Chapter 1 – The Contract Bride
258 Words
The first time I saw Lucien Sinclair up close, he didn’t look like a man made for love stories.
He looked like a storm dressed in a black suit—quiet, cold, and too expensive to touch.
I was 22 and standing inside a glass tower that didn’t belong to me, wearing a dress someone else chose, about to sign my name on a contract that would change everything.
He didn’t smile. Not even when our eyes met.
Instead, he looked through me like I was a transaction. A name. A price tag.
“Sign it,” he said, tapping the gold pen onto the paper.
I didn’t move.
“Are you always this charming?” I asked, lifting a brow.
He didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. He knew I would sign.
I had no choice. My family was sinking, and his name was the only rope left.
Lucien Sinclair.
Heir to Sinclair Group. Billionaire. Ice-blooded negotiator. And now… my fiancé.
By contract.
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The penthouse was cold even though the sun was still out. The marble floor beneath my heels echoed louder than my heartbeats.
I took the pen with shaking fingers.
I wasn’t afraid of him. I was afraid of what this would make me.
I signed.
He didn’t thank me. Didn’t offer a handshake. Just looked at the paper, nodded once, and turned away.
“Your room is down the hall,” he said.
Our marriage would begin in two weeks.
But my regrets started the second I walked out of that room.
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- Writer
