Married To The Ruthless Billionaire

CHAPTER 2: Mrs. Kane Has Rules

Amara woke up with a headache that felt like someone was hitting her head with a hammer.

Her mouth was dry, her eyes were swollen shut, and she was lying in a strange hotel bed that smelled like expensive perfume. She was still wearing her wedding dress - or what was left of it. The white gown was now dirty at the bottom, the veil was missing, and one of her shoes was gone.

"What... where am I?" she whispered, trying to sit up. Her head spun.

Then it all rushed back like a flood. Daniel's text message. The photo of him kissing Bianca, her own stepsister. 200 guests staring at her. Her father shouting. Running out of the hotel in bare feet. The bar. The whiskey. The stranger in the black suit who was kind to her.

"Oh God," she covered her face with her hands. "Oh God, what did I do?"

She looked around the hotel room. It was a big, luxury suite. Not the kind of room she could afford. On the chair beside the bed was a neatly folded black suit jacket. It was expensive - she could tell from the material. Inside the pocket, there was a small white card with a handwritten note:

_Hope you feel better this morning. You are stronger than you think. You deserve better than a man who would leave you at the altar. - A._

No phone number. No last name. Just A.

Amara held the jacket close. In the last 24 hours, this stranger was the only person who showed her kindness. Even if she didn't know his name.

Before she could think more, her phone started ringing loudly on the floor. She picked it up. 53 missed calls. 30 from her father, 10 from her mother, 13 from unknown numbers. Her i********: had 99+ notifications. Someone had already posted a video of her running in her wedding dress with the caption "Lagos Runaway Bride 2026".

Her father's call came in again. She answered with shaking hands.

"WHERE ARE YOU?!" Chief Adeyemi's voice was so loud that Amara had to move the phone away from her ear. "Do you know what you have done?! You have disgraced me! You have disgraced this family! The video of you running like a mad woman is on every blog! Linda Ikeji has posted you! Come home now! Right now! If you don't come home in one hour, don't ever come back!"

He cut the call.

Amara cried again. She quickly entered the bathroom, washed her face, tried to clean the dress as much as she could, wore the suit jacket over it to hide the dirt, and took a taxi home with the last 2,000 naira in her purse.

When she entered the house in Parkview Estate, the living room was full. Her father, her stepmother (Bianca's mother), Bianca herself, and two family elders.

Bianca was sitting on the couch, wearing Amara's pink pajamas, crying with fake tears. When she saw Amara enter in a dirty wedding dress and a man's suit jacket, she gasped dramatically.

"Amara! Where have you been? We were so worried! You disappeared after... after what happened."

Amara ignored her and looked at her father. "Daddy."

Chief Adeyemi stood up, his face red with anger and shame. "Amara! Where did you sleep last night? In that man's jacket? Which man? Have you started sleeping around because Daniel left you? Is that how I raised you?"

"Daddy, it's not what you think—"

"Keep quiet!" he shouted. "Because of you, the Martins family said they will sue us! They spent 20 million naira on that wedding! They said we must refund them for the embarrassment! 20 million! Where will I get 20 million because of your bad luck?"

20 million naira. Amara's legs went weak. Her school fees for her Masters was only 1.5 million and her father had refused to pay, saying she should ask Daniel. Her mother's hospital bill for her diabetes treatment was 800k and he said there was no money. But now there is 20 million debt because of a wedding?

Bianca stood up and came to hug Amara, but Amara pushed her away.

"Don't touch me," Amara said coldly. "You... you and Daniel. On my wedding day. In my bridesmaid dress. How could you? You are my sister!"

Bianca started crying louder. "I'm sorry! We didn't plan it! We just... we fell in love during your engagement party! Daniel said you don't understand him! You are too focused on your books and school! He needs a woman who understands business like me!"

Amara wanted to slap her, but she had no strength. She just looked at her father. "So what do we do now?"

Chief Adeyemi's angry face suddenly changed to a business face. The face he uses when he wants to make a deal.

"To fix this mess, I have found you a new husband," he said calmly. "A better husband than Daniel. Richer, more powerful. He will pay the 20 million debt and even give us extra to save our name."

Amara laughed, a bitter, broken laugh. "Daddy, which man will marry me one day after my wedding failed? Which man will want a bride that was left at the altar and slept in a bar?"

"Alexander Kane."

The whole room became silent. Even the air conditioner seemed to stop.

