Adrian's Point of View

The girl looks at me like I just informed her the moon dropped from the heavens. Her brown eyes are hopeful and fearful all at once. Two million dollars lies between us on a coffee-stained napkin.

"One year of my life?" Seraphina gasps. "What does that mean?"

I should tell her everything now. Inform her about the marriage contract and my grandfather's insane will. Something holds me back, though. Perhaps it is the manner in which she is gazing at me as if I am her last hope.

"I'll tell you later," I say instead. "First, I want to know if you're interested."

She takes up the napkin with trembling hands. "Is this real money? Not counterfeit?"

"Very real." I take out my phone and show her my bank account. The figures make her gasp. "I can have fifty thousand dollars in your account tonight as a good faith payment."

Her face pales. "Fifty thousand? Just like that?"

"Just like that." I study her closely. "But first, I need you to be honest with me about one thing. Are you married? Dating anyone seriously?"

She shakes her head quickly. "No. No boyfriend. No time for dating when you work all the time."

Great. That's what I was hoping to hear. Now I just need to determine if she can handle what I'm going to ask her to do.

"Good." I drain my coffee and rise. "I'll be in touch tomorrow with details."

"Wait!" She gets up as well. "You can't just offer me two million dollars and leave!"

"I can and I am." I leave a hundred dollar bill on the table. "For the coffee and the dry cleaning."

She looks at the money. "This is too much."

"Keep it." I walk towards the door. "You'll be hearing from me soon, Seraphina Wells."

Rain splashes on my face as I make my way to my car. My shirt is still wet with coffee, but I don't mind. I may have just stumbled upon the solution to my largest issue.

My phone rings while I drive down the deserted streets. Marcus's name appears on the screen. My half-brother does not call this late at night unless he needs something.

"Adrian," Marcus says when I pick up. "Working late again?"

"Something like that." I do not know Marcus well enough to tell him where I actually was. "What do you want?"

"Can't a brother just call to talk?"

"Not when that brother is you." I pull into the parking garage beneath my building. "Make your point."

Marcus laughs, but it is not a friendly sound. "Okay. I was just curious about how the wife hunt is progressing. Only twenty-nine days to go now."

My hand tightens on the steering wheel. "I'm taking care of it."

"Are you? Because what I've heard, you haven't even been out on one date since the reading of Grandfather's will."

He's right, and we both know it. I've been so busy with work that I hadn't even thought about the idiot marriage stipulation until last week. Now I'm starting to run out of time.

"My personal life is none of your business," I say to him.

"It is my business, in fact. If you don't marry, I get everything. Kane Industries, the penthouse, all of it." His tone becomes cold. "I'm calling to say thank you in advance."

I hang up on him before he can realize that I don't want to say goodbye. Marcus has waited a lifetime for me to screw up. He is not going to get his opportunity.

I take the elevator to my penthouse apartment on the top floor. The city lies before me through the giant windows. This is home. This is life. My grandfather started this company from scratch, and I have furthered it.

I'm not losing it to Marcus.

My granddad's letter still remains on my desk where I had left it this morning. I read it once again, even though I have every word memorized.

Adrian, my boy. By the time you read this, I'll be gone. Kane Industries needs a leader who knows what's most important in life. Family. Love. Connection to other human beings. You're a good businessman, but you've forgotten how to be human.. I'm giving you thirty days to find a wife and be married. Not a fake marriage, but a real one. Otherwise, it all goes to Marcus. Maybe he will have better luck than the two of us. Sincerely, Grandfather.*

True marriage. That's the aspect that has been keeping me up at night. How do you discover real love in thirty days? How do you trust another person enough to marry them when you've never trusted anyone in your entire life?

But then I remember Seraphina spilling coffee on my shirt. How she cried and apologized like the world was ending. How she told me she needed her job because her mother was sick.

A real marriage may be out of the question. But a marriage that appears to be real? That I can do.

I take my phone and dial my lawyer.

"Richard, it's Adrian Kane. I need you to draw up a contract."

"Adrian, do you know what time it is?"

"Late. Early. I don't care. This is important."

