Chapter 2: The Marriage Arrangement

Selena forced herself to remain composed. “What does that have to do with me?”

Sophia looked annoyed immediately.

“Honestly, I still don’t understand that part,” she muttered beneath her breath.

Vanessa ignored the comment entirely.

“The request came directly from William Kingston,” she said calmly. “Former chairman of Kingston Global and grandfather of Adrian Kingston.”

“Adrian Kingston?” Ethan let out a low laugh from the sofa. “The ruthless CEO everyone in Corvenna is terrified of?”

Amusement flickered across his face as he leaned farther back against the couch.

“I heard the guy’s so cold his own executives barely breathe around him.”

Sophia shot him an irritated glare before looking back toward Selena.

“You should feel lucky,” she said carelessly. “Women practically throw themselves at Adrian Kingston.”

“Then why do you sound upset about it?” Selena asked coldly.

Sophia’s expression tightened for the briefest second before she covered it with a light laugh.

“Because now I have to watch you embarrass our family on national television.”

Beside her, Ethan smirked faintly but stayed quiet.

As much as Selena hated admitting it, part of her understood exactly what Sophia meant. She had no social standing, no influence, no wealthy background protecting her. Compared to the Kingston family, she was insignificant.

The Kingstons owned everything, technology companies, luxury brands, hotels, real estate, investment firms. Their influence stretched across nearly every major industry in Corvenna, while their political connections reached even farther behind closed doors. 

So why would a family like that choose her? And why specifically William Kingston? As though sensing the thoughts racing through Selena’s mind, Vanessa spoke again.

“No one questions the Kingston family,” she said calmly. “Especially when they’re offering millions in return.”

Her sharp gaze settled directly on Selena.

“If you agree to the marriage, Kingston Global will fully fund your father’s Westridge project.”

Selena’s expression hardened instantly.

The Westridge development meant everything to her father. He had spent months chasing investors and financing for it. If the project succeeded, the profits alone would completely elevate the Reed family’s status.

“And what happens if I refuse?” Selena asked sharply. “Why should I help him?”

Then Vanessa delivered the real blow.

“Did you forget your mother is still lying in that hospital?”

The words landed like ice water against Selena’s chest.

Vanessa’s voice remained perfectly calm.

“How exactly were you planning to continue paying those medical bills?” she continued. “Or were you no longer intending to schedule the surgery?”

Selena’s breath caught instantly.

Reality crashed back over her all at once. The hospital, the debt, the surgery, the impossible numbers still sitting inside her bag.

Vanessa continued mercilessly.

“The Kingstons already made their position very clear. If you sign the agreement, your mother will immediately be transferred to Grand Camden Hospital.”

Selena’s eyes shifted slightly.

Grand Camden.

Everyone in Corvenna knew that name. The most elite private hospital in the country. Only the wealthiest people in the world could afford treatment there.

“The best specialists will oversee her care,” Vanessa continued evenly. “Private nurses and twenty-four-hour medical staff. All expenses fully covered.”

Silence slowly settled across the room. For the first time in months, the numbers no longer felt impossible. Three hundred thousand dollars.

Gone.

No more loan applications, no more calculating overdue payments at three in the morning, no more pretending everything was fine while secretly wondering how much longer her mother’s condition could continue worsening before time finally ran out.

Salvation suddenly stood directly in front of her. Close enough to touch. All she had to do, was agree.

Across the sofa, Sophia watched quietly with detached amusement while Ethan remained silent beside her.

Waiting.

All of them were waiting, waiting for desperation to outweigh pride, waiting for Selena to finally accept the only option left in front of her. And the worst part, they already knew she would. Because this had never been a real choice. It was an ultimatum disguised as generosity, a business arrangement disguised as marriage.

Vanessa calmly slid a pen across the coffee table.

“All you need to do is sign.”

The room fell silent again. Selena stepped forward slowly before lowering her gaze toward the agreement resting on the glass table.

Adrian Kingston.

Even the name itself felt dangerous somehow. Her fingers tightened slightly around the pen Vanessa had placed in front of her.

Marriage.

To a man she had never met, a man powerful enough to erase every problem destroying her life with a single signature. For one brief moment, hesitation tightened painfully inside her chest. 

Then she pictured her mother alone inside that hospital room. And the hesitation shattered. Before her heart could stop her, Selena lowered the pen and signed her name across the paper. The ink moved steadily beneath her hand, sealing away the final fragile pieces of freedom she still possessed.

Vanessa smiled immediately.

“Good decision.”

Meanwhile, across the city, on the top floor of Kingston Global, a man dressed entirely in black sat behind a polished wooden desk overlooking the skyline of Ashbourne.

Adrian Kingston.

Sharp features, cold dark eyes, and the kind of controlled presence that naturally silenced a room without effort. One hand rested against the file sitting open before him while the other tapped lightly against the surface of the desk.

“Mr. Kingston,” his assistant said carefully from nearby. “The Reeds have responded.”

Adrian did not immediately look up.

“She accepted?”

“Yes.”

Only then did Adrian finally lean back slightly in his chair before reaching for the glass of whiskey resting beside the file.

Selena Reed.

An ordinary woman from an unremarkable background. No influence. No public scandals. Nothing that logically explained why his grandfather had chosen her.

His assistant hesitated briefly before speaking again.

“There’s one more thing. We completed investigations into every member of her family,” the assistant explained carefully. “Her father, stepmother, stepsister, and brother-in-law.”

A brief pause followed.

“Most of the records connected to her mother were unusually difficult to access,” he continued. “Several records appeared incomplete.”

Adrian’s gaze sharpened slightly.

“How incomplete?”

“Grace Hale. Forty-nine years old,” the assistant answered. “Recent employment and financial records were easy enough to verify, but anything connected to her family history before her marriage was unusually difficult to trace.”

The office fell quiet.

Adrian’s fingers stilled lightly against the whiskey glass.

His gaze lowered slowly toward the photograph clipped to Selena’s file.

“Hale…” he repeated quietly.