Whirlwind Wedding: My Ex’s Adoptive Dad

Chapter 1

"So 6 years together was enough to bore you, Mr. Hayes Junior?"

Madeline Quinn tightened her grip on her glass, her eyes turning cold. Across from her, her ex-boyfriend, Lucas Hayes, lazily swirled the wine in his glass. His expression was calm, and his tone carried the self-satisfied patience of a man who thought he was being generous.

"Maddie, I've given you the best life I could for the past 6 years. Why can't we end this cleanly and leave each other some dignity?"

Madeline was stunning, with dark hair, red lips, and eyes that had gone cold. From 19 to 25, she had given her entire youth to Lucas. He had proposed to her in front of everyone at graduation and sworn she was the only woman he would ever marry. Now he was using the difference in their social backgrounds as an excuse to break up.

"Our backgrounds? When you were pursuing me, you said none of that mattered. The truth is Rebecca came back, didn't she?"

Lucas's expression flickered before he finally admitted the truth. His first love was back, and he couldn't let her down.

Pain ate away at Madeline. Their 6 years of love had turned into a joke overnight. She forced down the emotions surging in her chest. She didn't cry or make a scene. Instead, she said calmly, "Sell the apartment and add a breakup settlement. I want 25,000,000 dollars in my account by noon tomorrow. If you're late, I'll send 6 years of our messages to the tabloids. That's a fair price for protecting Mr. Hayes's reputation as a devoted, faithful boyfriend."

Lucas grabbed her wrist, his face darkening.

Madeline yanked herself free, pulled on her coat, and walked out of the hotel.

The cold evening wind off the river hit her the moment she left the private room. The tears she had held back for so long finally slipped down her face.

She came from a small town and a poor family. Her parents had always put their son first. When Madeline was accepted into the best university in Northvale, there had been no celebration at home. Her parents simply told her they wouldn't pay for her education. Her younger brother's tutoring and future wedding came first, so she would have to figure out college on her own.

Student loans and three part-time jobs had gotten her through school. She met Lucas at a debate competition, and the wealthy heir pursued her relentlessly.

Madeline knew exactly why she had agreed to date him. She desperately wanted to build a life in this prosperous city and escape the exploitation of her family.

But she had never spent those 6 years living entirely off Lucas. They hadn't even slept together.

She fought for scholarships, built a social-media following, and landed a job at a top architectural design firm after graduation. She worked late nights and endless overtime, trying to build something that belonged to her alone.

Still, she knew that many doors had opened for her because she was Lucas Hayes's girlfriend.

Once that relationship ended, many of them would close just as quickly.

Her phone vibrated.

A message from her mother appeared on the screen. Madeline's younger brother had gotten his girlfriend pregnant. He had nothing to his name, so a message from home at a time like this could mean only one thing. They wanted Madeline to foot the bill for him again.

Without a change in expression, she blocked the number.

But the day wasn't done with her yet.

When she reached the small apartment she was still paying off, she found the parents she had cut off years ago waiting by the entrance.

Her mother lunged forward and clamped both hands around her arm. Her father stood beside them, alternating between threats and pleading. They used the fact that they had raised her as leverage, demanding money for a house for her brother and his future wife.

Even after learning that Lucas had broken up with her, they refused to back down. They called her ungrateful and selfish, accusing her of enjoying a comfortable life while abandoning her family.

"I don't have any money for you." Madeline ripped her arm free, sending her mother stumbling to the ground. "Harass me again and I'm calling the police."

Once she had shut and locked her apartment door, exhaustion swept over her.

Now that her parents knew where she lived, she would never be free of their harassment here. Lucas's betrayal on one side and her family's endless demands on the other left her feeling trapped and unable to breathe.

Then an unfamiliar local number called.

"Miss Quinn, this is Adrian Hayes. I'd like to meet with you."

Adrian Hayes was the true head of the Hayes family, Lucas's adoptive father, and one of the most feared men in Northvale's business world.

He was known for being ruthless, cold, and impossible to approach. To the public, he was a corporate titan with no patience for sentiment.