Richard sighs. "What sort of contract?"

"A marriage contract. One year term. Two million dollar payment. Total confidentiality."

"Adrian, what are you doing?"

"I'm going to save my company." I move to the window and glance down at the deserted streets. "How soon can you have it ready?"

"Give me twenty-four hours."

"Twelve hours."

"Adrian-"

"Twelve hours, Richard. My future is riding on it."

I hang up and pour myself a drink. The whiskey burns on the way down, but it doesn't do anything to warm me up.

Tomorrow I'll return to that diner. I'll make Seraphina Wells an offer she can't refuse. She needs money, and I need a wife. It's perfect.

At least, that's what I keep telling myself.

My phone vibrates with a text message. Unknown number.

I cannot stop thinking about your offer. Is this reality? Can you help me? - Sera

I look at the message for a second. She provided her number without being asked. She's considering the money, so she's desperate enough to be willing to do anything that it is I'm going to ask her to do.

I respond: Very real. Meet me tomorrow night, same place, same time. Come alone.

She responds right away: Okay. But I have to know what you require of me.

Tomorrow, I text. Tomorrow you'll have all your answers.

I put the phone down and finished my drink. In twelve hours, I'll have a contract. In twenty-four hours, I'll have a wife. And in thirty days, I'll still have everything my grandfather tried to take from me.

But as I'm preparing for bed, one thing continues to nag at me. Seraphina's face as she stared at that napkin. The hope in her eyes as she asked whether the figures were real.

She's going to save everything I've built. The question is, what am I going to do to her life in the process?

My reflection stares back at me from the mirror in the bathroom. For the first time in years, I don't recognize the man looking back.

"It's just business," I say to myself. "Just business."

But I don't believe it anymore.

Seraphina's Point of View

I don't feel like eating all day. My stomach is a tornado of furious butterflies. As soon as I think about tonight, my hands shake again.

"Sera, are you okay?" Tony asks mid-lunch rush. "You've already dropped three plates."

"Sorry, Tony. I'm just exhausted."

But I am not fatigued. I am frightened and excited and confused simultaneously. Someone in a very pricey-looking suit is offering me two million dollars. Things such as these cannot happen to women such as I.

I woke up the entire day questioning whether I dreamed everything. Perhaps I dozed off at the workplace and experienced the coffee spill and money and gray eyes in my dream. Perhaps all these did not exist.

Then I glance at my phone and spot his text message again. Meet me tomorrow night, same place, same time. Come alone.

It's real. He's real. And tonight I'm going to find out what he requires from me.

The diner is nearly deserted when he arrives at midnight. He's dressed in another pricey suit, one blue. His hair is fabulous again, as if he just emerged from a high-stakes destination.

"Hi," I say as he takes the same booth as yesterday. My voice is strange and squeaky.

"Hello, Seraphina." He glares at me. "You came."

"You knew I would."

"I hoped you would." He pulls out a huge folder from his briefcase. "Coffee first, then we talk."

I take him black coffee with hands that barely shake. He does not spill this time, which is great by me because I would really die of humiliation if I ruin another suit.

"Sit," he says, just like yesterday.

I step into the booth on his other side. The folder lies between us like a slumbering animal.

"Your name?" I spit out. "I gave you mine, but you never said yours."

"Adrian Kane."

The name rings a bell, but I don't know where I've heard it. "Kane likes the giant corporation?"

"That's my family business. I'm taking it over now."

My jaw drops. Kane Industries has locations throughout the city. Half of the building projects in Manhattan bear their logo plastered across them. The guy isn't merely wealthy. He's crazy wealthy.

"Why are you here?" I managed to get out. "Why are you speaking with me?"

"Because I need your assistance." Adrian takes out the folder. "And you needed a financial assistance."

There are documents inside the folder with minute writing. Official documents that appear serious and legal. At the top of the first document are words that stop my blood.

Marriage Contract Agreement

"Marriage?" I hardly say it. "You want me to marry you?"

"For one year." Adrian's tone is matter-of-fact, as if he's discussing the weather. "It would be a business arrangement. Nothing else."

