MARY_OMONOWA

Married by Mistake to the Ice-Cold CEO

Ella Carter is at rock bottom. Broke, jobless, and desperate to pay off her debts, she agrees to a shady but simple deal—sign a fake marriage contract in exchange for a life-changing sum of money. It’s supposed to be a harmless formality, just a few signatures, and she’s free.

But when she wakes up the next morning, she’s no longer a fake wife. She’s legally married to Adrian Blackwood, the ruthless billionaire CEO with a heart of ice and a glare that could freeze fire. Worse, he believes she’s nothing more than a conniving gold digger who trapped him into this marriage.

Determined to end their arrangement as soon as possible, Adrian is cold, cruel, and utterly unshaken by Ella’s protests. He wants her gone. But there’s one problem—she refuses to be intimidated. Unlike everyone else in his life, she fights back, and to his shock, she actually wins their battles.

The more they argue, the more their tension ignites. And the more Adrian tries to push her away, the more he finds himself drawn to her defiant spirit, her fire, her ability to see the man behind the icy mask.

But when secrets come to light and enemies lurk in the shadows, their marriage of convenience becomes a battlefield of trust, passion, and betrayal.

Will Adrian let down his walls and accept the one woman who dares to stand by his side? Or will Ella walk away before she loses her heart to a man who never planned to keep her?

One mistake. One contract. One marriage neither of them saw coming.

Married by Mistake to the Ice-Cold CEO

Ella had been called many things in the past twenty-four hours—a gold digger, a nobody, a mistake.

But Adrian Blackwood had just hit her with a new one:

She blinked at him from across the penthouse's marble-floored living room, where he stood, arms crossed, his sharp blue eyes as cold as ever.

Did he just… offer her a divorce like he was negotiating a business deal?

"Let me get this straight." Ella folded her arms, mirroring his stance. "You want me to walk away from this disaster of a marriage—"

"Correction," Adrian cut in smoothly. "I want you to be paid to walk away. Generously."

He slid a document onto the coffee table between them.

Ella glanced down. A check. And not just any check. Seven figures.

Adrian leaned slightly, his voice annoyingly calm. "You can leave today, disappear from the press, and start fresh somewhere far away." He tilted his head. "I assume that amount is more than enough for a… woman of your background."

Ella sucked in a breath. Oh, he did not just say that.

She gave him her most saccharine smile. "Wow, Adrian. You're right. That's a life-changing amount of money. Let me think about it."

Adrian's expression remained unreadable as she picked up the check, studied it carefully…

Adrian blinked. For the first time since she met him, he actually looked surprised.

Ella smirked. Ha. Score one for the gold digger.

"Are you insane?" he asked, voice dangerously low.

"Possibly." She shrugged, dropping the shredded check onto the table. "But here's the thing, Mr. Blackwood—I'm not for sale."

His jaw clenched. "You don't seriously want to stay married."

"No," she admitted. "But I'm also not going to let you shove me out the back door like some embarrassing mistake."

Adrian exhaled sharply, rubbing his temple as if this conversation was physically painful. "Ella, be reasonable."

"Oh, you want reasonable? Fine." She stepped closer, poking his chest. "You dragged me into this mess. So guess what, Mr. CEO? You're stuck with me."

Adrian let out a dry laugh. "You have nothing to gain from staying."

"Neither do you," she shot back. "And yet, here we are."

They stared at each other, the air charged with frustration, challenge… something unspoken.

Finally, Adrian exhaled, his voice laced with reluctant amusement. "You really are impossible."

Ella smirked. "And you're really bad at bribing people."

A muscle in his jaw twitched, but there was something else in his eyes now. Something almost intrigued.

She had just become a problem he couldn't fix.

Chapter 11: A Proposal of Divorce