowing it.
He turned. Gray eyes, cold and exhausted, locked onto mine. “Miss Carter.”
“Yes, sir?”
“Marry me.”
I laughed once—sharp, disbelieving. “Excuse me?”
“A contract. One year. Ten million dollars. No feelings. No touching. No love.” He said it the way other men ordered coffee. Flat. Final. “You’ll be my wife on paper. I’ll still be your boss in every way that matters.”
My heart stopped. Then shattered so quietly I was certain he couldn’t hear the pieces fall.
“Why me?”
“Because you’re safe. You don’t want anything from me. And you will never ask about the chair.”
He was right. I wouldn’t ask. But I would break. Quietly. Completely.
“And if I say no?”
His gaze didn’t waver. “Then I’ll find someone else by tonight.”
The words cut deeper than the offer itself. Ten million. Enough to pay my mother’s hospital bills. Enough to disappear. Enough to buy a future that didn’t include loving a man who would never love me back.
I looked at his hands—strong, scarred, resting on the wheels that had become his world. And I said the most reckless, irreversible thing of my life.
“Okay.”
Something flickered across his face. Surprise. Or regret. Or something darker.
“You have twenty-four hours to sign.”
“I don’t need twenty-four hours.” I swallowed hard. “I accept, Mr. Harrison.”
“Don’t call me that. When we’re married, it’s Damian.”
“Yes… Damian.”
He turned the wheelchair away, already dismissing me. “HR will send the contract. Don’t be late tomorrow.”
And just like that, I sold my heart for ten million dollars.
What he doesn’t know is that I have loved him for three years—silently, desperately, without hope.
What I don’t know is that the accident that put him in that chair was no accident at all.
ARABELLATwo weeks passed since my kidnapping.And we're in Switzerland now after his surgery.I don't know what made him change his mind.The way his eyes lit up when he saw me after he woke up.Different emotions crossed his face.Relief. And something I couldn't quite describe.I wish I could just ease his pain.I want to know what weighs on his mind.I wish I could fight his demon together with him, but he's not ready.I can't tell him about my feelings.Not like that.Not yet.The only important thing now is his surgery, so he can be on his own when I'm not there.Be reasonable Arabella, you're not the real wife, you'll just be there for one year only and then you'll disappear.We're not from the same world and Damian Harrison is out of my league.Then he pulls me out of my thoughts."Arabella... Can you please help me take my shirt off?"I almost choke.He's sitting on the edge of the hotel bed in Zurich. Two days after surgery.His white dress shirt is stuck to his back with sw
DAMIANShe was on her knees.Crying. Begging me to do the surgery.I've never seen someone caring so much for me like that.“Let me help you walk again. For you. For me.”My chest caved in.She was taking up too much space in my life.In my office. At my house. In my head. And soon... In my heartThe fake marriage... it wasn’t fake anymore.The way she laid her head on my chest. The way she massaged my feet. The way she looked at me was like I wasn’t broken.I couldn’t handle it.If I let her stay, I’d fall. And if I fell, I’d lose her too. Like I lost them.“No.”The word cut through the air.“Damian, please—”“I SAID NO!” I slammed my hand on the armrest. The pain grounded me. “Don’t you ever bring that up to me again!”She flinched. God, she flinched.“Get up,” I said, my voice dead. “You’re pathetic.”I rolled away. Because if I stayed one more second, I’d kiss her.And that would ruin everything.For 2 days, I iced her out.Ate in my office. Slept in the other room.I needed dist
The door opened.Elias stood there in a robe. And behind him, a photographer. With a camera.“I just wanted to get a photo,” Elias said with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “For the family album. My new granddaughter and grandson. In bed. Together.”Damian went rigid beside me.“Get out,” he said. His voice was ice. Final.“Damian,” Elias sighed. Like he was talking to a child. “Don’t be difficult. It’s just one photo. For me.”The photographer lifted the camera. The lens pointed right at us.My heart was hammering. I could feel Damian’s tension. His anger.I didn’t think. I just moved.I shifted closer to Damian. And I laid my head on his chest.His heart was pounding. Hard. Against my cheek. Like a caged animal.For a second he froze.Then, slowly, hesitantly... his arm came around me.He pulled me closer. And buried his face in my hair.His breath was warm on my scalp.“Like this?” I whispered, my voice shaking. Only he could hear me.He didn’t answer. He just held me tighter.
The guest wing was bigger than my entire apartment.Marble floors. Silk curtains. A fireplace.And one bed.King-size one. In the middle of the room.My stomach dropped.“Mr. Harrison, Mrs. Harrison,” the maid said with a smile. “Your suite for the weekend. Dinner will be served at 8. Mr. Elias requests your presence.”She closed the door behind her.Silence.I turned to Damian. He glanced at the bed, then at me, before looking back at the bed.His jaw was clenched.“There must be another room,” I said quickly. Too quickly. “A couch. Anything.”Damian rolled to the door and opened it. “There isn’t.”He closed it again.“For 48 hours,” he said, his voice flat. “We act like a couple. For him.”His own words from earlier. Now they sounded like a prison sentence.I sat on the edge of the bed. It was huge. We wouldn’t even touch.Right?That’s when my phone buzzed.A text from an unknown number:[Photo of me kissing Damian at the gala]Message: I know it’s fake. $50,000 or I send this to t












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