Chapter 2: The Impossible Deal
1222 Words
Aria stared at Damien Ashford as though he had just spoken a language she didn’t understand.
“Marry you?”
Her voice echoed through the spacious meeting room.
Damien remained perfectly calm.
“Yes.”
A short, bitter laugh escaped her lips.
“This has to be a joke.”
“It isn’t.”
“You don’t even know me.”
“I know enough.”
Aria folded her arms, forcing herself to meet his steady gaze.
“No billionaire asks a complete stranger to marry him.”
“I didn’t ask a stranger.”
He walked toward the table and picked up a black folder.
“I asked Aria Bennett.”
Her heartbeat faltered.
He opened the folder.
Inside were photographs.
One showed her leaving the hospital after visiting her mother.
Another captured her walking out of a supermarket carrying discounted groceries.
There were copies of her university transcript, employment records, and even the eviction notice from the apartment she’d been forced to leave six months earlier.
A chill crept down her spine.
“You investigated me.”
“I did.”
“You’ve been following me.”
“I’ve been making sure you stayed alive.”
She frowned.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
Damien closed the folder.
“There are people who don’t want your father’s past uncovered.”
Aria clenched her fists.
“Stop pretending you care.”
“I’m not pretending.”
“My father lost everything because of Ashford Group!”
“You believe that.”
“I know that.”
“No.”
His voice was calm but firm.
“You’ve been told that.”
The words struck harder than she expected.
For a brief moment, uncertainty flickered through her heart.
She quickly buried it.
“My father died believing your family ruined him.”
Damien’s expression darkened.
“Your father died before he learned the truth.”
Silence settled between them.
Outside, rain continued to beat against the tall windows.
Aria shook her head.
“If you know something, then tell me.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t have proof.”
She stared at him in disbelief.
“So you dragged me here to play games?”
“I brought you here because we need each other.”
She scoffed.
“I need nothing from you.”
“Really?”
He pressed a button on the remote lying beside him.
A large television screen lit up.
Hospital records appeared.
Her mother’s name.
Medical expenses.
Outstanding balance.
Treatment deadline.
Aria’s face drained of colour.
“You had no right.”
“I paid today’s bill.”
She looked up sharply.
“What?”
“The hospital was preparing to suspend part of your mother’s treatment.”
“No…”
“I covered it this morning.”
“You expect me to thank you?”
“No.”
“You think money can buy people?”
“No.”
“Then what do you want?”
“You already know.”
She looked away.
The room suddenly felt suffocating.
For three years, she’d struggled alone.
Working two jobs.
Skipping meals.
Selling everything her family owned.
Yet somehow this man knew every detail of her life.
“I won’t sell myself.”
“You aren’t.”
“A fake marriage is still a marriage.”
“It would last one year.”
“And after that?”
“We divorce.”
She laughed again.
“You’ve planned everything.”
“I always do.”
Aria walked toward the door.
“This conversation is over.”
Before she reached the handle, Damien spoke again.
“Victor Ashford.”
She froze.
Slowly, she turned around.
“What did you say?”
“Have you ever wondered why every document related to Bennett Technologies disappeared?”
Her pulse quickened.
“How do you know about that?”
“Because someone removed them.”
“You know who?”
“I have suspicions.”
She stepped closer despite herself.
“Tell me.”
“I can’t.”
Frustration flashed across her face.
“You keep saying that!”
“I need evidence.”
“And you think marrying you will magically produce evidence?”
“No.”
He held her gaze.
“It will give you access.”
The words lingered in the air.
Access.
To Ashford Group.
To confidential records.
To the people responsible.
To answers.
Her mind raced.
This was exactly what she’d wanted for three years.
Yet accepting meant trusting the very man she’d blamed for her father’s death.
She hated that she was even considering it.
Damien reached into his jacket pocket.
“This belonged to your father.”
He placed a small silver USB flash drive on the table.
Aria’s eyes widened.
She recognised it instantly.
Her father had always carried it on his keychain.
She rushed forward and snatched it from the table.
“Where did you get this?”
“It was delivered anonymously to my office two weeks ago.”
She stared at the drive in disbelief.
“My father lost this before he died.”
“I know.”
Her fingers trembled.
“What’s on it?”
“I couldn’t open it.”
She looked up suspiciously.
“You expect me to believe the country’s biggest tech company couldn’t unlock a flash drive?”
“It requires your father’s biometric encryption.”
She swallowed hard.
Her father had once joked that only family could open his most important files.
If Damien was telling the truth…
This drive might contain everything.
Or nothing.
She tightened her grip around it.
“I’ll find someone to unlock it.”
“You won’t have to.”
Damien walked toward her until only a step separated them.
“The encryption accepts a family DNA match.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’ve already arranged access to the laboratory.”
She searched his face for any sign of deceit.
There was none.
Just that same unreadable expression.
For the first time that evening, doubt crept into her certainty.
What if Damien Ashford wasn’t her enemy?
What if someone else had been hiding behind the Ashford name all along?
Damien extended a business card.
“My number.”
She hesitated before taking it.
“I’ll give you forty-eight hours.”
“For what?”
“To decide.”
He opened the meeting room door.
“You can walk away and never see me again.”
His voice softened slightly.
“Or you can marry me…”
“…and finally learn why your father died.”
Aria stepped into the corridor.
The lift doors closed behind her, but Damien’s final words echoed relentlessly in her mind.
When she reached the hotel lobby, her phone suddenly rang.
It was the hospital.
Her heart skipped a beat.
“Miss Bennett,” the nurse said anxiously. “Your mother’s condition has suddenly worsened.”
The colour drained from Aria’s face.
“What happened?”
“We need to begin an emergency procedure immediately…”
“…but we require payment before we can proceed.”
The call ended.
Aria stood motionless beneath the glittering chandeliers, her fingers tightening around Damien’s business card.
For the first time in three years…
She had no idea which choice would save her mother—
Or destroy her.
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