CHAPTER 4
1021 Words
Lila sat in the back of the black luxury car, her fingers tightening around the thick contract in her lap. The weight was smothering. Every word across the pages seemed to be a chain that cinched tighter around her throat, each clause spelling out exactly how much she was giving up.
She ran her fingers over the paper. This thing was practically screaming, trapped in fancy legal terms.
Across from her, Elias was as unreadable as ever, scrolling through his phone, his face bathed in the cold glow of the screen. The silence between them stretched. Lila wanted to break it—to say something that would make all this feel less… final.
Instead, she looked down at the signature line.
One signature. That’s all that was required, to sell one’s soul.
She closed her hand tighter over the pen.
“I don’t see what all of this is for,” she whispered without turning toward him. “Why have an actual contract? We both know what this is.”
Finally, Elias looked up, his eyes sharp. “Because I do not do anything without certainty." You know that.”
Lila exhaled abruptly, shaking her head. “And if I don’t sign?”
Elias sat back, extending an arm along the seat. “Then you walk away. Back to your financial problems. Back to the mess you were trying to fix before I stepped in.” Smooth, even voice, but beneath that, a thread of something, almost… daring.
He knows I won’t walk away. That’s the worst part. He knows me too well.
She swallowed hard as she stared down at the space beside Lila Calloway in neat, printed letters.
Her fingers constricted around the pen, loosening again. Why is this so damn hard?
“This is crazy,” she whispered, mainly to herself.
Elias smirked. “It’s business.”
She gave him a stern look. “It’s manipulation.”
"Call it what you want," he said, as smooth as silk. But once you sign, you have all you need. No more fighting. No uncertainty anymore."
Lila laughed bitterly. Sure. Just a lifetime of pretending to be your wife.
He c****d his head to one side. One year.
Her belly folded. One year is little. For what he was proposing, an eternity.
She looked at the paper again, her brain a muddle. One year as Mrs. Elias Kane. One year of public appearances, fake love, living in his world.
But also…
One year of security. One year of not having to worry about bills, medical expenses for her father, her future crumbling beneath her feet.
She took a deep breath.
And signed.
The moment her pen lifted, Elias reached forward, taking the contract and flipping it shut without so much as a glance at her signature. Like he knew I’d do it all along.
Lila clenched her jaw. “Just like that, huh?”
He nodded. “Just like that.”
Something about his tone made her blood boil. “You don’t even seem surprised.”
Elias studied her for a moment, his eyes cool, unreadable. “I wasn’t.”
Her fists clenched. “You’re insufferable.”
A smile pulled the corner of his lip. “And yet, you just promised to marry me.”
She was tempted to throw something at him.
The car rolled to a stop before a spindly skyscraper—one of Elias’s several holdings, surely.
“This is your life now,” he said, almost reading her mind.
Lila’s stomach turned over. God save me.
The Penthouse
It was an eternity before the elevator finally stopped on her floor. Lila felt very aware of Elias standing beside her, wholly composed, when she felt as if she would crawl out of her skin.
As the doors opened, she stepped into the penthouse and caught her breath in her throat.
It was huge. The far wall was lined with floor-to-ceiling windows, behind which the glittering city skyline shone bright. Sleek lines and muted tones dominated the furniture, expensive but impersonal.
“This is where you’ll be living,” Elias said, closing the door behind them. “Everything you need is here.”
Lila crossed her arms, scanning the space. “Right. Because nothing screams home like a billionaire’s showroom.”
He ignored the dig. “There’s a room set up for you down the hall. You’re free to change whatever you don’t like.”
She snorted. “Oh, so magnanimous of you.”
He turned more fully toward her, his eyes serious. “Lila, I don’t expect this to sit easily. But you said you could manage. And I need you to do it.”
Her pulse kicked up. Play my part. Like I’m an actress in some twisted play.
“And what exactly does that include?” she asked.
Elias stepped closer, his presence overwhelming. “For starters, when we’re in public, we’re a couple. You don’t just tolerate me—you adore me.”
Lila snorted. “That’s going to be an Oscar-winning performance.”
His lips twitched slightly, almost like he wanted to laugh, but he schooled his expression. “It means no slipping up. No looking miserable when we’re together. No acting like I’m the villain.”
Her heart pounded. “And when we’re alone?”
Elias didn’t answer right away. Instead, he reached into his pocket, pulling out a small box and flipping it open.
A diamond ring stared back at her.
She froze. Oh, hell no.
“Put it on,” he said.
Lila glared at him. “You cannot be serious.”
His face didn’t change. “Completely.”
Her fingers shook as she reached for the ring. It’s not real. It is not.
But the second the ring slid onto her finger, a weird wave washed over her.
Finality.
She peered up into Elias, a flicker dancing in his regard that she didn’t know what to make of.
“You’re mine now,” he whispered slowly.
A cold shiver ran down her back.
She swallowed hard, and her voice wasn’t more than a whisper.
“What have I done?”
- Writer
