Chapter 1 – The Deal
Emily Carter sat frozen, her fingers trembling around the silver pen clutched in her hand. Across the mahogany desk, a thick contract lay open—its sharp edges a mirror of the choice she was about to make. Her pulse drummed in her ears, drowning out the rhythmic ticking of the grandfather clock in the corner.
This wasn't just paperwork. This was the cost of saving her mother's life.
"Sign it," the man opposite her said, his tone devoid of emotion, as if he were merely discussing numbers and not reshaping the future of two lives. "Once it's filed, the treatment starts immediately. Your mother will get the best doctors, no waiting list, no delay."
Emily's eyes lifted slowly, locking onto his. Alexander Knight. The name carried weight—headlines, Forbes covers, whispered boardroom rumors. Billionaire. Cold-blooded. Untouchable.
He was also her only hope.
Her lips parted, but the words came out cracked and uncertain. "I don't even know you."
"You don't need to," he said flatly. "This isn't about love or compatibility. This is a contract marriage. Business. You get my name. I get... convenience."
"Convenience?" she echoed, a bitter laugh escaping her throat.
Alexander's eyes didn't waver. "I need a wife for three months. You need a miracle. Consider this an exchange of currency."
Emily's gaze dropped back to the page. Her father's death had left them with mountains of debt. Her mother's cancer diagnosis had drained what was left. Every loan denied. Every door slammed shut. Until now.
"But why me?" she asked, desperate for a crack in his icy façade. "You could've had anyone—any woman would kill to marry you."
"That's precisely why I don't want any of them. I need someone who doesn't come with expectations. Who won't ask questions. Someone desperate enough not to get emotionally involved."
His words cut like ice. She was nothing to him but a temporary solution.
"I'm not good at pretending," she whispered.
"Good," he said, folding his arms. "I don't want an actress. Just a signature. And silence."
Emily looked down at the pen in her hand. This was madness. It went against everything she believed in. But her mother's smile—fragile and fading—flashed in her mind.
She signed.
The moment the ink dried, her name changed. Emily Carter was gone.
She had just become Emily Knight—wife to the most powerful, most emotionally unavailable man she had ever met.
And her life... would never be the same.