Chapter Three
328 Words
The villa loomed like a fortress on the Lagos shoreline, its high stone walls crowned with iron spikes, guards posted at every corner. Adaora’s stomach churned as the SUV rolled through towering gates, shutting her into a world she couldn’t escape.
Inside, chandeliers glowed like stars, marble floors stretched under her trembling feet. This wasn’t a home. It was a kingdom, and Leonardo Moretti was its unchallenged ruler.
He led her into a vast study lined with books and leather chairs. A fire crackled in the hearth, though the night was warm. On the desk lay a folder.
Leonardo slid it toward her. “Read.”
Adaora’s fingers trembled as she flipped it open. Legal language blurred before her eyes until one word hit her like a slap: Marriage Contract.
Her throat closed. “You can’t be serious.”
“I don’t joke,” he replied, leaning back in his chair like a man discussing weather. “You sign, you live. You refuse…” He shrugged. “Accidents happen. Tragic, really.”
Her jaw tightened. “You can’t force me—”
“Can’t I?” His gray eyes pinned her in place. “You witnessed a transaction that could topple empires. My enemies already know your face. You’re not safe anywhere. With me, you have protection. Without me…” He let the silence finish for him.
Adaora slammed the folder shut. “What’s in this for you?”
His lips curved. “Everything.”
He pushed a pen across the desk. “Choose wisely, Adaora.”
Her heart pounded. This wasn’t marriage—it was a prison, a death sentence written in ink. But as his men shifted in the shadows, as her pulse screamed survival, her hand reached for the pen.
She pressed it to the page, her name bleeding into the paper like a wound.
Adaora Okafor.
The second she lifted the pen, Leonardo’s smile sharpened like a blade.
“Good girl,” he murmured.
- Writer
