I couldn't sleep that night.
Back in the cramped hotel room, the flickering lamp still buzzed like it had a personal grudge against my peace. I lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling, my mind racing.
Marry her, Dominic. Before I go, I want grandchildren…
Those words echoed over and over like a broken record.
Was that woman serious?
I groaned, turning on my side. I had saved someone's life—not signed up for a marriage proposal from a stranger's dramatic mother.
And yet… the man's eyes haunted me. Cold at first, but strangely familiar. Focused. Calculating. Like he wasn't just looking at me—but through me.
I didn't even know his name.
The next morning, there was a knock on my hotel room door. Sharp. Precise.
I froze, heart kicking up in my chest. I hadn't told anyone where I was staying.
I tiptoed to the door and peeked through the peephole.
Black coat. Tall frame.
Him.
I unlocked the door cautiously, opening it just a sliver. "Hi…"
"Dominic Vale," he said calmly, like we were neighbors meeting over borrowed sugar. "We didn't get to introduce ourselves yesterday."
I blinked. "Right…"
Then, frowning, I narrowed my eyes. "Wait—how did you find me?"
He held my gaze, unbothered. "My mother insisted. She called in a favor with the hospital staff. I asked around."
My jaw dropped. "You asked around?"
"It's not as creepy as it sounds."
"That's exactly what someone who's being creepy would say," I muttered under my breath.
But it seemed like he heard me. A ghost of a smile tugged at his lips. "May I come in?"
My brows lifted higher. "Into my hotel room?"
A beat of silence. Then, "Fair. Would you prefer to talk downstairs?"
I studied him for a moment. His presence didn't feel threatening. Just… strange. Calm, but with a storm buried somewhere under the surface.
I grabbed my coat. "Let's go."
In the lobby of the hotel, we sat at a corner table near the vending machines, out of earshot of the few other guests passing through.
I pulled my sleeves over my hands, watching him across the table.
"I assume this is about your mother?" I asked, sipping from a bitter paper cup of hotel coffee.
Dominic nodded. "She's relentless. And now that she's convinced you're heaven-sent, she won't drop the marriage idea."
I gave a dry laugh. "Tell her I'm broke and temporarily homeless. That should fix it."
He didn't laugh.
Instead, he studied me with quiet intensity. "Actually… that's exactly why I came."
I blinked. "Excuse me?"
Dominic leaned forward, voice low and careful. "She won't stop until I agree to marry someone. And as far as she's concerned, you're fate wrapped in a sundress."
"Wow. That's… romantic," I muttered.
"I don't believe in fate," he said simply. "But I believe in strategy."
I stared at him, not following.
"I'm offering you a deal," he continued. "A contract marriage. One year. We live together. Make it convincing enough for my mother. You'll be financially supported. And when it's over, we walk away. No strings."
My jaw clenched. "So you want me to pretend to be your wife? For a year?"
"You need a place to stay. I need a fiancée to keep my mother off my back. It's clean, simple, and temporary."
I looked away, my throat tight.
I had just broken free from the lie of a lifetime with Jason. And now this stranger—this unnervingly calm man—was offering me a brand new lie to step into.
Only this one came with shelter. Money. Stability.
It should've felt wrong. But instead… it felt like control. For once, the terms were mine to consider.
"You're insane," I whispered.
He nodded once. "Possibly."
I looked at him again. His expression was unreadable. Not eager. Not arrogant. Just waiting.
For my answer.
I leaned back in my chair, my eyes drifting to the chipped tiles under my shoes. So this was my fresh start—negotiating fake marriages with a man I barely knew, in a hotel lobby that smelled faintly of burnt coffee and cheap cleaning spray.
It wasn't what I'd imagined. But what part of my life ever went to plan?
And yet… my instincts were quiet. No alarms. No unease.
Dominic didn't feel like a threat. If anything, he felt like someone who had walked through his own kind of storm—and somehow recognized the one still clinging to my shoulders.
There was something in his silence. Something he wasn't saying.
My phone buzzed on the table beside me, snapping me out of my thoughts. Unknown number.
I stared at it.
Somehow, I already knew who it was.
I let it ring out, watching the screen go dark again.
Blocked or not—Jason was trying to get through. Maybe from a different phone. Maybe just to defend himself. Maybe to beg.
But it was too late.
I silenced the phone and looked up.
Dominic still sat calmly across from me, his gaze steady.
And strangely, in the middle of all the uncertainty…
he felt more solid than the man I'd once planned to marry.
There was something in Dominic's silence. Something he wasn't saying.
But somehow, I felt he understood more than he let on.
"Is this really how you usually meet women?" I asked suddenly, eyes narrowing. "Trick them into near-death experiences and propose fake marriages?"
To my surprise, he chuckled softly. "No. You're my first."
My lips twitched despite myself. "Lucky me."