Chapter 3
1544 Words
Drey Carter hated surprises.
He especially hated the kind that appeared on a Monday morning, arrived in the form of a legal document, and threatened to take away something he had spent the last eight years building.
He sat at the head of the long conference table in the executive boardroom of Carter Enterprises, his attention fixed on the document in front of him.
Around him, seven board members waited for him to speak, but Drey hadn’t said a word since his uncle finished explaining the situation.
Anthony Carter leaned back in his chair with the calm expression of a man who had already won. That alone irritated Drey.
“So let me get this straight,” Drey finally said. “You’re telling me my grandfather’s trust gives you a legal route to challenge my position as CEO?”
Anthony’s mouth curved into a faint smile. “I’m not telling you anything. I’m simply pointing out what the trust actually says.” Drey picked up the document again. He had read the clause three times before the meeting. He had hoped there was something he had missed, some loophole in the wording that would make Anthony’s argument meaningless.
There wasn’t. “The company remains under the control of the designated heir,” Drey read aloud. “However, if the heir fails to satisfy the personal conditions established by the late Richard Carter before his thirty-second birthday, control may be transferred to the next eligible member of the Carter family.”
He dropped the document onto the table. “My birthday is in four months.”
“Correct,” Anthony replied.
“And you’re saying I’m going to lose control because I’m unmarried.”
“Not exactly.”
Drey gave him a cold look. “Then explain it.”
Anthony folded his hands.
“Your grandfather didn’t simply require you to be married. He required you to demonstrate that you were capable of maintaining a stable family structure before you inherited full control of the company.”
One of the board members cleared his throat.
“That condition was considered unusual even when the trust was created.”
Drey looked at him. “Unusual doesn’t mean legally invalid.”
“No,” the man admitted. “It doesn’t.”
Anthony smiled.
Drey hated that smile.
His uncle had been waiting for this moment for years. Ever since Drey’s father had passed away, Anthony had quietly positioned himself as the responsible older member of the family. He attended every board meeting, shook every important hand, and made sure people remembered that he was the chairman’s brother.
He never openly challenged Drey. He didn’t need to. Anthony preferred waiting And now he had finally found the opening he wanted.
“How long have you known about this?” Drey asked. Anthony’s expression didn’t change.
“About the clause? Since the trust was reviewed last month.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
Anthony raised an eyebrow. Drey leaned forward.
“How long have you known that I was vulnerable?”
The room became quiet. Anthony gave a small shrug. “Long enough.” Drey’s jaw tightened.
Typical Anthony. Always answering just enough to avoid answering properly.
“You’re enjoying this,” Drey said. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t concerned about the future of the company.”
“Don’t bullshit me.”
A few people around the table shifted uncomfortably. Anthony’s smile disappeared.
“This isn’t personal, Drey.”
“Everything with you is personal.”
Drey stood and walked toward the windows. From the thirty-second floor, the city stretched beneath him, packed with buildings, traffic, and people who had no idea that one legal clause could determine who controlled billions of dollars.
Carter Enterprises wasn’t simply a company. It was his grandfather’s legacy. Drey had taken over after his father’s death and spent years turning the business into something bigger and stronger. He had fought through lawsuits, hostile competitors, bad investments, and internal politics.
He had made decisions that had cost him friendships and relationships because he understood one thing very clearly: power was never given; it was taken and protected.
He wasn’t about to lose it because his grandfather had decided he needed a wife.
“There’s another problem,” the company’s legal counsel said carefully. Drey turned.
“What?”
“The transfer wouldn’t happen immediately.” Drey waited.
“If the trustees determine that you have failed to meet the condition by your birthday, your uncle would be given temporary executive authority while the family determines the permanent successor.”
Anthony looked at Drey. “And I’m currently the most qualified person.” Drey laughed once.
“That’s adorable.”
Anthony’s expression hardened.
“Be careful.”
“No. You be careful.”
Drey walked back to the table.
“You’re not taking my company.”
“I don’t want to take anything from you.”
“Then why did you bring this to the board?”
“Because if you lose control, shareholders deserve to know what happens next.”
One of the board members finally spoke.
“Mr. Carter, there is a way to prevent the transfer.”
Drey looked at him.
“What way?”
“The marriage condition.”
Drey stared at him. The man continued cautiously, “If you marry before your birthday and satisfy the terms of the trust, your position remains secure.”
Drey almost laughed.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“I’m afraid not.”
Drey returned to his chair and leaned back.
“Find another solution.”
“We’ve explored the available legal options.”
“And?”
“The trust is very specific.”
Drey rubbed his forehead.
He had spent his entire adult life avoiding marriage for one simple reason: he had watched what it had done to his parents. His father had loved his mother, but their relationship had eventually become a battlefield filled with resentment, secrets, and manipulation.
Drey had no intention of repeating it. He certainly wasn’t going to get married because an old man had written it into a trust. Anthony watched him carefully.
“You could always marry Sophie.” Drey’s eyes moved toward him.
“No.”
“You were engaged once.”
“That was a mistake.”
“Sophie comes from a respectable family. The board knows her. The shareholders know her. There would be no questions.”
Drey’s expression remained cold.
“I said no.”
Anthony shrugged.
“Then I suppose you’ll have to find someone else.”
Drey stared at him.
There was something in Anthony’s tone that bothered him.
It wasn’t concern. It was confidence. As though Anthony already knew what Drey would do.
The meeting continued for another forty minutes, but Drey barely spoke. Once the board members left, he remained in the room, staring at the trust documents. His assistant, Marcus, entered a few minutes later.
“Sir?”
Drey didn’t look up.
“Find me someone.”
Marcus stopped.
“Someone?”
“A wife.”
Marcus blinked.
Drey finally looked at him.
“Don’t make me repeat myself.”
“Of course.”
Marcus took out his phone, then hesitated.
“What exactly are you looking for?”
Drey stood and buttoned his suit jacket.
“Someone who doesn’t want my money.”
Marcus looked genuinely confused.
“Then why would she agree to marry you?”
Drey gave him a flat look.
“She doesn’t have to want the money. She just has to need it.”
Marcus slowly nodded.
“Right.”
“And she can’t be connected to the company. No socialites. No politicians’ daughters. No women whose families have business relationships with us.”
“Understood.”
“I want someone ordinary.”
Marcus paused.
“How ordinary?”
Drey looked toward the city outside the window.
“Someone nobody would ever expect me to marry.”
His phone rang. He glanced at the screen. Sophie. He declined the call. It rang again. He declined it a second time. Marcus watched silently. Drey slipped the phone into his pocket.
“Make sure she has no history that can embarrass the company.”
“How much information do you want?”
“Everything.”
Marcus nodded.
“How soon?”
“Today.”
After Marcus left, Drey picked up the trust document again. He read the final paragraph carefully. Four months. That was all the time he had. Four months to find a woman willing to marry him, convince the trustees the marriage was genuine, and keep Anthony from getting his hands on the company.
He had no intention of falling in love. He didn’t need romance. He needed a solution. Across the city, Toria sat on the edge of her bed with the lawyer’s warning still fresh in her mind. She had no idea that a man she had never met had just made a decision that would soon change everything.
And Drey Carter had no idea that the woman he was about to search for was already standing at the center of a secret far bigger than his company. Neither of them knew it yet. But their lives were already moving toward each other.
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