"He has been unresponsive for forty-eight hours."
The voice came from the shadows of the hospital suite.
I didn't turn around. I kept my eyes on the frail, paper-skinned man in the bed. Tubes. Beeping monitors.
Elias Calla. My father.
I stood at the foot of his bed and waited for the tears. The anger. The hollow ache of a daughter losing her dad.
Nothing came.
Then, a violent, suffocating wave of grief hit me—not for the man dying in front of me, but for the father he had never been.
I took a slow breath. I locked the grief in a dark box in my mind, and threw away the key.
"Your father and my late husband signed an ironclad alliance five years ago," the voice continued.
Mara Caelum stepped into the light. Icy blue eyes. A charcoal suit that cost more than my ruined wedding. The matriarch of the Caelum Group.
"A merger of our assets," she said, devoid of pity. "Sealed by a marriage. Your cousin, Lily, was the designated bride."
"Lily." The name tasted like ash.
"Yes. But it seems Lily found a more public arrangement this morning." Mara picked up a leather-bound folder. "The Caelum Group does not break contracts. The alliance stands. But the bride must change."
She held out the folder.
A marriage certificate. A prenuptial agreement. My name was already printed on the dotted lines.
"You will marry my son, Nathaniel. You will sit on the board as his proxy. In return, the Caelum family will ensure you are never publicly embarrassed by Ridge Ashford or your cousin ever again."
I stared at the contract.
"Do you have a pen?"
She handed me a silver fountain pen.
I didn't sign the signature line. I flipped to the terms, uncapped the pen, and drew a thick line through the second paragraph.
"I am not doing this as a silent proxy," I said, my voice dead calm. "I want creative directorship of the Caelum Group's architectural division."
Mara’s eyes narrowed.
I crossed out another paragraph. "I want full asset protection. What I build belongs to me. And," I looked her dead in the eye, "sole guardianship rights over any children produced by this marriage. My blood will not be used as bargaining chips."
Silence.
The corner of Mara’s mouth twitched into a sharp smile.
"My son chose well. Even if he doesn't know it yet."
She signaled her driver. A revised digital copy was produced on a tablet. I signed it.
"Where is he?" I asked.
Mara gestured to the heavy double doors at the back of the suite.
I pushed them open.
It was colder in here.
Nathaniel Caelum lay in the center of the room. Impossibly beautiful. High cheekbones, dark hair, pale skin.
And completely broken.
A thick tube ran down his throat, breathing for him. Monitors tracked the weak flutter of his heart. The media said the Caelum heir was recovering in private. The reality was right in front of me.
I was marrying a ghost.
I pulled up a chair. I reached out and placed my hand over his limp fingers. His skin was warm.
"I don't need you to love me," I whispered. "I just need you to stay alive long enough for me to build something worth keeping."
An hour later, I was Camille Caelum.
Mara handed me a velvet box. Inside was a flawless, emerald-cut diamond.
I slid it onto my left hand. The metal was ice cold.
I pulled out my phone. Raised my hand against the dark marble wall. Took a single photo.
Caption: Taken.
I hit post.
Three minutes later, the screen lit up.
I swiped accept and pressed the phone to my ear.
"Camille?" He sounded breathless. Frantic. "Tell me that post is a joke. Are you trying to make me jealous with a fake ring?"
"I don't joke, Ridge."
"Look, I'm sorry about today. I really am," his tone softened, shifting into that practiced, manipulative warmth I used to fall for. "I still love you, Camille. You know I do. But I had to do it. I was just saving Lily."
I blinked, staring blankly at the hospital wall. "Saving her."
"Yes! You know her family was going to force her into that arranged marriage with Nathaniel Caelum. The guy is a vegetable, Camille. The whole industry knows he hasn't woken up since that crash. I couldn't let Lily throw her life away on a corpse. My announcement today... it was the only way to get her out of that contract."
"Don't ruin your life over a tantrum," Ridge pleaded smoothly. "Drop this fake engagement stunt. Come back to the firm. We can still be partners… and we can still be together until Lily finds someone."
"You're right about one thing, Ridge," I said, my voice eerily calm. "Nathaniel Caelum is incapacitated. Which means his wife now holds full proxy control over the Caelum Group's architectural division."
"What?" Ridge let out a confused, nervous laugh. "What does that have to do with you?"
"Enjoy the wedding venue with Lily," I said. "I built it. But it's the last project you'll ever finish in this city."
I hung up. Blocked the number.
That night, I stood alone in the master bathroom of the Caelum estate.
The silence of the house was deafening.
Suddenly, a violent wave of nausea hit me.
I doubled over the marble sink, gagging. My stomach twisted into aggressive knots.
It’s just stress, I told myself. The betrayal. The wedding.
I splashed freezing water onto my face.
Then, it hit again. A sharp, distinct cramping sensation low in my abdomen.
My breath hitched.
I stared at my reflection. Counted the weeks in my head. The missed cycle. The sudden exhaustion I had blamed on the venue construction.
"No," I whispered to the empty room. "No. Not now."
