I Accidentally Married a Billionaire

72 hours earlier, her life was normal. Now? Her mouth tasted like regret and tequila. Her head was pounding like a drum solo, and something cold and heavy was digging into her left ring finger. She cracked one eye open, instantly regretting it. The room was too white. Too quiet. Too expensive. Definitely not her apartment. She sat up and froze There was a man in the bed. A naked man. Even more specific, a naked stranger with unfair cheekbones, a chiseled jaw, and a body that probably had its own gym membership and personal chef. And on her finger… was a diamond ring that could pay off her student loans, buy a decent car, and still leave enough for a lifetime supply of ramen. What the actual hell? The man in the bed shifted, one arm flinging lazily across the white sheets. His hair was tousled in that infuriatingly effortless way, like he belonged in some designer cologne ad. His jaw was shadowed with stubble. Tessa blinked hard. Who was he? His eyes cracked open–ice blue, piercing despite the handover written across his face. For a second, he didn’t seem to see her at all. Just blinked at the ceiling like he was trying to place what planet he was on. Then he turned his head and froze. Their eyes locked, and Tessa could feel a herd of butterflies start a rampage in her stomach. He frowned first. Then his gaze dropped to her bare shoulder peeking out of the hotel sheet, to the mess of clothes scattered across the room, and finally… To the ring on her finger. “Please tell me you’re not here because I paid you,” he muttered. Tessa stared back at him, speechless and confused. He squinted at her, then at the ring on his own finger. His jaw tightened. “Oh hell.” He remembered. “You’ve got five seconds to tell me who the hell you are,” he said, voice low and dangerous. She blinked. “Me? I live here. I mean—I don’t! I—I don’t know where here is!” His eyes narrowed. “Don’t play dumb. You know exactly what you did.” “What did I? I just woke up! I don't even know your name!” He sat up in one fluid, intimidating motion. “You drugged me. Married me. And now, what? Planning to divorce me and take half?” “Half of what?! I don’t even know who you are!” He grabbed something off the nightstand and tossed it at her. A marriage certificate. Her name. His name. Xander Wolfe. She’d just accidentally married one of the richest,and most ruthless,men in the country. And he looked like he wanted to kill her. She stared at the certificate like it might catch fire and burn away the evidence. "This... this has to be fake." He scoffed. "Oh, it’s very real. Witnesses. Signatures. A lovely ceremony at three a.m. You cried. I vomited. Real storybook sh*t." Just then it all started coming back to her. She was in Vegas for her cousin, Amy’s bachelorette’s party. She had just gotten dumped by her long term boyfriend and initially did not want to attend the party but Amy would have had her head if she didn’t come. After a very lonely one hour at the party, she left to the opposite bar to get a drink and that is where she met Xander. She entered into a spontaneous drinking competition and from then on her memories where a bit blurry. Xander fills in the gaps about how they were both wasted from alcohol and started phoning around. She told him about her stupid boyfriend who just dumped her and he told her about his boring, stuck-up life. Xander is never this light-mouthed but he had a lot to drink that night. She then teased him about how he is stuck in a “system” life and cannot do wild things. Xander felt challenged and to prove her point, she drunkenly asked him to marry her, knowing that he would fold at the thought. A bit of tequila and an urge to prove this absolute stranger wrong, Xander agrees to marry her. They ran into a celebrity-themed chapel where an Elvis impersonator officiates. Neither of them actually believed the wedding was legal. They were joking, laughing and playing it up for the drunk tourists in the chapel. Well, fast forward to this morning and their very real and legal marriage certificate was staring back at them. Tessa’s heart thudded in her chest. “This can’t be happening.” “I’ll make it easy for you,” Xander said, rising from the bed like a devil in silk sheets. He moved with the lethal grace of someone used to power,someone who owned it. “You’re going to sign an annulment, disappear, and forget this ever happened.” That... sounded good. Clean. Smart. Except— “What if I don’t?” she asked before her mouth could catch up with her brain. He smiled. Cold. Dangerous. “Then I’ll take you to court, drag your name through the mud, and sue you for fraud, theft, and emotional damage. I’ve already called my lawyers.” Her stomach dropped. “You’re serious?” “Oh, sweetheart,” he said, pulling on a crisp shirt like a man getting dressed for war, “I was born serious.” She scrambled off the bed, ignoring the pounding in her head. “Look, I didn’t plan this. I don’t even remember meeting you. If this was some kind of joke.” “You think I wanted to marry some broke nobody who smells like tequila and cheap perfume?” That stung, even if it was true. “I saved you,” he added darkly, voice sharp. “You were about to get kicked out of a bar for standing on a table and announcing your ex was a limp disappointment. And now you’re my problem.” She crossed her arms. “I don’t want to be your problem. Just annul it and let me go.” He stepped closer, close enough for her to smell expensive cologne and bad intentions. “I would. But now, thinking about it, if this goes public,if even a whiff of this hits the media,my company will lose millions. My board will tear me apart. And you?” He leaned in, voice a low threat. “You’ll be known forever as the girl who trapped Xander Wolfe.” She swallowed. “So what… what do you want?” He straightened his cuffs, cool and calm. “A contract. One year. We stay married. You play the part. We make it look real.” “And then?” “Then you get your freedom. And a check that’ll buy a new life.” Her mind raced. This was insane. Illegal. Morally questionable. But then she thought of her bank account and her mother’s hospital bills, not to mention the eviction notice neatly folded in her purse. This was her one-way ticket to the good life. Plus, how bad could it really be? Drunk Tessa seemed to like Xander already. He held out his hand. “What’s it going to be, Mrs. Wolfe?”