Chapter 2 - The Devil's Contract
Clara awoke to the smell of freshly brewed espresso and rain tapping against floor-to-ceiling glass.
She sat up with a gasp, the silk sheets falling away. She was in a massive, hyper-modern bedroom bathed in the gray light of a stormy dawn. She was no longer wearing the shredded champagne gown; she had been changed into an oversized, pristine white button-down shirt. Her bruised cheek had been cleaned and treated with an expensive-smelling ointment.
The door clicked open. Julian walked in, wearing a tailored charcoal suit that fit his broad shoulders flawlessly. He held a cup of coffee and a thick manila folder.
“My housekeeper dressed you,” he said preemptively, noticing her panicked glance down at the shirt. He set the coffee on the nightstand. “Drink. Then, we talk.”
Clara pulled her knees to her chest. “Talk about what? You said I was a weapon. What do you want from me, Mr. Vance?”
Julian pulled up a velvet chair and sat, crossing one long leg over the other. “Victoria Sterling stole your father’s company when he died. She forged the will, leaving you with nothing but a trust fund that doesn't unlock until you are twenty-five. She tried to sell you to Gallagher to cover the corporate debt she accumulated through her own incompetence.”
Clara stared at him, stunned. He knew everything.
“I want to absorb Sterling Industries,” Julian continued, his voice purely transactional. “But hostile takeovers are messy. However, if the rightful heir to the Sterling empire were to legally align herself with me, the board of directors would unanimously vote Victoria out and hand the reins over without a fight.”
“Legally align?” Clara echoed, her voice barely a whisper.
Julian opened the manila folder and slid a thick stack of legal documents onto the bed.
“A marriage of convenience,” Julian stated flatly. “You sign this contract. We get married on paper. I get Sterling Industries and crush Victoria. In return, you get my absolute protection, unlimited financial resources, and twenty percent of the company’s shares when we divorce in exactly one year. Victoria will never be able to touch you again.”
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Clara stared at the documents. The ink seemed to blur. She had just escaped one cage, and now a devastatingly handsome, terrifyingly powerful billionaire was offering her another. But this cage came with a key. And it came with revenge.
She looked up, meeting Julian’s intense, unyielding gaze. “Where do I sign?”
