Chapter 2 - The Golden Handcuffs
The vibrant city lights reflecting off the Chicago River seemed to blur as Nathan stared at the glowing screen of his phone. The name flashing on the caller ID—Camilla Vance—drained the warmth from his eyes, replacing it with a cold, impenetrable steel.
He didn't answer it. He silenced the phone and slid it back into his tailored pocket, taking a slow, heavy breath.
"Nathan?" I asked quietly, my heart hammering against my ribs. "What's wrong?"
He turned back to me, the untouchable billionaire facade completely gone, leaving only a man burdened by an impossible weight.
"Northstar Technologies is in danger, Maya," Nathan said, his voice a low, gravelly rasp against the evening breeze. "For the past six months, our board of directors has been pushing a forced merger with Vance Global. If the merger fails, Camilla's father, Arthur Vance, has secured enough proxy votes to initiate a hostile takeover. He’ll gut the company. He’ll sell off the divisions, fire thousands of employees—including you—and strip everything I’ve built for parts."
A cold chill washed over me. "How do you stop it?"
"The board gave me an ultimatum," Nathan said, his jaw tightening. "A corporate marriage. If I marry Camilla Vance by the end of the quarter, our assets combine peacefully, and I retain my position as CEO to protect my employees. It’s a transaction. Golden handcuffs."
I took a physical step back, the fairy tale shattering around me. "You're... you're engaged?"
"No," Nathan said fiercely, closing the distance between us and gripping my shoulders. "I haven't signed the paperwork. I was supposed to sign the preliminary agreement the day I overheard you in the cafeteria. But when I heard you talking about waiting for someone who wanted your heart before your body... I couldn't do it. I couldn't sign my life away to a woman who only wants my bank account and my last name."
Tears pricked my eyes. "But if you don't marry her, you lose your company."
"I have been working eighteen-hour days trying to find a loophole," Nathan confessed, his dark eyes searching mine with desperate intensity. "I've been digging through Vance Global's financials, looking for leverage, but Arthur Vance hides his tracks perfectly. I wanted to tell you, Maya. I wanted you to know that the man standing in front of you is fighting a war, and I didn't want you caught in the crossfire."
Before I could respond, a sleek black town car pulled up to the curb just yards away from where we stood on the riverwalk.
The back door opened, and a woman stepped out. She wore a pristine white designer trench coat, her blonde hair perfectly styled, her lips painted a severe, blood-red.
Camilla Vance.
"I thought I might find you here, Nathan," Camilla purred, her voice dripping with toxic, artificial sweetness as she approached us. She didn't even look at him; her icy blue eyes were locked entirely on me. "Your security detail is terribly easy to track."
"Camilla," Nathan warned, his tone dropping to a lethal, freezing register as he stepped in front of me, shielding me from her view. "Leave."
"Oh, don't be so dramatic, darling," Camilla scoffed, sidestepping him to look me up and down like I was a piece of trash stuck to her expensive heel. "I just wanted to meet the little analyst who's been distracting my future husband. Maya Bennett, isn't it?"
She smiled, but it was a vicious, calculated expression.
May you like
"I have friends on the executive floor, Maya," Camilla sneered, leaning closer. "I know all about you. I know you're a mid-level nobody. And I know about the pathetic little confession you made in the cafeteria. Waiting for true love? A twenty-eight-year-old virgin holding out for a fairy tale?"
She laughed, a sharp, cruel sound that echoed off the concrete. "Grow up. Men like Nathan don't want your heart. They want power. And I am the only woman in Chicago who can give him that. Enjoy your little evening walk, Maya. Because after the board meeting on Friday, you'll be the first employee I fire."
