Semua Bab THE CONTRACT OF MARRIAGE: TWO YEARS: Bab 1 - Bab 5

“What did you say? We’re getting married?” Aria’s question hung in the quiet hospital corridor beneath the cold glow of the fluorescent lights. Her voice trembled, weighed down by a mixture of confusion and mounting disappointment. Lucas looked at her without the slightest hint of regret. His jaw remained clenched, his dark eyes radiating anger hidden behind a mask of cold calculation. He reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a thick document bound in a black cover, already prepared as though he had anticipated this very moment. “You heard what my mother said yourself,” Lucas replied, his voice cutting sharply through the silence. “She thinks you’re the one who can save my life. She believes my life will be ruined if I don’t break free from my girlfriend, and somehow, you’ve become the solution. But we both know the truth. You were nothing more than a pawn in that dining room earlier. So let’s make this a fair business arrangement. One that benefits both of us.” Lucas press

“Two more months, Mr. Lucas. Get your lawyer ready.” Aria’s poisonous whisper echoed through Lucas’s mind all night. She had spoken those words beneath the relentless flashes of the media cameras when they had been forced to pretend they were a happy couple. But now, inside the cold, silent Manhattan penthouse, the mask of affection had completely fallen away. Days turned into weeks, yet the atmosphere between them never thawed. Their contract marriage, born from the coercion of a will, the desperate arrangement made for Mrs. Sterling’s health, and business negotiations to fulfill Aria’s architectural dreams, had instead become a cold battlefield. Tonight, Sterling Corp was hosting a grand gala to welcome New York Fashion Week, the most prestigious annual event fully sponsored by the Sterling family. As the CEO’s legal wife, Aria was required to attend. Aria descended from the upper floor in an ivory silk-crepe evening gown. Its A-line silhouette draped elegantly over her figure,