CHAPTER 2 — The Offer I Never Saw Coming
I spent the rest of the photoshoot trying not to look at Luca Moretti.
Which was almost impossible, because he kept looking at me.
Not constantly.
Not obviously.
But enough that every time I exhaled, I felt the weight of his gaze… precise, calculated, like he was studying the way I took up space.
Nobody had ever looked at me like that.
Like I was a puzzle piece he'd been missing and hadn't expected to find.
When the shoot ended, my supervisor grabbed my elbow.
"Hayes, what did you do?" she hissed.
"Nothing."
"You must've done something. Mr. Moretti requested your full name, your ID, and the agency you work under."
I froze. "Why?"
She threw up her hands. "How would I know? Just don't get us sued."
Sued?
Great.
That would be the perfect addition to my disaster of a day.
I left the studio with a migraine building behind my eyes. My next shift started in twenty minutes, and I had just enough time to cry for fifteen and panic for the remaining five.
But before I reached the building exit, a man in a black suit stepped in front of me.
"Miss Hayes?"
I halted. "Yes?"
"Mr. Moretti would like a word."
My stomach dropped. "Now?"
"Yes." He gestured toward the private elevator at the back of the studio.
The elevator only executives used.
The one with gold detailing and no floor numbers.
I swallowed hard. "Did I… do something wrong?"
He didn't answer. Lovely.
I followed him inside, and the moment those doors slid open again, I knew I was no longer in the same world.
The top-floor lounge looked like a different universe.
Black marble floors.
Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city.
A private bar stocked with bottles I couldn't afford to smell.
And near the window stood Luca Moretti, hands in his pockets, posture effortless.
He didn't turn when I entered.
He didn't need to.
"Leave us," he said quietly.
The suit guy vanished.
Silence stretched, heavy and unreal.
Luca finally turned.
His gaze landed on me like a blow, sharp, assessing, and uncomfortably intimate.
"You're trembling," he observed.
I straightened immediately. "I'm not."
His brow lifted slightly. "You walked in here looking like you were about to faint."
"I'm… tired," I admitted.
"From work," he said. Not a question.
My throat tightened. "Yes."
His eyes lingered on me a beat too long. Then he walked to the bar, poured a glass of water, and handed it to me.
I hesitated.
"It's just water, Miss Hayes," he said, a faint note of amusement in his tone. "I'm not poisoning you."
Heat crawled up my face. I took the glass and drank.
Luca observed me like the act itself revealed something important.
After a long moment, he said, "Your supervisor told me you're not a model."
"No," I said quickly. "I'm just a temp. A last-minute fill-in."
"And yet," he murmured, "you handled the chaos better than the professionals."
"I was just trying not to get fired."
"Is that something you fear often?"
I looked down. "Losing jobs, yes."
A strange expression flickered in his eyes, sympathy? Interest? Recognition? I couldn't read him at all.
He stepped closer.
"Tell me, Amelia," he said softly. "What else are you afraid of?"
Too many things.
All the things I didn't have time to feel.
Instead I said, "Why did you ask to speak with me?"
He studied me for a long, unnerving moment.
Then, in a voice low and steady, he said:
"I need a wife."
I choked on my own breath. "Ex… excuse me?"
He continued, as if discussing a business merger.
"I need a wife. Immediately. And temporarily."
My heartbeat stuttered. "Is this… is this a joke?"
"No."
"Why me?"
His gaze didn't waver.
"Because you're exactly what I need."
The air left my lungs.
He took one step closer, close enough that I could feel the subtle warmth radiating from him.
"Your background," he said quietly. "Your demeanor. Your ability to stay calm under pressure. Your… lack of connection to my world."
"My—what?"
"Miss Hayes," he said, voice deepening, "I require someone the board cannot manipulate. Someone the media won't dig too deeply into. Someone who appears unthreatening, kind, grounded…"
His eyes dropped briefly to my mouth before returning to my face.
"And someone the public will believe."
I blinked, stunned.
"You want me to pretend to be your wife?"
"For one year," he said. "In exchange, I cover your mother's full medical care. Every bill. Every treatment. Every necessity."
My heart slammed against my ribs.
"And," he added, "I will pay you one million dollars."
The world tilted.
I grabbed the edge of the bar to steady myself. "This is insane."
His gaze sharpened. "So is losing my company. So is letting my board dismantle the empire I've built because of rumors and vultures."
I shook my head. "Why me? You could choose anyone."
"I don't want anyone," he said.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"I want you."
My breath caught.
"But there are conditions," he continued. "Strict ones."
"Of course there are," I muttered.
"You will wear a ring worth five million dollars. You will attend sixteen public events. You will live with me. You will not date anyone else. If you break the contract, you owe me five million."
My stomach twisted.
"That's impossible."
"If I break it," he said, "you receive full access to your mother's medical trust fund."
My heart stopped.
He knew.
He knew about the bills.
He knew about everything.
"How do you—?"
"Your supervisor is not discreet," he said. "And I am thorough."
My hands shook, and I didn't have the strength to hide it.
Luca stepped so close I could feel his breath near my forehead.
"You're drowning, Amelia," he said softly. "Let me pull you out."
His words hit something deep and vulnerable inside me.
Then..,
His phone buzzed.
He answered, eyes never leaving mine.
"What is it?"
A pause. A voice speaking through the receiver.
Luca's expression darkened.
"Tell Adrian Wolfe," he said coldly, "that he won't get what he wants."
He hung up and pocketed the phone.
My stomach dropped at the name.
Even I had heard of Adrian Wolfe.
The man ruthless enough to challenge Moretti Global.
The man rumored to ruin anyone in his way.
Luca looked back at me, the steel returning to his gaze.
"You asked why you?" he said quietly. "Because Adrian is watching. Because the board is circling. Because I don't trust anyone in my world."
Another step closer.
"But I trust you not to lie," he said. "You don't know how."
My breath hitched.
He extended his hand.
"Say yes, Amelia. And everything in your life changes tonight."
Everything in me trembled.
My mother.
My future.
My survival.
And the billionaire standing in front of me, offering salvation wrapped in danger.
My fingers hovered above his.
If I said yes, nothing would ever be the same again.