My heart pounded.
“Victoria… I didn’t marry you for this.”
She smiled—not warm, not cold… something in between.
“I know, Ethan. And that is exactly why I chose you.”
Then she said the words that changed everything:
“Everything I own—two hundred million dollars—can become yours.
But only on one condition.”
I swallowed.
“What condition?”
She looked directly into my eyes.
“Tonight, you must truly become my husband. Not just legally. Physically. Emotionally.
If you can’t… the will changes tomorrow morning, and everything goes to charity.”
My pulse hammered in my throat.
This wasn’t seduction.
This was a contract.
A test.
A line I had never imagined standing on.
She reached for my hand, but before I touched her, she stopped me.
Her expression shifted—colder, heavier.
“Before we go any further… you must know the truth about my ex-husband.”
The room suddenly felt smaller.
“He died in this house,” she whispered. “In this very room.”
I froze.
“Everyone believes it was a heart attack,” she continued. “But the truth is… more complicated.”
The air thickened.
My chest tightened.
“What happened?” I managed to say.
Her eyes darkened, grief and steel mixing into something unreadable.