Arrange Marriage to a Heartless CEO

CHARLOTTE'S POV

You know those stories where the girl gets whisked off into a surprise marriage and ends up living happily ever after?

Yeah, this might not be one of them.

I was halfway through a cup of coffee and a chapter deadline when the world decided to flip itself upside down.

"Charlotte, your mother and I need to talk to you". That was Barry, my charming, overly groomed stepfather, whose love for tailored suits almost equals his obsession with control.

He never "needed to talk". He ordered meetings like a CEO who forgot he was also part of a family. I thought it would be about my writing again. Something about it wasn't "career-worthy" or "profitable" enough for someone with a legacy like mine. Whatever that meant. They seize every opportunity to make fun of me and my career path.

I dragged myself into the dining room and immediately regretted it.

Barry sat at the head of the table, arms crossed, a folder in front of him like he was about to present or pitch a business deal to a potential client. My mother, Dianne, perched beside him, wearing that same silk robe she always wore when she had something to hide.

I should have turned around. I should have walked out.

But I didn't, because I'm polite and stupid. And apparently, the bride-to-be.

"You are getting married," Barry announced.

I laughed out loud. A full-on snort. "Funny."

He didn't laugh.

Neither did Mom.

My stomach dropped.

"I'm sorry, what?" I asked again, hoping I had heard wrong. Maybe they said "You're not getting married" or "You're burying someone," which honestly sounded more pleasant.

Barry opened the folder and slid it towards me. A neat, clinical contract. One glance, and my name was there, bold letters, right next to AIDEN KINGSTON.

I blinked. "Is this a prank?" I asked Barry, expecting an answer.

"This is real," Barry said. "The company is going under. We are at the edge, Charlotte. If this marriage goes through, the Kingston's will bail us out."

"You mean they will own us," I snapped.

My mother reached for my hand. Hers was cold, trembling.

"Sweetheart, we wouldn't do this unless we had no choice."

"No choice?" I pulled my hand away.

"You always have a choice. Like not selling off your daughter like a cheap product. I am your only child for crying out loud."

Barry narrowed his eyes. "It's for your good. The company was your father's.....

"Don't," I warned. "Don't bring my father into this."

His face tightened and I recognized that look. It was the same one he wore when he came into my life after my father died in a car accident. The same one he had when he married my mother barely three months later.

I've never said it out loud, but some truths don't need words. Barry wasn't my father's brother in any way that mattered except maybe in blood, and even that felt like a stain.

"Why him?