Sophia spent the next three hours laying down ground rules with the man she hated most in the world.
They sat at her dining table with their laptops open, treating their marriage like a business merger. Which, technically, it was.
"Separate bedrooms," Sophia said, typing. "Non-negotiable."
"Fine." Ethan didn't even look up from his coffee. "But we need to be seen together in public. Regular dates, social events, the usual couple stuff."
"Minimum appearances. Once a week."
"Twice a week. People will get suspicious if it's less."
Sophia glared at him. "You're enjoying this."
"A little bit, yeah." He finally looked at her, and his eyes were twinkling with amusement. "My enemy is literally forced to spend time with me. Why wouldn't I enjoy it?"
"This isn't funny, Blake."
"It's kind of funny, Chen."
They went back and forth for hours. No bringing romantic partners home. No public fighting. Both would maintain their business independence—they wouldn't help each other, but they wouldn't actively sabotage either. Infidelity was grounds for divorce, which meant they both had to be faithful, which made Sophia's face go hot for reasons she didn't want to examine.
"And divorce," Sophia said firmly, "happens after one year, not five."
Ethan leaned back in his chair. "Can't do that. The contract says five years minimum. If we divorce before that, you lose everything anyway."
"That's insane."
"That's the deal your grandmother made."
Sophia put her head in her hands. One year she could handle. Five years of pretending to like Ethan Blake felt like torture.
"How about this," Ethan said, his voice softer. "One year trial period. After one year, we can reassess. Maybe we'll still hate each other and we figure out a loophole. Or maybe..." He trailed off, shrugging.
"Or maybe what?"
"Or maybe we won't." He stood up. "The wedding needs to happen this week. My PR team is already working on the story. Star-crossed rivals forced together by fate? The media is going to eat that up. It's good for both our companies."
"You've already started planning this?"
"My father called me the moment your grandmother's lawyer contacted him. That was two days ago." Ethan checked his watch. "We're getting married Saturday. Small ceremony, close family only. Bigger reception next month once people have digested the news."
"Saturday? That's five days away!"
"Better get your dress fitted." He walked toward the door. "Oh, and Chen? Move into my penthouse tomorrow. We need to establish that you've moved in with me. Multiple people need to see you there."
"I'm not moving in with you."
"Yes, you are. Unless you want to lose your company?"
He left before she could throw something at him.
Sophia sat alone in her apartment, staring at the document they'd created together. It wasn't a marriage contract. It was a war treaty. And she was about to sign it.
She called her best friend, Marcus, who worked in her company's legal department.
"Tell me there's a loophole," she said when he answered.
"In what?"
"In a ten-year-old marriage contract that's apparently going to destroy my life."
There was a long pause.
"Soph... you're not serious."
She explained everything. The grandmother's arrangement. The contract. Ethan Blake. The wedding in five days.
"Okay," Marcus said slowly. "Okay, I'm going to contact some people. But Sophia, if this contract is as airtight as it sounds, there might not be a way out. These old money families—they have the best lawyers. Whatever they wrote, it's probably bulletproof."
"So I'm stuck."
"For now, yeah. But look, maybe it's not the worst thing? I mean, Ethan Blake is—"
"Don't," Sophia interrupted. "Don't say it. I know what he is. He's my enemy. And now he's going to be my husband."
After she hung up, Sophia lay in bed staring at the ceiling. She'd spent seven years building her company from scratch. Every deal she'd won felt like a victory. Every time she beat Ethan to an investment, she'd felt alive.
Now she was going to be married to him.
Married.
She grabbed her phone and texted him: *What time tomorrow?*
His response came immediately: *10 AM. I'll send a car.*
She didn't reply. Instead, she opened her laptop and started researching everything she could find about Ethan Blake's personal life. His penthouse. His schedule. His habits. His vulnerabilities.
If she had to be married to him, she was going to understand him first.
By 2 AM, she had seventeen tabs open and a strange feeling in her chest that she was absolutely not going to examine.
**Would moving into his penthouse change everything?**