Contract Wife To My Enemy's Heir

"Mrs. Reed," the HR director began. "There are serious inconsistencies in your employment file." The folder on the table between us felt like a death sentence. ​ My hands stayed flat on my thighs where she couldn't see them tremble, and the office was small and smelled like printer ink and recycled air. ​ The two people across from me had the practiced stillness of people who delivered bad news for a living. ​ "Your marriage registration was filed three weeks before your application.” The HR director continued. Your listed address doesn't match your husband's, you both have no joint accounts, and no shared financial history of any kind." She folded her hands on the folder. "If this marriage is fraudulent, you're looking at immediate termination and possible prosecution for document fraud. Your husband would also be investigated." Prosecution! The word hit me somewhere behind my ribs, and my stomach dropped so fast I almost pressed a hand on it. Oh, God! No. I thought about Daniel, who had done nothing wrong. He had signed those forms because I begged him to, at midnight, on a phone call where my voice kept breaking, all because my mother was dying and I had run out of options. I remembered how he looked at me across the government registration desk, with worry written all over his face, and said nothing because he knew arguing wouldn't stop me, and now he could be investigated because of me. Say something, Elena. Anything. I thought to myself, but before I could find a single word to say, the man beside her slid a tablet across the table. The headline was large enough that I didn't need to lean forward. Kain’s new CEO and a married employee - office affair in Harrington. ​ The photo beneath it showed me and Malvin leaving the building late after a project review. It was grainy, but clear enough. The timestamp sat in the corner like evidence, and my chest went tight because I already knew what this meant for the company's image. "The board is asking questions," the man said flatly. "This is now a company matter, particularly because certain parties have already brought this to their attention." Certain parties? Something about the way he said it told me this hadn't landed on the board by accident, someone must have put it there deliberately. The HR director held my gaze. "We'll be in touch once management decides on next steps. You can go." ​ I stood, walked out sluggishly, and kept my face completely down until the elevator doors closed behind me. ​ Then I pressed my back against the wall and shut my eyes. Think, Elena. Think. I murmured internally. ​ My mother was in a hospital ward right now, hooked to machines that beeped every few seconds like a countdown. The surgery couldn't wait much longer, the doctor had said that to my face four days ago, and the bill sitting in my bag was more than everything I owned combined. My brother’s tuition was two weeks overdue, and I had sent out twenty job applications over three months, and gotten eleven rejections, some didn't even bother to reply. ​ This job was the only thread holding everything together, and someone had just handed me a pair of scissors. ​ Malvin's assistant called me to the executive floor forty minutes later. ​ I had never been to the forty-second floor, and the elevator opened to a different kind of silence up there that came with power. ​ His assistant pointed to the office at the end of the hall without a word and went back to her desk. ​ I stood outside the door for three seconds, then I walked in. ​ Malvin was at the window, his hands in his pockets. He didn't turn around immediately, and I stood in the middle of his office feeling every inch of the distance between where he had started in life and where I had. ​ "Sit down, Elena," he said. ​ "I'd rather stand," I replied. ​ He turned, and his eyes moved over me once, steady and unreadable, which somehow felt worse than cruelty. ​ "I've read your file. All of it." He walked to his desk and picked up a document. “I know your marriage to Daniel Reed isn’t real, and I had it confirmed two days ago. What were you thinking?” ​ My throat tightened. "Then why haven't you fired me?" ​ "Because I need something." He set the document down. "The board has concerns about my leadership because I'm unmarried, and in a company built around family values, my cousin Victor has been feeding the board that narrative for weeks, and the tabloid story didn't happen by accident, it was placed there, and it made everything worse." He paused. "But it also gave us a solution." Placed there. So I was right. "A solution?" I said. “You annul your marriage to Daniel, my lawyer handles it quietly within the week, he faces no consequences, and then you marry me legally for six months until the board formally confirms my position. ” His voice didn’t waver. “In exchange, your mother's surgery is fully paid for, the best surgical team in the city gets to treat her, and your job stays intact.” ​ The room felt very small suddenly. "You humiliated me in high school, about my mother." My voice came out lower than I intended, and more broken than bold. "You said those things in front of everyone.” He looked at me for a moment. "I know," he said. Then he slid the contract forward. "Sign it." He didn’t explain or apologize, he just said those two flat words, like he had already accounted for them and moved on. ​ Then, my phone buzzed in my pocket, and the screen lit up just long enough for me to read the contact name through the fabric, St. Matthew's Hospital. This is the third call I’m getting today. ​ I stared at the contract, and I thought about Daniel sitting in an interrogation room because of something I dragged him into. I also thought about my mother's machines beeping, then about my brother, Noah, a bill I couldn't pay, and a termination letter being drafted one floor below me at this exact moment. Don't do this, Elena. There has to be another way. I said to myself, but there wasn't, and I knew it. I picked up the pen and signed. ​ My hand didn't shake, and I hated that most of all. ​ "Good. I have already scheduled your mother's surgery for tomorrow, and my lawyer will reach out to Daniel tonight." Malvin took the contract without a flicker of satisfaction. ​ He was already turning back toward the window when he said quietly. "Don't make this complicated, Elena. It's just business." ​ I nodded at his back and moved toward the door, but something stopped me, a question that was sitting underneath everything that I hadn't planned to ask out loud. "Why me? Out of everyone, why me?" He didn't turn around. "Because you have the most to lose," he said. "And people with the most to lose don't cause problems."