Olivia's POV
Olivia sits across from Adrian and her heart won't stop hammering.
It's actually happening. She's in his office. She's going to ask him to save her family. The words are lined up in her head, ready to go, but now that she's here, they feel fragile. Like saying them out loud will break them.
Adrian leans back in his chair and waits. He's not looking at his phone. He's not checking the time. He's just watching her. His eyes are darker than they looked in the photos. Sharper. Like he can see inside her chest and count all the ways she's failing.
"Say it," Adrian says. His voice is quiet but it sounds like a command.
Olivia takes a breath.
"My family is drowning in debt," she starts. Her voice shakes and she hates herself for it. "Three million dollars. The bank is taking our house in thirty days. My mother is sick. My father isn't working. My brother quit college."
Adrian doesn't move.
"I came here to ask if you'd hire me. Full time. I'd work for you for five years. Every penny goes to the debt. No time off. No complaints. No questions. I'd just work and pay and that's it."
She stops. Her hands are shaking in her lap.
Adrian stands. He walks to the window and looks out at the city. The silence stretches so long that Olivia starts to regret coming here. Starts to understand that she was stupid for thinking he'd even listen.
Then he laughs.
It's a real laugh, but it sounds like ice breaking. Like something cold and hard that's been waiting to crack.
"You'd give me five years of your life," Adrian says, turning back to face her. "Five years of labor. To save a man who destroyed my father's company. To save the family that cost my father everything."
Olivia doesn't answer because there's no answer that matters.
"You understand what he did, don't you?" Adrian walks back to his desk. "Your father broke a business agreement. It wasn't a mistake. It was calculated. He wanted the money more than he wanted to keep his word. My father lost millions. Lost his reputation. Lost his life."
The words hit like punches.
"I know," Olivia whispers. "I know what he did. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Adrian sits back down. He stares at her across the desk like he's trying to understand why she's still here. Why she's still fighting. Why she hasn't run away.
"Sorry doesn't bring him back," Adrian says.
"No," Olivia agrees. "It doesn't. But I have to try. They're my family."
Adrian leans back in his chair. He's watching her in a way that makes her feel like she's being studied. Measured. Tested.
"I have a better offer," Adrian says.
Olivia's stomach drops.
"What offer?" The words come out as a whisper.
Adrian's eyes go darker. Not angry darker. Something else. Something she doesn't have a name for.
"Marry me," he says.
The words just sit there between them.
Olivia blinks. Once. Twice. Like maybe she misheard. Like maybe her brain is playing tricks on her because she's so desperate.
"I'm sorry, what?"
"Marry me," Adrian repeats like it's the simplest thing in the world. "Three years. A contract. You act as my wife at galas and business events. You live in my penthouse. You make my company's board members think I'm a normal human being with normal human attachments."
Olivia stands up. She needs to stand because sitting feels like drowning.
"That's insane," she says.
"Is it?" Adrian stands too. He walks around his desk toward her. "Your father owes me a life debt. Marrying you is a cleaner solution than you working five years and never catching up. Three years, and your family's debt is paid in full. You walk away with a lump sum. Everyone wins."
He's close enough now that she can see the details of his face. The small scar above his left eyebrow. The way his jaw tightens when he talks about business. The emptiness in his eyes that suggests nobody's home behind them anymore.
"Why would you do this?" Olivia asks.
"Because I'm tired," Adrian says simply. "I'm tired of revenge. I'm tired of winning. I'm tired of being alone in a room full of people who want my money."
He reaches out and touches her chin gently. Lifts her face so she has to look at him. The touch sends electricity through her whole body.
"A wife would change that narrative," he continues. "A wife would make me seem human. And you need money. So I'm offering you a contract. Three years. No feelings. No complications. Just a business arrangement with benefits."
Olivia pulls away from his touch. She walks to the window and looks out at the city below. She can see for miles from up here. All those people living normal lives. Making normal choices. Not sitting in an office being proposed to by a man who's supposed to be their enemy.
"My family would want to know," she says. "They'd want to know where the money came from."
"You'd tell them we fell in love," Adrian says. "Fast and unexpected. You can sell that story, can't you? People fall in love in this city every day."
Olivia turns back to face him. "You want me to lie to my family."
"I want you to survive," Adrian says. "Everything else is details."
He walks back to his desk and pulls out a contract. It's thick. Legal. Real. He sets it on the desk between them.
"Three years," Adrian says. "Then you're free. The debt is gone. Your family is saved. You walk away with five million dollars. That should be enough to build whatever life you want."
Olivia stares at the contract.
Five million dollars. Her family could rebuild. Her mother could stop working. Her father could find himself again. Her brother could go back to school.
All she has to do is marry Adrian Kess and pretend it's real for three years.
"There's one condition," Adrian says.
Olivia looks up at him.
"Don't fall in love with me," Adrian says. His voice is cold again. Final. "That's the one part of this contract you can't break. You can pretend for the cameras. You can play the role. But you don't get to actually feel it. Because if you do, this ends badly for both of us."
Olivia feels something break inside her chest.
He's asking her to love him with a smile on her face while he makes it clear that loving him back is forbidden. He's asking her to trap herself in a cage and pretend she's happy about it.
She looks at the contract.
She thinks about her father in the dark room.
She thinks about her mother getting sicker.
She thinks about her brother working himself to death.
And she makes the decision that will change her life forever.
"I need to think about it," she says.
"You have twenty-four hours," Adrian says. He sits back down at his desk like the conversation is over. Like he didn't just offer her everything and nothing at the same time. "After that, I pull the offer. Come back tomorrow with an answer."
Olivia walks to the door. Her hand is on the handle when Adrian says her name.
"Olivia."
She turns.
"Make the right choice," he says. "For your family."
And Olivia walks out of his office knowing she's about to sign away three years of her life to the man who destroyed her family.
Knowing that Adrian Kess has been waiting for her to come to him.
Knowing that she's going to say yes to a marriage contract with a man who explicitly told her not to love him.
Knowing that she's already breaking his most important rule.
Because looking at Adrian Kess, alone in his empty office with his empty eyes, Olivia Chen realized something dangerous.
She's already starting to care.