The Marriage Contract
1511 Words
The silver watch remained on Elena's desk long after Adrian had left the room.
She couldn't stop staring at it.
Daniel had owned that watch for almost ten years.
She remembered the day she gave it to him.
She had been seventeen, and Daniel had just returned from university. She had saved for months to buy it because she wanted to give him something special.
He had laughed when he opened the box.
“You spent all this money on me?”
“You're my brother. I'm allowed.”
Daniel had put the watch on immediately.
He had promised never to take it off.
Yet somehow, that watch had appeared inside Cross International three years after his supposed death.
Elena rubbed her temples.
“Daniel… where are you?”
Adrian stood across the room, studying her.
“We'll find him.”
Elena looked up.
“You sound certain.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever left that watch wanted us to find it.”
She frowned.
“That doesn't make sense.”
“It does if they're trying to control what we do next.”
Elena stood.
“Then what do they want?”
Adrian walked toward the window.
“I don't know yet.”
His phone rang.
He answered.
“Adrian.”
It was Marcus.
“Sir, security has checked the entire building. The intruder escaped before we could identify him.”
“Any useful footage?”
“Only fragments.”
“Send everything to my private server.”
“Yes, sir.”
Adrian ended the call.
Elena watched him.
“You have a private server?”
“I have several.”
“Of course you do.”
He glanced at her.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“You've always been secretive.”
“And you've always asked too many questions.”
She almost smiled.
Then the smile disappeared.
“Three years ago, I thought your secrets were going to get you killed.”
Adrian's expression softened slightly.
“And three years ago, I thought you were the one person I could trust.”
The words hurt more than Elena expected.
She looked away.
“I know.”
A long silence followed.
Then Adrian's phone vibrated again.
This time, there was no call.
It was a message.
“Meet me at the old courthouse tomorrow. Come alone.”
Below it was a photograph.
Daniel.
Elena's heart stopped.
“Adrian…”
He showed her the screen.
“That's him.”
“Yes.”
“It's dated yesterday.”
Elena stared at the image.
“Then he's alive.”
Adrian nodded.
“But there's a problem.”
“What?”
“The old courthouse has been abandoned for years.”
Elena looked at him.
“Then we go there.”
“Not yet.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever sent this knows exactly where we are.”
Adrian locked his phone.
“They're watching us.”
The next morning, Elena arrived at Cross International early.
She expected Adrian to be waiting.
He wasn't.
Instead, Marcus approached her.
“Ms. Vale.”
“Yes?”
“Mr. Cross wants you to come upstairs.”
Elena followed him.
When the elevator doors opened, she found Adrian standing beside his desk.
A large folder lay open in front of him.
“What is that?” she asked.
“Your father's company records.”
Elena frowned.
“Why are you showing me these?”
“Because there's something you need to see.”
He handed her a document.
It was a contract.
Elena scanned the first page.
Then her eyes widened.
“What is this?”
“An agreement between your father and my father.”
She continued reading.
The contract was dated six months before her wedding.
It concerned a joint business venture between the Vale and Cross families.
But there was another page.
One that made Elena's hands tremble.
She read it twice.
Then looked at Adrian.
“This can't be real.”
“What does it say?”
“You tell me.”
Adrian took the page.
His expression became cold.
“It says our marriage was part of the agreement.”
Elena stared at him.
“What?”
“Our families planned it.”
“But we chose each other.”
“Did we?”
The question stunned her.
Adrian continued.
“Our fathers had been negotiating a major merger. The marriage would have united both families permanently.”
Elena shook her head.
“No. My father never told me.”
“Mine didn't tell me either.”
“Then how did we meet?”
Adrian looked at her.
“You met me at a charity event.”
“I remember.”
“And you thought it was coincidence.”
“It was.”
“Maybe it wasn't.”
Elena stepped back.
“Are you saying our entire relationship was planned?”
“I don't know.”
She looked at the contract again.
At the bottom was another clause.
“In the event that either party refuses the marriage, the financial partnership will be terminated.”
Elena's heart sank.
“That's why my father was so desperate for me to marry you.”
“And mine was equally determined.”
She looked at Adrian.
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I didn't know.”
Elena closed her eyes.
Everything she remembered suddenly felt different.
The first meeting.
The rapid approval from both families.
The wedding preparations.
Her father's insistence.
Had their love been real?
Or had they simply been pushed together until they believed it was?
Adrian seemed to read the question in her eyes.
“What we had was real to me.”
Elena looked at him.
“To me too.”
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then Adrian closed the folder.
“There's another reason I showed you this.”
“What?”
“The contract contains a condition that wasn't supposed to be discovered.”
He turned to the final page.
A handwritten note had been added beneath the signatures.
“If the marriage fails, the Vale family loses everything.”
Elena stared at it.
“My family would have gone bankrupt?”
“Apparently.”
“And you knew?”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Then why did someone want us married so badly?”
Adrian didn't answer.
His phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Who is this?”
A distorted voice spoke.
“You're asking the wrong questions.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“What do you want?”
“You already know.”
The call ended.
Elena stared at him.
“What did they say?”
Adrian didn't answer.
He looked toward the folder.
Then toward her.
“They want us married.”
Elena's face went pale.
“What?”
“They said if we want to find Daniel, we have to follow their rules.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“That's what I thought too.”
“Then we ignore them.”
“We can't.”
“Why not?”
Adrian opened another document.
It contained a recent photograph of Daniel.
Underneath it was a single sentence:
“Your brother is alive, but he won't remain safe forever.”
Elena's eyes filled with fear.
Adrian placed the document on the desk.
“We need to know where Daniel is.”
“And they know.”
“Yes.”
“So what do they want us to do?”
Adrian looked directly at her.
“Get married.”
Silence filled the room.
Elena stared at him.
“After everything that happened?”
“We don't have to actually live like a married couple.”
“That isn't the point.”
“I know.”
“Then what is?”
Adrian's voice lowered.
“Three years ago, someone destroyed our relationship.”
He paused.
“This time, we find out who.”
Elena looked at the photograph of her brother.
Then at Adrian.
She knew it was dangerous.
She knew it could be another trap.
But if Daniel was truly alive, she couldn't walk away.
“Fine.”
Adrian raised an eyebrow.
“Fine?”
“I'll do it.”
His expression changed.
“But this time,” Elena continued, “there will be rules.”
“What rules?”
“No lies.”
Adrian nodded.
“Agreed.”
“No secrets.”
He hesitated.
Then nodded again.
“And if I discover you're hiding anything from me…”
Elena looked him directly in the eyes.
“I walk away.”
Adrian extended his hand.
“Deal.”
Elena looked at his hand for several seconds before taking it.
Neither of them knew that someone was watching them through a hidden camera.
The image appeared on a computer screen.
A message was typed beneath it.
“They agreed.”
The reply came almost immediately.
“Good. Prepare the contract.”
And beneath that was another message.
“The wedding will happen this time.”
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