Madison never imagined the entire situation would progress this easily, much less this quickly.
Not long after they walked out of the restaurant, Jeremy drove her directly to register their marriage.
During the ride, Madison sent Elin a short message. "It's done. Thanks."
Elin replied almost instantly, "Already? You married him after meeting him one time?"
Madison answered with a laughing emoji instead of explaining further.
After that, she leaned back against the seat and stared quietly out the car window, still struggling to process everything happening around her.
Only three hours earlier, she had been waiting for a man who never came.
Now she was riding beside a completely different man on the way to become his wife.
The entire situation felt absurdly ironic.
By the time they arrived, Jeremy casually made a phone call. Even though working hours had already ended, several staff members hurried over to handle their registration personally.
Every single employee wore bright smiles despite staying late. Judging from their enthusiasm, Jeremy must have compensated them generously.
The paperwork moved astonishingly fast. Forms were filled and signed, documents were stamped, and before Madison fully processed it, everything had already been finalized.
When the document finally landed in her hands, Madison lowered her eyes and stared at it for a long moment, unable to believe it was real.
"Still not done looking at it?"
Jeremy's voice sounded above her head.
Madison looked up instinctively, but the second she did, Jeremy smoothly took the document from her fingers.
Madison looked at him blankly. "What are you doing with that?"
Without answering immediately, Jeremy slipped it neatly into the inside pocket of his coat.
"It's safer with me," he replied casually. "Who knows? Maybe you'll wake up in the middle of the night regretting this and decide to rip it apart."
Madison frowned helplessly. "I'm not going to do something like that."
A quiet chuckle escaped him. "People say a lot of things before regret kicks in." Jeremy lowered his eyes toward her, and amusement flickered through them. "I'll hold onto it for now. If you ever decide you want out, you'll have no choice but to come find me personally."
Madison didn't feel like wasting energy arguing with him.
In her eyes, this marriage had always been an arrangement built on convenience anyway. Whether she kept the legal document or Jeremy did made little difference.
"Come on," Jeremy said while walking toward the exit. "I'll drive you home."
After they got into the car, Jeremy opened his wallet and pulled out a black bank card before handing it toward Madison.
"Here."
Madison glanced at the card but made no move to accept it.
Jeremy noticed immediately and explained with a relaxed smile, "Use it for whatever you need. Since you're my wife now, it wouldn't look good if you were short on money."
"You don't need to do that. I already have enough money myself..."
"Our prenup and daily expenses are two separate matters," Jeremy interrupted calmly. "Appearances matter, Mrs. Yates. Just take it."
Madison paused briefly before finally accepting the card from him.
A second later, Jeremy reached into the back seat, grabbed a document folder, and handed it over as well. "The keys are inside," he explained. "Your car has already been delivered downstairs to your apartment building. You'll also find the address to our place in there. Whenever you're ready to move in, let me know ahead of time so I can have everything prepared."
Madison lowered her gaze to the folder in her hands, unable to describe the strange emotions rising inside her.
Jeremy had arranged everything so thoroughly that she hadn't needed to think about anything herself.
"Thank you," she said quietly.
Jeremy only gave a low acknowledgment before starting the engine.
Not long afterward, the car stopped outside Madison's apartment complex. As she stepped out, Jeremy lowered the car window halfway. "If anything comes up, call me."
Madison nodded lightly in response.
Soon, the black car disappeared into the night and vanished around the corner.
Madison remained standing there for several seconds, still unable to shake the feeling that the entire night had been unreal.
After taking a slow breath, she pulled out her phone and made another call.
The line rang for quite a while before her father, Rodger Wallace, finally answered.
"Hello?" Rodger sounded exhausted. "Why are you calling me this late? Did something happen?"
"Dad, I got married."
The other end instantly fell silent.
Then, several seconds later, Rodger finally spoke again. "What did you say?"
"I got married today," Madison repeated calmly. "We just finished registering the marriage a little while ago."
Another heavy silence followed.
After a while, Rodger asked, "Who exactly did you marry?"
"I doubt you'd know him." Madison deliberately avoided giving further details. "Dad, does your previous promise still count? You said that if I got married before turning twenty-five, you'd transfer thirty percent of the company's shares to me."
"Yes, you'll get the shares," Rodger replied in a firm tone. "But before that happens, you need to start working at the company."
Madison's fingers tightened around her phone. "What exactly are you implying?"
Rodger sighed lightly before answering, "Giving you the shares isn't the issue. The problem is that the company doesn't revolve entirely around my decisions. There are other shareholders involved, and your brother has already established himself there. If I suddenly hand over thirty percent of the shares to you, do you honestly think the others will accept it quietly?"
A crease formed between Madison's brows. "I hope this isn't your way of backing out."
"I can arrange the transfer agreement immediately if you want," Rodger answered, his tone becoming more serious. "However, before we make your position public, you need to spend some time working in the project department and gain experience there. Once you've proven yourself and secured your footing within the company, announcing your shareholder status will face far less resistance. At that point, nobody will have grounds to question it."
Madison considered his words carefully and eventually realized his reasoning made sense. "Fine."
"Report to HR tomorrow morning." Right then, Rodger ended the call.
Madison lowered her phone slowly and stared at the dark screen for a moment before making her way upstairs.
The apartment felt unusually quiet tonight.
After turning on the lights, she began packing her belongings immediately.
The moment Kieran walked in and noticed the suitcase beside her, surprise flashed briefly across his normally indifferent eyes.
"Maddie?" Kieran had completely forgotten that they were supposed to meet that afternoon. The moment he noticed her packing, unease crept across his face. "What are you doing?"
Without pausing her movements, Madison calmly folded another piece of clothing. "I'm staying at my parents' place for a while."
The tension in Kieran's expression eased almost immediately after hearing that. Casually, he tossed his coat onto the couch before walking over and wrapping his arms around her from behind.
"Maddie." He rested his chin against her shoulder while lowering his voice gently. "Things were chaotic for me today, and I honestly couldn't leave. I wasn't trying to ditch you on purpose."
"I already saw the news." Madison's cold reply instantly shattered his excuse.
Kieran stiffened almost immediately. A trace of panic appeared on his face as he hurried to explain himself. "Kristina's health has always been fragile. She was born with a heart condition, okay? After coming back this time, she begged me to cooperate with this publicity stunt because it would help her career. None of it means anything. It's all for show, so don't overthink it."
Madison almost laughed from disbelief. He was actually using Kristina's alleged "heart condition" as justification, and he said it so naturally that it didn't seem to bother him at all.
Still, Madison understood his intentions perfectly. He wanted to keep both women at the same time. Disgust rose violently inside her.
Meanwhile, Kieran continued trying to smooth things over. "You have to believe me. Kristina and I are just close because we grew up together. She's basically family to me. Maddie, the person I truly care about, has always been you..."
"Kieran." Madison stopped him before he could continue. She turned around slowly to face him directly, and then looked straight into his eyes. "We're done."
