Arrange Marriage to a Heartless CEO

CHARLOTTE'S POV

You know those stories where the girl gets whisked off into a surprise marriage and ends up living happily ever after?

Yeah, this might not be one of them.

I was halfway through a cup of coffee and a chapter deadline when the world decided to flip itself upside down.

"Charlotte, your mother and I need to talk to you". That was Barry, my charming, overly groomed stepfather, whose love for tailored suits almost equals his obsession with control.

He never "needed to talk". He ordered meetings like a CEO who forgot he was also part of a family. I thought it would be about my writing again. Something about it wasn't "career-worthy" or "profitable" enough for someone with a legacy like mine. Whatever that meant. They seize every opportunity to make fun of me and my career path.

I dragged myself into the dining room and immediately regretted it.

Barry sat at the head of the table, arms crossed, a folder in front of him like he was about to present or pitch a business deal to a potential client. My mother, Dianne, perched beside him, wearing that same silk robe she always wore when she had something to hide.

I should have turned around. I should have walked out.

But I didn't, because I'm polite and stupid. And apparently, the bride-to-be.

"You are getting married," Barry announced.

I laughed out loud. A full-on snort. "Funny."

He didn't laugh.

Neither did Mom.

My stomach dropped.

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked again, hoping I had heard wrong. Maybe they said "You're not getting married" or "You're burying someone," which honestly sounded more pleasant.

Barry opened the folder and slid it towards me. A neat, clinical contract. One glance, and my name was there, bold letters, right next to AIDEN KINGSTON.

I blinked. "Is this a prank?" I asked Barry, expecting an answer.

"This is real," Barry said. "The company is going under. We are at the edge, Charlotte. If this marriage goes through, the Kingston's will bail us out."

"You mean they will own us," I snapped.

My mother reached for my hand. Hers was cold, trembling.

"Sweetheart, we wouldn't do this unless we had no choice."

"No choice?" I pulled my hand away.

"You always have a choice. Like not selling off your daughter like a cheap product. I am your only child for crying out loud."

Barry narrowed his eyes. "It's for your good. The company was your father's.....

"Don't," I warned. "Don't bring my father into this."

His face tightened and I recognized that look. It was the same one he wore when he came into my life after my father died in a car accident. The same one he had when he married my mother barely three months later.

I've never said it out loud, but some truths don't need words. Barry wasn't my father's brother in any way that mattered except maybe in blood, and even that felt like a stain.

"Why him? I don't even know him," I said quietly. "This Aiden guy."

"You'll get to know him," Barry said as if that made it any better. "He's a good and handsome man, from a good family. Their family has power, money and we are drowning in debt. This marriage is the only thing that can save Parker & Co. "

"But it's Dad's company," I shot back. "You're just...." I caught myself not finishing my words: You are just the man who married my mother after my father died.

Barry leaned forward, with a calm and calculated voice. "Your father left this company to me and all I am trying to do is to save what's left of it, so you should be grateful. And like I said earlier, Aiden is very powerful"

"Translation: He's rich and can save your reputation," I said in sarcasm.

Neither of them responded.

I stared at the contract again, my fingers hovering above the paper like it might bite me.

"You want me to just sign away my life?"

"No" Mom whispered. "We want you to survive."

There it was.

Not "be happy." Not "fall in love." Just survive.

And suddenly, it made sense. The hushed meetings, the growing tension. The way Barry's name had started disappearing from company headlines. It was obvious the board of directors was on his neck.

The man was drowning and he'd rather throw me overboard to save himself.

What a father he was.

I stood with anger, the chair scraping against the floor.

"This isn't over."

Barry didn't even flinch. "It never is"

I spent the rest of the day pacing my room, biting back panic. I needed to see him. I took out my phone and googled "Aiden Kingston" like a mad woman. Spoiler alert, he is disgustingly attractive in that dark hair, chiseled jaw, brooding way. GREAT.

What was even better? He had zero social media, zero interviews, and zero expression in the few pictures I found. A mystery wrapped in expensive suits and silence.

And he was going to be my husband.

I was twenty-two, a writer and a dreamer. Someone who cried during dog commercials and believed love should be a choice, not a transaction.

But in 48 hours, I'd be engaged to a stranger whose name felt like a headline, not a future.

And deep down, I knew something was off.

Barry wanted this marriage too much.

My mother looked haunted. And the Kingstons.....they didn't need us. But they wanted me.

Why?

This whole getting married is so sudden and strange. I mean who still does arranged marriage in this century?

A few minutes ago I was excited about finishing my second book and submitting it to the editors and publishers. And now I find myself in this mess.

Why does God hate me?

