Chapter 4:The Morning After
578 Words
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He was already gone when I woke up.
The London sun cut through my curtains, but the bed beside me was cold. Only the faint scent of Kelvin’s cologne on my pillow, and a folded note on the nightstand.
Jenna,
Dinner. 8PM. Don’t be late.
- K
I stared at it. Annoyed. Curious. Furious, even.
It was supposed to be 24hrs. One deal. One marriage on paper.
So why did it feel like he was rewriting the terms while I slept?
My phone buzzed before I could throw the note away.
Tasha: You’re quiet. Where’s the billionaire?
I didn’t answer. Twenty-four hours. That’s all this was meant to be.
Kelvin had been clear on the roof of his London penthouse two nights ago. His ex, Elena, was back in town. She was sniffing around his business, his name, his life. If she saw him alone, she’d start rumors. If she saw him married… she’d back off.
“Just act lovey-dovey around her,” he’d said, sliding the contract across the table. “Twenty-four hours. Then we’re done.”
One day. One fake wedding. One public show to make Elena believe he’d moved on.
But he left before sunrise. And now this dinner command.
Ten minutes later, my buzzer screamed.
I looked down from my Chelsea flat window. A black Range Rover was parked outside. Kelvin’s driver.
A delivery man handed me a box with no name. Inside, a silk dress. Deep emerald. Expensive. And a phone lit up with one text.
Kelvin: Be ready. 8PM. Rose will be there.
My hands shook. Rose. His ex. The woman he was trying to keep away from his board, his name, his life.
Another text came through before I could breathe.
Kelvin: You think you can walk away now, Jenna?
I stared at the dress. It wasn’t a request. It was an order.
He needed a wife tonight. Not on paper. In public.
And I was the only one who signed the contract.
I should’ve texted back “No.”
But my thumb hovered, and then my phone rang. Not a text. A call.
Tasha. My best friend since uni, and the only person at my London marketing firm who knew I’d married a stranger for cash.
“Jenna,” she said the second I picked up. “You’re trending on my feed. Kelvin Sterling left his penthouse at 6AM. Alone. Where are you?”
I sank onto my bed. Tasha was nosy, loyal, and terrible at keeping secrets from me. That was why I told her.
“Twenty-four hours,” I said. “That’s all it was supposed to be.”
“Then why is his driver outside your flat?”
I pulled back the curtain. He was still there.
Because of Rose.
Kelvin had said it on the roof. Elena wasn’t just an ex. She was his father’s former business partner’s daughter. If she believed Kelvin was unstable, alone, or distracted, she’d use her family’s shares to force a takeover of Sterling Group. The 24hr marriage was armor. A wife meant he wasn’t vulnerable.
And tonight, he needed that armor in a restaurant full of board members.
My chest tightened. It wasn’t love. It was leverage.
I looked at the emerald dress. I looked at the door.
Then I made my choice.
8PM, I typed.
I hit send to him.
I swallowed. Hard. Then I typed.
We pick up right at 8PM.No recap.Drop straight into the meeting
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- Writer
