The Widow's Price: Owned By Adrien

8

The silence in the office was deafening. Aurora could hear the hum of the air conditioning and the frantic thud of her own heart.

"You're blackmailing me," she said.

"I'm offering you a lifeline," Adrien countered. He stood up straight, giving her space, but his presence still filled the room. "I'll pay off the debt. I'll cover your father's surgery costs."

Aurora's head snapped up. "How do you know about my father?"

"I know everything."

That was the hook. She could handle prison. She could handle poverty. But she couldn't let her father die because she was too proud to make a deal with the devil.

"What are the terms?" she asked, her voice hollow.

"You live in my penthouse. You travel with me. You manage my schedule. And you sign an NDA that would make the CIA look chatty."

"Living with you? That's not a job requirement."

"It is for me," Adrien said. "I work late. I don't like waiting."

He pushed a contract toward her. A pen lay on top of it. A heavy, black Montblanc.

Aurora picked up the pen. Her hand trembled. She looked at the signature line. Aurora Soto.

If she signed this, she was his. No more autonomy. No more secrets.

She thought of Chloe's smug face. She thought of her father lying in a hospital bed.

She signed.

The scratch of the nib on the paper sounded like a scream.

"Good choice," Adrien said. He took the paper before the ink was dry.

"When do I start?"

"Now. Silas is packing your apartment as we speak."

Aurora stood up, her legs shaky. "You were that confident?"

"I'm a businessman, Aurora. I calculate risk."

She turned to leave. She needed to breathe. She needed to get away from him before she suffocated.

As the elevator doors closed on her pale face, Adrien picked up his phone.

He stood facing the floor-to-ceiling window, his back to the office door, ensuring no lingering eyes could read his lips. He pressed the secure line button on his desk phone.

"Silas," he said. "She signed."

"And the Holden Trust?" Silas asked.

"Bury it," Adrien said, his voice dropping to a growl. "Block any communication from the executors. As far as she knows, that money doesn't exist."

He hung up. He opened the top drawer of his desk. Inside was a photo of Aurora from college, laughing, unaware she was being watched. He traced the line of her jaw with his thumb.

She thought this was about debt.

She had no idea.

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