Nova's POV
By the time we returned from the gala, my feet ached, my smile was sore, and my patience was a ghost of its former self.
Leon held the penthouse door open like a gentleman. I swept past him like a hurricane.
"Take a bow, husband," I muttered, kicking off my heels. "We fooled an entire ballroom full of billionaires."
He loosened his tie with infuriating calm. "You're welcome."
I whirled to face him. "You think you're charming?"
"No," he said, walking past me. "I think I'm successful. Charm is optional."
I grabbed a throw pillow from the couch and hurled it at his retreating back. It hit him squarely on the shoulder. He didn't even flinch.
"I'll send you the dry cleaning bill," he added, disappearing into the hallway.
Arrogant, infuriating, emotionally constipated robot of a man.
And I was married to him.
On purpose.
I collapsed onto the couch, still in my dress, the necklace pressing cold against my skin. My chest rose and fell too fast. Not from anger. Not entirely. Something else was beginning to fester, something I didn't have a name for yet.
I closed my eyes.
That moment on the balcony…
His hand. His eyes. The silence that wrapped around us like velvet and fire.
No. Don't go there.
This was a contract. A transaction.
I was the girl he chose because I looked good in photos and had a broken past he could exploit. He didn't want me. He wanted the illusion of a wife.
So why the hell did it feel like something cracked every time he looked at me like I was real?
Leon's POV
The shower was hot enough to scald away the echoes of the evening, but not the memory of her laugh.
It surprised me. How much she owned the room. How many people looked at her and then looked at me like I'd somehow won.
Truth was, I didn't feel like I'd won anything.
I felt like I'd put a lit match in my pocket and dared it to stay cold.
Nova James wasn't predictable. She wasn't pliable. She wasn't like anyone I'd ever dealt with and I'd dealt with politicians, mobsters, and media vultures.
I toweled off, pulled on sweatpants, and walked back into the living room to find her asleep on the couch, still wearing her red dress like armor she'd forgotten to take off.
Her hair spilled across a cushion. One hand curled beneath her chin. The other still clutching the champagne flute.
She looked young,tired, human.
Stop it.
This isn't real. She's not yours. This is business.
I grabbed a blanket, walked over, and draped it across her shoulders. She didn't stir.
But as I stood there, watching her sleep, the silence pressed in again.
And for a moment, I wanted to reach out and trace the curve of her cheek.
But I didn't.
I walked away.
Nova's POV
The next morning, the headlines hit.
"Hale's Secret Wife Revealed!"
"Who Is Nova James—and Why Did She Vanish?"
"Billionaire's Bride or PR Pawn?"
I stood in the kitchen, clutching my coffee like it owed me rent, scrolling through article after article that dissected my entire existence.
There were pictures from the gala, close-ups of the necklace, shots of us laughing, smiling, posing. We looked like a fairytale.
I knew better.
Leon entered, dressed in black slacks and a crisp white shirt that made him look sinfully untouchable. He paused when he saw my phone.
"They're fast," he said.
"They're vultures."
He poured himself coffee like the world wasn't on fire. "This was always going to happen."
"You could've warned me."
"I assumed you were prepared."
I slammed my mug down. "I was prepared to pretend. Not to be devoured."
His eyes narrowed. "You want out already?"
I laughed bitterly. "You wish."
"Then stop acting like a victim and start playing the part."
I took a deep breath, trying not to lunge across the counter and slap him.
Then my phone buzzed again.
Unknown number.
[Attached: Photo]
I clicked it.
It was a blurry picture—Leon, outside some restaurant. A woman stood beside him. Blonde. Tall. Familiar.
Then the message came:
> "Your husband isn't just cold. He's hiding fire. Ask him about Camille."
My blood turned to ice.
Leon's POV
She barely spoke the rest of the morning.
Which, honestly, was a blessing.
I had back-to-back meetings, two board calls, and a silent war with a European investor who smiled like he wasn't trying to stab me with clauses.
