Chapter one
320 Words
Two days later, she stood in front of Ethan Knight again.
This time, not in her café—but in a glass-walled office at the top of a building so tall it seemed to touch the clouds.
Ava felt out of place the moment she stepped inside.
Everything was polished. Expensive. Perfect.
Ethan sat behind a large desk, reviewing documents. Without looking up, he gestured toward the chair opposite him.
"You came."
Ava sat down slowly.
"I haven't agreed to anything yet."
"No," he replied. "But you came."
A woman entered the office carrying a folder and placed it in front of Ava.
"The marriage contract," Ethan said.
Ava opened it carefully.
The number printed on the final page made her heart stop.
It was more money than she could earn in ten years.
Her hands trembled.
"You're serious."
"I don't joke about business."
Ava looked up at him.
"And this is business?"
"For me, yes."
The answer should have offended her.
Instead, it made the situation feel even more real.
"What happens after one year?" she asked.
"We divorce. Quietly. You receive everything promised in the contract."
"And if I refuse?"
Ethan leaned back in his chair.
"Then you walk out that door, and we never see each other again."
The room fell silent.
Ava thought of Daniel.
The hospital bills.
The overdue rent.
The nights she cried where nobody could hear.
Finally, she picked up the pen.
Her heart pounded.
Every instinct told her she was making the biggest mistake of her life.
But desperation had a way of changing the meaning of risk.
Slowly, she signed her name.
Ava Williams.
Ethan took the contract and signed beneath it.
When he finished, he looked directly at her.
"Congratulations, Mrs. Knight."
A chill ran down Ava's spine.
She had just married a billionaire she barely knew.
And she had no idea that this decision was about to change everything.
- Writer
