"Sign the papers… or your father dies in prison."
The pen slipped from my fingers.
My whole body went cold.
"What… did you just say?"
My stepmother didn't blink. Not even once.
She simply pushed the document closer to me, her long red nails tapping slowly on the table.
"Fraud. Money laundering. Your father is finished, Amara. Unless…"
She leaned in, her voice dropping to a whisper.
"…you marry him."
My heart slammed violently against my ribs.
"Who?!"
She smiled.
Not a normal smile.
The kind that meant something was very, very wrong.
Then she dropped a photo in front of me.
I didn't want to look.
But I did.
And instantly… I wished I hadn't.
Dark eyes.
Sharp jaw.
A face too perfect… too cold.
The kind of man who didn't just break hearts—
He destroyed lives.
"Alexander Kane," she said softly. "Billionaire. Ruthless. Untouchable."
My throat went dry.
"And he wants to marry me?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper.
She laughed.
A slow, cruel laugh that made my skin crawl.
"Oh, sweetheart… he doesn't want you."
My fingers tightened around the edge of the table.
"Then why me?"
Her eyes darkened.
"Because you're the price he asked for."
Silence crashed between us.
My chest tightened painfully.
I wasn't a person anymore.
I was a deal.
A sacrifice.
A payment.
Tears blurred my vision, but I refused to let them fall.
"No," I whispered. "I won't do it."
Her expression changed instantly.
Cold. Deadly.
"Then your father rots in prison."
My breath hitched.
"You have 24 hours to decide."
She stood up, adjusting her dress like she hadn't just destroyed my life.
"Oh… and one more thing."
I looked up slowly.
Her lips curved into a wicked smile.
"He's arriving tomorrow."
My heart skipped.
"To take his wife."
I couldn't breathe.
I couldn't think.
This wasn't real.
This couldn't be real.
My legs felt weak as I stumbled back into my room, slamming the door shut.
The silence was suffocating.
Then slowly…
My hand moved to my stomach.
Trembling.
Terrified.
"…What am I going to do?"
Because there was one thing no one knew.
Not my stepmother.
Not my father.
And definitely not the man I was about to marry.
I shut my eyes, tears finally falling.
"I'm pregnant…"
And the father of my child?
My biggest mistake.
A man far more dangerous than Alexander Kane.