Married for His Empire

The stylist's name was Chinwe, and she looked at me like I was a renovation project with a tight deadline. "Hmm." She circled me slowly, lips pursed. "Good bone structure. Decent skin. But we're working with..." She gestured vaguely at my entire existence. "Limited time." "Encouraging," I said. "I work with reality, not flattery." She pulled out her tablet, started making notes. "The board dinner is in—" she checked her watch "—thirty-seven hours. That's enough time to make you presentable but not enough for miracles." Elijah looked up from his laptop at the other end of the suite. "She needs to look like she belongs at that table, not like she wandered in from a job interview." "I'm aware of the assignment, Mr. Kingston." Chinwe didn't even glance at him. "Mrs. Kingston, stand straight. Arms out." I obeyed. She took measurements with practiced efficiency, calling out numbers to her assistant. "Your build is athletic. We'll use that—structured pieces, clean lines. Nothing too soft or romantic. You're not selling ingénue, you're selling equal partnership." "I'm not selling anything." "You're selling everything." She met my eyes. "That dinner? Every woman there will be cataloging your clothes, your jewelry, your posture. Judging whether you deserve to sit at that table. My job is to make sure they see someone who earned her place, not someone who got lucky." She pulled out fabric swatches. "We'll do emerald. It works with your complexion and sends a message—wealth, confidence, stability. Not black, which reads desperate to blend in. Not red, which reads desperate for attention." "What if I like black?" "You can like whatever you want after you survive Friday." She made another note. "Hair needs work. Nails are acceptable but uninspired. We'll do something understated—you're the wife, not the mistress." I glanced at Elijah. He'd gone back to his laptop, but I caught the slight twitch of his mouth. Amusement. "Jewelry," Chinwe continued. "What did Mr. Kingston give you?" "A wedding band." She looked at my hand. Plain platinum. Elegant but simple. Her expression said volumes. "That won't do. You need something that photographs well. Something that makes the other wives feel inadequate." She turned to Elijah. "The Kingston collection. Where is it?" "New York. My mother has access." "Get her to overnight something. Emeralds if possible. Diamonds as backup." Chinwe snapped her fingers at her assistant. "And someone needs to teach her how to walk in heels without looking like she's navigating a minefield." "I can walk in heels." "Can you walk in five-inch Louboutins while carrying on a conversation with someone trying to destroy your credibility?" She raised an eyebrow. "That's a different skill set." --- For the next six hours, I was measured, photographed, draped in fabric, and lectured on the politics of appearance. Chinwe was relentless. "Posture is status. Slouching reads as apology. You're Mrs. Kingston now—you apologize for nothing." "Smile with your eyes closed and you look weak. Keep them open and engaged. You're not afraid of being seen." "When another wife tries to insult you—and they will—you don't defend. You simply look confused, as if the comment was so beneath notice you couldn't possibly understand its intent." By the time she left, my head ached and I had three dresses to choose from, all of them costing more than my previous monthly salary. Grace brought lunch. Elijah joined me, loosening his tie as he sat. "How was it?" he asked. "I've been to friendlier interrogations." "Chinwe's the best. If she says you're ready, you're ready." He picked up his sandwich. "The jewelry arrives tomorrow. My mother's sending options." "Your mother hates me." "Victoria doesn't hate you. She doesn't know you well enough to hate you." He took a bite. "She hates what you represent—loss of control over my choices. She'll adjust." "Will she?" "Eventually. Or not. Either way, her opinion doesn't change the contract." He pulled out his phone, showed me a photo. "This is what we're walking into tomorrow night." The image showed a massive dining room. Crystal chandeliers, a table set for forty, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Manhattan. This wasn't Lagos. This was the Kingston family estate in New York. "We're flying to New York?" "Tonight. Private jet, six-hour flight. We land at eight a.m., have the day to prepare, dinner at seven tomorrow evening." He swiped to another photo. "These are the board members who matter." Faces appeared. Names. Brief descriptions. "James Okonkwo. One of the men you exposed. He'll be polite to your face and destroy you the moment you turn around." "Comforting." "Richard Chen, Marcus's uncle. He's neutral but suspicious. Convince him, and you convince Marcus's entire network." "Margaret Ashford. American, old money, thinks anyone born after 1960 is beneath her. She'll ask where you went to school. The correct answer is 'University of Lagos' said with enough confidence that she assumes it's prestigious." I studied the faces. Memorized the names. "And your uncle?" "Will sit at my father's old seat and make pointed comments about legacy and responsibility." Elijah closed his phone. "He's already circulated rumors that our marriage is a publicity stunt to distract from financial instability." "Is it working?" "Some believe it. Others are waiting to see." He met my eyes. "Which is why tomorrow night is critical. We need to be flawless. Unified. Completely convincing." "No pressure." "Enormous pressure. But you handled the legal team. You faced down Thomas at a burning building. You can handle dinner with people who weaponize silverware." Grace appeared in the doorway. "Mr. Kingston, the car leaves for the airport in two hours. Mrs. Kingston's luggage has been packed per the stylist's instructions." After she left, I turned to Elijah. "I don't remember packing." "You didn't. Grace coordinated with Chinwe. Everything you need will be ready." He stood. "We should go over the seating chart. You need to know who you're sitting next to and what topics to avoid." --- The private jet was