EPISODE 5
1249 Words
A CONTRACT BOUND BY SECRET
“I’m asking you to become my wife.”
The words echoed through the tiny apartment like a clap of thunder.
For a few seconds, Isabella simply stared at Alexander.
Then she laughed.
Not because she found it funny.
Because it was the only way to stop herself from crying.
“You’ve lost your mind.”
Alexander didn’t smile.
“I’ve never been more serious.”
She looked from him to the thick contract resting on the table.
Then back at him.
“You show up at my apartment, tell me strangers are after me, and now you’re asking me to marry you?”
“It isn’t a real marriage.”
Her eyebrows knitted together.
“What?”
“It’s a contract.”
She folded her arms.
“That somehow makes it better?”
Alexander remained calm.
“It will last one year.”
“And after one year?”
“We go our separate ways.”
Isabella stared at him as though he had grown another head.
“This has to be some kind of joke.”
“It isn’t.”
She pushed the contract back toward him.
“No.”
He didn’t pick it up.
“You haven’t even read it.”
“I don’t need to.”
“You should.”
“I said no.”
Silence filled the apartment.
Her mother watched the exchange from the kitchen doorway.
Her pale face showed nothing but worry.
Alexander finally spoke again.
“The men who came here today won’t stop.”
“I can call the police.”
“They won’t help.”
“Why not?”
“Because the people behind this have influence.”
His voice was low.
Controlled.
“The police won’t protect you.”
Isabella felt a chill.
“You sound like you know them.”
Alexander looked away.
“I know what they’re capable of.”
Before she could question him further, her mother suddenly spoke.
“What if he’s right?”
Both of them turned toward her.
“Mom?”
Her mother walked closer.
Her hands trembled.
“I’ve been afraid for years.”
She looked at Alexander.
“Your father warned me this day might come.”
Isabella’s eyes widened.
“What?”
“He told me if anything ever happened to him… someone from the King family would eventually find us.”
The room fell silent.
Alexander slowly closed his eyes.
As though those words carried a burden he had been carrying for years.
“You knew?”
Her mother nodded sadly.
“I promised your father I wouldn’t tell you.”
Tears filled Isabella’s eyes.
“Why?”
“Because he wanted you to live a normal life.”
She shook her head.
“A normal life?”
She laughed bitterly.
“My fiancé left me at the altar yesterday.”
“Today strangers broke into our apartment.”
“And now a billionaire wants me to become his wife.”
“There is nothing normal about my life.”
Her voice cracked.
For the first time since her father died…
She felt completely lost.
Alexander quietly stepped closer.
“I know this is difficult.”
She looked up sharply.
“You don’t know anything about my life.”
His expression softened.
“No.”
“I know more than you think.”
She hated how mysterious he sounded.
Every answer only created more questions.
“Tell me the truth.”
“I will.”
“When?”
“When it’s safe.”
She sighed in frustration.
“You keep saying that.”
Alexander reached into his briefcase and pulled out another document.
This one wasn’t the contract.
It was a photograph.
He handed it to her.
Her fingers trembled as she looked at it.
It showed her father.
Standing beside a much younger Alexander.
Both of them were smiling.
She gasped.
Her father had never mentioned him.
Never once.
She turned the picture over.
Written on the back were six words.
Trust Alexander if anything happens.
The handwriting belonged to her father.
Her breathing became uneven.
“This…”
She looked at Alexander.
“…where did you get this?”
“It was given to me the night your father died.”
The apartment fell silent.
Every word he spoke made the mystery deeper.
“What really happened that night?”
Alexander looked at the photograph for a long moment.
Then he finally answered.
“Your father was supposed to meet me.”
Her heart stopped.
“But he never arrived.”
Instead…”
His voice became quieter.
“I received a phone call saying his car had crashed.”
Tears rolled down Isabella’s cheeks.
She had spent years believing it had been a tragic accident.
Now she wasn’t sure what to believe anymore.
Alexander continued.
“I searched for answers.”
“I searched for years.”
“But every trail led to the same people.”
“The people looking for you now.”
Her mother covered her mouth.
“They’ve been watching us?”
“Yes.”
“And if they realize Isabella knows anything…”
He didn’t finish.
He didn’t have to.
The fear in his eyes said enough.
For several minutes nobody spoke.
Finally Isabella looked at the contract again.
“What exactly happens if I agree?”
Alexander answered immediately.
“You’ll move into my estate.”
“My security team will protect you twenty-four hours a day.”
“No one will be able to get close to you.”
“And in return?”
“You pretend to be my wife.”
She frowned.
“That’s all?”
He hesitated.
“My grandfather also believes I should be married.”
“So this helps you too.”
“Yes.”
She couldn’t help smiling slightly.
“So there is something in this for you.”
“There always is.”
She looked at the contract once more.
One year.
A fake marriage.
Protection.
A chance to save her mother.
A chance to discover the truth about her father’s death.
It sounded impossible.
It sounded dangerous.
It sounded insane.
She closed the file.
“I need time.”
Alexander nodded.
“I expected that.”
He reached into his pocket and placed a small silver key on the table.
“What is this?”
“A penthouse.”
She blinked.
“What?”
“You and your mother shouldn’t stay here tonight.”
“The apartment isn’t safe anymore.”
She stared at the key.
“You already prepared another place?”
“I prepare for everything.”
She didn’t know whether to feel grateful…
Or terrified.
As Alexander walked toward the door, he suddenly stopped.
Without turning around, he spoke.
“By this time tomorrow…”
“You’ll have to make a choice.”
“What choice?”
He finally looked back at her.
“Walk away from me forever…”
“…or become Mrs. Alexander King.”
He left.
The apartment door closed softly behind him.
Neither Isabella nor her mother spoke.
The silence stretched for several moments.
Then Isabella noticed something.
The marriage contract was still on the table.
She picked it up.
A folded piece of paper slipped out and fell onto the floor.
It wasn’t part of the contract.
It was a handwritten note.
She unfolded it slowly.
Her heart nearly stopped.
Only one sentence was written across the page.
Don’t trust anyone… not even Alexander King.
To be continued…
- Writer
