Chapter 2 - The Midnight Deadline
Elena stared at the document in her hand as Alex walked away to mingle with her guests.
The music resumed, but the notes sounded like a funeral dirge to her ears.
She turned on her heel and sprinted toward the private elevator.
Her glittering gown suddenly felt like heavy armor weighing her down.
She burst into her executive office on the penthouse floor.
Her uncle Richard was already there, sitting behind her massive mahogany desk.
“Uncle Richard, tell me this is a lie,” Elena demanded, throwing the document onto the desk.
Richard refused to meet her eyes.
He poured himself a glass of scotch with trembling hands.
“I tried to warn you, Elena,” he muttered.
“The hotel has been hemorrhaging money for three years.”
Elena felt the room spin.
“So you went behind my back and sold our debt to Alexander Sterling?” she yelled.
Richard finally looked up, his expression entirely devoid of guilt.
“I did what I had to do to secure my own retirement.”
Elena realized she was completely alone in this fight.
She glanced at the grandfather clock ticking in the corner.
She had forty-five minutes left.
She pulled out her phone and called her biggest anonymous investor, a man who had bailed her father out years ago.
The line rang twice before a familiar, arrogant voice answered.
“Did you really think I wouldn't buy out your safety net too?” Alex asked through the speaker.
Elena slammed the phone down in frustration.
She refused to lose the only thing she had left of her parents.
She marched back down to the ballroom and grabbed Alex by the arm.
She pulled him into an empty VIP lounge and locked the door.
“What do you really want, Alex?” she asked, breathing heavily.
Alex looked at her with an intensity that made her skin prickle.
“I want the hotel, but I also need a respectable wife for my upcoming political campaign,” he said.
He poured two glasses of champagne and handed her one.
“Sign the hotel over to me, marry me on paper for one year, and I will let you run this place as my manager.”
Elena looked at the glass, her mind racing through her nonexistent options.
She raised the glass.
“Fine, we have a deal,” she agreed.
Alex smiled and pressed a button on a remote control in his pocket.
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A hidden screen descended from the ceiling, showing a live video feed of Elena agreeing to the corrupt bargain.
“Good,” Alex said, “because if you ever try to double-cross me, this tape goes to the press, and you go to federal prison for corporate extortion.”
