Chapter 1: The Escape

The thunder over Brooklyn was deafening, but it couldn’t drown out the pounding of Lily Evans’ heart. At eighteen, she was running for her life. Her clothes were soaked, clinging to her shivering frame, and her hand instinctively cradled her lower abdomen.

“Get back here, you ungrateful brat!” screamed her Aunt Martha, her voice shrill against the wind. “The buyer is waiting! Three hundred thousand dollars, Lily! That’s what you’re worth to us!”

Lily didn’t look back. She knew exactly what awaited her if she stopped. Her uncle and aunt, who had stolen her parents’ house and insurance money after they died, were now trying to sell her off to a wealthy family whose son was mentally unstable and known for his violent outbursts. They didn’t care that she was pregnant; they only cared about the cash.

“Stop her! Don’t let the money tree escape!” her cousin, Chloe, shouted, chasing after her with two burly bodyguards.

Lily turned a corner into a dark alley, her breath coming in ragged gasps. She was cornered. A black Rolls Royce phantom was parked at the end of the alley, blocking the exit. A tall figure stood beside it, smoking a cigarette in the rain, sheltered by an umbrella held by an assistant.

The bodyguards lunged for her. “Got you, you little slut!”

“No! Please!” Lily screamed, stumbling backward. She bumped into the man in the dark suit.

The man turned. He had eyes as cold as the Atlantic Ocean and a jawline sharp enough to cut glass. It was Sebastian Sterling, the ruthless CEO of Sterling Corp, known in New York as the “Ice King.” Rumor had it he was allergic to women; the last woman who tried to touch him ended up with a broken arm and a lawsuit.

Lily grabbed his lapel, dirtying his pristine Italian suit with mud. “Please… save me. They’re going to sell me. I’ll do anything. Just don’t let them take me.”

The bodyguards froze. They recognized Sebastian Sterling. Everyone in New York knew that face.

“Mr. Sterling,” one thug stammered. “This… this is a family matter. She’s a runaway.”

Sebastian looked down at the trembling girl. She looked like a frightened white rabbit. Usually, he would have her thrown aside. But tonight, something tugged at his frozen heart. Maybe it was the desperation in her eyes.

“She says she’ll do anything,” Sebastian said, his voice a deep baritone that vibrated through the rain. He looked at the thugs. “Get lost. Before I have your tongues cut out.”

The thugs scrambled away in terror.

Lily sagged with relief, but then pain shot through her stomach. She fainted, collapsing right into Sebastian’s arms.

His assistant, Hopkins, gasped. “Sir! You touched her! Should I call the sanitation team?”

Sebastian stared at the unconscious girl. “No. Get the car. We’re going home.”

Chapter 2: The Contract

When Lily woke up, she was in a bed that cost more than her entire life’s earnings. A doctor was packing up his bag.

“She’s malnourished, stressed, and pregnant,” the doctor said. “About six weeks.”

Sebastian sat in a leather armchair in the corner of the room. “Pregnant?”

Lily sat up, terrified. “My baby… is the baby okay?”

“The baby is fine,” Sebastian said coldly. “But you have a problem. Your family is waiting outside my gates. They know you’re here.”

Lily bit her lip. “I… I have to go. My grandmother is in the hospital. She needs heart surgery. It costs two hundred thousand dollars. I have to work.”

“You’re pregnant and fleeing abusive relatives. How exactly do you plan to raise two hundred grand?” Sebastian asked, standing up. He walked over to the bed. “I have a proposition.”

“What?”

“My mother is dying to have a grandchild. She’s been pressuring me to marry. I need a wife to get her off my back, and I need an heir eventually. You are already pregnant. It’s convenient.”

Lily’s eyes widened. “You want… you want to be the father?”

“We will sign a contract,” Sebastian continued, ignoring her shock. “You marry me. I pay for your grandmother’s surgery and give you a monthly allowance. You live here, safe from your relatives. After the baby is born, we divorce. I will compensate you with ten million dollars.”

It was a deal with the devil, but Lily had no choice. “I… I agree. But I need the money for Grandma now.”

Sebastian tossed a black card onto the duvet. “Consider it done. Welcome to the family, Mrs. Sterling.”

Chapter 3: The Fake Heiress

News of the marriage broke the internet. The “Ice King” was married? And to a nobody?

Back at Lily’s aunt’s house, chaos ensued.

