Chapter 3 Paper Bride

"My name looks so small beneath the signature line. Like it doesn't even belong there. Like I don't belong here."

The contract lay flat on the polished mahogany desk, each clause screaming louder than the one before it. Silence wrapped around me like a noose.

"I assume you've read it all," Damien said, voice cool like untouched ice.

I nodded, my throat dry. "You've turned marriage into a transaction."

He leaned back, not even blinking. "It's always been a transaction, Miss West. I'm just not pretending otherwise."

My heart slammed against my ribs. "No touching," I said sharply, my fingers trembling as I tapped the clause I added.

"That's my one condition."

He raised an eyebrow. "I don't mix business with pleasure, so your virtue is safe."

The words stung more than I thought they would. I didn't want him, but his indifference burned hotter than desired. Still, I held my ground. "Then we agree."

"Temporarily," he said. "Until I secure full control of WestCorp. After that"

"You'll divorce me?" I cut in.

He didn't answer. His silence said more than his words ever could.

I signed.

He took the pen from my hand without touching me, signing with swift, final strokes like he'd just purchased a building instead of a bride.

Damien stood. "Our engagement will be announced tomorrow night at the Hawthorne Foundation Gala. Wear something decent."

I stood too. "This is humiliating."

He paused at the door. "No, Miss West. This is survival. Learn the difference."

"Is there a part where I get to feel like a human being again?"

"No. That wasn't in the terms you agreed to."

"You really are heartless."

"No. Just focused. And you're a means to an end. You knew that when you walked into my office."

"Maybe I did. But I thought you'd at least pretend to care."

"Pretending wastes energy. I'd rather invest it where it matters."

"Like running my father's company into the ground?"

"Like saving it from destruction your father caused."

"You don't know anything about him."

DAMIEN (quietly): "I know enough."

Aria's phone buzzes right as Damien walks out.

A new message flashes across the screen:

You signed your soul away. You just don't know it yet.

Her hands shook. Then another message appeared.

Ask him what happened to LUCAS.

Aria's stomach dropped. That nameLucaswas buried deep in a part of her past she'd been trying to forget.

She looked toward the door Damien had just walked out of.

Who the hell was she marrying?

My fingers hovered over the screen, pulse thudding in my ears.

Ask him what happened to LUCAS.

The name twisted something sharp in my gut.

Lucas.

He was the first person I ever trusted. And the first person to vanish without a trace.

I stumbled to the window, heart hammering against my ribs as the city lights blurred before me. The air in Damien's penthouse suddenly felt too thin.

I had no idea what kind of man I had just signed my life to.

I didn't even hear Damien return until his voice broke the silence behind me.

"You look like you've seen a ghost."

I turned slowly. He had shed his jacket and rolled up his sleeves. The perfect image of control. Cold. Dangerous. Beautiful.

"Who is Lucas to you?" I asked, cutting to the chase.

His eyes didn't flinch but something in them flickered. "Why?"

"Someone just texted me. Said I should ask you." I showed him the phone. "And warned me I signed my soul away."

His jaw tensed as he took the phone. Read. Then handed it back like it burned.

"Who's sending these?" I demanded.

"I'll find out," he said simply, already reaching for his own phone.

"No." I stepped between him and the door. "Don't brush me off. Tell me who Lucas is to you."

He paused. His gaze locked with mine, and for a moment, the air between us felt combustible.

"Lucas was a mistake," Damien said, voice low. "One your father tried to erase. I tried to help him. But by the time I got involved, it was too late."

"What happened?"

"He disappeared."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one I have."

I stared at him, frustration boiling beneath my skin. "You keep saying you're saving my family's company. But all you do is speak in riddles, twist truths. If you know something about what happened to Lucas, you owe me the truth."

"Owe you?" He stepped forward, too close, voice razor-sharp. "I owe you nothing, Aria. You came into my office desperate and bleeding power. You handed me your signature like it was the last card in your deck. I took it. That's the deal. That's the truth."

"You're a monster," I whispered.

He leaned in, his breath brushing my cheek. "You don't want a hero. You want someone to blame."

My throat closed up. The wordsthe firethey lodged somewhere between pain and fury.

"You know what?" I spat. "You're right. This is a deal. A contract. So stick to it. Stay the hell out of my personal life."

He gave me the faintest smile. "You don't have one anymore. Not since you signed that dotted line."

I slapped him. I didn't even think. My hand just moved.

He froze, then slowly turned his face back toward me.

"Feel better?"

Tears blurred my vision. "No. But it's a start."

We stood there, chest to chest, breathing heavy. The tension between us cracked and flared like a storm about to break.

His gaze dropped to my lips for one dangerous second then he stepped back.

"Get ready for tomorrow night," he said quietly. "And delete that number. Whoever's sending those texts... they're playing a game you don't want to win."

He walked away again.

But before he reached the hallway, he stopped.

"One more thing," he added without looking back. "If you want to survive in my world, Aria... stay out of the past."

My hands trembled. I sat on the edge of the bed, heart pounding.

My phone buzzed again.

You shouldn't have signed.

He's not who he says he is.

I texted back, fingers cold.

Who are you?

The reply came instantly.

Someone who tried to warn Lucas.

My breath caught.

And failed.