Chapter 5: Signed In Temptation

Lily barely slept that night.

She lay in bed, staring at the ceiling of her tiny apartment, Anthony Calloway's words looping through her mind like a haunting melody.

*"One year. Be mine."*

*"Then I walk away… and so do your dreams."*

She hated that he knew exactly where to strike. Hated that she was even considering it. But most of all, she hated the way his presence lingered inside her, like the ghost of a touch that had never actually happened.

At some point, exhaustion pulled her under.

When she woke, sunlight streamed through the gaps in her curtains, but the warmth did nothing to ease the cold weight in her chest.

Her twenty-four hours were slipping away.

A sharp knock on the door made her jolt upright.

Her heart hammered as she climbed out of bed, tugging the oversized sweater she had slept in tighter around her body.

No one ever knocked this early.

Another knock—firmer this time.

Lily hesitated before reaching for the door. When she opened it, her breath caught.

A man in a sharp black suit stood before her, his expression blank and professional. He held out an envelope, the thick paper stamped with an **A.C.** embossed in gold.

"Mr. Calloway asked me to deliver this personally," he said.

Lily swallowed hard. "What is it?"

"I suggest you read it, Miss Evans."

She took the envelope with numb fingers, watching as the man turned and disappeared down the hallway.

Back inside, she sat on the edge of her bed and stared at the envelope as if it might explode.

She could walk away.

She could rip it up, pretend last night never happened, and go back to her life.

But **what life?** A struggling artist living paycheck to paycheck, waiting tables to afford her next meal, barely scraping by in a city that thrived on wealth and power.

Lily inhaled sharply and tore the envelope open.

Inside was a **contract**.

And beneath the elegant, precise terms that dictated her life for the next year was Anthony Calloway's unmistakable signature—bold, unwavering, absolute.

At the bottom, a single line awaited her signature.

And beneath it, a note written in his own handwriting.

**Midnight. My office. Don't be late.**

Lily's fingers trembled.

Because deep down, she knew the truth.

She had already made her choice.