He Jilted Me at the Altar. I Married His Enemy by Midnight. Chapter 03

He Jilted Me at the Altar. I Married His Enemy by Midnight. Chapter 03

The address was the penthouse of the Aurelia Tower—the tallest building in the city, owned by the one man my father and Julian never dared say out loud at dinner.

Damian Cross.

The man who’d taken his dead father’s bankrupt shipping firm and turned it into an empire that swallowed companies like mine ate breakfast. The man Julian’s family had been begging for a merger for two years. Thirty-four. Never photographed smiling. Never photographed with a woman.

He was standing at the window when the elevator opened, the whole burning city spread out beneath him like it belonged to him.

Maybe it did.

「You came,」 he said, without turning around.

「You know about my baby.」 My voice was steadier than I felt. 「Six people on this planet know, and five of them are doctors. So before anything else—how?」

He turned.

I’d seen pictures. Pictures were a lie. Pictures didn’t capture the stillness of him, or the way his dark eyes moved over my tear-wrecked face—not with pity. With something that looked, insanely, like fury on my behalf.

「I know everything about everyone I intend to do business with,」 he said. 「Sit down, Ms. Hale.」

「I’ll stand.」

Something flickered at the corner of his mouth. Almost approval.

「Then I’ll be quick. At midnight tonight, you turn twenty-eight.」 He walked to his desk and lifted a single document. 「Happy birthday. Here’s my offer: marry me. Before midnight. A judge is waiting one floor down.」

I laughed. It came out jagged. 「I was jilted twelve hours ago. Is this a joke to you people? Is destroying me a sport?」

「I don’t joke.」 He said it flatly, and God help me, I believed him. 「One year of marriage. On paper. You’ll want for nothing, and your child will be born a Cross—untouchable. In exchange, I get something I need. That’s the deal.」

「Why me?」 I hated how small my voice sounded. 「You could marry anyone. Models. Heiresses. Women who aren’t a trending hashtag titled World’s Saddest Bride. Why me, why tonight, why—」

「Because you’re the only woman on earth,」 he said quietly, 「that this marriage saves.」

The clock on his wall said 11:26.

「What happened to you today wasn’t a love triangle, Aria.」 My name in his mouth sent something electric down my spine. 「It wasn’t your sister’s passion or Julian’s weakness. It was a transaction. Cold. Planned for months. Timed to the hour.」

He stepped closer. Close enough that I could see he hadn’t slept either.

「Someone paid to have you humiliated at that altar. Paid to make sure you’d be shattered, discredited, and unmarried when the clock strikes twelve tonight. Julian was just the instrument. Your sister was just the bonus.」

My heart was slamming against my ribs. 「Who?」

「Marry me and I’ll tell you.」

「Tell me and I’ll consider marrying you!」

「No.」 His eyes didn’t waver. 「Because when you hear the name, you’re going to fall apart. And I need you to fall apart after you sign, not before. We have thirty-one minutes.」

「You’re insane—」

「Aria.」 He held out the pen, and his voice dropped low, almost gentle, which was somehow more terrifying than anything else that had happened today. 「Everything they took from you today—the ring, the name, your family, your dignity—it was never about Julian wanting your sister.」

「It was about making sure that at 12:00 a.m., you would be worth nothing. There is a number attached to your heartbreak. It has nine zeroes. And the person who signed the order to break you—」

He paused.

「—has known you your entire life.」

The pen hovered between us. The clock ticked to 11:31.

「Who?」 I whispered. 「Who did this to me?」

「Sign,」 said Damian Cross, 「and I’ll say the name.」