My CEO… She Paid Me to Be Her Husband for 1 Year — Then Our ‘Fake’ Marriage Turned Real
Chapter 1
Daniel Carter had never imagined that the strangest job offer of his life would come from his own CEO.
At 7:40 on a rainy Monday morning, he stood outside the executive office of Carter & Vale Industries, holding a folder containing a resignation letter he had no intention of using.
He was thirty-two, divorced, and raising his eight-year-old daughter, Lily, alone.
For the past six years, Daniel had worked in the company’s logistics division. He wasn’t wealthy. He didn’t drive an expensive car. He lived in a modest three-bedroom house in a quiet suburb outside Chicago.
But he was reliable.
That was what people knew about him.
Reliable.
Quiet.
Hardworking.
The kind of employee who arrived early, stayed late, and never complained.
What nobody knew was that Daniel was exhausted.
His daughter had recently started having trouble at school after her mother’s remarriage, and Daniel had been struggling to balance overtime with being a father.
He had decided to resign.
Then his assistant manager called.
“Daniel, Ms. Morgan wants to see you.”
Daniel frowned.
“Me?”
“Personally.”
That was strange.
Victoria Morgan was the thirty-eight-year-old CEO of the company.
She was famous for being brilliant, intimidating, and almost impossible to read.
Employees joked that Victoria could make an entire boardroom silent with one look.
Daniel had spoken to her only twice.
Both times, professionally.
He entered her office.
Victoria stood beside the windows overlooking downtown Chicago.
“Mr. Carter.”
“Ms. Morgan.”
“Close the door.”
Daniel did.
She gestured toward a chair.
“Sit.”
He sat.
Victoria remained standing.
“I’ve been reviewing your personnel file.”
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
“If this is about my department’s shipping delays—”
“It isn’t.”
She walked toward the desk.
“How long have you been divorced?”
Daniel blinked.
“Three years.”
“Do you have children?”
“One daughter.”
“Age?”
“Eight.”
Victoria nodded.
Daniel became suspicious.
“Why are you asking me this?”
She looked directly at him.
“Because I need a husband.”
Daniel stared at her.
“I’m sorry?”
“I need to be married.”
“You called me into your office to tell me that?”
“Yes.”
Daniel waited for the punchline.
None came.
Victoria opened a drawer and removed a document.
“My grandfather founded this company.”
“I know.”
“His will contains a condition.”
Daniel took the document.
“If I don’t marry within twelve months, control of the company passes to my uncle.”
Daniel looked up.
“That’s ridiculous.”
“I agree.”
“Then contest the will.”
“I tried.”
“And?”
“The trust was written by one of the best estate attorneys in Illinois.”
Victoria sat across from him.
“There is no loophole.”
Daniel slowly closed the folder.
“So why me?”
“Because I need someone I can trust.”
“You barely know me.”
“I know enough.”
She slid another document toward him.
It contained a contract.
Daniel looked at the number.
His eyes widened.
“That’s…”
“Your compensation.”
“For pretending to be your husband?”
“For one year.”
Daniel shook his head.
“This is insane.”
Victoria leaned back.
“I’ll pay you enough to clear your mortgage, fund your daughter’s education, and give you financial security.”
Daniel stared at the contract.
It was tempting.
More tempting than he wanted to admit.
But then Victoria added:
“There is one rule.”
“What?”
“No falling in love.”
Daniel laughed nervously.
“That shouldn’t be difficult.”
Victoria smiled faintly.
“I hope you’re right.”
Neither of them knew how wrong that sentence would become.
Because their marriage was supposed to last one year.
It was supposed to be a business arrangement.
A performance.
A contract.
But somewhere between the staged photographs, shared dinners, awkward family gatherings, and late-night conversations, something neither of them had planned began to happen.
They stopped pretending.
And when the year was almost over, Daniel discovered that Victoria had never told him the most important part of the contract.
She hadn’t hired him because of the will.
She had chosen him because someone was trying to destroy her company.
And she believed the only person she could trust to stand beside her…
was the man she had paid to pretend to love her.