Why has the universe decided to punish me?

I didn't have answers to any of my questions, but I had one feeling I couldn't shake;

This marriage wasn't the end of my story, it was only the beginning.

AIDEN'S POV

People think being born into money makes life easier.

Oh, they are so wrong.

Money doesn't erase secrets. It just buys better ways to bury them.

I was eight when I realized my family didn't operate on the concept of love. They operated on strategy. Every hug was calculated and every smile had an agenda.

So when my father, Adam Kingston, called me into his office and said, "You are getting married" I didn't flinch at all.

I just asked, "To whom?

"Charlotte Parker," he said, pouring himself a drink from his wine shelf in his office. "Barry Parker's stepdaughter and Dianne's only child."

I sat down, legs crossed, watching the amber liquid swirl in his glass. I recognized the name. Who didn't? The Parkers were once one of our biggest rivals in the industry until they weren't.

"Didn't you bankrupt Barry?" I asked calmly.

I saw the shocked expression on his face before he quickly replaced it with a smile.

"I broke him, piece by piece. Years of precision. And now? He's desperate. Perfect timing. Barry is greedy too."

I didn't respond. I knew better than to question his motives. Adam Kingston never did anything without a ten-year plan attached.

"She's a writer," he continued "Pretty, smart, wasted in that house. But she has your mother's grace and your grandmother's fire."

"So, you have been watching her."

He raised a brow. "We all watch what matters."

I leaned back in my chair. The leather creaked beneath my weight.

"And what do I get out of this?" I asked.

"Becoming the CEO of our company and Barry's company and most importantly A CLEAN SLATE."

Those last three words cut deeper than I expected.

Because no matter how many years passed, or how many stories my PR team covered up, I'd never been able to erase her. My past. The woman I once loved. Or maybe I still love her.

Alana.

Beautiful but toxic. Broken in all ways I refused to see until it was too late.

We married young. Against both our families' wishes. At first, it was passion. Then came the pregnancy... and everything fell apart.

Alana said the baby ruined her. That motherhood wasn't in her plan. That the life inside her was a mistake.

She gave birth to a baby girl. My daughter.

And within minutes, she was gone. The doctors said she died from complications.

When they said Alana had passed, too, due to complications, it didn't add up.

The whole thing felt somehow.

I saw the blood, her body but deep down I knew something else was up.

And when I started digging and asking questions, my family shut it all down.

"It's over," they said. "Let it go"

But I couldn't, I still can't.

So when my father offered me this marriage like it was a key to redemption, I didn't say yes, and I didn't say no either.

Instead, I asked the only question that mattered to me.

"Does she know?"

He shook his head. "She'll find out like you did, eventually."

And that was the thing about arranged marriages. No one ever asks the parties involved if they want to get married.

Two days later I met Charlotte.

She walked into my father's office like a storm dressed in soft fabrics. Tall, graceful, and visibly pissed. Her eyes scanned the room like she was ready to bolt. Like the walls themselves were a trap.

She looked at me like I was the enemy.

Good. I probably was.

"Charlotte," Adam said standing from his leather chair, "Meet Aiden."

Her gaze didn't waver. "I didn't come here to be introduced. I came here to ask why your family thinks my life is a bargaining chip."

I tried not to smile. She had a spine and that was rare around here.

"Nice to meet you too," I said.

Her eyes narrowed. "Don't flatter yourself, this isn't mutual."

"She's bold," I muttered under my breath.

She heard me. Of course she did.

Adam gestured to the chairs, "Sit both of you. We have much to discuss."

I sat first. Charlotte hesitated, then followed suit, like she didn't want to give us satisfaction. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest. I could almost feel the force of her dislike radiating across the table.

"You don't want this," she said, turning to me.

"You think I do?" I asked, staring back.

She blinked like she hadn't expected that kind of response from me.

"I don't know you." she continued, voice lower now. " I don't love you and I won't pretend this is anything more than a transaction."

"Good, then we understand each other." I said giving her a smirk.

There was a bit of silence. She shifted in her seat, visibly frustrated but under it all, I could feel something else.

Fear, Exhaustion, and Confusion.

I knew those emotions well.

'I'm not your enemy, Charlotte." I said quietly.

"Then why do you look like an executioner?"

Touché

Adam chuckled like this was entertainment. "You two are perfect for each other."

We both ignored him.

"I don't plan to stay married," she said finally. "I will play along until my family's company is out of the mud. And after that, I'm gone."

I nodded. "Fine by me."

Her voice.

Her honesty.

She's so different and I just couldn't wrap my head around her.

The fire in her eyes reminded me of the man I used to be, before the world broke me.

