Chapter 1 - Ninety Days
The first time Sophie Reed met billionaire Alexander Grant, he offered her one million dollars to marry him.
Not date him.
Not pretend to be his girlfriend.
Marry him.
She stared across the private restaurant table, waiting for him to laugh.
He didn't.
Alexander was thirty-six, one of the youngest billionaires in New York, and the kind of man whose face appeared on business magazines every few months.
He wore a perfectly tailored black suit.
His expression was calm.
Almost cold.
Sophie was twenty-eight and had spent the last five years working three jobs to pay off her mother's medical debt.
She looked at the contract on the table.
Then at him.
"You want me to be your wife?"
"For ninety days."
"And then?"
"We get divorced."
Sophie laughed nervously.
"That's insane."
"I know."
"Why me?"
Alexander didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he slid another photograph across the table.
Sophie picked it up.
It was a picture of her.
Taken outside the small café where she worked.
She looked up sharply.
"You've been following me?"
"No."
"Then how did you get this?"
"I've been looking for you."
Her smile disappeared.
"For what?"
Alexander leaned back.
"Because you're the only woman who can help me."
Sophie pushed the photograph away.
"I'm not interested."
"You haven't heard the conditions."
"I don't care."
"One million dollars."
She froze.
Alexander continued.
"Five hundred thousand paid immediately. The remaining five hundred thousand after the divorce."
Sophie looked down at the contract again.
There was no romance.
No intimacy clause.
No expectation of a real marriage.
Just rules.
Attend public events together.
Live in the same penthouse.
Never discuss the agreement with the press.
Remain married for exactly ninety days.
Then divorce.
It sounded almost too simple.
Which was exactly what frightened her.
She looked at Alexander.
"Why can't you just hire an actress?"
"I did."
"And?"
"They all wanted to know why."
Sophie frowned.
"And you don't want to tell me?"
"No."
She should have walked away.
Instead, she asked the question that changed everything.
"What happens if I say no?"
Alexander's expression finally changed.
Not anger.
Fear.
"Then my father will take control of my company."
Sophie stared at him.
"I thought you owned it."
"I do."
"For now."
He slid another document across the table.
Sophie read it.
Her eyes widened.
Alexander's father had added a condition to his inheritance.
If Alexander was unmarried before his thirty-seventh birthday, he would lose controlling ownership of the family company.
Sophie looked at the date.
"Your birthday is in ninety-three days."
"Yes."
"So you need a wife for three months."
"Exactly."
She slowly shook her head.
"This is crazy."
"I know."
She pushed the contract back.
"I'm sorry."
She stood.
Alexander didn't stop her.
Instead, he said something that made her turn around.
"Your mother's hospital bill was paid this morning."
Sophie froze.
"What did you say?"
"I paid the remaining balance."
Her face went pale.
"You had no right."
"I know."
"Why?"
Alexander looked at her.
"Because I knew you'd need a reason to stay."
Sophie stared at him in disbelief.
"You manipulated me."
"Yes."
At least he didn't lie.
She picked up her purse.
"I'm still saying no."
She turned toward the door.
Then Alexander said:
"There's one more thing you don't know."
She stopped.
He looked down at the contract.
"The woman you're replacing..."
Sophie slowly turned back.
"What woman?"
Alexander's face became unreadable.
"My real fiancée."
Silence.
Sophie stared at him.
"You said you weren't engaged."
"I said I needed a wife."
"You never said there was another woman."
"There was."
"What happened to her?"
Alexander looked toward the window.
"She disappeared three weeks ago."
Sophie felt a chill run through her.
"Disappeared?"
He nodded.
"And before she disappeared..."
He paused.
"She left one message."
Sophie waited.
Alexander looked directly at her.
"She told me to find you."
Sophie couldn't speak.
Because she had never met Alexander before tonight.
And she had never met his missing fiancée.
May you like
At least...
that's what she believed.
