Isaac stared at me like I’d just told him the sky was green. Then he laughed.
“Let me get this straight,” he said, leaning back in his leather chair. “You barged into my building without an appointment, demanded to see me, ignored my secretary, and now you’re asking me to marry you.”
“Yes,” I said, lifting my chin.
He blinked once. Twice. “You’re still married, Nadine.”
“Not really.” I slid a thick envelope across his desk. “I already filed for divorce.”
His brows rose. “You filed this fast?”
“My mother helped,” I said simply. “So yes. I’m free. And you—” I looked him straight in the eye “—you can marry me now.”
His lips curved. Not kindly. Not mockingly. More like someone fascinated by a fire spreading across a field. “Why me?”
Because Lewis once told me to stay away from Isaac Halt. Because Lewis hated him. Because Isaac was the one man Lewis never beat, never intimidated, never matched. Because Isaac is everything Lewis pretends to be. But I didn’t say that.
Instead, I said, “I heard you were looking for a wife.”
That got his attention. A slow, assessing look swept over me.
“And what exactly,” he asked, voice dropping, “do you think you can offer me?”
“Everything.”
Isaac’s brows arched slightly.
“I’ll do anything you want,” I said. “Anything you need. Just—” I swallowed hard “—marry me.”
He pressed his fingers together. “I want a child.”
My heart paused.
“My father has been demanding one,” he continued, tone cool. “An heir. That’s the only deal I’m offering. Marriage in exchange for a child. Everything else in the contract is negotiable. But that part isn’t.”
My pulse throbbed in my ears. I placed a hand over my stomach, feeling the fragile flutter of life inside me.
“Good,” I whispered. “Perfect timing, actually. I’m pregnant.” For the first time since I walked in, shock flickered across his face. “I was supposed to abort this baby,” I said quietly, “because he isn’t safe with the man I married. But… I won’t. The baby is innocent. And if you need an heir—then we can use this.”
The silence that followed was heavy, intense, cutting.
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s get married. When?”
“Tomorrow,” I said without hesitation. “A shotgun wedding.”
I turned and walked out of his office, feeling his eyes on my back until the elevator doors closed.
The hotel room felt too large, too quiet, too painfully safe after the house I’d escaped.
My mother sent the finalized divorce papers. I signed them immediately. I spent the afternoon gathering evidence—speaking to people who owed me favors, employees who had seen too much, friends of the family who remembered what “really” happened the night Maxon allegedly died, why Victoria left, and every rumor they tried to bury.
By evening, I had what I needed.
All of it would be sent to Grandma Madeline on her birthday during her celebration in front of every powerful business partner, friend, board member, and socialite she’d ever invited.
Let them taste humiliation.
Let them feel the ruin they crafted for me.
My phone rang. Maxon still pretending Lewis. I let it ring until it went to voicemail.
“Where are you?” he asked immediately, voice strained. “You disappeared. You didn’t come home. I’ve been calling—”
“I just… needed air,” I said softly. “Needed space.”
A beat of silence.
“Was it because of Victoria?” he asked, voice gentler. “I’m sorry. I should’ve been there. I didn’t know she would—”
“It’s fine,” I lied. “I’m okay. I just needed a night away.”
“You’ll come back tomorrow?” he asked, sounding relieved.
“Yes,” I whispered. “Tomorrow.”
“Okay,” he said warmly. “Take whatever rest you need. We also have to prepare for Grandma’s birthday.”
I closed my eyes. We said goodbye, and I dropped the phone onto the bed, my hands trembling.
The next day, I stood in my wedding dress. I glanced at the man beside me—a stranger, someone I had known for less than a week—but a strange calm settled in my chest.
“I do,” I whispered, the words barely a breath.
He echoed them without hesitation.
The ceremony lasted barely fifteen minutes. No flowers, no family, no celebration—just a piece of paper binding me to a man who didn’t pretend to love me, didn’t use me, didn’t destroy me.
A clean slate, sealed with ink.
Days blurred together after that.
I moved through the house like nothing had changed. I smiled when spoken to. I laughed when expected. I joined breakfasts, dinners, and little conversations in between.
Maxon stayed mostly gentle and warm, checking on me like I was fragile glass. Lewis and Victoria floated around like a guilty secret trying too hard to seem innocent.
Then came Grandma Madeline’s birthday.
A day big enough. Formal enough. Public enough.
Perfect.
In the morning, I approached Maxon with a soft smile.
“You go ahead,” I told him. “I’ll bring Mom with me. She needs extra time to get ready.”
His face lit with relief and affection. “Okay. I’ll save you a seat next to me.”
“Please do.”
He kissed my forehead—warm, trusting, undeserved—and left without a shred of suspicion.
The moment he was gone, my entire posture shifted. My breath steadied. My eyes sharpened. This was it.
I slipped out the back entrance with a single suitcase, and left a message to my butler to send the gift to Madeline.
When I arrived at the private hangar, Isaac was already there.
He leaned casually against the stairs of the jet, hands tucked in his pockets, looking like trouble and salvation wrapped into one. “You’re right on time,” he said with a faint smirk.
“For once,” I answered. My voice no longer trembled.
He offered his hand. I took it.
The plane door shut behind us with a soft thud—like the closing of a chapter I would never revisit.
As the engines hummed to life, I gazed out the window. The city stretched below me, familiar and cruel, then slowly began to shrink as the jet ascended.
I pressed a hand to my stomach—steady, certain.
At the party, everything would unfold exactly as planned. The truth in that gift box would carve through their lies like glass. Grandma Madeline would know what they’d done.
Everyone would.
And by the time the murmurs spread across the ballroom—by the time faces turned, shocked and whispering— they would also know one more thing:
I wasn’t theirs to break anymore.
I had married Isaac Holt.
And the moment my name was announced… their entire world would burn.
