One Night Vow

ONE NIGHT VOW Episode 1 — The Debt The knock came at eleven forty-seven at night. Three slow knocks. Not loud. Not desperate. Just certain. Elyra froze halfway down the stairs. For a moment, she simply listened. Rain whispered against the windows, filling the house with a restless rhythm. Her father was somewhere in the study. The television had been off for hours, and the rest of the house was silent. Then came another knock. Three times. Elyra's stomach tightened. "Who is it?" No answer. She glanced toward her father's study. "Dad?" Nothing. She walked to the door. Every sensible part of her told her not to open it. She opened it anyway. A man stood beneath the porch light. Black coat. Dark hair damp from the rain. One hand in his pocket. His expression was calm enough to be unsettling. He didn't look like someone who had come to apologize. He looked like someone who had come to collect something. His eyes settled on hers. "Are you Elyra?" Her fingers tightened around the edge of the door. "Who are you?" Instead of answering, his gaze moved past her shoulder. "Is your father home?" "Why?" "I need to speak with him." "About what?" His jaw tightened slightly. "His debt." The word hit harder than it should have. Elyra frowned. "My father doesn't have any debt." The man's eyes returned to hers. "He does." She started closing the door. His hand caught it. Not violently. Just firmly. Elyra looked at his hand, then at him. "Let go." "I need five minutes." "You can have five minutes tomorrow." "I can't." "Then you're going to have to leave." He didn't move. "Elyra." The way he said her name made her pause. She had never heard his voice before. Yet he said her name as if he had known it for a long time. "How do you know my name?" His expression gave nothing away. "Go get your father." "No." A beat of silence passed between them. Then he said quietly, "You're making this harder than it needs to be." "And you're standing at my door in the middle of the night talking about a debt my father supposedly owes you." She lifted her chin. "So I think I'm allowed to ask questions." Something flickered in his eyes. Approval? Annoyance? She couldn't tell. "Get your father." Elyra stepped back. "Dad!" No answer. "Dad!" Footsteps sounded upstairs. Her father appeared at the top of the staircase. The moment he saw the man standing at the door, his face changed. All the color drained from it. Elyra noticed immediately. "Dad?" He gripped the railing. "Let him in." Her stomach dropped. "What?" "Let him in, Elyra." She looked between them. Her father looked frightened. The stranger looked completely calm. That frightened her even more. She stepped aside. The man entered. He removed his coat and placed it over his arm. He didn't look around. He walked into the living room as though he already knew where everything was. Elyra followed him. Her father came downstairs slowly. The stranger stopped beside the coffee table. "Sit." Elyra stared at him. "You don't give orders in my house." His eyes met hers. "Tonight, I do." Her father immediately spoke. "Elyra, please." That one word stopped her. Her father never begged. Not with her. Not for anything. She sat. The stranger remained standing. He placed a black folder on the table. Elyra stared at it. "What is that?" "Proof." "Of what?" "Your father's debt." She looked at her father. "Dad?" He said nothing. Her heart began beating faster. She opened the folder. There were contracts. Bank documents. Numbers. Signatures. And at the bottom of one page was her father's name. Elyra's fingers went cold. "How much?" Her father looked away. She asked again. "How much does he owe?" The stranger answered. "Three hundred thousand dollars." Elyra stared at him. For a second, she couldn't process the number. Three hundred thousand. She looked at her father. "You told me everything was fine." "I was going to fix it." "When?" He didn't answer. "When were you going to tell me?" "I didn't want you involved." Elyra let out a bitter laugh. "I'm already involved." The stranger closed the folder. "Your father had thirty days to repay the money." Elyra looked at him. "And he didn't." "No." "So you came here to threaten him?" "No." "Then what do you want?" He looked directly at her. "I came to offer him one final solution." Her father closed his eyes. Elyra noticed. And suddenly, she didn't want to hear the answer. "What solution?" The stranger said it without hesitation. "You." Her heart stopped. "What?" "You marry me." Silence. For several seconds, nobody moved. Then Elyra laughed. A short, disbelieving laugh. "You can't be serious." "I am." She looked at her father. "Dad?" His silence was answer enough. Her smile disappeared. "You knew." "Elyra—" "You knew this was why he came?" "I'm sorry." She stared at him. "You're sorry?" Her voice shook. "You borrowed three hundred thousand dollars and now you're offering