Adrian sat in his car outside the school, his mind spinning. Blake Morrison recognizing him was a big problem. He needed to think about this carefully.
As an FBI agent, Adrian had to consider every possibility. Could Blake be involved in the drug ring he was investigating? Teachers had access to everything - student schedules, school records, the ability to move around campus without anyone questioning them. Blake's students getting into good colleges could be innocent, or it could mean something else entirely.
The timing was suspicious too. Adrian had fooled everyone else at the school, but Blake figured out who he was in just one week. That took either really sharp observation skills or knowledge that Blake shouldn't have had from their brief marriage.
Adrian closed his eyes and let his mind go back to two years ago, when everything in his life had fallen apart.
His father's death had been sudden. Marcus Chen had worked sixteen-hour days at his small restaurant, trying to build a better life for his son. When the heart attack came, there had been no warning. One day Adrian was a normal college student, the next day he was burying his father and drowning in debt.
The bills had been overwhelming. The restaurant owed money to suppliers, the bank, the landlord. His father's medical expenses from those final weeks in the hospital had eaten through their insurance. When Adrian added it all up, the total came to nearly two hundred thousand dollars. For a twenty-one-year-old college student with no family and no assets, it might as well have been two million.
Banks wouldn't talk to him. He had no credit, no collateral, no way to get that kind of money. The creditors were already calling, threatening to take everything. Adrian was about to lose not just his father's restaurant, but his own chance at finishing college.
That's when he saw the ad in the campus newspaper. "Marriage arrangements for financial assistance. Confidential and professional." Adrian had thought it was a scam at first, but desperation made him call the number anyway.
The lawyer's office had been real enough. The attorney explained that his client needed a husband for family reasons - something about inheritance and conservative parents who expected a traditional marriage. The payment would be enough to cover Adrian's debts, and the arrangement would be purely business. No personal relationship required.
Adrian had agreed to meet this Blake Morrison at the law office. Blake had seemed nervous, wearing a suit that didn't quite fit right. He was a high school math teacher who needed to show his parents he was married to keep getting family money. It was strange, but Adrian was in no position to judge anyone else's family problems.
Their conversation had been awkward and brief. Blake asked almost nothing about Adrian's background, and Adrian didn't pry into Blake's situation either. They reviewed the contract, set up the payment method, and scheduled the wedding. The whole meeting took maybe twenty minutes.
The wedding itself had been as impersonal as possible. They met at the courthouse, both wearing their uncomfortable suits. The judge performed the minimum ceremony required by law. They said their vows like they were reading from a script, signed the papers, and took one photo for the legal record.
Blake handed Adrian a bank check for the full amount right after the ceremony. They shook hands, agreed they wouldn't contact each other unless legally necessary, and went their separate ways. Adrian never expected to see Blake Morrison again.
The money had saved Adrian's life. He paid off all his father's debts, finished college with honors, and applied to the FBI eighteen months later. The marriage became just paperwork he had to maintain - filing joint tax returns, keeping track of the legal documents. It meant nothing to him emotionally.
But now Blake was here, at the school where Adrian was working undercover. That couldn't be a coincidence.
Adrian pulled out his secure phone to start running background checks on Blake Morrison. He needed to know everything - Blake's work history, his finances, his connections, his habits. If Blake was involved in the drug operation, Adrian had to find out. If Blake was innocent but knew Adrian's real identity, that was almost as dangerous to the mission.
The whole situation was complicated in ways his FBI training had never prepared him for. He was supposed to investigate a drug ring, but now he also had to investigate his own husband. A husband who barely knew him but had somehow recognized him anyway.
Adrian started the car and drove toward his temporary apartment, already planning his next moves. He would have to watch Blake carefully while maintaining his student cover. He would have to figure out if Blake was a threat to the mission or just an unlucky coincidence.
One thing was certain - Blake Morrison had just become the most important person in Adrian's investigation, whether Blake knew it or not.