📖 Chapter Five: Alexander's POV — The Man Behind the Mask
Alexander Wolfe sat in his office at Wolfe Global HQ, the city skyline sprawling behind him like a kingdom he never wanted but was born to rule.
He stared at the contract on his screen—not a business deal this time, but his marriage agreement with Emma Blake.
A signature. A name. A countdown.
Twelve months. Then she'd be gone.
That was the plan.
It had to be.
He hadn't wanted a wife. He didn't need one.
But the board had grown too curious.
The investors too suspicious.
And his mother? Always watching. Always waiting for him to fall apart.
Emma had been a solution. Smart. Desperate. Unattached. Beautiful, yes—but not in a way that threatened his self-control.
Or so he thought.
But she was getting under his skin.
The way she held her own against Catherine's icy glares.
The way she smiled for the cameras while clearly holding back every emotion.
And last night at the gala—when she'd stood by him, radiant and unshakable—he had almost forgotten it was all pretend.
That terrified him more than any deal gone wrong.
He opened a private folder on his computer—labeled Project Aurelia.
Emma's name was there.
So was her mother's medical file.
And another document—one Emma hadn't seen.
Surveillance footage. A photo. A file linking Emma's father… to the Wolfe family's darkest scandal.
Alexander clenched his jaw.
He hadn't told her. Not yet.
Because Emma Blake wasn't just his wife by contract.
She was a threat.
A puzzle.
A trigger.
And worst of all… she was starting to matter.
As his phone buzzed with another press inquiry about the "fairy tale marriage," Alexander stared at his reflection in the dark glass.
This wasn't a fairy tale.
It was a chess game.
And Emma Blake had just become the queen on a board full of kings who wanted her gone.