Chapter 1: The Elevator at Sterling Tower

New York City was bustling, but inside the lobby of Sterling Enterprises, the tension was palpable. Chloe Evans, a talented but struggling graphic designer, clutched her portfolio. She needed this job. Her grandmother, Nana Rose, was in the hospital with a failing heart, and the surgery cost $100,000—money Chloe didn’t have.

She stepped into the elevator. It was crowded. A frail old man in a worn-out vest stepped in. The overload buzzer beeped.

“Hey, old man! Get out!” snapped Vanessa Hart, the Design Director at Sterling. She was dressed in head-to-toe Prada and looked at the old man like he was trash. “You’re making us late. Use the stairs.”

“I’m sorry,” the old man mumbled.

“Wait,” Chloe stepped forward. “He was here before you. And honestly, you entered last. If anyone should leave, it’s you.”

The elevator went silent. Vanessa’s eyes bulged. “Do you know who I am? I’m the Director! And who are you? A nobody applicant? You’re rejected!”

“I’d rather be rejected than have no heart,” Chloe said. She gently guided the old man out. “Come on, sir. I’ll wait for the next one with you.”

“Thank you, my dear,” the old man smiled, a twinkle in his eye. “What is your name?”

“Chloe Evans.”

“Chloe,” the old man nodded. “Good luck.”

What Chloe didn’t know was that the “janitor” was Arthur Sterling, the retired founder of the multi-billion dollar empire. And he had just found his grandson a wife.

Chapter 2: The Contract Marriage

Later that day, Arthur stormed into the CEO’s office. Liam Sterling, 28, handsome, cold, and the most eligible bachelor in Manhattan, was busy.

“Grandpa, why are you back from Switzerland? You’re sick!”

“I’m not dying until I see you married!” Arthur barked. “I found her. Chloe Evans. Marry her, or I cut you out of the will.”

Liam sighed. He needed to secure his inheritance to fight off a hostile takeover. “Fine. A contract marriage. One year. Then we divorce.”

Meanwhile, Chloe received a call. Nana Rose needed surgery now. Then, a lawyer approached her. “Mr. Sterling offers you $100,000 for a one-year marriage contract. No intimacy, just a title to please his grandfather.”

Chloe, desperate to save her grandma, agreed.

They met at City Hall. It was raining. Liam was in a rush, wearing sunglasses and a hat to avoid paparazzi. Chloe was crying because of her grandma. They signed the papers without even looking at each other’s faces.

“Here’s the check,” Liam said coldly. “My assistant will handle the rest. See you in divorce court in a year.”

“Thanks,” Chloe whispered, clutching the check.

They parted ways, neither knowing what the other looked like.

Chapter 3: The Devil Wears Designer

The next day, Chloe got the job at Sterling Enterprises—Grandpa Arthur pulled some strings. She was assigned as an assistant to the CEO.

“Coffee. Black. No sugar,” Liam ordered without looking up.

“Yes, sir,” Chloe said.

“Wait,” Liam paused. Her voice sounded familiar. He looked up. She was beautiful, but he shook it off. “And reorganize the files. Vanessa says you’re incompetent.”

Vanessa was making Chloe’s life a living hell. She was obsessed with Liam and saw Chloe as a threat.

“So,” Vanessa sneered at lunch. “I heard you’re married. Who’s the unlucky guy?”

“He’s… a businessman,” Chloe said, thinking of the mysterious man who saved her grandma. “He’s very kind. Unlike our boss.”

Liam walked by and heard this. “Talking bad about your boss, Ms. Evans?”

“Just facts, sir,” Chloe retorted.

Liam was intrigued. He found himself thinking about her. But he had a “wife” to deal with. Or so he thought.

A woman named Bella, a scammer who had intercepted the lawyer’s communications, showed up claiming to be Liam’s contract wife. She demanded millions in allowance. Liam thought Bella was the woman he married and despised her greed.

Chapter 4: The Masquerade

One night, Liam was drugged by a business rival at a gala. He stumbled into a hotel room—Chloe’s room, which she had booked for a client who didn’t show up.

