Chapter 1 The Marriage I Never Wanted

I never thought my life would change on a rainy Tuesday afternoon.

The hospital corridor smelled of antiseptic, fear, and quiet despair. Fluorescent lights flickered above me as I sat on a cold metal bench, my fingers clenched tightly around the medical bill in my hands.

The numbers didn't make sense.

They were too big.

Too cruel.

Too final.

My vision blurred as tears filled my eyes. I wiped them away angrily, but they kept coming.

This couldn't be happening.

"Miss Moore," the nurse called softly, her voice gentle in a way that made my chest ache. "Your mother needs the surgery within the week. Waiting any longer would be... risky."

Risky.

A polite word for fatal.

I nodded, forcing my lips to move even though my throat felt tight. How could I tell her I didn't have the money? How could I tell my mother that surviving depended on numbers I could never afford?

I felt small. Helpless. Ashamed.

That was when he appeared.

Adrian Blackwood.

I noticed him before he spoke-tall, composed, dressed in a way that screamed control and wealth. He didn't belong in this hospital, among crying families and worn-out hope. He belonged somewhere else. Somewhere untouched by desperation.

His eyes met mine, calm and unreadable.

"I can help you," he said quietly.

I looked up sharply. "Help me?"

"I'll pay for your mother's surgery."

For a second, I couldn't breathe.

Hope rushed through me like warmth after freezing cold. Then fear followed, sharp and immediate. Nothing in my life came without a price.

"There's a condition," he added.

Of course there was.

"What condition?" I whispered.

He paused, as if weighing my fate in silence.

"Marry me."

The world tilted.

"What?" I stood up so fast my head spun. "That's-no. I don't even know you."

"This marriage will be in name only," he said calmly. Too calmly. "One year. After that, we divorce. No complications."

I laughed shakily. "You can't be serious."

But when I thought of my mother lying weak and pale in that hospital bed... my strength crumbled.

That night, I cried until my chest hurt.

And the next morning, with shaking hands, I signed the papers that changed my life forever.

Standing beside Adrian at the small registry office, I felt nothing but emptiness.

This wasn't love.

This was survival.

And as I said I do, I made myself a promise-

I would never fall in love with my husband.

I had no idea how cruel fate could be.