Chapter 13: The Offer
253 Words
48 hours after Aiden’s live, my phone rang.
Unknown number.
“Mrs. Cross? This is Mr. Hale from Hale Industries. We’d like to meet.”
Aiden and I exchanged a look in the hotel room. Hale was Cross Corp’s biggest rival.
The meeting was in a coffee shop. No suits. No cameras.
Mr. Hale slid a folder across the table. “We saw what you did. We saw who you chose. We want you, Aiden.”
“To do what?” Aiden asked. Voice careful.
“Be our new CEO. Start fresh. No board breathing down your neck. And we cover all medical for your wife and the twins. For life.”
My breath caught. Medical for life. That meant my mom too.
Aiden didn’t touch the folder. “What’s the catch?”
“No catch,” Hale said. “Just build something better. Something that doesn’t need fake marriages to survive.”
Outside, reporters were waiting. Vanessa was probably watching too.
Aiden took my hand under the table. “I need to talk to my wife.”
We stepped outside. Rain was falling.
“This could save us,” I whispered. “But only if you want it.”
Aiden looked at me. Then at my stomach.
“I spent my whole life building an empire I didn’t care about,” he said. “I’m not doing that again.”
He turned back to Mr. Hale.
“I accept. But on one condition. She comes with me. As partner. Not contract.”
- Writer
