Rain slicked streets reflected the city lights like shattered diamonds. In a sleek black limousine, Adrian Knight sat silently, fingers tapping the polished leather armrest. His mind, always calculating, ran through numbers, investments, and the looming pressure of his family empire.
Outside, the city pulsed with life neon signs, honking cars, and the muffled laughter of people who had no idea of the storms in the penthouse towers above.
Adrian was a man who owned everything: wealth, power, influence. Yet tonight, for reasons even he found irritating, he needed a partner someone who could stand by his side in the public eye, someone who could make the Knight name seem… respectable.
Someone expendable, but presentable.
And that’s how Elara Bennett came into the frame.
Elara didn’t notice the rain until it soaked her curls. She had been rushing from her small, cluttered apartment, an umbrella half-broken in the wind.
Her hands gripped a folder of documents she had promised her mother to deliver, and her mind raced with worry: bills, deadlines, and the constant gnawing fear that life might finally tip over the edge.
She didn’t see the sleek car pull up until a black-suited man opened the door.
“Miss Bennett?” the man asked, voice professional, clipped.
Elara blinked. “Uh… yes?”
“You’ve been requested by Mr. Adrian Knight. He’ll see you now.”
Her heart skipped.
Adrian Knight the man whose name had been whispered in boardrooms, magazines, and gossip columns.
Billionaire, untouchable, cold as ice.
Why would he want her?
The penthouse was a cathedral of glass and steel, lights dimmed to a soft golden glow.
Adrian stood by the window, his silhouette sharp, regal, and intimidating. He turned slowly when she entered, and for a moment, the world seemed to shrink to just the two of them.
“Ms. Bennett,” he said, his voice low, calm, yet commanding. “Thank you for coming.”
Elara swallowed, trying to steady her racing heart. “I… I wasn’t sure why you wanted to see me, Mr. Knight.”
He didn’t smile. He didn’t soften.
“Straight to the point. I appreciate that.”
He stepped closer, the scent of cedar and something faintly metallic filling the air. “I have a proposition for you.
A contract.
Marriage.”
Elara froze. Her mind screamed, Did he just… what?
“A contract… marriage?” she echoed, voice trembling.
Adrian’s gaze was steady, unyielding. “You’ll live with me. We’ll appear as husband and wife, publicly.
The details are negotiable, but the terms are clear. No real feelings required. No complications.
For one year.”
Elara’s thoughts tumbled. One year. Live with the coldest, richest man in the city. Be part of a world she had only dreamed of in the most expensive fantasies.
And most terrifyingly he seemed…
serious.
“I… I don’t even know if I can…”
she stammered.
“You can,” Adrian interrupted smoothly.
“Because you will. And you’ll need to.
There are reasons you cannot refuse.”
His eyes darkened slightly, hinting at stakes she couldn’t yet imagine.
She looked away, biting her lip. Her family’s debts, the crushing rent, the precarious career all of it pressed on her shoulders.
Pride screamed no, practicality whispered yes.
“Yes,” she whispered finally, before she could stop herself.
Adrian’s expression didn’t change.
But a shadow of something curiosity, maybe amusement passed through his eyes.
“Good.Details will follow.We begin immediately.”
As she left the penthouse, her mind spun with disbelief. A contract marriage. Living with Adrian Knight.
One year. No emotions.
But she knew one thing already: this would not be simple.
Not with him.
Not with her.
And somewhere deep in the back of her mind, a whisper of danger and excitement stirred.