Madeline's heart sank. She assumed he was calling to clean up Lucas's mess and make sure she didn't cause trouble for the Hayes family.

When Madeline arrived at a private club, Adrian was seated beside the window in a secluded room. His charcoal suit was impeccably tailored, and his shirt was buttoned neatly all the way to the collar.

He was far more intimidating in person than he looked in magazines. His features were sharp and striking, and the rimless glasses did nothing to soften the dark, unreadable eyes behind them.

"Miss Quinn, please sit."

Madeline sat down and made her position clear before he could say anything else.

"Mr. Hayes, if you're worried I'm going to cling to Lucas, you don't need to be. We're finished. Completely."

Adrian's dark gaze settled on her. He didn't respond to what she had said.

Instead, he calmly dropped a bombshell.

"I'm not here because of Lucas. I'm here to make you an offer. Marry me."

Madeline froze.

For a second, she thought it had to be some absurd joke.

Then he slid a marriage agreement across the table.

His expression was serious. There wasn't a hint of amusement in it.

"I need a Mrs. Hayes to put the elders in my family at ease. You're intelligent, beautiful, highly educated, and you have an impressive résumé. You're ambitious, and you know how to use the resources available to you. You even managed to get Lucas to hand over 25,000,000 dollars willingly after the breakup. You're an excellent fit."

Adrian saw too much.

He saw her struggle, her ambition, her hunger for a better life, and every humiliating vulnerability she was trying to hide.

"Marry me, and money, status, and every resource in the Hayes empire will be available to you. You can keep working as an architect. You can open your own studio. You can even pursue a doctorate abroad if you want. I'll cover every expense. You'll receive 10,000,000 dollars every month, without fail. You can get revenge on Lucas and finally break free of your family."

Madeline's heart slammed against her ribs.

A man worth more than 100 billion dollars, one of the most powerful people in Northvale, was offering her terms so generous they barely felt real.

"Is there a time limit on the marriage?"

"No one in the Hayes family has ever initiated a divorce. This marriage ends only if you insist on leaving."

Adrian leaned back slightly, his eyes never leaving her.

"You'll be expected to handle the social obligations that come with being Mrs. Hayes and attend family events when necessary. There's one more thing. I won't accept a sexless marriage. After we're married, you'll also be expected to fulfill our marital duties."

A faint blush spread over Madeline's cheeks.

There was a 10-year age gap between them, and the difference in their status was even greater.

Adrian noticed the flush on her cheeks, and something almost imperceptible flickered in his eyes.

His connection to Madeline went back much further than she realized.

But this wasn't the right time to tell her.

Until now, because she had been Lucas's serious girlfriend, Adrian had kept his distance, afraid that making a move would frighten her.

Now that they had broken up, he finally had his chance.

"I travel often, so you'll have plenty of personal freedom," Adrian said. "Take some time to think about it. I'm leaving for a business trip and will be back in a week. I want your answer then."

He rose and walked toward the door.

Just before leaving, he turned back. His voice was low and certain.

"Whatever Lucas could give you, I'll give you ten times more. And whatever he couldn't give you, I can. Think carefully."

The door closed.

Madeline was alone in the room.

She lowered her eyes to the agreement. The generous terms were right there in black and white.

All she had to do was sign her name, and she could finally escape the life that had trapped her. She could cross the class divide, escape her parasitic family, and strike back at the ex-boyfriend who had betrayed her.

The price was marrying a stranger who knew every humiliating detail of her life and who was, at least on paper, her ex-boyfriend's adoptive father.

She would be walking into a contract marriage full of unknowns.

Every grievance she had swallowed over the years flashed through her mind: her parents' endless demands, Lucas's affection doled out like charity, and all the years she had worked herself to exhaustion only to remain trapped behind an invisible social barrier.

She was tired of living at other people's mercy.

She was tired of being controlled.

Madeline picked up the pen.

The tip hovered above the signature line without touching the paper.

'Should I really bet my entire future on an agreement that could rewrite the rest of my life?'

The pen moved.