Chapter Four

For a long moment, I thought the whiskey had finally gotten to me. I thought the combination of grief, betrayal, and the rain had caused my brain to snap, creating a hallucination out of thin air.

"Marry me," Adrian Wolfe repeated.

His voice didn't waver. He didn't lean in with a romantic whisper or look at me with any kind of affection. He spoke the words with a steady, clinical coldness, as if he were discussing a corporate merger or a real estate deal rather than a life-altering vow.

I blinked, the burn of the alcohol still scratching at the back of my throat. I looked around the dim, half-empty bar, half-expecting a hidden camera to pop out. "You’re serious?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper. "You’re actually serious?"

"Completely," he said. He didn't even blink.

I let out a short, jagged laugh that felt more like a cough. "This is insane. We don't even know each other’s middle names. I don't know your favorite color, and you don't know that I hate the sound of whistling. We are total strangers."

"Probably," he said, completely unfazed by my logic.

I looked at him more closely now, really looking at the man behind the famous name. His expression was a fortress—unreadable, cold, and devastatingly handsome in a way that felt dangerous. He wasn't joking, and he wasn't drunk. He was a man who moved pieces on a chessboard while everyone else was still trying to figure out the rules of the game.

"Why?" I asked, leaning forward until I could see the grey flecks in his eyes. "Why would a man like you, a billionaire who could have anyone—want to marry a woman like me? A debt-ridden editor who just found her life in a dumpster?"

"Because you need revenge," he said. He lifted his glass, taking a slow, deliberate sip of whatever expensive amber liquid he was drinking. "And I need something that will get under Daniel Brooks' skin. Deep enough to leave a scar."

My jaw tightened at the sound of Daniel’s name. Just hearing it made the image of him and Sophie flash behind my eyes again. The betrayal felt like a fresh cut, stinging all over again.

Adrian continued, his gaze pinning me to my seat like a butterfly under glass. "From what I understand, you were supposed to be his wife in two weeks. The invitations are out.  The life you planned is ready and waiting."

"Fourteen days," I corrected him, the bitterness rising in my throat like bile.  I had the dress. I had the cake picked out. 

"And now he’s sleeping with your best friend in the apartment you picked out together," Adrian said. He didn't say it to be mean; he said it like he was stating a boring fact.

My fingers white-knuckled around my glass until I thought the crystal might shatter. "How did you know that? How did you know about the apartment? How did you know about Sophie?"

"I make it my business to know everything about Daniel," Adrian replied, his voice dropping an octave. "I’ve watched him for years. I know how he operates, I know his weaknesses, and I know his greed. He thinks he’s won because he’s moving on with someone ‘better’ in his eyes. He thinks he’s left you behind in the dust."

That didn't exactly comfort me. If anything, it made me feel like I was being watched by two different predators. "And how does marrying me help you? I’m just a girl with a mountain of debt."

Adrian leaned back, a predatory grace in his movements that reminded me of a wolf watching its prey. "It will drive him insane, Lena. Daniel has spent his whole career trying to be me. He wants my contracts, my reputation, and my market share. But he can never beat me. Seeing you, the woman he discarded—on the arm of the one man he can never be? That is a blow he won't recover from. It’s the ultimate humiliation."

Despite the massive, gaping hole in my heart, I felt a spark of something new. It wasn't love, and it wasn't hope. It was spite. Pure, unfiltered spite.

"He deserves worse," I whispered, staring into my drink. "He deserves to lose everything."

"Then say yes," Adrian said. "Let me give you the tools to break him."

My heart pounded against my ribs so hard I thought he might be able to see it through my wet blazer. "You don't know me, Adrian. I'm not a trophy you can just put on a shelf to show off. I have baggage. I have enemies."

"I know enough," he answered. "I know you're loyal to a fault, which was your mistake with Daniel. I know you're deeply hurt. and most importantly, I know you're angry. Anger is a much better motivator than love."

"What do you get out of this, really?" I pushed, trying to find the catch. "A billionaire doesn't get married just to annoy a rival."

"Control," he answered simply. "Daniel and I have been competing for years. But he crossed a line recently on a merger that cost me a lot of time. This... this makes it personal. I want to see him crumble, and you are the key to that."

I stared at him, my head spinning. "So you want to use me."

"Temporarily. Just like you would be using me to get out from under the Silvers and to get back at the man who broke you."

Every rational part of my brain was screaming Red Alert. I’d just been betrayed by the two people I loved most, and now a stranger was offering me a deal with the devil in a bespoke suit. It was the height of stupidity to even consider it.

But then I remembered Daniel’s voice from our last argument. “You’re safe, Lena. You’re predictable. You’re not the kind of girl who takes risks.” He thought he had me figured out. He thought I would just go away quietly and cry in a corner while he lived his perfect life with Sophie.

"What kind of marriage?" I asked, my voice gaining a strength I didn't know I still had.

"A contract," Adrian said, sensing the shift in the air. "One year. We live together, we appear in public together, and we convince the world, and Daniel—that we are madly in love. No feelings, no complications. We divorce quietly when the dust settles and Daniel is ruined."

"And what do I get?"

"Total financial security. Your father’s debt? Gone tomorrow morning. Protection and watching Daniel regret the day he ever met Sophie."

The room seemed to shrink. My life was already a pile of ashes. I had no house, no fiancé, no best friend, and a debt that would eventually get me killed. What did I honestly have left to lose?

I looked straight into his cold  eyes. "Fine."

Adrian’s eyebrow lifted just a fraction. "Fine?"

"I’ll marry you," I said, my voice finally steady. "I’m angry enough to do something stupid, and I’m desperate enough to trust a shark. Let’s burn his world down."

A flicker of something crossed his face, maybe it was respect, or maybe it was just the satisfaction of a hunter who had caught his prize.

He stood up, buttoning his coat with slow, deliberate movements. "Good. A wise choice, Lena. Be ready  tomorrow morning. Dress well."

I gasped, nearly falling off my barstool. "Tomorrow?! Adrian, I don't even have your phone number! How am I supposed to..."

He paused at the door, a faint, dangerous smile ghosting his lips. It was the first time I’d seen him look almost human, but it was the look of a man who enjoyed the chaos.

"I already have yours," he said.

And then he was gone, disappearing into the rainy New York night, leaving me alone with a decision that would either save my life or destroy whatever was left of it.