His accidental wife

Chapter Seven—The first day.

Back to the present…..

The pen slipped from Isabelle’s shaking fingers, and she gazed at the bold ink of her name on the contract. For a moment, the letters didn’t even look like her handwriting. It felt unknown, as if some stranger had sold away her life to someone else.

It has been done.

Her chest rose and fell unevenly due to her uneven breathing as Jayden’s lawyer came into the office and took the papers. A polite bow, a quick exit, and the door clicked shut. The room was filled with silence immediately.

Isabelle’s hands were ice cold on her lap, her heart beat so loud, she could hear it. She had signed the marriage contract. She was no longer just Isabelle Bennett, the poor girl who worked shifts in a café and begged pharmacists or banks for mercy. She was—on paper—Jayden Blackwood’s wife.

“From today,” Jayden’s voice broke through her train of thought, “your life changes.”

She looked up slowly, staring at his face. His face was unreadable, icy, and no emotions were visible. No smile, no warmth, no sense of happiness. He looked at her the way one might look at a business partner immediately after signing a deal —completed, settled, finished.

Isabelle swallowed hard. “What happens now?” Her voice came out small, barely audible, almost lost in the wide office.

Jayden’s eyes lingered on her, calm and cool. “You’ll move into my house. Attend events with me when required. Play your role as my wife when necessary. In return…” He paused. “…your mother’s treatment is already being taken care of.”

A tightness gripped her chest, her lungs almost forgetting how to work. “What do you mean?”

“Check your phone.”

Isabelle’s trembling fingers delved into her bag until she pulled it out. The screen lit up with a notification from the hospital. She froze, her heart slamming painfully against her chest.

Payment Received in Full.

Her lips opened. Her vision blurred. For a second she couldn’t breathe. The heavy load that had been weighing her down for months had been lifted, only a fraction, but it was enough to steal the strength from her knees.

Her mother was safe. At least for now.

Tears filled her eyes, threatening to fall. But she bit the inside of her cheek and stopped them from coming. She wouldn’t break down here. Not in front of him.

“Thank you,” she whispered, barely audible.

Jayden said nothing, his gaze not leaving her, as if weighing her reaction. Then he stood up, buttoning his suit jacket with smooth movements. “We leave in an hour. A driver will pick you up. Be ready.”

The words hit her like a bucket of ice. “So soon?”

His brows arched slightly, not with surprise but with certainty. “You signed the contract. You belong in my world now. Delays are unnecessary.”

Belong. The word made her stomach twist. She hadn’t belonged anywhere in a long time, and now she belonged to a man she barely knew, in a world she didn’t understand.

Her gaze fell to the floor, her hands squeezing the edge of her dress. I did this for mummy, she reminded herself. I did this because there was no other choice.

But as she followed Jayden out of the office, the walls seemed to close in around her. Each step felt like walking deeper into a trap she had built for herself.

And in the quiet corners of her mind, one thought repeated like a warning she couldn’t silence:

What have I gotten myself into?