"Marry me. Or lose him." Those were his first words to her. Not a proposal. An ultimatum. Claire Whitfield had spent three years raising her son alone — working two jobs, eating pride for breakfast, and telling herself she was fine. She was fine. Until she walked into a billionaire's office for a desperate job interview and her bag fell over and a photograph slid across the desk and Alexandre Laurent — CEO, billionaire, the most dangerous man in Paris — picked it up. And saw his own eyes on a two-year-old's face. He gave her one hour to decide. She said yes — for her son. Not for the man. Definitely not for the way he'd looked at her three years ago in a hotel bar like she was the most interesting thing in the room. And absolutely not for the way he stood at a nursery gate five minutes early and let a toddler decide whether to trust him with a pebble. She said yes for Theo. That's what she told herself. But Alexandre Laurent is not a man who accepts half measures. Not in business. Not in fatherhood. Not in love. And Claire is running out of reasons to keep her distance.