“How did that little rat land Sebastian Sterling?” Chloe screeched, throwing a vase against the wall. “That black card she used to pay the hospital bills… it has the Sterling crest on it!”

“We missed out on a fortune,” Aunt Martha wailed. “If we had known the baby was Sterling’s…”

“Wait,” Chloe said, a wicked plan forming in her eyes. “Nobody has seen the new Mrs. Sterling’s face publicly yet. Sebastian keeps her hidden. If I can get close to him… maybe I can replace her.”

Meanwhile, at the Sterling Mansion, Lily was overwhelmed. Sebastian’s mother, the elegant Dowager Mrs. Sterling, arrived with truckloads of gifts.

“My daughter-in-law!” she cried, hugging Lily. “Finally! I prepared gold bars, diamond sets, and the deed to a villa in the Hamptons!”

Lily tried to refuse. “Mrs. Sterling, I can’t…”

“Take it!” Sebastian ordered, walking in. “Don’t upset Mother.”

Later that night, Sebastian found Lily trying to return the jewelry to him. “I can’t keep this. We’re divorcing in a year.”

“Keep it,” Sebastian grunted. “You’re my wife. You walking around in rags embarrasses me.”

“Thank you, Mr. Sterling,” Lily whispered.

“Sebastian,” he corrected her. “And stop sleeping on the edge of the bed. I won’t eat you.”

For a man who supposedly hated women, Sebastian was confusing. He ordered the chef to cook pregnancy-safe meals. He fired a maid who looked at Lily with disdain. He even bought her a boutique clothing store when she mentioned she liked fashion design.

But trouble was brewing. Chloe had found a way to infiltrate the Sterling social circle. She attended a high school reunion that Lily was invited to.

At the reunion, Chloe was the center of attention, bragging about her connections. When Lily arrived, wearing a simple but elegant dress, Chloe sneered.

“Look who it is,” Chloe laughed. “The runaway. Did you come here to beg for food? Or did you sneak in?”

“I was invited,” Lily said quietly.

“Please,” a former classmate scoffed. “We heard you got knocked up by some random guy and are hiding out.”

“Actually,” a deep voice cut through the room. The doors opened, and Sebastian Sterling walked in, flanked by security. The room went silent.

He walked straight to Lily, wrapping an arm around her waist. “Is my wife bothering you?” he asked the room, his glare terrifying.

“W-Wife?” Chloe stammered. “Mr. Sterling, you must be mistaken. This is Lily. She’s… she’s trash.”

“Another word,” Sebastian said softly, “and I will buy your family’s pathetic company and burn it to the ground.”

He led Lily out, leaving the room in shock. In the car, Lily looked at him. “Why did you do that?”

“You represent me now,” he said, looking away. But his ears were red.

Chapter 4: The Identity Theft

Chloe wasn’t done. She discovered a secret that changed everything.

A wealthy tycoon named Arthur Vance, owner of the global Vance Jewelry Empire, had arrived in New York looking for his long-lost daughter. He had a specific locket he had left with the child years ago.

Chloe found the locket in Lily’s old room at their house. She realized the truth: Lily was Arthur Vance’s daughter.

“This is my ticket,” Chloe whispered. She forged a DNA test and went to Arthur Vance.

“Father!” Chloe cried, showing him the locket. “I’ve been looking for you!”

Arthur Vance, desperate and emotional, believed her. “My daughter! I’ve found you!”

Suddenly, Chloe was the heiress to a jewelry empire. She used her new power to target Lily. She organized a prestigious jewelry design competition, knowing Lily wanted to participate.

On the day of the competition, Lily submitted her designs. But when the judges opened her box, it was empty.

“Disqualified!” the head judge announced. “Lily Sterling mocked the competition by submitting nothing!”

“I didn’t!” Lily cried. “I put my designs in there!”

Chloe, sitting in the VIP section with Arthur Vance, smirked. “Dad, look at her. She’s a liar. She’s trying to ruin the reputation of our family business.”

Arthur frowned. “Security, remove her.”

Sebastian stood up from the audience. “Nobody touches her.”

He walked onto the stage. “Review the security footage.”

The footage played on the big screen. It showed Chloe sneaking backstage and swapping Lily’s box.

The crowd gasped. Arthur Vance stood up, his face pale. “Chloe? What is the meaning of this?”

“It’s fake! He doctored the video!” Chloe screamed.