Alexander Kane. The Ruthless Billionaire. 32 years old. CEO of Kane Group that owns banks, oil, real estate. The man who was on the cover of Forbes Africa last month with the title "The Most Feared Man in Lagos Business". The man whose name makes even governors respect him. The man every mother warns her daughter about because they say he has no heart and he never smiles.

"Him?" Amara whispered, her heart beating fast.

"Yes," her father smiled, thinking she was impressed. "His mother, Mrs. Victoria Kane, and I are business partners in Eko Atlantic project. His grandfather, Pa Kane, is dying in the hospital and his last wish is to see Alexander married before he dies. Alexander needs a wife quickly, any wife, to show his grandfather. You are educated, you are beautiful, you are from a good family despite yesterday's drama. It's perfect!"

"It is NOT perfect!" Amara shouted, tears coming again. "You want to sell me off like a goat to pay for a wedding debt? I just got dumped yesterday! I haven't even healed! I need time! I need to go back to school!"

"You have no choice!" her father slammed the table. "If you don't marry him, I will disown you today! You will pay the 20 million yourself! And I will stop paying your mother's hospital bills! Where will you get money? Your school fees are still pending! You will be on the street!"

That threat about her mother broke Amara. Her mother was sick, lying in a small hospital in Ikeja, needing dialysis every week. Without her father's money, her mother would die.

Amara sat on the floor and cried.

That night, she sat alone in her small bedroom, hugging the black suit jacket from the kind stranger. She pressed it to her nose. It still smelled like him - whiskey and expensive perfume. At least one person was kind to her in the last two days.

The next morning by 7 AM, a convoy of three black Rolls Royce and two police escorts came to their house. The whole street came out to look. A man in a suit came out and said "Mrs. Amara Adeyemi? Mr. Kane is waiting."

She was taken to the Kane Estate in Banana Island - a mansion that looked like it belonged in Dubai, not Lagos. Gates, guards, fountains, 20 cars parked.

She was led into a massive living room. And there, standing by the window, looking at the ocean, was the man from the bar.

The stranger in the black suit. A.K.

He was wearing a fresh black suit today, his hair perfectly cut, his face cold like ice. But his eyes widened when he saw her enter in a simple gown, still holding his jacket.

"You?" he said, his deep voice breaking his cold mask for a second.

"You?" Amara said at the same time, her mouth open.

Bianca, who had forced herself into the car to follow Amara to spy, gasped loudly from the doorway. "You two know each other?!"

Alexander recovered quickly. His cold, ruthless mask returned. He walked to his chair and sat like a king.

"So you are Amara Adeyemi," he said, his voice now icy, nothing like the kind voice that told her she was stronger than she thought. "My future wife."

Amara's heart was beating like a talking drum. She was confused, scared, and strangely... safe?

"I don't want this marriage," she said boldly, even though her legs were shaking.

"Neither do I," he replied coldly. "But we both need something. My grandfather is dying and wants to see me married before next week. Your father needs money to pay a debt. So let's make it business."

He brought out a thick paper from his lawyer and pushed it to her across the glass table.

*CONTRACT MARRIAGE AGREEMENT*

1. Duration: 1 year only.

2. Rule: No falling in love. This is business.

3. Rule: No touching, no kissing without permission.

4. Rule: Live in same house but different bedrooms.

5. Rule: Act like a loving couple in front of family and public.

6. After 1 year, divorce. You get 50 million naira and a house in Lekki.

Amara looked at the 50 million. With that, she could pay her school fees, pay her mother's hospital bills for 5 years, and start her own business. She would be free from her father.

"And what do you get?" she asked.

"A wife to show my grandfather, so I get his company shares worth 50 billion naira. And peace from my mother who keeps bringing me useless girls like your sister standing there."

He looked at Bianca at the door with disgust.

Bianca's face turned red with jealousy and anger.

Amara held the expensive pen he gave her. Her hand was shaking badly. She was about to sign her life to a stranger - who was actually the kind stranger who saved her on her worst night.

"One more rule," Alexander added, looking directly into her eyes. "Whatever happened that night at the bar and hotel... we never talk about it again. It never happened. We are strangers who just met today. Understand, Mrs. Kane?"

Amara looked up. So he DID remember her. He remembered everything.

She took a deep breath and signed.

_Amara Adeyemi Kane._

Just like that, in less than 48 hours after being left at the altar, Amara became the wife of the most ruthless billionaire in Lagos.