I look at him. "You're crazy."

"Maybe." He doesn't exactly smile. "But I am desperate, too."

"Why? Why do you need to get married?"

Adrian is by the window and looking out at the rain. "My grandfather left me his business in his will. But with conditions. I have to be married within thirty days, or it goes to my half-brother."

"That's crazy."

"Yes, it is." He returns to stand before me.

I browse through the pages. So many new words. But I noticed the number two million repeated repeatedly.

"Is this real? All this?"

"Very real." Adrian takes out his phone and displays something on the screen. "I made my lawyer work all night to get this together."

"Does your lawyer know about it?"

"He thinks I've lost it. He might be right."

I read the first page again. The words whirl around like they're desperate to get away. "What would I have to do?"

"Live with me in my penthouse. Accompany me to business functions. Pretend to be married and in love with me when other people are present." Adrian ticks off on his fingers. "That's it."

"That's it? Pretending?"

"Just pretending." His eyes darken all at once. "I know this sounds insane, Seraphina. But I'm running out of time."

I think of Mom in that hospital bed. Of bills mounting up on our kitchen counter. Of working three jobs and still short enough to save her life.

"What about when the year is up?"

"We get divorced quietly. You take your money and leave. I will keep my company." Adrian hunches forward. "Nobody gets hurt."

"But what if someone discovers it's a scam?"

"They won't. We'll be extremely cautious."

I turn to the back page. Space for my signature at the bottom. Beside Adrian's name in swirling black script.

"I need time to think about it."

"How long?"

"I don't know. One day? Two days?"

Adrian has a firm head-shake. "I don't have two days. You have to tell me by tonight."

"Tonight?" My voice rises and in terror. "That's not enough!"

"It has to be long enough." He sets his arm across the table and sets his hand on top of mine. His hand warms and smooths like expensive lotion. "Seraphina, I know this is insane. But sometimes insanity is all we have left."

I glance down at the hand covering mine. His are smooth and long, no cuts or calluses like mine. This man has never gone without knowing how he was going to be able to afford medicine.

"Why me?" I ask. "You could marry anyone. Rich girls who would jump at the chance."

"Rich girls are too nosy. They want romance and true love and all that." Adrian's grip around my hand becomes tighter. "You need cash urgently, and I need a wife urgently. It's perfect."

"Perfect for you, perhaps."

"Perfect for both of us." He releases me and takes out a pen. "Sign the contract, Seraphina. Let me save you."

I look at the pen. It is silver and heavy, worth more than I've made in a week, maybe. If I sign, it's all different. If I don't, Mom will die.

"What if I'm not any good? What if I'm awful at lying?"

"You won't be bad at it."

"How do you know?"

"Because you'll have to be good at it. Your mother's life depends on it."

His words hit me. He always manages to say exactly what he needs to in order to make me do what he wants me to. He knows something about Mom.

"that's not fair," I gasp.

"life isn't fair." Adrian thrusts the pen at me. "But sometimes we get lucky and make it better."

I take up the pen. It weighs heavily in my hand, like gold, not silver. The pages of the contract rustle in the air from the diner's antiquated air conditioner.

"If I sign it, what is next?"

"You move into my penthouse tomorrow. We will marry within a week." Adrian scans my face. "And your mother receives the finest medical treatment money can offer."

My heart beats so hard that I'm sure it will shatter my ribs. This is crazy. Getting married to a stranger is what movies are for, not life.

Life, though, is Mom getting ill day by day. Life is working until my feet bleed and not even being able to purchase something. Life is seeing the one I love most in the whole world die day by day.

I put the pen down on the paper. My scribble appears tiny and pathetic alongside all the big, proper letters.

"There," I whisper. "It's done."

Adrian smiles for the first time since I've known him. "Welcome to the family, Mrs. Kane."

Mrs. Kane. The name tastes strange and terrifying and incredible all at once.

"What if your grandfather's ghost returns and isn't pleased with our marriage being real enough?"

Adrian's smile disappears. "Then we're both in trouble."

