Chapter 2
1375 Words
The Devil's Proposal
Mia's POV
I laughed. It wasn't a happy sound—more like something breaking inside me. "You can't be serious."
Alexander's expression didn't change. Those dark eyes, so different from Damien's warm brown ones—stayed locked on mine. "I'm always serious about business."
"Business?" I threw the towel at him. "I just had my entire life destroyed by your brother, and you want to talk business?"
"Yes." He caught the towel easily. "Because revenge is the best business there is."
The car hadn't moved. We were still parked outside Damien's building, rain hammering the roof. Through the tinted windows, I could see people rushing past with umbrellas, living their normal lives while mine fell apart.
"I don't even know you," I said quietly.
"You know enough." Alexander loosened his tie, and I tried not to notice how the movement made his shoulders flex under his tailored suit. "You know I walked away from the Kirk empire rather than play their games. You know I built something bigger without them. And you know I was the only one who tried to warn you about Damien."
That was true. The night before my wedding, Alexander had cornered me at the rehearsal dinner.
"Don't do this," he'd said, his hand catching my wrist as I tried to walk past. "My brother doesn't know how to love anyone but himself."
I'd yanked free, angry and defensive. "You're wrong. You don't know him like I do."
"I know him better than anyone," he'd said, his voice dropping. "And I know you deserve better."
Now, sitting in his car with my world in ruins, those words echoed differently.
"Why do you care?" I asked. "You haven't been back in two years. Why now?"
He pulled out his phone and showed me an email. "This came last week. From your father's lawyer."
My breath caught. The email was dated a week before my father's death.
"Michael Bruce suspected his wife and stepdaughter were plotting something," Alexander continued. "He reached out to me because he knew I'd left the family business. He wanted someone Victoria couldn't manipulate."
"My father contacted you?" My hands shook as I read the email. "But he changed his will—"
"He didn't change anything. They forged it after his death." Alexander swiped to show me more documents. "Your father left everything to you, Mia. The houses, the company shares, all of it. But Victoria and your stepmother needed you out of the way."
"So they used Damien." The pieces were falling into place, each one cutting deeper. "Our entire marriage was just—"
"A con." Alexander's voice was gentle now. "They needed you vulnerable, isolated. Damien was perfect for the job."
I wanted to throw up. Four years. Four years of believing someone loved me.
"But you have no proof," I said. "Even these documents—they won't hold up against their lawyers."
"Not alone." He leaned back, studying me. "But with the right pressure, applied the right way, we can make them confess everything."
"And you need me for that."
"I need your access. Your knowledge. Your anger." His eyes darkened. "Marry me, and you become untouchable. You'll have the Kirk name—the real power, not Damien's borrowed authority. You'll be back in society, at every event, in every room where they thought they'd banned you."
"And what do you get?"
For the first time, his control slipped. Something raw flashed across his face. "I get to destroy the brother who took everything from me."
"Damien took something from you?"
Alexander turned away, looking out at the rain. "He took the only thing that mattered. But that's my story, not yours."
My phone buzzed. Another video notification—this one from Victoria's i********:. She was still in the conference room, sitting on Damien's lap now, his arms around her waist. The caption: "When he finally chooses the right sister 💕"
Something inside me snapped. The pain crystallized into pure rage.
"How would it work?" I heard myself asking.
Alexander turned back, and this time his smile was sharp as a blade. "Simple. We get married immediately—I have connections who can make it happen today. Tomorrow, we announce it to the world. Every newspaper, every social media platform will cover the scandal. Damien Kirk's mysterious wife marries his estranged brother."
"They will deny I was ever married to him."
"Let them try. I have security footage from your wedding. The real marriage certificate, filed in Nevada where you got married. Photos from your honeymoon in Bali." He pulled out another folder, this one thick with evidence. "I've been collecting proof for Four years, Mia."
"Four years?" I stared at him. "You've been watching us for our entire marriage?"
Something shifted in his expression. "I've been watching you."
The way he said it made heat crawl up my neck. "Why?"
"Because I knew this day would come. And when it did, I wanted to be ready to offer you everything my brother never could."
"Which is?"
"Power. Protection. And the complete destruction of everyone who hurt you."
I looked at the photos in my lap—Victoria and Damien, laughing at some party while I sat home alone. My stepmother with her lawyer, probably planning how to steal my inheritance. My father's fake will.
"What about love?" The question slipped out before I could stop it.
Alexander went very still. "Love is what got you here. I'm offering something better. Partnership. Trust. Revenge."
"And after? When we've destroyed them?"
"Then you're free. Divorce me, take half of everything I own, and disappear if you want. Or..." He paused.
"Or?"
"Or stay, and help me build something that makes the Kirk empire look like a playground."
My phone rang. It was my stepmother. I declined the call, but she immediately texted: "The locks have been changed on the house. Your belongings are in storage. Don't make this harder than necessary."
They had thrown me out. Of my own father's house.
"I need a lawyer," I said.
"I have twelve."
"I need clothes."
"I'll buy you new ones."
"I need—" My voice broke.
Alexander's hand covered mine. His touch was warm, steady, nothing like Damien's always-distracted fingers.
"You need revenge," he said quietly. "Everything else, I can give you."
I looked up at him, this dangerous man offering me a devil's bargain. He was nothing like Damien. Where Damien was golden sunshine and easy smiles, Alexander was midnight storms and sharp edges. Where Damien had made me feel small, Alexander made me feel like I could burn the world.
"One condition," I said.
"Name it."
"When we destroy them, I want to be the one to tell Damien. I want to see his face when he realizes he chose wrong."
Alexander's smile was slow, approving. "Deal."
He pulled out his phone. "Marcus? Yes, the same Marcus who just threw my future wife out of the building. You have ten minutes to get down here and apologize, or you'll be unemployed by lunch."
"You can't—Damien owns the security company."
"No," Alexander corrected. "The Kirk Corporation owns it. And as of this morning, I own fifty-one percent of Kirk Corp."
My mouth fell open. "How?"
"I've been buying shares through shell companies for two years. The board doesn't even know yet." He brushed a wet strand of hair from my face, the gesture surprisingly gentle. "I told you, Mia. I've been preparing for this day."
Through the window, I saw Marcus running out of the building, no umbrella, his face pale with panic.
"Say yes," Alexander murmured, his thumb tracing my cheekbone. "Let me give you everything they took."
I thought about Damien's cold eyes. Victoria's smirk. Four years of being hidden. My father's stolen inheritance. My mother's jewelry that my stepmother now wore.
"Yes," I whispered.
Alexander's hand slid to the back of my neck, pulling me closer. "Say it properly."
My heart hammered. "Yes, I'll marry you."
Marcus reached the car, soaked and terrified, knocking on the window. Alexander didn't even look at him.
"Good girl," he said, and something about the way he said it made heat pool in my stomach. "Now, let's go ruin their lives."
- Writer
