Flash Marriage to My Billionaire Savior

For two years, my fiancé Aaron controlled my life with a sick, suffocating rule: if my phone battery dropped below fifty percent, all our plans would be immediately canceled.

He claimed it was to cure my habit of procrastination.

At my twenty-sixth birthday party, my battery showed forty-nine percent. With all my friends gathered and the candles on the cake already lit, Aaron coldly canceled our private room right in front of everyone.

"Rules are rules, Audrey," he said, completely ignoring my burning humiliation. "Missing one birthday will finally teach you a lesson."

On Thanksgiving, he was supposed to make his first formal visit to my parents. My mother had been cooking since dawn.

Halfway there, Aaron's female best friend, Bella, sent a text: "My phone is dying. I'm alone at the airport and so scared."

Aaron slammed on the brakes and immediately turned the car around.

"My parents are still waiting at home," I reminded him.

He just sped up and yelled, "Her phone is dying! What if she loses contact?"

When we rushed into the airport terminal, I watched Bella throw herself into his arms. Aaron quickly pulled out his power bank, charging her phone with a tenderness he had never shown me.

But as her screen lit up, I clearly saw the battery icon: ninety-eight percent.

Aaron just smiled indulgently and tapped her nose.

"Next time, don't scare me like this," he whispered softly.

I looked down at my fully charged battery and dialed the billionaire tech CEO who had been quietly loving me for four entire years.

"Are you still willing to marry me right now?"

Chapter 1

Audrey POV:

I took a taxi back from the airport alone.

When I pushed open the front door, the dining table was carefully set with my mother's most treasured crystal goblets. The food had already been reheated for the second time.

"Mom, don't wait anymore. He isn't coming," I said softly.

Just as I sat down, the doorbell rang.

Aaron and Bella stood on the porch. Bella was holding the expensive box of imported pastries my parents had specifically prepared as a gift for Aaron.

"I'm so sorry, Audrey, I was starving on the way here," Bella said, opening the box to reveal that half the pastries were already gone. "I didn't know this was a gift for Aaron, so I just opened it and ate a few."

Aaron frowned, took the box from her hands, and placed it casually on the side table.

"It's just a few pastries, Audrey, it's not a big deal," Aaron said smoothly. "Today's delay was my fault, don't take your anger out on Bella."

I looked at him, feeling it was utterly ridiculous. "It's Thanksgiving, and it was your first time formally meeting my parents."

"Those are two different things," Aaron replied, his tone already laced with impatience. "Your phone was fully charged, and you could contact your family anytime. Bella thought she was going to lose contact with the world back then."

"Her phone battery was clearly at ninety-eight percent, while my parents waited bitterly at home for hours!" I clenched my fists, my voice trembling uncontrollably with anger.

"You are blowing things out of proportion again, Audrey," Aaron snapped, crossing his arms over his chest. "Your narrow-minded jealousy is suffocating. Bella wanted to make it up to you, and she even specifically offered to host a dinner for our friend group tomorrow night. Instead of being grateful, you are using this as an excuse to make an unreasonable scene!"

Bella stepped half a pace forward, her large, watery eyes quickly filling with tears.

"It's all my fault, Aaron..." Bella sobbed, tugging at Aaron's sleeve. "I shouldn't have come. I always mess things up for Audrey..."

"You don't need to apologize to them, Bella," Aaron softened his tone, shielding her as they walked toward the car without even glancing at me again. "Some people just don't know how to appreciate anything, treating other people's kindness like dirt."

He drove off into the distance without even saying a word of goodbye to my parents.

The next evening, Bella really did book a private room at a high-end hotpot restaurant.

The moment the soup base was brought to the table, I froze.

The spicy red broth was entirely filled with shrimp and crab.

"Aaron specifically told me to order this signature seafood broth!" Bella announced cheerfully, waving a ladle. "He said it's the most authentic soup base they have!"

I put down my chopsticks. "I have a severe seafood allergy."

Aaron, who was busy mixing a dipping sauce for Bella, didn't even lift an eyelid. "Can't you just rinse it in water before you eat?"