Seraphina's Point of View

We are in a risky situation, both of us. These words echoed continuously in my mind, resembling loud sounds from a church while Adrian returned the documented agreement into the storage folder. The feeling of holding the valuable writing tool still made my hand vibrate.

"Precisely, what sort of dangerous situation? " I inquired.

"The kind that can devastatingly alter life. " Adrian securely fastened the case with a clear snapping sound. "Although, let's remain optimistic that it doesn't escalate to such a degree. "

I had the urge to seek further clarification, but he was already rising to his feet. Like tossing away insignificant funds, he placed another one hundred dollar note onto the surface.

"I will come and get you at 6:00 PM tomorrow," he stated. "Gather all of your possessions. "

"Every single thing? However, I had thought this was merely a staged act."

"It is an act. However, it is vital for it to seem genuine. " A tinge of apprehension mixed with seriousness was noticeable in his grey eyes. "We cannot afford to take chances, Seraphina. "

He headed towards the exit point, paused briefly, and turned back. "Just one further thing. Avoid mentioning any aspect of this to others. Not your circle of friends, not those you work with. Absolutely no one."

"What is my mother included in? "

"Especially, refrain from telling your mother. "

Following his departure, I was now alone among messy coffee vessels and the aroma of stale oil. For a prolonged duration, I sat inside the seating area, intensely staring at the currency equivalent to one hundred dollars. I was merely an exhausted service employee the previous day. I am about to become the spouse of someone with extreme wealth this evening.

The prospect makes me experience a rising sensation of vomit.

I completed my workday as if in an unconscious state. Each patron gave me strange looks, seemingly able to discern that I had just consented to participate in something outrageous. As Tony bid farewell for the night, I was nearly about to inform him that I would not be returning for work tomorrow. But the statement remained unsaid.

Arriving at the medical center around 7:00 AM, the atmosphere was serene. I entered the lift, heading up to the fourth level where my mother had been staying for the duration of three weeks. An odor of cleaning agents and grief lingered in the area.

"Sera? " Mom's pronunciation was faint and raspy. "You're arriving before the usual time. "

"I had trouble getting to sleep. " I sat on the furniture next to her resting place. She seemed noticeably fragile with each passing day, similar to gradually vanishing. "How is your condition currently? "

"As if I've been impacted severely by a transport truck. " She attempted a grin, but it failed to reach the vision. "The medical professional desires to engage in dialogue with both of us during the current day."

A feeling of unease immediately hits my stomach. "In reference to which matter? "

"Concerning the process of operative intervention, my beloved. We must make some significant choices. "

An hour later, Dr. Peterson entered the room with a collection of unfavourable details. He is a caring person with comforting vision, however, on the current day, he seemed weary and saddened.

"The state of your kidneys is declining," the doctor stated, seated in front of us. "We are required to perform the surgery within the next two weeks; otherwise. . . "

His statement was left unfinished, though it was unnecessary for him to complete it.

"What will the cost be? " I questioned, despite my awareness of my inability to afford it.

"Accounting for all expenses, it will be approximately three hundred thousand dollars. "

The color drained from Mom's face. "Three hundred thousand dollars? "

"The insurance coverage will offset a portion of it, but not the full amount. " We were met with a sympathetic gaze from Dr. Peterson. "I realize the sum is substantial. "

"That's practically three million," Mom said softly. "We simply don't possess that amount. "

My thoughts drifted towards the agreement contained within Adrian's briefcase, an agreement amounting to two million dollars – sufficient not only to fund Mom's medical treatment but also to provide for our future financial needs.

"We will figure out a solution," I assured her, grasping her hand. "I give you my word, Mom. We will find a way."

Following Dr. Peterson's departure, Mom's eyes welled up with tears. These silent tears pierced my heart, causing me immense pain.

"I am so sorry, Sera. I feel terrible for being such a burden on you."

"Please don't talk like that! " I tightened my grip on her hand. "You are far from a burden. You are my mother. "

"But concerning the funds. . . We will never acquire that much money. "

"Actually, we will. " The words came out instinctively. "I have identified a means to acquire the necessary funds. "

Mom's eyes reflected a mix of anticipation and apprehension as she gazed at me. "How so? "

The urge to disclose the truth was strong. I wanted to explain about Adrian, the contract, and the fictitious marriage. However, his warning echoed in my thoughts. Do not reveal this to anyone, especially not your mother.

