THE PADDOCK CONTRACT PRINCESS

CHAPTER 3

The 51 Percent Will

Sofia followed Lucien into a private conference room overlooking the harbor because refusing to hear his proposal would have been foolish, even if accepting it sounded insane. He placed Henri’s will on the table and explained that the document had been created after a period of serious illness, when his grandfather had become convinced the family was destroying itself through succession disputes. According to the will, Lucien had ninety days to establish a legitimate public engagement and maintain it through the Monaco Grand Prix and several designated corporate events. If he failed, the controlling shares would move into a trust managed by people outside the Chevalier family.

Sofia folded her arms and told him she was not interested in becoming anyone’s decorative solution to a billionaire inheritance problem. Lucien said he had expected that answer, then slid another document across the table showing the legal status of the Black River property. The demolition had been authorized through a shell company that had acquired an apparent development interest using documents connected to Mateo Reyes, but the acquisition was now under investigation. If Sofia cooperated with him, Lucien promised to freeze every Vantari claim against the property until the truth was established.

She studied him carefully because his offer was too convenient. “Why me?” she asked, and Lucien answered that he needed someone the media would believe, someone outside the Chevalier family, and someone who had no reason to protect his reputation. Sofia pointed out that she hated him, and Lucien said that might make the arrangement more convincing than affection. She almost smiled despite herself before remembering the bulldozer and asking what exactly he expected from her.

Lucien explained that they would present themselves as engaged for ninety days, attend five race weekends and selected family functions, and maintain the appearance of a genuine relationship. In exchange, Vantari would return all disputed development claims over the Mauritius property, fund an independent legal investigation into the demolition, and give Sofia access to every document directly connected to her father’s old business relationship with the Chevaliers. The arrangement sounded like a trap because everything about Lucien sounded like a trap, but it also offered something Sofia could not obtain alone: access to the family archives.

She asked about the boundaries, and Lucien produced a draft contract prepared by his attorneys. It contained clauses governing public appearances, media statements, travel arrangements, confidentiality, and financial obligations, but one section caught Sofia’s attention immediately. Clause Eight stated that neither party could demand emotional commitment, physical intimacy, or romantic exclusivity beyond what was necessary to maintain the public arrangement. Sofia looked up and said, “You actually wrote down that we are forbidden from falling in love?”

Lucien’s expression changed for the first time. It was almost amusement, although the emotion disappeared before Sofia could be certain she had seen it. He said the clause existed because powerful families survived by documenting boundaries, and Sofia replied that boundaries were useful when people respected them. Lucien leaned closer and told her that if they did this, he would respect every boundary she established, but she would have to do the same.

Sofia requested one additional condition: the workshop and every piece of property belonging to the Reyes family would remain untouched until the investigation concluded, regardless of what the contract said. Lucien agreed immediately, which made her more suspicious rather than less. She asked why he was so willing to protect land his company supposedly believed it owned, and Lucien answered that he had never believed it owned the land. Then he added quietly, “Someone wanted you to believe I did.”

That sentence stayed with Sofia as she left the room. She returned to her hotel, opened her father’s black notebook, and compared the old diagrams with the documents from Lucien. Several technical drawings appeared to show cooling systems designed for early high-performance racing engines, and the dates overlapped with the period when Henri Chevalier had secretly funded Mateo’s work. Sofia suddenly wondered whether her father had not merely built parts for Vantari, but had created technology valuable enough for someone to kill to possess.

Lucien called her that night and told her the media storm was growing worse. A photograph of her slapping him had become one of the biggest stories surrounding the Monaco Grand Prix, while rival teams were already asking questions about the woman who had publicly attacked Vantari’s team principal. Sofia asked whether he wanted her to deny the relationship rumors, and Lucien replied, “No. I want you to become the woman everyone believes I am going to marry.”

Sofia laughed because the idea was absurd, but Lucien did not. He told her that if they announced the engagement before the next morning, Henri’s legal team would recognize the condition as satisfied and the family board would temporarily stop its succession fight. Sofia asked what happened if she refused, and Lucien answered that he would fight the trust while Vantari’s rivals fought to buy the team and the people behind the Mauritius demolition continued operating unseen. For the first time, Sofia understood that their problems were connected, and the realization frightened her more than the contract.

She returned to the conference room before dawn. Lucien was waiting beside the window, jacket removed, sleeves rolled to his forearms, looking less like a billionaire and more like an exhausted man who had been fighting a war alone. Sofia placed the contract on the table and said she would sign it under one condition: if he lied to her about her father, the agreement ended immediately. Lucien stared at her for several seconds before replying, “Then you should know now that there are things my grandfather never told me either.”