The cold ceo's secret pregnant wife

Chapter 1: The Test The white stick in my shaking hand has two pink lines. Pregnant. I'm pregnant with Adrian Knight's baby. Three weeks ago, he was just the cold-hearted CEO I served coffee to. The billionaire everyone fears. My boss. One night, one mistake, and now my entire life is ruined. I throw the test into my bag and rush to my desk. I can't let anyone see. If HR finds out an intern got pregnant by the CEO, I'll be fired before I can explain. My father needs the hospital money. I can't lose this job. "Miss Carter." His voice is ice. I look up. Adrian Knight stands at my cubicle, his tailored black suit sharp enough to cut glass. His gray eyes scan me like I'm a bad contract he wants to terminate. Everyone in the office goes silent. Nobody dares to breathe when the CEO is angry. "My office. Now." My heart pounds against my ribs. Does he know? How could he know? His office is on the 50th floor. It smells like expensive cologne, power, and danger. The entire wall is glass, showing the whole city beneath us. It makes me feel small. Insignificant. He doesn't ask me to sit. He throws a folder onto his massive desk. The sound echoes. "Sign it." My hands tremble as I pick it up. Contract of Marriage. The words are printed in bold at the top. My eyes widen. I can't breathe. "What is this?" "A solution," he says coldly, leaning against his desk. He's too close. I can see the faint stubble on his jaw. "You're pregnant. With my heir. The Knight family needs a legitimate child, not a scandal that will crash our stock prices." I let out a laugh, but there's no humor in it. It's pure panic. "You don't even know if it's yours. We were both drunk. It was one night!" His jaw ticks. A dangerous muscle jumps in his cheek. He steps closer, trapping me between his body and the desk. His scent, cedar and something dark, overwhelms me. "I had you tested, Miss Carter. Your blood work from the company physical last week. The night we... it was your first time. Don't play games with me. I hate liars." My face burns with shame and anger. He knows I was a virgin. He violated my privacy. He knows everything about me and I know nothing about him. "Sign the contract. Marry me for one year. Give birth to my child. In return, I'll pay your father's medical debt. Five million dollars transferred tonight. After the baby is born and DNA is confirmed, we divorce. You walk away with nothing else. No alimony. No rights to the Knight name." Five million dollars. The number rings in my head. It's the exact amount the hospital quoted for my dad's surgery. The surgery that will save his life. The surgery we could never afford. But marrying him means giving up my freedom. My future. My dreams. To a man who looks at me like I'm dirt on his thousand-dollar shoes. To a man who feels nothing. "What if I say no?" I whisper. My voice is smaller than I intended. His hand shoots out and grabs my chin, forcing me to look at him. His grip isn't painful, but it's unbreakable. Possessive. His thumb brushes my lower lip, and I hate how my body reacts to his touch. My skin burns where he touches me. "Then I'll make sure you and your father lose everything. Your job. Your apartment. Your father's place in that hospital. The choice is yours, Miss Carter. But choose quickly. My patience is not... fertile." He knows. He definitely knows I'm pregnant. I look back at the contract. At the clause that says 'No emotional involvement. No love. No physical contact unless necessary for procreation.' He's planning our entire life like a business merger. I pick up the expensive pen from his desk. My hand shakes so badly I almost drop it. If I sign this, I become the CEO's secret wife. A prisoner in a penthouse. If I don't, my father dies. It's that simple. The pen hovers over the signature line. My name is Ava Carter. In three seconds, I could be Ava Knight. What would you choose? The office door bursts open before I can decide. The sound makes me jump. "Adrian!" A woman's sharp voice cuts through the tension like a knife. She's beautiful, dangerous, and wearing a diamond ring that probably costs more than my entire life. Her red dress is designer. Her heels click like gunshots on the marble floor. "Father said the board meeting starts now. Who is she? Why is she crying in your office?" His fiancée. Victoria Lang. The heiress the tabloids say he's marrying next month to merge their companies. The perfect woman for a perfect billionaire. Adrian's gray eyes don't leave mine for a second. "Nobody important, Victoria. Leave us. This is a private HR matter." But Victoria is not stupid. She sees the contract on the desk. She sees my terrified face and my shaking hands. She sees the pregnancy test sticking out of my open bag. She sees everything. Her red lips curve into a smile that doesn't reach her cold eyes. It's the smile of a predator. "Pregnant? With your baby, Adrian? How... inconvenient for our wedding. And for the Lang-Knight merger." The pen drops from my hand and clatters onto the marble floor. This just got a lot more complicated. Now it's not just my father’s life at stake. It's mine too.