When I returned to the penthouse at noon, Nova was standing in the living room with her arms crossed and her phone in her hand.
Oh, no.
Not this.
"You forgot to mention something," she said.
I dropped my briefcase. "I always forget things. Be more specific."
She held up the phone.
I looked.
And felt something twist low in my gut.
Camille.
"I don't owe you an explanation," I said immediately.
"You married me."
"Fake married you."
"Fake or not, this affects me."
She stepped forward, fire in her eyes.
"Who is she?"
I didn't blink. "My ex."
"Is she a problem?"
"No."
"Then why is someone warning me about her like I'm in a soap opera?"
I didn't answer.
Mostly because I wasn't sure.
Nova's POV
He shut down.
Stone. Cold. Just like always.
But I saw it. That flicker. That tiny shift in his eyes. Camille wasn't just an ex. She was a ghost. And ghosts only haunt you when they've left something behind.
"You don't get to go mute just because it's convenient," I snapped.
"This isn't your business," he said tightly.
"Bullshit. The moment you put a ring on my finger, this became my business."
His jaw clenched. "Drop it."
"No."
His voice dropped an octave. "I said—"
"I heard you," I interrupted. "I just don't take orders."
He stared at me like he didn't know whether to strangle me or kiss me.
The tension cracked between us like glass under pressure.
Then, before I could storm off, his phone buzzed.
He looked at the screen.
And every muscle in his body went still.
"What?" I asked.
He didn't speak.
I stepped forward. "Leon?"
He finally looked up, voice low.
"There's a leak."
Leon's POV
I didn't even take off my coat before locking myself in the office and opening the secure folder.
The leak was real.
Our contract.
Our marriage contract.
Signed, scanned, and circulating online.
Someone had gotten into our files or into my lawyer's system. Either way, the damage was done. The illusion we'd spent the last two weeks building was seconds away from crashing down.
I called my PR head.
"I need a statement. Now. Frame it as a malicious forgery."
"But if they confirm the signatures—"
"They won't. Shut it down before they can."
Next, I called my legal team.
"Find the source. I don't care what it costs."
Then I just… sat there.
For a long time.
Because this wasn't just a PR mess.
This was a personal one.
Nova had signed that contract under pressure. But she'd followed the rules. Played the part. And I'd dragged her into a storm I swore I'd control.
Now it was raining and she was standing in the middle of it without an umbrella.
Nova's POV
The internet exploded by 3:00 p.m.
Screenshots. Comment threads. Headlines like:
"Is Leon Hale's Marriage a Lie?"
"Insider Leak: The Contract That Exposes the Truth"
"Nova James: Pawn, Player, or Both?"
I couldn't breathe.
This wasn't just a scandal. This was an implosion. And I was the grenade.
I paced the kitchen, checked my phone, refreshed pages that kept updating with more filth.
People called me desperate.
Gold-digger.
Manipulator.
Some claimed I seduced him for the money. Others claimed he blackmailed me. The only thing they agreed on was that our marriage was a sham.
Which ironically was true.
But it was supposed to be our lie. Not theirs.
Leon finally emerged from his office looking like he'd fought a war and lost.
"I'm handling it," he said.
"No, you're not," I snapped. "You can't."
His mouth tightened.
"Do you realize what this means?" I said, voice rising. "My reputation is already ruined. Now it's radioactive."
"I didn't leak it."
"I didn't say you did."
"But you think it."
I stepped back, biting my lip. I didn't trust him. I couldn't. But I didn't want to believe he'd burn me like this either.
Then he did something I wasn't prepared for.
He reached for my hand.
"Nova," he said, voice rough, "I will fix this."
And for the first time, he didn't sound like a CEO.
He sounded like a man who actually cared.
I wanted to believe him.
God, I wanted to.
But the lie we built was already starting to crack.
And I had no idea what was left underneath.