He Offered Him a Marriage Deal… After His Pregnant Daughter Was Abandoned
Chapter 3
Noah didn’t sleep.
The folder sat unopened on the kitchen table.
Emily sat across from him the next morning, drinking tea.
“You’re thinking about it.”
“No.”
“You are.”
“Noah stared at his daughter.
“I’m thinking about how crazy it is.”
Emily smiled sadly.
“That’s fair.”
“He wants me to marry him.”
“Yes.”
“You understand that’s not normal?”
“I noticed.”
Noah rubbed his face.
“What do you think?”
Emily looked toward the window.
“I don’t know.”
“You’d be comfortable living with a billionaire?”
She laughed softly.
“I’m not comfortable living anywhere right now.”
That answer broke Noah’s heart.
He opened the folder.
The agreement was detailed.
One-year marriage.
Separate finances.
No obligation of intimacy.
Full medical coverage for Emily and her baby.
A private home.
Childcare.
No conditions involving Emily’s custody.
And one strange clause.
If Alexander died during the marriage, Noah would become temporary trustee of certain shares until the company stabilized.
Noah looked at the page.
“This isn’t a marriage.”
“No.”
“It’s a contract.”
“Yes.”
He looked at Emily.
“That might be the point.”
Later that afternoon, Noah drove to Alexander’s headquarters.
The building was enormous.
Glass walls.
Security guards.
Executives moving through marble halls.
Noah felt completely out of place.
Alexander met him in a private office.
“You came.”
“Yes.”
“You read the agreement?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Noah sat down.
“I have conditions.”
Alexander nodded.
“Name them.”
“My daughter stays independent.”
“Agreed.”
“No one uses her pregnancy for publicity.”
“Agreed.”
“My name isn’t used to manipulate your board.”
“Agreed.”
“And if you treat this like ownership, I’m gone.”
Alexander smiled faintly.
“I wouldn’t expect anything else.”
Noah studied him.
“You really need this marriage.”
“Yes.”
“Why not marry someone from your world?”
“Because I know what they want.”
“And me?”
“You don’t want anything.”
Noah shook his head.
“I want my daughter safe.”
Alexander nodded.
“That is exactly why I chose you.”
Noah signed the agreement.
Alexander signed.
The legal marriage was scheduled for the next morning.
Emily cried when Noah told her.
“I don’t want you doing this because of me.”
Noah hugged her.
“I’m doing it because you’re my daughter.”
“You don’t love him.”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“Because sometimes people make strange choices when normal ones stop being possible.”
The ceremony was private.
A judge.
Two attorneys.
Emily.
Noah.
Alexander.
No wedding dress.
No flowers.
No celebration.
Just signatures.
When the judge declared them legally married, Alexander shook Noah’s hand.
“Thank you.”
Noah nodded.
“This isn’t forever.”
“I know.”
But neither man noticed the woman watching from the hallway.
Alexander’s sister-in-law.
Charlotte Reed.
She turned away and made a phone call.
“It’s done.”
A man’s voice answered.
“And?”
“They’re married.”
“Good.”
Charlotte smiled.
“Now we can begin.”
