The Champion's Contract Bride

Chapter 2: Terms

"Marry me."

Sofia stared at Adrian across his penthouse office, certain she had misheard. The room was all glass and steel, fifty floors above the city, beautiful and cold as the man himself. He stood by the window, backlit by grey morning light, his hands in his pockets like he'd just commented on the weather.

"Excuse me?"

"One year. A contractual arrangement. You need a team. I need a wife." Adrian turned to face her. "It's that simple."

Sofia laughed. The sound came out wrong, too loud in the quiet room. She had spent the entire night rehearsing her questions, preparing to demand answers about the crash, about the missing money, about Lucas's investigation. She had not prepared for this.

"You're insane."

"Perhaps. But I'm also the only person willing to give you a real seat in a competitive car."

The statement landed like a slap. Sofia felt her hands curl into fists at her sides. She hated that he was right. EnergyFuel had pulled their offer. Every other team she'd approached had ghosted her or politely declined. She was toxic, damaged goods, and they both knew it.

"Why?" she demanded. "Why would Adrian Cross, CEO of a billion-dollar empire, need a fake wife? You could have anyone."

"Because I don't want anyone. I want this to be a business transaction, clean and uncomplicated." Adrian moved toward his desk, gesturing for her to sit. She didn't. "My investors are threatening a vote of no confidence. They believe my personal life reflects poorly on the company's stability. A marriage would quiet them."

"Your personal life is none of their business."

"Welcome to corporate governance." He sat down, watching her with those steady grey eyes. "The board wants a settled CEO. A family man. Someone they can trust with the company's future."

Sofia crossed the room slowly, her heels clicking against the marble floor. She stopped at the edge of his desk, close enough to see the slight shadow of stubble on his jaw, the tired lines around his eyes. He looked like a man who hadn't slept.

"And what do I get out of this arrangement?"

"The seat. Full factory support. A championship-caliber car." Adrian paused. "And answers."

Her heart slammed against her ribs. "Answers to what?"

"To the questions your brother has been asking."

The air in the room changed. Sofia felt it shift, the same sensation she used to get before a crash, that electric prickle of danger. She leaned forward, planting her palms on his desk.

"You knew about the sabotage. All along."

Adrian didn't look away. "I suspected. The evidence was never conclusive."

"Bullshit." The word came out sharp. "Lucas found missing payments. Shell companies. Money that moved right before my crash. You expect me to believe you didn't know?"

"I knew there was something. I didn't know who was responsible." Adrian's voice dropped, losing some of its polished edge. "I've spent three years trying to find out."

Sofia straightened, her mind racing. Three years. He'd been investigating for three years, and he'd never told her. Never reached out, never explained, never offered her a single scrap of the truth.

"You called me a liability."

"The board needed a statement. If I'd defended you publicly, they would have removed me from the company. I would have lost access to everything."

"Your precious company mattered more than my reputation."

"No." Adrian stood, rounding the desk until he was too close, his presence overwhelming. "You mattered more. Which is why I kept quiet. If the people responsible thought I was getting too close, they would have buried the evidence entirely. Or worse."

Sofia's throat constricted. She wanted to believe him. God, she wanted to believe that the man she'd once respected hadn't simply abandoned her. But three years of anger and grief didn't dissolve because he said the right words.

"You should have told me."

"I know."

"Three years, Adrian. Three years I thought I'd failed. That I'd made a mistake and destroyed my own career. Do you have any idea what that did to me?"

His jaw tightened. "I have some idea."

"No. You don't." Sofia turned away, walking toward the window. The city sprawled beneath her, indifferent to her pain. "I lost everything. My sponsors. My fiancé. My sense of who I was. And you let it happen."

"I was trying to protect you."

"I didn't need protection. I needed the truth."

Silence stretched between them. Sofia pressed her palm against the cold glass, focusing on the sensation, trying to steady her breathing. She could feel him watching her, waiting.

"The contract," she said finally. "What are the terms?"

Adrian's reflection shifted in the glass. "One year. We live together for appearances. Attend events. Present a unified front to the press and the board. We divide all assets at the end. No claims on each other's finances."

"No love. No jealousy. No crossing the line." Sofia turned to face him. "Isn't that how these arrangements always go?"

"Something like that."

"And the racing seat?"

"Yours. Effective immediately. You'll drive for Cross Racing's factory team starting with the European season."

