Elena Ward stared at the golden invitation in her trembling hands. Her family had lost everything—house, business, dignity. Bankruptcy had come faster than she could process. And now, standing in front of the most powerful man in the city, she had a choice: humiliation or survival.
Alexander Vale didn't smile. He didn't need to. The sharp lines of his face, the icy blue of his eyes, made her heart race in fear and curiosity at the same time.
"One year," he said, his voice cold, almost mechanical. "No love. No attachment. You leave, you owe nothing. You stay… you follow the rules. Understood?"
Elena swallowed. Her pride screamed to run, but her family's desperate faces echoed in her mind. She nodded, signing the contract that would chain her life to a man she barely knew.
And as she shook hands with him, she felt it—the subtle weight of his gaze, the possessiveness lurking behind his indifferent facade. She had no idea that this was just the beginning.