Signed in ink Bound in secrets

I had never hated a pen so much in my life.

It gleamed under the soft light of Caelum’s penthouse office, all sleek silver and weighty elegance, resting beside a contract that looked more like a death sentence than a business arrangement. My fingers hovered over it, trembling despite my best efforts to hide it. Across the massive mahogany desk, Caelum lounged in his chair like a king surveying his reluctant subject.

“Sign it, Saphira.” His voice was deep, velvet-smooth, but with an edge sharp enough to cut through my hesitation.

I dragged my gaze up to his. The city skyline framed him like a crown of fire, the glowing spires of Manhattan twinkling against the glass wall behind him. The effect was maddening. Everything about Caelum Drayke screamed untouchable power from the way his suit hugged his broad shoulders to the unflinching intensity in his stormy gray eyes.

“I should have my lawyer look over this,” I said, forcing steel into my voice.

“You can,” he said smoothly, “but you don’t have time.”

Of course I didn’t. Lucien had made sure of that when he threatened to destroy everything I’d built. And Caelum knew it. That was why he’d swooped in with this… proposition.

A fake marriage. A merger in all but name. Protection for me and my company, in exchange for playing his perfect wife.

It sounded simple enough when he’d laid it out in that low, commanding tone of his. But now, staring down at the contract, it felt like a trap I might never claw my way out of.

“Why me?” I asked softly.

Caelum arched a brow, leaning back in his chair. “You really have to ask?”

“Yes.”

He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he studied me, his eyes scanning my face with unnerving precision. I felt like a specimen under glass.

Finally, he leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk. “Because you’re brilliant. Because you’re bold. Because you’re the only woman in this city who would dare to look me in the eye and say no.”

Heat rose to my cheeks, though I fought to keep my expression cool. Compliment or manipulation? With Caelum, it was hard to tell.

“And because,” he added with a smirk that made my pulse jump, “Lucien wants to destroy you. Which makes you all the more interesting to me.”

My stomach knotted. This wasn’t about saving me; it was about strategy. Caelum Drayke didn’t do charity. He did power plays. And I was about to become one of them.

“I’m not a pawn,” I said, my voice low.

“No,” he murmured, “you’re a queen. But even queens need alliances to win the game.”

I gritted my teeth, grabbed the pen, and signed my name in bold, defiant strokes.

Caelum’s smirk deepened. “That’s my girl.”

I slammed the pen down harder than necessary. “Don’t call me that.”

“Why not?” he teased. “You’re mine now. At least on paper.”

I rose from my chair, ignoring the way his words sent a shiver down my spine. “This is a business arrangement.”

“Of course,” he said, his gaze dipping briefly to the neckline of my silk blouse before returning to my eyes. “Purely business.”

Liar.

I turned on my heel, needing space, air, anything but his suffocating presence. The floor-to-ceiling windows stretched out in front of me, showcasing the glittering expanse of the city. My city. My empire. And now, somehow, his too.

“You should move in,” Caelum said casually behind me.

I whipped around. “What?”

“If we’re married, it’ll be suspicious if we live apart.” He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “The tabloids will eat us alive.”

“You expect me to leave my penthouse and move into yours?”

He shrugged. “Unless you’d prefer I move into yours.”

“No.” The word left my lips too quickly, too sharply. The thought of Caelum in my personal space made my chest tighten in ways I didn’t understand. “Fine. I’ll move here.”

His smile was slow and wolfish. “Good girl.”

I shot him a glare sharp enough to kill. He only chuckled.

---

Three hours later, I stood in Caelum’s massive penthouse suite, surrounded by boxes and designer garment bags. His staff had been frighteningly efficient; by the time I’d arrived, my things were already neatly arranged in a walk-in closet bigger than most apartments.

“This is temporary,” I muttered to myself, running my fingers along the sleek marble counter of the master bathroom. “Six months. That’s it.”

A soft knock on the door startled me.

“Saphira?”