Sofia studied him, searching for the lie. Adrian Cross was many things, but she'd never known him to break a contract. He was ruthless, calculating, emotionally constipated, but his word had always meant something.

Until he'd called her a liability.

"What aren't you telling me?"

Something flickered in his expression. "There's a lot I'm not telling you. But I will. Once we're married, once you're protected by the legal arrangement, I'll share everything I've found."

"That sounds like a threat disguised as a promise."

"It's the truth. Right now, you're vulnerable. Lucas is asking dangerous questions and making powerful people nervous. If you sign, you'll have my resources, my security, my lawyers." Adrian paused. "You'll be untouchable."

Sofia walked back toward him, stopping inches away. She could feel the heat radiating from his body, smell the faint scent of his cologne. Her heart hammered, but she kept her expression cold.

"And if I refuse?"

"Then you walk out that door. You go back to your life. And I'll still investigate, but I won't be able to protect you."

"I don't need your protection."

"Maybe not. But your brother might."

The words hit like ice water. Lucas. Her stubborn, reckless brother who refused to stop digging. If Adrian was telling the truth, if someone inside Cross Racing was dangerous enough to sabotage a championship car, then Lucas was putting himself directly in their path.

Sofia looked at Adrian Cross, the man she'd hated for three years, and saw something she hadn't expected: fear. Not for himself. For her.

"I want it in writing," she said quietly. "Everything. The racing contract, the marriage terms, the agreement to share information. All of it."

Adrian nodded. "I'll have my lawyers draft the documents this afternoon."

"And I want my own lawyer to review them."

"Of course."

Sofia took a breath. The weight of what she was about to do pressed down on her chest, heavy and suffocating. She was going to marry the man who had destroyed her life. She was going to sign away a year of her freedom for a chance to race again.

But she was also going to find out the truth.

"I have conditions," she said.

Adrian's eyebrow lifted slightly. "Name them."

"First, no sleeping in the same room. I don't care what the press says. When we're not performing for cameras, we're not sharing a bed."

"Agreed."

"Second, I race. You don't interfere with my decisions on the track. No trying to bench me because you're worried about my safety."

A muscle in his jaw twitched. "Agreed."

"Third, when this is over, I walk away. No debts, no obligations, no lingering attachments. We're done."

Adrian held her gaze. For a moment, she thought she saw something break in his expression, some crack in his careful composure. Then it was gone.

"Agreed."

Sofia nodded. "Then we have a deal."

She extended her hand, expecting him to shake it. Instead, Adrian reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box. He opened it, revealing a diamond ring that probably cost more than her entire apartment.

"People will expect an engagement story," he said. "We should make it convincing."

Sofia stared at the ring. It was beautiful, elegant, exactly the kind of thing Adrian Cross would choose. She wondered if he'd picked it himself or delegated the task to an assistant.

"Fine." She held out her left hand. "Put it on."

Adrian slid the ring onto her finger. His touch was warm, careful, and Sofia felt something flutter in her chest despite everything. She crushed the feeling immediately.

"One year," she said.

"One year."

The door to the office opened. A woman appeared, sleek and polished in a navy suit, her blonde hair pulled back in a severe bun. Sofia recognized her instantly.

Emma Vale. Her former best friend. The woman who had stopped returning her calls after the crash.

"Sofia," Emma said, her voice carefully neutral. "I didn't realize you were here."

"She's just leaving," Adrian said. "Emma, arrange for a press conference tomorrow morning. I need to make an announcement."

Emma's gaze dropped to Sofia's left hand. Her eyes widened slightly, then went blank.

"Of course. What's the announcement?"

Adrian looked at Sofia, and for the first time in three years, she saw something like warmth in his eyes.

"We're getting married."

Emma's expression didn't change, but Sofia caught the way her fingers tightened around the tablet in her hands.

"Congratulations," Emma said flatly.

Sofia walked past her toward the door, then paused. She looked back at Adrian, still standing behind his desk, still watching her with that unreadable expression.

"Don't make me regret this," she said.

The door closed behind her. In the elevator, alone, Sofia finally let herself breathe. Her hand was shaking. The ring felt like a shackle.

Her phone buzzed. A message from an unknown number.

Welcome back, Miss Reed. I hope you know what you're doing.

Sofia stared at the screen. The elevator descended, floor by floor, pulling her deeper into a world she'd sworn never to return to.

She didn't know who had sent the message.

But she was going to find out.