01

Petrik

The sound of my laptop opening the document folder, the murmurs of voices in the background, and the ticking of the clock on the wall were the only things breaking the silence in the meeting. I was absorbed, giving orders and responding, when the assistant entered the room without knocking.

"Mr. Ivanov," he said urgently, interrupting me mid-sentence.

I raised my eyes from the desk, a little irritated. I preferred not to be interrupted, especially during an important meeting. "What is it now?"

He seemed uncomfortable, holding a letter with the golden seal of a renowned law firm. "Sorry, but this letter was delivered personally; it's from your lawyer. Something important about your grandfather's will."

My grandfather. When it came to him, few things could truly surprise me. The old man always had a way of getting involved in family matters... in peculiar ways. I took a deep breath and gestured for him to give me the letter.

"Let’s continue with the meeting, please," I said in the impersonal tone I usually used to dismiss any distractions. He nodded and left, leaving me alone with the contents I now held in my hands.

I opened the letter calmly, almost as if I didn’t expect anything truly important to be in it. After all, there was always something from my grandfather— a new contract, a new strategy for the empire, some demand he had left in his final days. But as I read the first lines, a sense of surprise struck me. I stopped breathing for a second, my eyes fixed on what was written.

“According to the conditions of the will, you must marry within 30 days, or you will forfeit your right to the Ivanov empire. The marriage must be formal, legal, and recognized, with no exceptions. Otherwise, control of your inheritance will revert to the foundation.”

I read the words again, trying to understand what had just happened. Marry? Marry? A condition to inherit the fortune, to keep what I had built. I couldn’t be reading this right. But I was. I was.

What followed was utter silence. There was nothing else I wanted to hear. The words echoed in my head, but I couldn’t fully process them. I had never thought about marriage, I never needed it. What mattered to me was control, power, business. The Ivanov empire was one of the largest tech and energy companies in the world, with stocks traded on the New York, Moscow, and London exchanges. My grandfather had founded all of this, but what he didn’t understand was that, for me, all that mattered was maintaining control over it. Now, the empire was at risk due to a marriage clause he probably hadn’t even considered.

I closed my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, trying to regain my composure. I stood up from the desk and walked over to the window, looking out at the city. The Ivanov empire. Everything I had conquered, everything I was, at risk because of a simple marriage contract.

The office I had built, the dominance I had over one of the largest financial conglomerates on the planet— all of it could be undone if I didn’t comply with this demand. The weight of the situation began to crush me, but there was something more. Something that couldn’t be ignored.

I walked back to the desk and placed the letter aside, my gaze still fixed on the paper as the possibilities began to form in my mind. I could hire someone, maybe someone from high society, a woman who needed a position. Someone who would accept the proposal without questioning too much. But there was something on my face that made me stop.

At that moment, Lia, my secretary, stepped in, interrupting my thoughts. She entered the room with her eyes lowered, as usual, but with a tension in the air, an energy that wasn’t familiar to me. Perhaps it was simply the fact that she was there, a point of distraction amidst the storm I had just created in my mind.

"Mr. Ivanov," she said, her voice soft, as always, "is there anything else you’d like to discuss today?" She seemed apprehensive, but she wasn’t the type of woman who would easily show weakness. And that’s what made me look at her more closely.

I saw her there, a young woman, with few options, facing her own personal demons, and all I could see in her expression was the reflection of someone on the edge of a cliff. Like me.

At that moment, a thought formed in my mind. A simple solution. She was homeless, and I was out of options. Something told me she wouldn’t ask many questions. Not with the right proposal.

"Lia," I began, my voice low and firm. "I have a proposal for you."

She looked at me with a slight confusion in her eyes, still waiting for me to continue.

"You’ve been evicted, right?" I asked, the question floating in the air like a simple observation.

She hesitated, her face flushing a little, but didn’t deny it. "Yes, but…"

"Don’t worry about it," I said, interrupting her. "I know you took out an extra loan on your last paycheck. I have an offer for you. If you accept, your life will change. I… need a wife. A marriage of convenience. And you, Lia, need a way to ensure your safety, don’t you?"

She looked at me in silence for a few seconds. There was no anger, no surprise. Just silent acceptance.

"I can guarantee your safety. Money, a contract, everything you need. In exchange, you accept a simple marriage. A convenience contract. No more complications."

She stared at the desk, seemed to think, and then finally looked into my eyes. "You’re asking me to marry you?" she asked, finally, her voice calm but with a hint of doubt.

"Yes. I am," I answered without hesitation.

She looked at the desk for a moment, as if weighing the offer, and then met my eyes again. "And what do you gain from this?"

I smiled, the coldness of my expression returning. "The only thing that matters. I don’t lose the Ivanov empire."