obscene. Leather seats that reclined into beds, a full bar, enough space to forget we were in a metal tube seven miles above the Atlantic. Elijah worked through takeoff, his laptop balanced on a teak table that probably cost more than a car. I tried to sleep but my mind wouldn't settle. "Nervous?" he asked without looking up. "About flying into enemy territory and performing for people who want me to fail? What's there to be nervous about?" He closed the laptop. "Come here." I moved to the seat across from him. He pulled out a leather folder, extracted several documents. "Background reading. Every person who'll be at that dinner. Their business interests, their relationships to the Kingston portfolio, their vulnerabilities." I scanned the first page. James Okonkwo. Age fifty-two. Married three times, currently involved in a very quiet affair with his business partner's daughter. Overleveraged in commercial real estate. Three companies on the verge of bankruptcy. "You have this level of detail on everyone?" "Information is currency. The more you know, the less they can surprise you." He handed me another file. "Margaret Ashford. Publicly supports women in business. Privately blocks every female promotion in her company. Lost her daughter to a custody battle last year—don't mention children or family." "Why would I mention that anyway?" "Because she'll ask about your plans for starting a family, and if you answer wrong, she'll use it against you." He leaned back. "These people aren't just eating dinner with us. They're conducting reconnaissance. Every question is a test." "What's the right answer?" "Depends on the question. But generally—defer to me for business, be vague about personal plans, and never, under any circumstances, look uncertain." I read through the files. By the time we were three hours into the flight, I had a mental map of alliances, grudges, and pressure points. "You should sleep," Elijah said. "Tomorrow will be longer than today." "I can't. My brain won't stop running scenarios." He stood, moved to the bar, poured two glasses of something amber. Handed me one. "Whiskey. It helps." I sipped. Smooth, expensive, burned in exactly the right way. "This is excellent." "Twenty-five-year Macallan. My father's favorite." He sat beside me this time, closer than the separate seats required. "He used to say that good whiskey and bad company were the only honest things in business." "Was he right?" "About the whiskey? Absolutely. About the company?" He swirled his glass. "He surrounded himself with sharks and wondered why he got bitten." "Is that what you're doing? With me?" He looked at me then. Really looked. "I don't know yet. Ask me when the contract ends." Something in his tone made my chest tighten. We were sitting too close. The cabin lights were dim. This felt too intimate for a business arrangement. I stood. "I should try to sleep." "Eniola." He caught my wrist, gentle but firm. "Tomorrow, when we're in that room, you need to trust me. Completely. If I cut you off or redirect a conversation, don't fight it. I'm not trying to silence you—I'm protecting you." "I don't need protecting." "You need strategy. There's a difference." He released my wrist. "These people will try to separate us. Get you alone, ask questions designed to find inconsistencies in our story. Stay within my sight line. If you can't, find Kemi." "You make it sound like a battlefield." "It is. Just with better wine." He finished his whiskey. "Get some rest. We land in three hours." I moved to the bedroom section of the plane—because apparently private jets had bedrooms—and lay on a mattress that was somehow more comfortable than my bed on the ground. Through the thin door, I heard Elijah make a call. His voice was too low to make out words, but the tone was sharp. Angry. Then silence. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine tomorrow. Walking into that dining room on Elijah's arm. Smiling at people who wanted me gone. Pretending this marriage was real enough to believe in. The plane hit turbulence. Nothing serious, just enough to remind me we were suspended in air with nothing but metal and velocity keeping us from falling. Kind of like this entire arrangement. I must have slept, because the next thing I knew, Grace was knocking softly. "Mrs. Kingston. We land in twenty minutes." I sat up, disoriented. Checked my phone. 7:43 a.m. New York time. When I emerged, Elijah was already dressed for the day—different suit, fresh shirt, looking like he'd slept for eight hours instead of none. "Coffee?" He held out a cup. "Please." "We have meetings until four. Then you meet with the stylist for final preparations. Dinner starts at seven." "What kind of meetings?" "The kind where I remind the board that I'm still in control." He handed me a folder. "This is your schedule. Grace will coordinate everything." The car was waiting when we landed. Not an SUV this time—a black Rolls-Royce that glided through Manhattan traffic like it owned the streets. We pulled up to a building that looked like it was made of money and intimidation. Kingston Tower. Sixty stories of glass and steel in Midtown. "This is home?" I asked. "This is headquarters. Home is twenty minutes north." He helped me out of the car. "But we're staying here tonight. Less distance to the estate for dinner." The lobby was marble and modern art. Security that made Lagos look casual. Elevators that moved so smoothly I couldn't tell we were ascending. Fifty-seventh floor. Executive offices. People in suits that cost more than cars, moving with purpose. Everyone we passed stared. Not at Elijah—he belonged here. At me. The woman who'd appeared from nowhere and married their CEO. Elijah's hand found my lower back. "Let them look. You're Mrs. Kingston. They answer to you now too." His office took up an entire corner. Windows on two sides. A desk that looked like sculpture. Art that belonged in museums. And sitting in one of the leather chairs, looking at me like I was something she'd scraped off her shoe, was Victoria Kingston. "Hello, Elijah." Her voice could freeze fire. "I see you brought your acquisition."