But Sebastian wasn’t finished. “Mr. Vance, I did my own investigation. You’re looking for your daughter? You might want to check the birthmark on my wife’s shoulder. It matches the description in your police report from twenty years ago.”

Arthur looked at Lily. She pulled back her collar to reveal a distinct rose-shaped birthmark.

“And,” Sebastian added, “We ran a real DNA test.” He handed the papers to Arthur.

Arthur read them and tears streamed down his face. He looked at Chloe with pure rage. “You impostor! You stole my daughter’s life!”

Chloe tried to run, but police were already waiting. “It’s not fair! She has everything! Sebastian, the money, and now a rich father! I hate her!”

Chapter 5: The Test of Love

With her identity revealed and her toxic family in jail, Lily was now a billionaire heiress in her own right. She offered to dissolve the contract with Sebastian.

“You don’t need to support me anymore,” Lily said, packing her bag. “I have my father now. I won’t burden you.”

Sebastian panicked. For the first time in his life, the Ice King was terrified. He realized he didn’t care about the baby or the contract. He wanted her.

“You can’t leave,” he said, blocking the door.

“Why? The contract says…”

“Screw the contract!” Sebastian yelled. Then, he softened. “Please. Don’t go.”

Arthur Vance, now protective of his newfound daughter, stepped in. “If you want to keep my daughter, Mr. Sterling, you have to prove you love her. Not just possess her.”

“Name your price,” Sebastian said.

“Pain,” Arthur said. “She will go through childbirth soon. I want you to understand what she goes through. Go to the maternity simulation clinic. Level 10 pain.”

To everyone’s shock, Sebastian agreed. He strapped himself to the machine. As the pain dialed up, he gripped the rails, sweat pouring down his face, but he didn’t ask them to stop. He wanted to feel a fraction of what Lily would endure for their child.

Lily watched through the glass, tears in her eyes. “Stop it! That’s enough!” she cried, rushing in to unhook him.

Sebastian grabbed her hand, gasping. “I… I can take it. I can take anything but losing you.”

Arthur nodded approvingly. “He’ll do.”

Chapter 6: The Kidnapping and the Birth

Months passed. It was the day of their “real” wedding—a ceremony to renew vows out of love, not contract.

But Chloe had escaped custody during a prison transfer. She was insane with jealousy.

While Lily was in the dressing room, Chloe knocked out the guard and entered with a knife.

“If I can’t be happy, no one can!” Chloe screamed, lunging at Lily.

Lily, heavy with pregnancy, couldn’t run. She screamed.

Sebastian, sensing something was wrong when Lily didn’t appear, kicked down the dressing room door. He saw Chloe raising the knife.

Without hesitation, Sebastian threw himself between them. The knife slashed his arm, but he tackled Chloe to the ground, holding her down until security arrived.

“Are you okay?” Sebastian asked, ignoring his bleeding arm, cupping Lily’s face.

“I think… I think the baby is coming,” Lily gasped.

The wedding turned into a race to the hospital. Sebastian held her hand the entire time, refusing to leave her side even to stitch his wound.

Hours later, the cry of a baby filled the room.

“It’s a boy,” the doctor announced.

Sebastian looked at the tiny bundle, then at his exhausted, sweaty wife. He kissed her forehead tenderly. “Thank you, Lily. You saved me.”

“I thought you saved me,” she smiled weakly.

“No,” Sebastian said, tears in his eyes. “I was dead inside before you crashed into me that rainy night. You brought me back to life.”

Epilogue

Three years later.

Sebastian Sterling, the man who was once allergic to women, was currently sitting on the floor of his office, letting a toddler put hair clips in his hair.

“Dada pretty!” the little boy giggled.

“Very pretty,” Sebastian agreed seriously.

Lily walked in, holding a lunch box. She was now the head designer of the Vance Jewelry line and the matriarch of the Sterling family.

“Lunchtime,” she said, kissing her husband.

“I love you,” Sebastian said, looking at her with the same intensity as the day he saved her in the alley.

“I love you too,” Lily replied. “And so does the new baby.”

Sebastian froze. “New baby?”

Lily nodded, smiling. “We’re going to need a bigger house.”

Sebastian picked her up and spun her around, his laughter echoing through the halls of Sterling Corp. The contract was long gone, burned to ash. All that remained was a love that had weathered the storm and come out stronger than steel.

THE END