"Think about it," she continued. "He's powerful, connected, and probably one of the few people who could fix this with a single call. That contract whatever it is, clearly means a lot to him and you could use that."
"You think he's behind this?"
"I didn't say that," she replied carefully. "I'm saying he's your only real option right now. You've got three hours, Bella. You need help and he's the only person with the power to give it to you."
Silence.
I didn't know what scared me more─that she was wrong, or that she was right.
Because if Adrien really was my only way out… then what choice did I have?
ADRIEN'S POV
I didn't like leaving things to fate
That's why I laid the groundwork days ago—quietly, step by step, pinpoint accurate. Cameron had done what I instructed him to do, like always. "Dig into isabella. All of it," I told him, thinking only of efficiency. I wasn't trying to invade her privacy; I just needed a way in. A lever. A crack.
And he found one.
Well─three.
Student loans, still unpaid. Her father's vet clinic barely standing—two years of unpaid rent and no backup plan. Her younger brother's tuition overdue, school warning notices piling up like fallen dominoes.
I stared at the report longer than necessary.
It should've been a simple equation. Find the pressure points. Apply enough force. Present the solution—me, the contract—and watch her accept it like salvation.
But it didn't feel clean.
I wasn't heartless. I recognize the struggle in the lines between those bullet points. Saw what she was trying to hold together with her bare hands. A family. A future. Hers and theirs. And the worst part? She wasn't failing because she was lazy or irresponsible.
She was just getting consumed by a system designed to drown somebody like her.
I breathed slowly.
Then I did what I had to do. Made the phone calls. The student loans department? Brought into line to apply some more pressure. The owner of the vet clinic? Bought out, instructed to shut the doors in twenty-four hours. The brother's school? Called to insist that money is to be taken by the same deadline.
And then I waited.
it was from the position where I sat in my office, up so high above the city, the streets seemed to look like blocks of toy and strings of silver. I leaned back in my chair, phone dead, inbox quiet but my mind wasn't.
three hours were still remaining. I'd counted down the clock
I kept reminding myself that this was for a purpose.
She was stubborn─too proud to admit that she had to be handed a handout. She would not accept my offer unless she had no other choice. And the fact was, the contract had benefits. Protection. Security. Safety. It wasn't just about me. It was about what I could provide for her that no other person could.
But still… a part of me resented the fact that I was winning.
I did not like seeing her trapped. Even though I was the one who drew the lines.
She'd be angry. She'd curse the world. Perhaps even me.
But she'd sign.
And when she did, I would not rub it in. I would not even smile.
Because in spite of all the gamesmanship, all the tricks and backhanded manipulation… I still saw her.
And I knew that she was worth more than this.
I just did not know how else to save her─except by making sure that she needed saving in the first place. Even though I am still trying to convince myself that she is not a gold digger.
ISABELLA'S POV
Three hours.
That's was all the time I had left.
Three hours to find some way to keep everything from crumbling—the vet clinic, my brother's tuition, my own sanity.
Aria's words echoed in my head, relentless and sharp: He's powerful, well-connected, and most likely one of the few people who could fix this with a single call.
I did not want her to be right. I wanted to believe that it was all just a terrible coincidence and not some carefully constructed trap. But no matter how desperately I tried to talk myself into otherwise, the truth remained: Adrien Walton was the only door left.
And I was out of time.
I stared at my phone for what seemed like forever, thumb hovering over his name in my contact list. I had deleted the contract. Shoved every thought of it into a corner of my mind and nailed it shut. But desperation has a way of unearthing the things you swore you'd never dig up again.
One breath.
Two.
Three.
I tapped the call button.
It rang once before he picked up as if he'd been waiting. Like he knew.
"Miss Miller."
Just my name. No irritation. No sarcasm. Just calm.
My voice was just barely steady. "Is the offer still on the table?"
There was a bit of silence and for a second, I thought maybe he'd make me beg.
"Yes," he replied quietly.
I closed my eyes. "Then… I'll do it."
Another silence.
Then his voice came again, businesslike this time. "We'll sign at the office tomorrow. I'm back in town."
Click.
That was it.
I stared at the black screen, the call already ended, my own face faintly visible in the glass. I looked like a person I didn't recognize.
A person slammed against the wall.
A person out of choice.
Tomorrow, I'd walk into that office not as an employee but as a bargaining chip. A contract. A promise wrapped in desperation.
And Adrien Walton would be the one wielding the pen signing me away.
****
I woke up the next morning early, dreading the day that was to come, it was all a blur between barely sleeping at all and the stress now permanently lodged in my chest, I barely had time to think about anything other than how to ensure I got to work before Adrien.
I sped through my morning routine—skipping breakfast—my mind was racing. My phone was buzzing with some urgent work calls, but I wasn't even willing to look at them. Getting to the office on time was all I could focus on.
I barely managed to leave my apartment, fumbling with my purse, and not even bothering to properly button my blazer as I practically sprinted to the office. I had six minutes to spare when I got to the building—six minutes before Adrien would probably breeze through the door like he owned the place (which, of course, he did).
I quickly set myself up at my desk, catching my breath as I started checking his schedule for the day. It was my job to be on top of everything for him─as usual. Department heads' meeting at 9:30, a client call at noon and review of the budget afterward. He wouldn't have any free time to waste, and neither could I.
Just as I finished getting his schedule organized, I heard him walking toward my office. As expected—he was right on time.
"Conference Room B. Fifteen minutes," he passed by me and said, without even looking in my direction.
I nodded quickly, barely managing to get my thoughts together. This was it—the moment I had agreed to. The contract. It felt like a thousand things were crashing down on me all at once.
I followed him to the conference room and took a seat across from him. The silence felt heavier than usual, like the weight of everything unsaid had settled into the air between us.
Adrien didn't waste any time. He pushed a thick manila folder across the table to me with little regard as it let out a scrapping sound against the table. "Here," he said with a calm voice but what immediately felt like a detached air. "You know what this is."
I picked up the folder, my hands feeling suddenly unsteady. I opened the folder, and there it was. The contract. All of it.
It was everything that he had promised and yet having read it set out in black and white like that, it felt even more real than I was bracing myself for. I scanned through the clauses, every one of them confirming what we had talked about. A timeline. Penalties for breaking the rules. A non-disclosure agreement. The payment.
And finally, at the bottom, there were two empty lines—one for him and one for me.
He casually slid a pen in my direction, his focus still on the folder in front of him, not looking at me. "Sign it," was all he said.
I looked up at him. "No big speech? No motivational speech about how this is all for the greater good?"
He simply raised an eyebrow and curled his lips into something that might have been a smirk. "You already said yes."
I found it oddly strange how easy it was to say those two words yesterday—I mean, that yesterday, everything was just theoretical and here, in this room, it felt all too real. I swallowed hard and reached for the pen. There was no reason to back out now.
I signed my name without another word, feeling a heavy feeling settle into the pit of my stomach over the transaction. That was it--I had completed signing the contract.
He signed his name without hesitation, and I couldn't help but notice how efficiently he moved— as if all of this was mapped out in his life plan, right down to this moment.
We sat there in silence for a moment and I stared at the paper in front of me. I had agreed to this. Signed away my life, in a way.
And just like that, my life was now intertwined with Adrien Walton's.