The proposal
1521 Words
Aria had never seen a location like this.
The penthouse was not only expensive, but even otherworldly.
There wasn't a single surface that did not glimmer with subtle extravagance. The walls were glass, the sofas slender, and the air itself had a faint hint of cash and restrained polished marble, cedar, and chilly air.
She stood at the window, her laptop bag clutched to her chest, not trying to look as out of place as she felt. Her heels dipped a fraction of an inch into the thick carpet. She'd never had a view before like this one, where the entire Manhattan skyline stretched out before her, glass and gold shining in the morning sun.
And then, him.
Liam Sterling.
The man whose name had been weighed in all the finance stories she'd ever read in passing, the man she'd baptized in coffee by accident. Today, though, he looked not at all like the billionaire tycoon he was. Together. Intense. Remote, and sort of un-magnate-like in morning light.
"Would you like to drink something?" he asked, his voice flat, silky.
No thanks," she said quickly. Her throat was dry, but she wasn't sure she'd be able to keep down anything he'd offer.
He nodded again, grabbing himself a glass of water instead. Even that tiny movement was deliberate, exact. Everything about Liam Sterling shouted control.
When finally he sat across from her, the stillness in the air wasn't tense, it was deliberate. He let it sit there, as if he awaited her move with it.
Aria suppressed a need to squirm.
Then, at last, he spoke, "I appreciate you showing up on short notice."
"I wasn't given much of an option," she rudely said before she could stop herself.
A half-smile played over his lips. "You always say what you think, don't you?"
"I try to," he answered wryly. "It's a bad habit, apparently."
"Not in my edition," he said softly.
She hadn't anticipated the comment. She wasn't sure if he was serious or if it was another of those witty one-liners that the type of people like him were so skilled at making.
"I've been reviewing your work," Liam continued. "You're clever.
You do things differently. That's not common."
She furrowed her brow, unsure where this was going. "Thanks. I guess?"
He rested his hands on the table. "I have a proposition for you.
It's… unusual."
Aria laughed to lighten the mood. "Unusual seems to follow me around these days."
"This one might surprise even you."
There was something in his tone that unnerved her. His face showed nothing, but the air around him thickened, charged.
"I'm listening," she said warily.
He studied her face, as though trying to gauge her capacity for shock. Then, with the same calm he might use to discuss stock projections, he said,
“I need a wife.”
Aria blinked. Once. Twice. She even smiled, waiting for the punchline.
When it didn’t come, her smile faltered. “I’m sorry what?”
“I need a wife,” he repeated evenly. “Temporarily.”
The world seemed to tilt sideways.
She let out a nervous laugh. "I, that's. A joke, isn't it?"
Liam's eyes did not waver. "No, Miss Bennett. I do not joke about business."
"Business?" she echoed. "Marriage is business to you?"
"Yes, in this case."
Aria stared at him, hoping for a flash of humor, of sarcasm, something to make this not so silly. There was not.
"Hardly know me," she said at last. "We've spoken twice. Once when I spilled on your shirt, and once when you elected to frighten me in my cubicle."
"You're right," he said suavely. "But I know enough."
Her eyebrow creased. "Enough?"
"You're intelligent, self-sufficient, unassuming," he informed her.
"You don't disintegrate under pressure. And you're not here for admiration."
"You did a background check, didn't you?"
"Of course I did."
"That's, that's insane!"
"It's natural for me," he answered suavely. "I do my research first before I make an offer."
"Oh, an offer?" She lifted her voice in indignation. "You're talking about marriage like you're proposing a merger!"
"That's what it is," Liam answered. "A convenience merger. You help me; I help you."
Aria retreated slowly, her head moving back and forth. "This is ridiculous. You can't just hire someone to be your wife."
"Why not?"
“Because marriage isn’t, it’s not supposed to be” she sputtered, “a transaction!”
He tilted his head slightly. “Most marriages are. People exchange comfort, security, power, and affection. The only difference is that I’m honest about it.”
His calm made her angrier. “That’s the most cynical thing I’ve ever heard.”
“Cynical,” he said softly, “is just what realism looks like after heartbreak.”
The way he spoke so quietly, with such gravity, caused her to pause. She wanted to ask him what he was getting at, but she didn't. Something in his eyes cautioned her against it.
She folded her arms instead. "Why me? Of all the women you could have used as models, heiresses, a woman who knows your world, why me?"
He answered promptly.
"Because you want nothing from me."
The words hit like a spark on dry ground.
Neither of them said a word. City lights sparkled faintly through the glass, shining in his gray eyes.
Then he continued, "I've met women who wanted my money, my name, my power. You glance at me and see… a nuisance. That's new."
"I don't know how to respond to that," she growled.
"Say yes," he replied bluntly.
Aria laughed in a breathless, amazed sound. "Say yes to marrying me? Do you hear yourself?"
He extracted from a leather binder a plump envelope. "I've prepared a draft of the agreement. You may read it."
She stared at the envelope as though it was going to explode. "An outline? You've considered this?"
"I consider everything."
"What is in there?"
"The terms. The duration. Payment."
The word made her stomach twist. “Compensation,” she repeated softly. “So you’re buying a wife.”
“I’m offering a partnership,” he corrected. “A six-month marriage, legally binding, publicly presented, and terminated quietly when it’s done. You’ll receive financial stability, I’ll retain control of my company, and the world will believe I’ve finally settled down.”
Her voice trembled. “And what happens after six months?”
"You walk away," he said to her. "With enough money to rebuild your life to pay your debts, reopen your father's bookstore, start over."
Her breath hitched. "You, you know about my father's shop?"
He nodded once. "Bennett's Books. I used to go there as a teenager."
Aria froze. "You… what?"
"Your father was kind to me," Liam said quietly. "He did not recognize me. He did not care. He used to say that money could buy walls, but not peace."
Her breath hitched. "He used to say that all the time."
"I never forgot it."
A movement in her chest occurred. The cold edges of his persona wavered for an instant and she saw the shape of another human being behind them.
"Why are you really doing this?" she whispered. "It's not just about a will, is it?"
Liam didn't answer right away. He stood before the window once more, hands lodged in his pockets. "My grandfather built this company on the illusion of family. He wanted the public to see their leaders as. stable."
"And you're not?"
"Stability is a lie," he breathed. "People walk away. People break things. But the world doesn't care. It only cares about the image."
Aria stared at him, her heart heavy. For a man who had it all, he seemed miserably alone.
Turning to face her, his expression was once more serene. "Miss Bennett, I'm offering you a deal that benefits us both equally. Nothing more."
She swallowed hard. "And if I say no?"
His gaze pinned hers, calm, unreadable. "Then we pretend this never happened."
She rose to her feet, the envelope held tightly in her hand. "And if I agree?"
"Then overnight, everything in your life changes."
Aria looked at the envelope, then at him. "Do you do this sort of thing a lot, Mr. Sterling? Offer life-changing offers to strangers?"
"No," he said. "Only if the correct person steps into my elevator."
Her chest tightened.
She turned to leave before he could see her confusion or the part of her that wanted to believe him.
At the door, he said quietly, “You have until tomorrow to decide.”
She paused. “You really think I’ll agree to this?”
“I think,” he said softly, “you’re too smart not to consider it.”
Aria left without another word.
As the door closed, Liam exhaled, slow and controlled. The silence that followed wasn't relief, but something far more dangerous.
For so long, he'd walked the world untouched by anyone or anything. But there was something in her defiance, her honesty, her fire that had broken the armor he'd worn his whole life.
He didn't approve.
He also didn't intend to stop.
- Writer