She brought out some feelings I had buried inside of me over the years.

Feelings I was unsure about too.

And as she stormed out of the office like she hadn't just been handed a future she never asked for, I realized something.

This wasn't going to be a business arrangement.

It was going to be war.

And part of me, the part I thought was dead, was curious enough to see who would win.

CHARLOTTE'S POV

I wasn't sure what I expected when I walked into that room.

Maybe someone arrogant and cold. The type who saw women as part of a checklist. A name, a ring, and a legacy.

But Aiden Kingston wasn't what I imagined, he was worse.

He was calm.

And not the "let's talk this out" kind of calm. The dangerous kind. The kind that said I've seen things you wouldn't survive.

He didn't argue or smile. He didn't try to charm me like most men would when told they'd be marrying a stranger.

Instead, he just looked at me like I was another detail in a long, exhausting list of duties.

Which pissed me off even more.

I wasn't a detail.

And I wasn't his.

Back home, I slammed the door to my room and stared at the ceiling, unsure whether I wanted to scream or cry.

I chose both

A few angry tears slipped down my cheeks, but I wiped them away before they could fully fall.

Weakness wasn't allowed here. Not in Barry's house. Not under Dianne's shadow.

And for what?

A dying company?

A reputation she already ruined years ago?

The betrayal stung more than the deal itself.

Barry, I could understand. He was always about power. Always looking for the next hand to play.

But Mom?

She looked at me like she had already mourned me. Like the version of me she loved had been buried with my father. Maybe it had.

Maybe I died the day she moved on with his brother.

I rolled onto my side, grabbing my phone, instinctively opening my notes app, the only place where my voice still mattered.

> Title: The Deal.

Opening Line: She never imagined her signature would cost her soul.

Mood: Betrayed, trapped, angry.>

I stopped typing.

Because this wasn't fiction anymore.

This was my life.

The next morning, I was summoned again. No "good morning," no "how are you feeling?" Just a cold knock and a clipped voice from Barry's assistant.

"The Kingstons would like you to attend a dinner at their estate tonight at seven sharp. It's a formal dinner.

Like I was some prized puppy being trained for show.

I didn't respond. I just closed the door and stared at my closet.

Formal.

I hated that word. It usually meant stuffing myself into a dress that wasn't made for comfort and pretending I wasn't silently screaming on the inside.

But I picked a dress anyway. A navy blue, off-shoulder, sleek and subtle. Not flashy, not soft. Just enough to remind them I wasn't easy to break.

The Kingston estate was something out of a rich person's fever dream.

Marble floors, crystal chandeliers, glass walls that reflected your thoughts before you even had them. Everything screamed money, but it was too clean. Too curated like a museum that was scared of feeling real.

Aiden was waiting when I walked in, dressed in black. Of course, he probably slept in suits.

He didn't say much, just nodded at me like we were business partners about to sign a merger.

I wanted to stab him with my heel.

Instead, I smiled.

Fake, Poised, and Perfect.

We were led into the dining room, where his father and mother waited, looking like they had stepped straight out of a royal family portrait.

"Charlotte," Adam Kingston said smoothly, rising to greet me. "You look stunning."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. "Thank you, sir."

"Please, call me Adam. We're family now."

The word made my stomach twist.

Dinner was a blur of silverware, small talk, and veiled warnings disguised as compliments.

"So, Charlotte," his mother said, dabbing her lips with a linen napkin, "What are your views on privacy? Especially once you are married?"

I blinked. "I'm sorry?"

"I mean," she continued, eyes sharp and polite, "Do you believe secrets should stay between husband and wife? Or do you think honesty is always best, no matter the cost?"

Ah, there it was.

I glanced at Aiden, He was expressionless, staring at his plate like it held answers to questions no one dared to ask.

"I think," I said carefully, "that honesty is useless if the person listening is already committed to lying."

There was a pause.

Then Adam laughed. "She's smart. I like that."

Aiden still didn't speak.

When dinner ended, Aiden walked me to the car. The silence between us was thick, buzzing with everything we didn't say.

Just before I stepped in, I turned to him.

"I'm not your puppet," I said.

"I know."

"And I'm not staying quiet. If I find out what this really is ---"

"You will," he cut in, his voice low.

"Eventually."

His eyes met mine, and for a second, I saw something flicker behind them. Pain? Regret? Maybe even a warning.

But then it was gone.

And he stepped back.

"Goodnight Charlotte."

The door closed.

That night, I didn't write anything, I didn't cry, I didn't pace.

I just lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering how many lies it would take to break a person completely.

Because something told me this marriage wasn't the beginning of a story.

It was the unraveling of one.

And I was stuck inside it.