She Hired Him as Her Fake Husband… He Never Expected to Fall in Love
Chapter 15
Twenty years after Charlotte first hired Ethan as her fake husband, their daughter was now seventeen.
Charlotte was fifty-one.
Ethan was fifty-three.
Bennett Holdings had passed through another generation of leadership.
Charlotte remained involved as chairwoman.
Ethan served as president of the foundation.
Their daughter, Lily, was preparing for college.
One night, she asked her mother,
“How did you know Dad was the one?”
Charlotte smiled.
“I didn’t.”
Lily laughed.
“Then how?”
“I hired him.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
Charlotte looked toward the living room.
Ethan was reading.
She smiled.
“I thought I was hiring someone to protect my company.”
“And?”
“I was actually inviting someone into my life.”
Lily smiled.
“That’s romantic.”
“It wasn’t at first.”
She laughed.
“It was messy.”
Ethan walked into the room.
“What was messy?”
“Your marriage.”
He looked at Charlotte.
“Still talking about that?”
Lily smiled.
“Yes.”
Ethan sat beside them.
Charlotte took his hand.
“For years, I thought love was something you found.”
She looked at her daughter.
“It’s not.”
“It’s something you build.”
Ethan nodded.
“One honest conversation at a time.”
Lily looked at them.
“Would you do it again?”
Charlotte laughed.
“The fake marriage?”
“Yes.”
Ethan answered first.
“Absolutely.”
Charlotte looked at him.
“Even the contract?”
“Especially the contract.”
She smiled.
Because the contract had been written to end.
Three months.
Then goodbye.
Instead, it had given two strangers enough time to discover the parts of themselves they had been hiding.
Charlotte had learned she could love without losing herself.
Ethan had learned he could belong without earning it.
Their daughter had grown up watching two people choose each other every day.
And perhaps that was the greatest thing they had built.
Not the company.
Not the fortune.
Not the family name.
A home.
A real one.
Years earlier, Charlotte had hired Ethan because she needed a fake husband.
She thought she was buying a performance.
She thought she could control the rules.
She thought love was the one thing that would never become part of the deal.
She was wrong.
Because Ethan never expected to fall in love with her either.
It happened quietly.
Then completely.
And by the time either of them realized what had happened, the fake marriage was gone.
Only the love remained.
And that was the one thing neither of them had ever planned.
