Chapter 3 Mrs. Kingston

I didn't sleep.

Not from fear-I'd made my choice and meant it. But my brain refused to shut down. It kept running calculations, projecting scenarios, analyzing risk like I was still at my desk at Westbridge auditing someone else's life instead of gambling with my own.

At 5:30 a.m., I gave up. Showered in the bathroom that had more jets than sense. Found workout clothes in the closet-expensive athletic wear with tags still attached, all my size. Elijah's "thoroughness" was starting to feel invasive.

The penthouse had a gym. Of course it did. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city as it woke up, orange and pink bleeding across the horizon. Treadmills, weights, equipment I didn't recognize.

Elijah was already there.

He wore gray shorts and a black t-shirt, both soaked with sweat. Punishing a heavy bag with methodical precision. His form was perfect-controlled power, nothing wasted. Each hit landed with a solid thud that echoed off the glass.

He noticed me but didn't stop. "Couldn't sleep?"

"Too much math." I climbed onto a treadmill, started walking. "Kept calculating exactly how much my dignity costs per month."

"Fifty thousand dollars, apparently." He landed a combination that made the bag swing. "Plus benefits."

"That's just the stipend. The real cost is higher."

"Everything has a real cost." He stopped, breathing hard but controlled. Grabbed a towel, wiped his face. "The question is whether you're getting value for it."

I increased my speed to a jog. "Ask me in two years."

He moved to the weight bench, started loading plates. The casual way he handled what had to be over two hundred pounds suggested this was routine, not showing off.

"We're getting married today," he said. "Registry office, eleven a.m. Kemi will be there as witness. Afterward, lunch with my legal team to finalize the subsidiary documentation you'll need to testify about."

I nearly stumbled. "Today? You said seventy-two hours."

"I said we'd be married in seventy-two hours. That was yesterday. Today is day two." He lay back, pressed the bar up smoothly. "I don't believe in wasting time once a decision is made."

"Most people have engagement parties. Meet each other's families. Pretend to date first."

"Most people aren't racing a seventeen-month deadline to prevent corporate collapse." He completed another rep. "My uncle filed preliminary injunction papers yesterday, claiming I'm mentally unfit to run the company due to 'erratic behavior following my father's death.' He's already positioning for a takeover."

"And getting married to a woman you met yesterday helps that argument how?"

"It shows stability. Forward planning. Commitment to building something lasting." He set the bar back, sat up. "A man in the middle of a mental health crisis doesn't get married and start a family. He makes irrational decisions, isolates himself, becomes unreliable."

"So I'm your proof of sanity."

"You're my proof that I'm building a future, not mourning the past." He stood, grabbed his water bottle. "Which, technically, is true. This marriage is entirely about the future."

I stopped the treadmill. "What about your mother? Doesn't she get a say in who you marry?"

Something dark crossed his face. "Victoria Kingston has many opinions. Most of them are irrelevant."

"She doesn't know about this."

"She knows I'm getting married. She'll meet you at the appropriate time." He headed toward the door. "Wear something simple to the registry. We're not making a spectacle. Breakfast in thirty minutes. Bring questions."

Then he was gone, leaving me alone with expensive equipment and the growing realization that I'd signed a contract with a man who operated at a speed that made normal people look like they were moving underwater.

---

Breakfast was eggs benedict and fresh fruit. Elijah appeared in a navy suit, hair still damp from the shower. He looked like he was about to close a billion-dollar deal, not get married.

"Questions," he said, pouring coffee.

I had a list. I'd written it on my phone at 3 a.m. "Your uncle. Thomas. What's his angle beyond taking the company?"

"Money and ego, in that order." Elijah sat, opened his tablet. Pulled up a photo of a man in his fifties-handsome, silver hair, politician's smile. "He's spent the last twenty years living beyond his means on family money. Now that well is dry, and he's leveraged to the point of desperation."

"So he wants to strip the company for assets."

"He wants to sell it piecemeal to the highest bidders, which happen to be the same people you exposed for money laundering." He swiped to a network diagram. "See how it connects? Your evidence doesn't just prove financial crimes. It proves my uncle has been facilitating them in exchange for keeping his creditors at bay."

I studied the diagram. Shell companies connecting to offshore accounts connecting to legitimate businesses. A web designed to hide money while extracting it from the companies my soon-to-be father-in-law had built.

"This isn't just corporate espionage," I said slowly. "This is organized looting."

"Yes." He closed the tablet. "Which is why we need you alive and credible to testify. And why we need this marriage to look legitimate enough that when you do testify, it can't be dismissed as a hired gun with a grudge."

"I have a grudge."

"You have evidence." He met my eyes. "There's a difference. A grudge is emotional. Evidence is fact. We're building a case, Eniola. You're not just my wife for show. You're my expert witness with unimpeachable credentials."

"Who happens to be married to the plaintiff."

"Who happens to be married to the man trying to save his father's company from thieves." He leaned back. "How it looks depends on how we present it. Which brings me to your next question."

"I didn't ask one yet."

"You were about to ask how we explain our relationship to the press when it becomes public." He pulled up another document. "Here's the narrative. You discovered irregularities in Westbridge's accounts. As a responsible analyst, you brought them to my attention since Kingston Enterprises has subsidiaries that contract with Westbridge."

He scrolled down. "I was impressed by your integrity and competence. We began working together on the investigation. Developed feelings during long nights reviewing evidence. Married quickly because at thirty-four, I know what I want, and I don't waste time once I've found it."

"That's surprisingly believable."