me as payment?" "No." The stranger's voice cut through the room. "That's not what this is." Elyra turned toward him. "Then what is it?" "A marriage agreement." "I don't want one." "I know." "I don't know you." "You will." "I don't want to know you." He studied her face. "That can change." She almost laughed again. "You really think you can walk into my house and decide that I'm going to marry you?" "No." "Then why are you acting like it?" "Because your father signed an agreement with me." "That agreement didn't include me." "No." He paused. "Not originally." Elyra's anger faltered. "What does that mean?" "It means I changed the terms." "Why?" His expression hardened. "Because I wanted to." "That's not a reason." "It's enough of one." "No, it isn't." She stood. "You can't buy people." "I'm not buying you." "Then why does it feel exactly like that?" For the first time, his calm expression cracked. Only slightly. His eyes darkened. "I'm offering you a way to protect your father." Elyra stared at him. "And what do you get?" "You." The word was quiet. But it landed heavily. She swallowed. "Why me?" He didn't answer. "Why do you want me?" Still nothing. She stepped closer. "Have we met before?" His eyes held hers. "Not properly." Her pulse jumped. "What does that mean?" "You'll understand later." "I hate secrets." "You'll have plenty of them." She stared at him. There was something about him she couldn't understand. He wasn't threatening her. He didn't need to. He spoke like a man who had already calculated every possible outcome. And somehow, every road led back to her. She turned to her father. "How long?" Her father looked confused. "How long what?" "How long have you known him?" He hesitated. "Three months." Elyra's eyes widened. "Three months?" "I was trying to solve the debt." "And you never told me?" "I thought I could handle it." "You couldn't." "I know." Her father lowered his head. Elyra felt the anger inside her slowly turn into something worse. Fear. She looked at the man again. "If I say no?" He answered immediately. "The debt remains." "And?" "The company goes." Her father's face tightened. "And the house?" "Will be sold." Elyra looked around. The house suddenly felt different. It wasn't just walls and furniture anymore. It was everything her parents had built. Everything she remembered. Every birthday. Every Christmas. Every night she'd sat on those stairs waiting for her father to come home. "You'd take all of it?" "No." His voice was cold. "I'd collect what I'm owed." Elyra looked at him with disbelief. "You don't even care." His eyes met hers. "Care is expensive." "You're heartless." "Maybe." He picked up his coat. "But I'm honest." He walked toward the door. Elyra followed. "Wait." He stopped. She stood a few feet behind him. "If I agree..." He turned. She forced herself to continue. "What exactly are the terms?" His gaze stayed on her. "One year." Her eyebrows pulled together. "One year?" "One year as my wife." "And then?" "The marriage ends." She stared at him. "You want a fake marriage?" "Call it whatever you want." "And during that year?" "You live in my house." Her stomach twisted. "Separate rooms?" "Of course." She wasn't sure why that answer relieved her. Maybe because the idea of being trapped with him was already terrifying. "And nobody can know it's an arrangement?" "Correct." "Why?" "Because appearances matter." "To you?" "To both of us." She folded her arms. "And what happens if I refuse?" His eyes hardened. "Tomorrow morning, your father's company is mine." Elyra felt tears threatening. She refused to let them fall. He opened the door. "Midnight tomorrow." She stared at him. "That's all the time I have?" "Yes." He stepped outside. She called after him. "Wait." He turned. She had one final question. "What is your name?" For the first time, something almost like a smile touched his mouth. "Adrian Blake." Then he disappeared into the rain. Elyra stood in the doorway. Adrian Blake. The name meant nothing to her. Until her father spoke behind her. "He's your boss." She slowly turned. "What?" Her father swallowed. "Adrian Blake owns the company you work for." Elyra felt the blood drain from her face. Her boss. The stranger from her doorway. The man who had just demanded her marriage. They were the same person. She looked back toward the rain. Adrian's car disappeared at the end of the street. Tomorrow night, she had to give him an answer. Yes. Or no. If she said yes, she would become the wife of a man she barely knew. If she said no, she would watch her father lose everything. Elyra closed the door. Her hand remained on the lock. She had spent her entire life believing that people couldn't be bought. Tonight, she had learned something worse. Sometimes, people weren't bought. Sometimes, they were forced to choose what they were willing to lose. And Adrian Blake had just made her choose. To be Continued...