Chapter 3 A Deal Sealed in Ice Elena stood frozen.

Elena stood frozen.

Marry him?

Her lips parted, but no sound came. She stared at Lucien as if he'd grown two heads.

"You can't be serious," she whispered.

He took another step forward, his face unreadable. "I am."

Elena backed up slightly, her fingers gripping the edge of a chair for balance. "Why would you-how could you-after everything?"

Lucien poured himself another glass of scotch but didn't drink it. "Because I need a wife. For six months. It's part of a corporate requirement written into my late father's will. If I want full control of the company, I need to be married. Publicly. Respectably."

He looked up at her. "And you... are the only woman I trust not to fall in love with me."

That last line cut deeper than he probably meant it to.

Elena laughed-cold and bitter. "So let me get this straight. You fire me. Humiliate me. Drag me back in here. And now

you want me to play the role of your obedient little wife for six months like it's some sort of promotion?"

"No," he said calmly. "You'll be paid."

She stiffened.

"Two hundred thousand dollars. Half now, half when the contract ends. You'll live here, attend public events, and smile when needed. No intimacy. No expectations."

"Just appearances."

The number echoed in her ears. That money... it could save her mother's life. Pay for her surgery. Get her sister back in school.

Her pride screamed no.

Her heart whispered maybe.

Her reality gave her no choice.

| -

"I want it in writing," she said finally, lifting her chin.

Lucien smiled slightly. Not warmth. Approval.

"Of course."

Scene Cut: Later That Night

Elena stared at the contract in her hands from the guest room of his penthouse. It was real. Her signature sat on the last page.

"Six months," she whispered to herself. "Just six months."