"It's mostly true, minus the feelings part." He pushed the tablet toward me. "Read it. Memorize the timeline. We met six weeks ago. Had dinner three times. I proposed two weeks ago. You said yes because you'd never met anyone who understood you the way I did."

I scanned the document. Detailed dates, locations, even fabricated conversation topics. "You created a whole fake relationship."

"I created a framework. You'll fill in the emotional details when asked. Just stay vague-people project what they want onto vague answers." He stood. "Finish eating. We leave in an hour."

"Wait." I set down my fork. "What do I call you? When we're alone?"

He paused. "What do you mean?"

"Do I call you Elijah? Mr. Kingston? Sir?" The last one came out with more sarcasm than I intended.

His mouth twitched. Almost a smile. "Elijah is fine. We're supposedly in love. First names are traditional."

"And when we're not alone?"

"Whatever feels natural. Darling, if you're feeling dramatic. Honey, if you're from a romance novel." Now he did smile, sharp and brief. "I trust you'll figure it out."

---

The registry office was aggressively bureaucratic. Fluorescent lights, plastic chairs, the smell of old files and air freshener fighting a losing battle.

Kemi met us in the lobby, professional as always in charcoal gray. She handed me a folder. "Your documents. ID, birth certificate, proof of address."

"How did you get my birth certificate?"

"Mr. Kingston is thorough." She didn't elaborate. "The registrar is ready. This will take fifteen minutes."

And it did. We signed forms. Declared we were entering marriage freely. A bored official pronounced us legally wed with all the enthusiasm of someone processing a parking permit.

"You may kiss the bride," he said, already reaching for the next file.

Elijah looked at me. Gray eyes unreadable. Then he leaned in and pressed his lips to mine.

Brief. Chaste. Professional.

Absolutely nothing like I'd imagined my first kiss as a married woman would be.

He pulled back. "Mrs. Kingston."

The name landed like a weight.

We signed the marriage certificate. Kemi took photos-documentation, she called it. Evidence that this was real.

Outside, Lagos traffic roared past. Elijah opened the SUV door for me. His hand brushed my lower back as I climbed in-the first time he'd touched me beyond that clinical kiss.

"How do you feel?" he asked once we were moving.

"Like I just signed my life away in a government office that smelled like defeat."

"You signed a contract. You got married. They're not the same thing."

"They are for us."

He looked at me then. Really looked. "Yes. They are. But that doesn't make it less real. You're legally my wife now. That comes with protections you didn't have yesterday."

"And obligations I didn't have yesterday."

"Everything worth having has obligations." He pulled out his phone. "We have two hours before the legal team meeting. Anything you need to do? Anyone you need to tell?"

I thought about my parents. My brother. Cynthia.

"No," I said. "No one who'd care."

Something flickered across his face. "That makes two of us."

We spent the next hour at the penthouse. Elijah disappeared into his office. I sat in my suite-our suite?-staring at the marriage certificate.

*Eniola Adeyemi Kingston.*

I'd kept his name. He'd insisted. "Professionally, you can use whatever you want. Legally, you're a Kingston. That's what matters."

My phone rang. Unknown number.

I almost didn't answer. Then thought: what if it's about my evidence?

"Hello?"

"Eniola?" A woman's voice. Cultured, American, sharp. "This is Victoria Kingston. Elijah's mother."

My stomach dropped. "Mrs. Kingston. I-"

"I understand congratulations are in order. My son married a woman I've never met." Her tone could freeze water. "How modern."

"We haven't known each other long, but-"

"You haven't known each other at all." Not a question. A statement. "I've been a Kingston for thirty-five years. I know what a business arrangement looks like. The question is: what are you getting out of this one?"

I swallowed hard. "I'm sorry, what are you implying?"

"I'm not implying anything. I'm stating facts. My son needs a wife to satisfy his father's will. You need... what? Money? Status? Citizenship?" She waited. "Whatever it is, understand this: Kingston wives are scrutinized. Photographed. Dissected by the media and the board. If you embarrass this family, you'll discover exactly how expensive that becomes."

"I have no intention of embarrassing anyone."

"Good. Because you're having dinner with me next week. New York. I want to see exactly what my son has purchased."

She hung up.

I sat there, hands shaking. Elijah appeared in the doorway.

"Your mother called," I said.

"I know. She called me first." He leaned against the doorframe. "What did she say?"

"That she knows this is a business arrangement. That she wants to meet me. That I'd better not embarrass the family."

"Sounds like Victoria." He didn't seem bothered. "Don't let her intimidate you. She's all theater."

"She didn't sound like theater."

"She's been performing the role of Kingston matriarch for three decades. It's how she maintains relevance." He checked his watch. "Legal team in thirty minutes. You should change."

"Into what?"

"Something that says 'competent financial analyst' not 'trophy wife.' We need them to take you seriously."

I looked down at my designer casual wear. "Right. Because this screams trophy."

"Compared to what you'll wear to the first board dinner, yes." He straightened. "Welcome to your new life, Mrs. Kingston. It's going to be a performance."

As I changed into one of the tailored suits that had mysteriously appeared in my closet, I caught my reflection. Same face. Same body. But different name. Different life.

Different future.

I'd been married for three hours and already felt like I was drowning in someone else's world.

The old Eniola would've panicked.

This version straightened her collar, checked her lipstick, and reminded herself why she'd signed that contract.

Because powerful men had thought they could silence her.

And Mrs. Eniola Kingston was going to prove them catastrophically wrong.