"I accepted a new position," I said, telling a lie. "It's a very lucrative job with excellent compensation. "

"What kind of employment offers such a high salary? "

"I will be the personal assistant to a wealthy businessman. " The fabrication came more easily as I continued. "He is a frequent traveler and needs someone to assist him. The salary is exceptionally high. "

Mom adjusted her position in the hospital bed. "Sera, dear, that sounds too unrealistic to be true. "

"It is genuine, Mom. I assure you, it's real. "

She scrutinized me for a prolonged moment. I observed her internal struggle as she attempted to determine whether to believe me.

"When will you begin? "

"Tomorrow. "

"Tomorrow? " Mom's voice conveyed concern. "That's incredibly soon. "

"He requires immediate assistance. And Mom, there may be times when I have to accompany him on his travels for work. "

"Travel where? "

"I'm uncertain at this point. Potentially everywhere. " I told another lie, but what other choice did I have? "The significant aspect is that we will have the necessary funds for your operation. "

Mom raised her frail hand and gently touched my face. "Are you certain about this, sweetheart? It sounds frightening. "

Scary was an understatement. Terrifying would be a more accurate description. However, as I observed my mother lying in the hospital bed, growing weaker with each passing day, I understood that I had no other recourse.

"I am certain," I reassured her. "Everything is going to be alright from now on."

I’m with Mom until visiting hours conclude for the day. We talk mostly about her surgery and her future dreams after she heals up. She says she wants to grow a garden and try learning how to paint things. These simple dreams don’t need much money to come true.

Leaving the hospital, my phone buzzes from a text from Adrian.

The car will be at your place by 5:30 sharp. Make sure you’re ready to go then. - Adrian

I see the time. It's already four in the afternoon, like a switch flipped. I have ninety minutes to pack and get ready to act like someone else.

My place, while small and old, strangely feels just like where I belong. I see the cheap furniture and the pictures all over the walls. Most were me and Mom when I was young and she was still very healthy then.

I stuff my clothes into a couple of bags. Everything I own fits really easily. This fact makes me feel inexplicably sad deep inside.

Right at 5:30, a black car stops outside my building out front. The driver gets out and comes towards my door.

"Are you Miss Wells by chance? Mr. Kane sent it to me just now."

He grabs my bags and opens up the car door wide. I've never had someone open a car door like that before. The seats are probably more than I pay for rent each month.

The city looks different from inside such a fancy car. It seems brighter, like the windows are made of magic and not regular glass at all.

We drive through parts of Manhattan that I've only seen in movies shown on screen. Giant buildings that look like they are trying to touch the sky up above. Stores with fancy names in gold letters shining bright. People wearing expensive clothes walk around like they own everything here.

The auto stops short facing the hugest place I have ever set eyes on. The chauffeur does the deed of popping my door open once more.

"Mr. Kane is sitting tight for you up top," he tells me now. "Go up to the tippy top using the lift."

I go into the entry room lugging my two small bags. All around are rocks, shiny gold stuff, and see-through lights. The guards stare at me like I don't fit in here.

"I'm here to see Adrian Kane now," I let him know then.

He checks his tech thing and says yes with his head. "Top floor. Take the lift over on the right side."

The lift ride feels quite long now. I watch the numbers tick higher and higher up. 20... 30... 40... 45.

When the doors split, I walk into a new world now. The top flat is bigger than houses. Big glass shows the city down below. Things like you'd find in a fancy house show.

"You made it here." Adrian shows up from a hidey spot in the flat now. He's not in a suit today, just pants and a white top that costs more than I make in a month still.

"Do you live in this spot?" I ask, while I look all around now.

"We live in this spot now." He grabs my bags like they weigh nada. "Come here, let me take you to your room now."

We walk down a long path, past rooms I can't even think of using. Adrian stops at a door way far at the end.

"This is your spot," he says, when he starts to push it open then.