And certainly not for the man across the desk, watching her like he already knew which way she'd break-calm, calculating, as if her every thought belonged to him.
Her fingers paused over the paper. Her heart pounded loudly and swiftly, like the sound of a battle drum just before combat, resonating throughout her chest with anxiety, skepticism, and growing adrenaline.
"Tell me this is a game you're playing," she asked, softly and nervously.
Alexander Knight didn't blink a bit.
"I don't joke."
Of course, he didn't. Humor requires softness. Emotion. A real human pulse.
Maya peered up at him. His face was with no expression, yet something frightening lingered behind that steel-gray stare. He wasn't asking. He was calculating-measuring risk, weighing options, and anticipating her every possible move.
"You've lost your freaking mind."
He didn't flinch. He just leaned backwards, fingers hitting his desk in the deliberate, exact beat that drove her insane during meetings. The man was relaxed in an unsettling way, as if he had seen this scene multiple times before.
"You'll marry me."
The air seemed to vanish from the room. He said it like he was offering her a raise. Or a business merger-calm, calculated, detached, as if her answer didn't matter at all.
Maya pushed her chair back so hard it screeched against the marble. "Absolutely not."
"I wasn't asking," he said smoothly.
"Then what the hell is this?"
"A necessity."
She let out a sharp laugh. "A necessity is rent. Coffee. A working phone charger. This?"-she waved at the papers like they were toxic. "This is control."
Alexander stood. His movements were deliberate, exact, like everything else about him. "I need a wife."
She crossed her arms. "Why don't you buy one? Or better yet, propose your reflection. I'm sure it'd say yes."
"I don't want just anyone. I want you."
Her stomach twisted. The words felt like they were meant to flatter, but they landed like a threat.
"Why?" Her voice was tight. "Why me?"
"Because I trust you."
The answer hit harder than she wanted it to. Trust was a loaded word-for her, it always had been. And hearing it from him? That was even more disorienting, like stepping onto thin ice and knowing it would crack.
"I've worked for you for four years," she said slowly. Handled your secrets, your calendar, your damage control. Not once have you ever even said thank you. And now you want to slap a ring on it and call it trust?"
"You've had more access to me than anyone else. You never used it. You've never lied to me, never manipulated me."
"And this is my reward? Forced marriage with my emotionally stunted billionaire boss?"
His mouth barely twitched. "It's not forced."
"Is it not?" Her voice rose. "Because the part where you threatened my job if I said no felt pretty forced."
He exhaled. "I'm trying to protect you."
"From what?"
He hesitated, and that pause-that pause-sent ice down her spine.
"There are threats," he finally said. "To you."
Her brows drew together. "Why would anyone come after me?"
"I'm not sure yet. But I've intercepted three attempts. And the last one was... serious."
Maya softly lowered her arms to her sides. Her heart beat in her ears. "And you didn't think that I ought to know that?"
"I did not intend to scare you. Not until I had a way to make it stop."
She stared at him. "So your solution was to marry me."
"Yes."
She laughed again, this time more hollow. "God, you must be insane."
Alexander stepped closer. "It keeps you close. It keeps you safe. And it gives me legal grounds to protect you without question."
"I never asked for your protection."
"No," he said quietly. "But you need it."
She hated how close he was now. Hated that his cologne made her dizzy. She despised that part of herself, which she couldn't tell was terror or adrenaline-only that it surged, wild and sharp, beneath her skin.
"I don't want a puppet," he explained. "I want you."
She shoved him. Hard.
He barely moved.
"I hate you."
"Good."
She grabbed the contract and tore it clean down the middle. The pieces floated to the floor between them like paper snow, silent but sharp, each fragment a word she refused to swallow.
"You'll sign it," he said.
"Over my dead body."
"That can be arranged."
She froze.
Then the doors burst open.
One of Alexander's security team stepped in, jaw tight. "Sir. We have a problem."
Alexander turned. "What kind of problem?"
"It's about her."
Maya's breath caught.
"What about her?" Alexander asked.
"A new threat. It came through our internal systems. Encrypted. Direct. We don't know how they breached the firewall."
Alexander's jaw clenched. "How?"
"We don't know yet. But whoever it is-they're in deep."
Silence fell.
Alexander turned to her slowly. His voice, when it came, was low and final.
"This isn't just a proposal, Maya."
He stepped a bit closer.
"It's the only thing keeping you alive."
And the worst part of it?
She completely believed him.
Even if she didn't want to.
Her mind raced-was she really in that much danger? A small part of her tried to push the idea away, but every shred of instinct told her to listen to him. He wasn't someone who acted without purpose. If he claimed her safety was at risk, it was.
She felt her legs tremble, the weight of the situation setting in, but she resisted displaying to him her vulnerability. Not here, not now. Not when everything she had fought to protect was on the line. The pieces in her head were falling into place, and though the picture wasn't clear, she knew one thing for sure.
This marriage-this arranged nightmare-wasn't just a trap. It was her only chance to survive.
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