TERMS AND CONDITION
1008 Words
Lily didn’t sleep.
Not because she was excited.
Because something about the way Alexander Sterling had looked at her didn’t feel accidental.
It felt deliberate.
By 7:52 a.m., she was standing outside his office.
The executive floor was quiet at that hour. Too quiet. Like the building itself respected him enough to hold its breath.
At exactly eight o’clock, the door opened.
He was already inside.
“Come in.”
No greeting. No wasted words.
His office was all glass and steel — sharp, controlled, intimidating. The city stretched behind him like it belonged to him.
He didn’t ask her to sit.
He studied her instead.
“You’re punctual,” he said.
“I didn’t want to disappoint you.”
A pause.
“Most people do.”
That wasn’t comforting.
He walked to his desk and picked up a thin black folder.
“Tell me something, Miss Thompson,” he said, voice smooth. “How badly do you need this internship?”
Her throat tightened.
“I… I need it.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
His eyes lifted to hers.
“How badly?”
Images flashed through her mind — unpaid rent, her mother’s hospital bills back home, the scholarship that required this internship for renewal.
“Very badly,” she admitted quietly.
He nodded once, as if confirming something to himself.
“Good.”
He slid the folder across the desk toward her.
She hesitated before opening it.
Inside was a contract.
Not employment.
Not promotion.
A personal agreement.
Her pulse began to race as she skimmed the first line.
Confidential Public Partnership Agreement
She looked up sharply.
“I don’t understand.”
“You will,” he said calmly. “In seven days, I am announcing my engagement.”
The words hit her like cold water.
“Engagement?” she repeated.
“Yes.”
“But… you’re not engaged.”
“Correct.”
Her stomach dropped.
Silence stretched between them.
“I need someone,” he continued, “who looks believable. Clean reputation. No scandals. No history with the press.”
Her grip tightened on the folder.
“You want me to pretend to be your fiancée?”
“Precisely.”
The room suddenly felt smaller.
“This is insane,” she whispered.
“It’s strategic.”
“Why me?”
Finally — finally — something shifted in his expression.
“You’re invisible,” he said.
The word stung more than she expected.
“No social media presence worth noting. No powerful family name. No romantic attachments that would complicate things.”
“That’s supposed to be reassuring?”
“It makes you safe.”
Safe for who?
“For how long?” she asked carefully.
“Three months.”
“And then?”
“We part ways. Quietly.”
“And what do I get out of this?” she asked, her voice steadier than she felt.
His gaze sharpened.
“Your internship secured. A permanent position upon graduation. And a financial compensation that will solve whatever problem is currently keeping you awake at night.”
Her heart skipped.
He noticed.
Of course he did.
“How do you know I have a problem?” she asked.
He stepped closer.
Too close.
“I make it my business to know the people I work with.”
A chill slid down her spine.
He had looked into her.
That wasn’t random.
That wasn’t because of coffee.
This had been calculated.
“You investigated me,” she said softly.
“I verify my investments.”
Investment.
That’s what she was.
A deal.
A transaction.
And yet… the way he was looking at her right now didn’t feel entirely professional.
It felt like he was testing her.
“I could say no,” she said.
“You could.”
“Would that affect my internship?”
His silence was answer enough.
Her chest tightened.
“This is manipulation.”
“It’s opportunity.”
Their eyes locked.
And for a brief second, the air shifted.
Not corporate.
Not strategic.
Something warmer. Dangerous.
“You’d have to move into my penthouse temporarily,” he added smoothly.
Her breath caught.
What?
“For public credibility.”
“That’s not in the contract,” she snapped, flipping through the pages.
“It will be.”
Her pulse thundered in her ears.
Live with him?
Smile beside him in public?
Pretend to love him?
And then walk away like it meant nothing?
You’re asking me to lie to the world; she said.
“I’m asking you to play a role.”
“And what happens if I start believing it?” she challenged before she could stop herself.
For the first time, something unreadable flickered in his eyes.
“That,” he said quietly, “would be a mistake.”
Silence.
Heavy.
Charged.
Her fingers trembled slightly as she closed the folder.
“And if I refuse?”
His jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.
“Then I’ll find someone else.”
But something in his tone suggested he didn’t want someone else.
Which meant…
He had chosen her.
And not just because she was invisible.
“There’s one more thing,” he added.
Her stomach dropped again.
“What?”
“My family doesn’t know this is an arrangement.”
Cold.
Sharp.
“That’s cruel.”
“It’s necessary.”
“Why?”
He held her gaze.
Longer this time.
Because the answer mattered.
“Because,” he said slowly, “if they find out I’m faking an engagement… I lose control of my company.”
The words hung between them.
This wasn’t just PR.
This was power.
And she had just stepped into something far bigger than she understood.
He extended a pen toward her.
“Sign it.”
Her heart pounded so violently she could feel it in her throat.
If she signed, her life would change overnight.
If she didn’t… she might lose everything she worked for.
Alexander’s eyes didn’t leave hers.
“Choose carefully, Lily.”
Because once she signed—
There would be no going back.
- Writer
