My breath hitched. The words hit me like a freight train.

I blinked.

Once.

Twice.

Surely I had misheard him.

The concrete stairwell seemed to fall deathly silent, all I could hear was the faint hum of fluorescent lights overhead and the frantic pounding of my own heartbeat drumming in my ears.

"Your what?"

His grin widened.

"You heard me."

My mouth fell open, staring up at him with eyes wide as saucers. "Have you lost your mind?" I blurted, looking at him like he’d suddenly grown a second head. "Your solution is for me to become your girlfriend? That’s your fantastic idea?"

He shrugged, entirely unbothered by my reaction.

"It’s the best option we have right now."

"Best option?" I repeated, my voice rising in disbelief. "Are you hearing yourself right now?"

He straightened from the railing and took one slow step toward me, his voice never once faltering. "Yes."

I instinctively pressed myself flatter against the wall as his towering frame closed the distance between us again. My pulse thundered louder.

"Think about it, Evelyn," he said, his voice maddeningly steady as if all of this was perfectly normal. "You want revenge on your ex-husband and his family. You want power, influence, and a way to hit them where it hurts."

I crossed my arms tightly over my chest, jutting my chin out in defiance, almost. "And pretending to date you somehow solves all of that?"

"It gives you immediate protection."

He lifted one hand, ticking off his points with his fingers.

"No one at TechHub would dare touch you if they believed you were with me. Your position here would be untouchable."

A second finger.

"It would also send a very clear message to your family."

My brows knitted together. "What message?"

His lips curved into a sharp smile. "That the woman they discarded is now standing beside the man whose company is about to crush theirs."

The words sent a strange chill down my spine. I hated that part of me immediately saw the logic in it.

Rhys was right.

TechHub was already dominating the market, swallowing up contracts that companies like Smith Enterprise and Hart Group desperately needed to survive.

If the public believed I was together with Rhys Carson—the elusive CEO every business circle in the city was desperate to impress—it would be more than embarrassing for Lucas and his family.

It would humiliate them. And humiliation was exactly what they deserved.

Still...

"This is insane," I muttered under my breath.

Rhys tilted his head. "Is it?"

"Yes!" I snapped. "Fake dating your employee? Do you know how ridiculous that sounds? And not to mention, the board isn’t happy with whatever is happening right now." 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

His expression remained frustratingly composed. "People already think there’s something going on between us. Besides, making it official is the better option here. It helps you, it helps me. It’s a win-win."

My face burned. "And if we deny it?"

He spread his hands, his eyes holding mine captive.

"The gossip dies down eventually, but you remain vulnerable. If we lean into it, however, the rumours become useful."

I hated how calculated he sounded, as though this were just another business strategy. And maybe that was exactly what unsettled me most.

Because for him, this was probably business.

A cold, practical arrangement. No feelings attached. No complications.

He was my ex. I messed it up because of what happened seven years ago. I shouldn’t care about whatever he was feeling. But why did my chest feel so tight?

"Why would you even agree to something like this?" I asked quietly, breaking the silence that descended upon us as I searched his face for a hint of something. "What do you get out of it?"

Something unreadable flashed across his face. But only for a fraction of a second, then his usual smirk was back.

"I told you, it helps me too. Besides, my family has been pressuring me to settle down."

I blinked.

"What?"

"They’ve been setting me up on dates for months. Investors keep asking questions about my personal life. The board thinks a ’stable public image’ would make me more marketable."

His mouth twisted with clear annoyance.

"A girlfriend solves all of that." His gaze swept over my body, a smirk slowly spreading across his annoyingly handsome face. "Albeit a fake one."

Realisation dawned upon me as it finally clicked in my head.

"So this is convenient for you too."

"Exactly. Now you get it. This is the perfect chance to turn this scandal into something real."

I narrowed my eyes. "So I’d just be your convenient little prop?"

Something dangerous flashed across his face. Before I could react, he stepped even closer, until there was barely an inch separating us. His hand braced itself against the wall beside my head.

The heat radiating from his body made my breath catch. "You wouldn’t be a prop," he said softly. His voice had dropped low enough to send a shiver racing down my spine. "You’d be my partner."

I swallowed hard, my voice barely above a whisper, when I finally said something. "This is a terrible idea."

He backed away, his lips twitched as his dark eyes glinted with some kind of amusement. "Probably. But it’s a terrible idea that benefits both of us."

He was right.

If I became Rhys Carson’s girlfriend—even temporarily—it would give me access to rooms, conversations, and opportunities I could never reach on my own.

It could fast-track everything.

Yet agreeing to this meant stepping into dangerous territory. Because fake dating Rhys Carson wouldn’t be simple. Not when every glance from him made my stomach twist. Not when being this close made it hard to think straight.

And definitely not when part of me feared that somewhere along the way, pretending might stop feeling like pretending at all.

Rhys watched the conflict play across my face. Then, slowly, he extended his hand toward me.

"So?" His dark eyes locked onto mine, steady and impossibly intense. "Do we have a deal, Mdm Hart?" He paused, the corner of his lips tipping upwards. "Or should I say...Ms Hart?"

I stared at his outstretched hand. Every instinct screamed at me to walk away, to run before I got tangled in something far too complicated to escape.

But then Lucas’s smug face flashed through my mind. Jessica’s cruel laughter. My daughter clinging to my stepsister. The humiliation they had put me through.

My fingers curled into fists, bleaching my knuckles. And before I could overthink it, I placed my hand in his, feeling the warmth of his palm seeping into mine.

The second our skin touched, Rhys’s fingers tightened around mine. His smirk returned, slow and victorious.

"Good choice."

"So what now?"

"We make it official."

Before I could even protest, he was already dragging me toward the elevator. I tried hard to ignore the stares from everyone around us, those who clearly saw us walk out of the stairwell together.

Old me would have kept my head low and avoided all forms of eye contact, but this time, I didn’t back down. I flashed them an award-winning smile, like I didn’t care at all about their judgment, even giving them a small wave.

Inside the elevator, Rhys shot me a smile before he interlocked his fingers with mine, sending my heart into overdrive once again.

This time, it wasn’t just the two of us. Others started filing into the cramped space. There was no doubt that they noticed us, their gaze flicking down to where our hands were joined. But no one uttered a word.

"Are you ready?" he murmured, leaning close enough that his breath brushed against my ear.

I gave a small nod, forcing myself to summon every ounce of courage I had left. With our fingers intertwined, we stepped into the office together and walked straight toward the two men waiting nearby.

The tension in the room was thick enough to suffocate, but Rhys shattered the silence the moment we stopped in front of them.

"There’s something I need to announce," he said, his voice calm yet commanding enough to draw everyone’s attention.

In an instant, every pair of eyes in the office shifted toward us.

My breath hitched as anticipation coiled tightly in my chest. I stood frozen beside him, waiting for the words that would change everything.

Then Rhys spoke, each syllable clear and deliberate.

"If you are still wondering, let me make this clear once and for all. Evelyn is with me."