Chapter 4 The Restless Border

​The echo of the door closing behind them still vibrated through the luxurious suite. Hanna dropped her suitcase with a heavy thud onto the silk carpet and turned around, crossing her arms before Sergio could even take off his watch.

​"Don't even think about it, Sergio. I'm not sleeping in here with you," Hanna said, her voice a steady thread of steel. "Tomorrow morning, we're asking for another room. Make something up-tell them you snore, that I need space for my skincare, or that the sunlight bothers me. I don't care. But I am not resting in the same space as you."

​Sergio stopped, letting out a sigh heavy with faked patience. He unbuttoned the first button of his shirt and turned toward her with that calm that Hanna found so irritating.

​"Hanna, we aren't in just any hotel. We are in my home, with staff who have worked here for twenty years." Sergio took a step toward her, lowering his voice. "If the maid comes in tomorrow and sees one of the guest beds has been used, or if someone notices you entering another room at night, this engagement falls apart before breakfast."

​"This is a massive room!" she protested, pointing to the King Size bed. "But it's still a shared space. I can't... I can't just close my eyes and pretend you aren't there. I don't trust you enough for that."

​Sergio let out a dry, humorless laugh.

​"I'm not asking you to trust me with your savings; I'm asking you to be professional. We signed an agreement. 'Acting as a couple' includes the whole package, Hanna. That means, behind closed doors, this is our sanctuary. If we start with separate rooms, the staff will talk, my mother will start asking questions, and that contract you're so desperate to fulfill will go straight into the trash."

​"There's a limit, Sergio," she countered, stepping closer to him, defiant. "My peace of mind is not for sale. If I don't sleep, I won't be able to act tomorrow. I'll be irritable; I'll make mistakes. Is that what you want?"

​Sergio closed the final distance, standing only inches away. Hanna could smell his cologne-a mix of wood and ambition.

​"What I want is for people to believe we can't spend a single minute apart," he whispered, staring into her eyes. "So, choose: either you sleep in that bed with me"-he pointed to the mattress-"or you settle for that small armchair. But you aren't leaving this room. If we want them to believe us, we have to share the air, Hanna. Until the very last breath of the night."

​Hanna looked at the sofa and then at the massive bed, feeling the walls of the farce closing in on her. The silence in the room grew heavy, broken only by the ticking of a wall clock that seemed to be counting down the seconds of her freedom.

​This decision marked a non-negotiable red line for Hanna. It wasn't a mere whim; it was her final trench in maintaining her dignity against the charade Sergio had built.

​The Velvet Frontier

​Hanna held Sergio's gaze without blinking. The opulence of the room seemed to shrink around her, but she stood her ground.

​"Fine, Sergio. You won the battle of the closed door, but not the battle of the bed," she said, pointing to the gray velvet sofa at the foot of the window. "I'll sleep there. But sharing a bed with you? Never. Not even if your lie depended on it."

​Sergio arched an eyebrow, scanning the piece of furniture. It was elegant but clearly uncomfortable for a full night's rest.

​"It's a designer piece, Hanna. It's made to look good in photos, not for someone to actually sleep on," he remarked dryly. "You're going to wake up with a wrecked neck and a terrible mood. Do you really prefer that over sharing a six-foot mattress where we don't even have to touch?"

​"I'd prefer a thousand backaches over the feeling of being trapped in that space with you," Hanna replied with a cutting coldness. "To you, this is a business, a strategy. To me, sleep is the only thing I have left that doesn't belong to you. I'm not going to give you the privilege of feeling like we are actually a couple, not even in the dark."

​Sergio remained silent for a moment, surprised by the intensity of her words. He watched as she walked to the closet, pulled out an extra blanket, and tossed it with determination onto the sofa.

​"Suit yourself," Sergio replied, turning around to finish undressing, hiding a prickle of irritation. "If you look like a zombie in front of my parents tomorrow, that's on you. But don't say I didn't offer you the comfortable side of the farce."

​"Goodnight, Sergio," Hanna declared, turning her back and settling into the narrow seat, marking an invisible but unbreakable wall between the two.

​The morning sun filtered through the heavy suite curtains, drawing lines of light across the velvet sofa. Hanna was curled in a ball, wrapped in the blanket, her face buried in a cushion that had failed to soften the furniture's hardness.

​Sergio, already perfectly dressed in a suit that looked like it didn't have a single wrinkle, paused for a moment before leaving. He watched her in silence. The determination of the previous night now looked like a tired fragility. Without waking her, he left a brief note on the nightstand and walked out of the room with a firm step.

​Downstairs, he met Elena, the head of the house staff.

​"Miss Hanna is still sleeping," Sergio said, adjusting his cufflinks with a mechanical gesture. "She had an exhausting trip. Do not wake her."

​"Understood, Mr. Montes," the woman replied with a bow.

​"When she wakes up, I want breakfast served to her in her room or wherever she prefers. Prepare whatever she asks for. And make sure all the staff is at her full disposal. I want her treated with the same respect as my mother. If she needs anything, call me at the office immediately."

​With those instructions, Sergio left the house, leaving an aura of authority behind him.

​Two hours later...

​Hanna woke up with a sharp pain in her neck and the feeling that a truck had run over her. She sat up with difficulty, rubbing her eyes, and the first thing she noticed was the absolute silence of the room. Sergio was gone.

​A soft knock at the door startled her.

​"Miss Hanna?" the voice of one of the employees came from the other side. "Mr. Montes left instructions to attend to you as soon as you woke up. Would you like breakfast in the garden, or should we bring a tray up here? We are at your full disposal for whatever you may need."

​Hanna sat on the edge of the sofa, confused. Sergio had forced her to sleep in that room against her will, but now he seemed to be trying to "buy" her well-being with genuine attention.