Chapter 1
749 Words
I shouldn’t have signed it.
But I didn’t have a choice.
“Go on,” he said calmly. “You’re running out of time.”
My fingers gripped around the pen.
Across the table, Ethan stood like this was just another business meeting. Like he wasn’t asking me to marry him.
Like he hadn’t already ruined me once before.
I forced myself to look at him.
Big mistake.
Same face. Same eyes. Same man who walked out of my life without a word… and came back like nothing happened.
“You really have no shame,” I said quietly.
Something changed in his expression but it disappeared just as quickly.
“I’m offering you a solution.”
“A solution?” I let out a short laugh. “You disappear for years, and now you show up with a contract marriage?”
He didn’t react.
He never does.
That was the problem.
“You need this,” he said.
There it was again. That calm, controlled voice.
Like he already knew how this would end.
“My father’s company isn’t your concern.”
“It becomes my concern the moment you sign that paper.”
My jaw tightened.
I hated how easily he said that.
“How bad is it?” he asked.
I didn’t answer.
Didn’t need to.
We both knew.
“Debts piling up. Investors pulling out. Legal pressure building,” he continued, like he’d been watching everything from a distance.
Like he’d been waiting.
“You’ve been keeping track?”
“I keep track of what matters.”
Something about that didn’t sit right with me.
Felt odd.
“Don’t do that,” I said.
“Do what?”
“Act like this is normal.” My voice dropped. “Like we’re normal.”
A pause.
For a split second just a moment his eyes changed.
Then it was gone.
“This isn’t about us.”
Of course it wasn’t.
It never was.
I looked down at the contract again.
Everything was there. Clean. Precise. Cold.
Just like him.
“You clear all the debts,” I said slowly.
“Yes.”
“And in return… I marry you.”
“Yes.”
Simple.
Too simple.
“There’s more,” I muttered.
“There always is.”
That made my stomach twist.
I scanned the page again, faster this time.
Terms. Duration. Conditions.
Nothing unusual.
Or maybe I just didn’t want to see it.
“Why me?” I asked quietly.
This time, he didn’t look away.
“Because you’re the only one I trust.”
That hit harder than it should have.
Trust?
After everything?
“You don’t get to say that,” I whispered.
His jaw tightened slightly, but he didn’t argue.
“Sign it, Ella.”
My name on his lips felt wrong.
Familiar… and distant at the same time.
I stared at the paper.
This was a mistake.
I knew it.
Every part of me knew it.
But the image of my father the pressure the tension the collapse waiting to happen I couldn’t ignore it.
Finally I signed.
The moment the pen left the paper, the air shifted.
Like something had just locked into place.
“Done,” I said, dropping the pen.
Silence followed.
Then he moved.
Not rushed. Not hesitant.
Justcertain.
He walked around the table and stopped in front of me.
Too close.
My breath caught before I could stop it.
“You should’ve read it properly,” he said quietly.
Something in my chest tightened.
“I did.”
“No,” he replied. “You didn’t.”
My heart skipped.
“What are you talking about?”
His gaze didn’t leave mine.
“There’s a clause you missed.”
A chill ran down my spine.
“What clause?”
For a moment, he said nothing.
Then his hand lifted
Fingers brushing lightly under my chin, tilting my face up.
Not gentle.
Not rough either.
Just controlled.
“From now on,” he said, his voice lower,
“You don’t just carry my name.”
My breath hitched.
“You fulfill every role that comes with it.”
My pulse spiked.
“What does that mean?”
His eyes dropped briefly to my lips
Then back to my eyes.
“It means,” he said softly,
“This marriage isn’t just for show.”
My heart slammed against my chest.
And all of a sudden
Signing that paper felt like the worst decision I had ever made.
- Writer