In the dark, delirious, Liam clung to her. “Help me…”

Nothing happened, but Chloe took care of him all night, cooling his fever. By morning, she was gone, leaving only a note. Liam woke up, his memory hazy, but he remembered her scent. Lavender.

At work, he smelled lavender on Chloe.

“Were you at the Plaza Hotel last night?” he asked suspiciously.

“No, sir. I was… with my husband,” Chloe lied to protect her reputation.

Liam felt a pang of jealousy. Why am I jealous of her husband? I have a wife.

Chapter 5: The Kidnapping

Vanessa discovered that Liam was falling for Chloe. She snapped. She hired thugs to kidnap Chloe.

“You ruined everything!” Vanessa screamed, holding a knife to Chloe’s throat in an abandoned warehouse in Brooklyn. “Liam is mine!”

Chloe, terrified, tried to protect her stomach. She had recently started feeling sick… she was pregnant. But she didn’t know how—until she realized that night at the hotel… it wasn’t just a fever.

“Liam won’t come for you,” Vanessa laughed.

But he did. Grandpa Arthur had tracked Chloe’s phone. Liam burst in with a SWAT team.

“Let her go!” Liam roared.

“Choose, Liam! Me or her!” Vanessa yelled.

Liam didn’t hesitate. He rushed forward, tackling the thug. Vanessa shoved Chloe hard. Chloe fell, hitting her stomach against a metal beam.

“No!” Liam screamed.

Chapter 6: The Tragic Loss and The Truth

Chloe woke up in the hospital. The doctor looked grim. “I’m sorry, Ms. Evans. You lost the baby.”

Chloe broke down. Liam stood outside the door, heartbroken. He felt a connection to her pain that he couldn’t explain.

“Who did this?” Liam asked his assistant, Leo.

“Vanessa Hart. She’s been arrested. She’s pleading insanity.”

“Make sure she never sees daylight again,” Liam ordered.

Then, Leo handed him a file. “Sir… there’s something else. The woman claiming to be your wife, Bella? She’s a fraud. She never signed the papers.”

“Then who did I marry?” Liam asked.

Leo handed him the marriage certificate from the archives. The name on it: Chloe Evans.

Liam froze. The woman he had been falling for. The woman he treated coldly. The woman who just lost his child. It was Chloe.

Chapter 7: The Revelation

Liam walked into the hospital room. Chloe was packing her bag, looking pale and defeated.

“I’m quitting,” she whispered. “I can’t do this anymore. I’m going to divorce my husband and leave New York.”

“You can’t divorce him,” Liam said softly.

“Why? He doesn’t care about me. He’s just a check to me.”

“Because,” Liam stepped closer, tears in his eyes. “He loves you. And he’s an idiot who didn’t realize his wife was right in front of him.”

He took out his phone and dialed the number on the marriage contract.

Chloe’s phone rang in her hand. Husband.

She looked at the phone. Then at Liam. “You?”

“It’s me,” Liam said. “I’m the husband. And I’m the father.”

Chloe dropped the phone. “You… you were the one who saved Nana? But you’re also the boss who made me run getting coffee in the rain?”

“I know,” Liam knelt by her bed. “I have a lifetime to make it up to you. Please, Chloe. Give me a chance.”

Chapter 8: The Happy Ending

Six months later.

Vanessa was in a maximum-security mental facility. Bella was in jail for fraud.

In the Hamptons, at the Sterling Estate, a massive garden party was underway. Grandpa Arthur was dancing, healthy and happy.

Liam and Chloe stood by the lake. Chloe was smiling, looking radiant in a white dress.

“So,” Chloe teased. “When did you first like me?”

“When you defended an old man in an elevator,” Liam admitted. “I just didn’t know it was you.”

“And when did you like me?” Liam asked.

“When I realized the ‘jerk boss’ actually kept a photo of me in his wallet,” she laughed.

Liam kissed her. “I love you, Mrs. Sterling.”

“I love you too, Boss.”

THE END