Bound By His Will: The Cold CEO's Fake Fiancée

Chapter 3: Rejection

Damien didn’t flinch. “You’re efficient and discreet. You don’t want anything from me beyond a paycheck, and for the past two years, you’ve shown you can handle pressure without cracking. The others would complicate things, expecting feelings, attention, a future. You won’t. This is strictly a business transaction. Sign the contract, play your role convincingly for twelve months, and you’ll never have to worry about money again. Your family business, your mother’s medical bills, whatever you need will be covered.”

He slid a thick folder across the table toward her, filled with prepared documents detailing every clause in cold legal language. “Think it over. You have until the end of the day.”

Evelyn stood up slowly, pushing the folder back toward him with two fingers as if it might burn her.

“No,” she said firmly, her voice leaving no room for negotiation. “I’m not for sale, Mr. Blackthorne not for eight million or any amount. I’ve spent two years ensuring your world runs smoothly while you barely remember my name most days. I won’t spend another pretending to love a man who sees people as tools.”

She picked up her bag with calm determination and walked toward the elevator without looking back. “Find someone else for your game; I’m done being invisible.”

The doors closed behind her, leaving the penthouse in silence except for the distant hum of the city below.

Damien stared at the untouched folder she had left behind, its weight pressing down on him more heavily than before. He had anticipated resistance but not like this not from her.

Just as he reached for his phone to calculate his next move, it vibrated in his hand but it wasn’t his phone; it was hers, left on the table in her haste to leave.

He picked it up intending to send it after her when the screen lit up with an incoming call:

“Mom – Hospital.”

Before he could decide what to do next, the call ended and a text appeared: “Evie, the new bill just came in, they tripled the amount for the experimental treatment. The bank called about the business loan, they’re foreclosing if we don’t pay by Friday. I’m so sorry, sweetheart, I don’t know what else to do.”

Damien set down her phone carefully. He didn’t smile or feel any satisfaction at this turn of events; instead, as he stared at that screen displaying Evelyn White’s struggle to hold everything together, one thing became clear: she would be back and when she returned, that contract would be waiting for her.