Chapter 2: The Forced Signature

"Lucas! What is the meaning of this?!"

​An older man in a tailored charcoal suit barged into the study, his face red with rage. It was Richard Sterling’s younger brother—Uncle Julian Sterling Senior—and behind him stood Julian Hayes, Chloe’s cheating ex-fiancé, looking disheveled and frantic.

​Chloe gasped, instinctively shrinking back against the wall.

​"You have no manners, Uncle," Lucas said smoothly, not flinching for a single second. He casually stepped in front of Chloe, his broad shoulders completely shielding her from their intrusive glare. "Barging into my private quarters at midnight? I thought the board taught you basic etiquette."

​"Don't play games with me, Lucas!" Uncle Julian spat, pointing an accusing finger at him. "The board meeting is tomorrow morning. You don't have a legitimate fiancée, which means under your father's clause, you lose your forty percent voting shares! The company control passes to me!"

​Julian Hayes stepped forward, a sneering, arrogant smirk plastered on his face as he locked eyes with Chloe behind Lucas. "And don't think you can use Chloe to save you, Lucas. She came crawling to me for money just an hour ago! Her family is bankrupt, her mother is dying, and she's completely penniless. She has zero social standing to qualify as a Sterling bride!"

​Chloe clenched her fists so hard her nails bit into her palms. The sheer humiliation of Julian’s words burned through her veins like fire.

​"Is that so?" Lucas’s voice dropped an octave, turning deadly cold.

​The temperature in the room seemed to plummet. Lucas took two deliberate steps toward Julian Hayes. The sheer authority and terrifying aura radiating from Lucas made Julian instinctively take a step back, his arrogant smirk instantly faltering.

​"You speak very loudly for a man whose small-time real estate firm relies entirely on Sterling subcontracts," Lucas murmured, his obsidian eyes glinting dangerously. "One word from me tonight, Hayes, and your family business collapses into dust before sunrise."

​Julian’s face drained of color. "L-Lucas... I was just—"

​"Get out of my house," Lucas commanded, his voice cutting through the air like a razor blade. "Both of you."

​"This isn't over, Lucas!" Uncle Julian barked, gripping young Julian’s arm and dragging him back toward the door. "Unless you have a signed engagement agreement registered with the board by 9:00 AM tomorrow, I am taking the chairmanship!"

​The heavy mahogany doors slammed shut behind them, leaving a suffocating silence in the study.

​Chloe stood trembling, her heart beating frantically against her ribs. She looked at the digital clock on Lucas’s desk. 11:48 PM. Twelve minutes left before the hospital cut off her mother's life support drugs.

​"They're right, you know," Chloe whispered, her voice cracking with raw emotion. "I have no money, no power, and my reputation is ruined thanks to Julian. Why would you want me as your fake fiancée? It's insanity!"

​Lucas turned around slowly. He didn't answer right away. Instead, he walked over to his desk, picked up a sleek black leather folder, and opened it. Inside was a thick, formal contract alongside a heavy gold fountain pen.

​"Because you hate them just as much as I do," Lucas said softly, his deep voice carrying a strange, intoxicating weight. "And because unlike any high-society heiress my uncle tries to push on me, I know you won't sell me out for a quick payout."

​He tossed the folder onto the glass coffee table between them.

​"Sixty thousand dollars paid to St. Jude Hospital right now," Lucas declared, staring directly into her eyes. "Five million dollars in an offshore account upon completion of six months. All you have to do is wear my ring, live in my penthouse, and play the part of a woman madly in love with me."

​Chloe stared at the contract. The terms were glaringly clear, but at the very bottom was a hand-written addendum added in Lucas's sharp handwriting: Clause 7: Absolute loyalty in public. Separate quarters in private.

​"Do we have a deal, Chloe?" Lucas asked, stepping closer until he was standing right in front of her. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone, his thumb hovering right over the transfer button for the hospital's bank account. "Ten minutes left."

​Tears of frustration and bitterness welled up in Chloe's eyes. She was being backed into a corner by circumstance, but looking at Lucas—the only man willing to destroy the people who had humiliated her—she realized she had no other choice.

​"Hand me the pen," Chloe said, her voice shaking but firm.

​Lucas handed her the gold fountain pen. Without hesitating another second, Chloe pressed the nib to the paper and signed her full name at the bottom of the agreement.

​Chloe Vance.

​"Smart girl," Lucas murmured. He immediately tapped his phone screen, sending the direct wire transfer to St. Jude Memorial Hospital. Within seconds, a confirmation ping echoed in the quiet room. "Your mother's Swiss medication is fully funded for the entire year. She is safe."

​Chloe let out a long, shuddering breath, her legs suddenly feeling like lead. She nearly collapsed, but Lucas’s strong arm caught her by the waist, pulling her flush against his chest.

​The sudden physical contact sent an electric jolt straight through her body. His grip was firm, holding her securely against his broad, muscular frame. Chloe looked up, her lips mere inches from his.

​"What... what are you doing?" she gasped out, her heart hammering wildly.

​Lucas looked down at her lips, his dark eyes darkening with a dangerous, unreadable hunger.

​"Getting you ready for tomorrow," Lucas whispered, his thumb lightly tracing her lower lip, making her breath hitch. "Starting at 9:00 AM, the entire world will believe you belong to me. And we need to make sure you don't break character when the cameras start rolling."

​Before Chloe could process his words, his private phone on the desk suddenly began to ring frantically.

​Lucas glanced at the caller ID over her shoulder. His body instantly went rigid, his jaw tightening into a hard line as his eyes narrowed at the name flashing on the screen.

​It was a name Chloe recognized all too well—a ghost from Lucas's past that was supposed to be dead.