Chapter 405
She had stumbled into the elevator after leaving the office, the doors closing on her reflection — a woman shattered. The tears had come, hot and silent, as the car descended. He hadn’t just rejected her body; he had rejected her sacrifice. He had looked at her not as a wife fighting for their future, but as a commodity. Transactional charity. A bargaining chip.
Fine, she had thought, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, leaving a black smear of mascara. If that’s the game, then I will become the best player. If money and power are his only languages, I will learn to speak them fluently. I will not be a victim. I will be a victor.
She had pulled out her phone, her hands trembling not with weakness but with a cold, terrifying rage. She had scrolled to Julian Harper’s name. It was time to find a new investor. It was time to build her own throne.
“Let’s be clear, Julian,” Eliza said now, her voice cold and steady in the quiet of the club. “I’m not asking for a loan. I’m offering you an acquisition. You give me the two hundred million to free Luna Corp, and in return, you get the controlling stake in the Solomon patents. I know they’re worth ten times that, but they’re locked in legal battles. I’m your key.”
Julian set his glass down slowly. “And my incentive to play savior?”
“I know about the Harper Trust,” Eliza said. “Three billion dollars you can’t touch until you’ve been married for at least two years. I’m offering you a contract. I will marry you — for two years. You get your trust fund. I get the capital to save Luna.” She hesitated. “And I will use my expertise to restore that collection of Ming Dynasty porcelain you bought from the shipwreck auction. I know you haven’t found anyone skilled enough to touch them.”
Julian looked at her with new respect. “You’re offering yourself as a wife and a worker?”
“A partner,” Eliza said. “Strictly business. Separate bedrooms. No emotional entanglements.”
Julian laughed. “You’re not wrong about the trust, but I’m a shark, Eliza, not a philanthropist. I’d also need to know for certain that your current legal entanglement can be dissolved. I don’t invest in assets that are still technically owned by a competitor.”
“Do we have a deal?”
𝖥𝗂ո𝘥 n𝘰𝗏𝘦𝗅 P𝖣𝗙ѕ o𝗻 𝘨а𝘭𝗇о𝘷𝖾𝗹𝘀.𝘤𝗼𝗆
Julian studied her for a moment. “One question. Dallas Koch — is it true what they say? That he’s incapable?”
Eliza’s face burned. The memory of the office — his softness, his shame — flashed through her mind. “That’s none of your business,” she said.
“I don’t touch another man’s property,” Julian said. “But if he can’t claim it, that’s a different matter.”
“I am not property,” Eliza snapped. “Yes or no, Julian?”
He reached into his jacket pocket and produced a checkbook. He uncapped a gold pen.
“Done,” he said. He scribbled the amount, signed it with a flourish, tore the check free, and slid it across the table. “Welcome to the family, Mrs. Harper-to-be.”
Eliza took the check. It felt heavy in her hand. Her freedom. And her new prison.
“Thank you,” she said stiffly.
She drove straight to Luna Corp.
.