"Don't make the kitchen change the entire pot over such a small thing and ruin everyone's appetite. Can you stop being so high-maintenance?"

Saying that, he pulled a printed spreadsheet from his pocket and slapped it onto the center of the dining table for everyone to see.

"Speaking of being high-maintenance," Aaron sneered, raising an eyebrow at his group of male friends. "Last week on Audrey's birthday, she actually managed to let her phone battery drain to forty-nine percent. Look at this monthly tracking log. She always treats my battery management rules like nothing."

The whole table instantly erupted into a burst of mocking laughter and ridicule.

"Aaron, you are way too detailed," one of his buddies said with a laugh. "Audrey definitely needs to be punished today."

Bella smiled at me innocently. "Audrey, Aaron is so strict with you. But this is all for your own good!"

Another person chimed in: "Then the punishment should be Audrey peeling a whole plate of crabs for Bella!"

I gripped my chopsticks tightly, my voice icy: "I am not peeling them."

Aaron looked up, his face instantly darkening. "It's just a meal, Audrey, do you really have to be this hysterical?"

Everyone around the table was staring at me. They were all waiting for me to lower my head and compromise.

Finally, I put on the plastic gloves and pulled that heavy plate of crabs in front of me.

The crab shells were extremely sharp. When I forcefully pried one open, the razor-sharp edge sliced deep into my thumb. I gasped in pain, my hand jerking violently.

Bright red blood instantly welled up, staining the white crab meat.

I grabbed a paper napkin and pressed it hard against the wound, not making a single sound.

Aaron didn't notice at all. He was completely focused on putting meatballs onto Bella's plate, gently asking her if she wanted some more sesame sauce.

Suddenly, a tiny drop of hot oil splashed out of the pot.

Bella let out a delicate "Ouch!"

Aaron instantly sprang up from his chair, grabbed her hand, and dragged her toward the restroom in sheer panic.

"Where did it burn you? Let me see!" he roared anxiously.

I pulled two rough tissues from the tissue box, tightly wrapped my bleeding thumb, and applied hard pressure under the table to stop the bleeding.

A young busboy clearing plates nearby noticed the wound on my hand, silently walked over, and pulled two clean band-aids from his apron pocket to hand to me.

"Thank you," I whispered my thanks to this stranger.

The meal dragged on until midnight, and we stood on the freezing, biting sidewalk outside the restaurant.

A freezing rain began to patter down on the asphalt.

Bella pouted and helplessly shook her phone. "Aaron, can you drive me home? My phone is dying, and I'm afraid I won't be able to get a cab."

Aaron nodded immediately. Then he turned his head and looked at me. "Go back by yourself. Your house is close."

I stared dead into his eyes. "My phone is dying too."

"Then find a convenience store and buy a charger," Aaron said coldly, opening the passenger door for Bella. "I have warned you hundreds of times to always keep your battery charged when you go out. This is a punishment for your lack of planning. Maybe standing in the biting rain for twenty minutes will finally teach you a lesson."

The moment the car door slammed shut, I finally understood completely. Those strict rules he set for me were only ever tools used to tame and control me.

Walking halfway through the freezing rain, I opened the family tracking app on my phone and permanently turned off my location sharing.

A second later, the phone's battery died, and the screen went completely black.

I walked three blocks braving the biting rain, the bleeding thumb inside my coat pocket throbbing with waves of severe pain.

I finally found a twenty-four-hour gas station, walked up to the counter, and begged the night shift clerk to let me use the landline.

I dialed my mother's cell phone number.

The phone was picked up after just one ring, but the voice coming from the receiver wasn't my mother's.

Instead, it was an emergency medical paramedic from the emergency medical center.

"Is this Audrey Mcleod?" the paramedic asked rapidly over the piercing, shrill siren of the ambulance in the background. "Your father just suffered an acute myocardial infarction at home. The situation is extremely critical, and we are transporting him to Saint Jude Memorial Hospital for emergency resuscitation under the highest critical code. You must get here immediately!"