I froze at the sound of his voice.

“Yes?”

“Come out.”

I hesitated, then stepped into the bedroom. Caelum was leaning against the doorframe, sleeves rolled up, tie loosened, exuding effortless dominance. He held two champagne flutes in one hand, a bottle of Dom Pérignon in the other.

“To celebrate,” he said smoothly.

“I don’t drink with people I don’t trust,” I replied coolly.

He smirked. “Good thing you don’t have to trust me. Just pretend to.”

I accepted the glass with a sigh. “You’re impossible.”

“Yet here you are,” he murmured, clinking his glass against mine.

We drank in silence for a moment, tension crackling between us like static. His eyes were on me, sharp and assessing, as if he could read every thought in my head. I hated that he probably could.

“What do you want from me, Caelum?” I asked finally.

“Everything,” he said simply.

My heart skipped a beat. “Be serious.”

“I am.”

His tone sent a chill racing down my spine.

---

The next morning, the illusion of calm shattered.

I’d barely finished my coffee when Caelum strode into the kitchen, holding his phone. His expression was grim.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

He handed me the device. My stomach dropped at the headline glaring back at me:

“Tech Queen Saphira Vale Engaged to Billionaire Caelum Drayke: Merger or Marriage?”

Below it were paparazzi photos of us at the gala, his hand on my waist, his lips brushing my ear. The kiss. The contract signing. Everything.

“How did they…?”

“I leaked it,” he said casually.

My head snapped up. “You what?”

He leaned against the counter, completely unfazed. “We needed to get ahead of the narrative. Now, the world believes we’re a power couple. That keeps Lucien guessing.”

I clenched my fists. “You should have asked me first.”

“I don’t ask,” he said, voice like steel.

I glared at him, rage bubbling in my chest. “You’re a control freak.”

“And you’re welcome.”

I slammed my coffee cup down. “I didn’t agree to become a pawn in your PR circus!”

His eyes darkened. “Then stop acting like one.”

For a moment, we just stared at each other, the tension so thick I could hardly breathe. And then

The intercom buzzed.

Caelum pressed a button. “Yes?”

“Sir,” came his assistant’s voice, tinged with urgency. “You should see this.”

A large screen descended from the ceiling, displaying a live news broadcast. My blood ran cold.

Lucien. Standing in front of a line of flashing cameras, that smug smile plastered on his handsome face.

“I’d like to congratulate my dear friend Saphira Vale on her engagement,” he said smoothly. “It’s a shame she had to settle for a man like Caelum Drayke. But I suppose desperation makes us all… reckless.”

The reporters gasped. Lucien’s smile widened.

“And since we’re being honest, I think the world deserves to know what kind of woman Saphira Vale really is.”

My stomach dropped as a photo appeared on the screen behind him. It was grainy, clearly taken years ago. Me, standing in a dark alley, shoving a duffel bag into the trunk of a car. A man’s hand resting on the car door. A man I hadn’t seen in years.

“Meet Adrian Voss,” Lucien said to the cameras. “A convicted arms dealer. And Saphira Vale’s first investor.”

The room spun.

Caelum cursed under his breath.

Lucien leaned closer to the microphone, his smile razor-sharp.

“Tell me, Saphira how much of your empire was built with blood money?”

The screen went black.

I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think.

Caelum’s jaw was tight, his hands clenched into fists. “He just declared war.”

The phone rang. Caelum grabbed it, listening for a few seconds before his expression turned deadly.

“They’re raiding one of your warehouses,” he said quietly. “Right now.”

I staggered back, heart hammering.

“What?”

“They’re coming for you, Saphira.”

The champagne flute slipped from my fingers, shattering on the marble floor.

---

Panic surged through me as sirens wailed faintly in the distance, growing louder with every passing second.

“They’re here,” Caelum murmured.

And for the first time since signing that contract, I realized what I’d really agreed to.

This wasn’t just a marriage.

This was a war.