Chapter Nine: A Marriage They Never Saw Coming

The morning came too quickly.

Crystabella hadn't slept much. She didn't need to. Her body had shifted into a different rhythm now, fueled by adrenaline, sharp resolve, and the quiet hum of uncertainty thrumming beneath her skin.

In the mirror, she looked like someone else.

Or maybe, she finally looked like the version of herself she'd buried too long. The dress was charcoal grey, cut like armor and sculpted to her shape with ruthless elegance. Her lipstick, a precise, blood-red slash. Hair coiled into a sleek updo.

No lace. No softness. No trace of the girl who once wore pearls for permission.

Today, she would not be underestimated.

The car Leo sent arrived at exactly eight forty-five. Silent driver. Tinted windows. Discreet, but unmistakably expensive.

She slid into the backseat and stared out the window as the city blurred past. Her phone buzzed. Mara.

We're set up on the penthouse balcony. Weather's perfect. Press statement ready for review. Leo's already here.

Of course he was.

The building's security didn't blink when she walked in. Everyone had been briefed. She stepped into the private elevator, alone, heart steady even as her fingers trembled.

She emerged onto the rooftop and saw him.

Leo stood near the edge of the terrace, the city skyline rising behind him like a crown. His suit was tailored to perfection, silver cufflinks glinting in the sun. He looked untouchable. Calculated. Prepared.

He turned when she stepped forward, eyes narrowing slightly. Not cold. Focused. Measuring.

"You look like war," he said.

Crystabella's lips tilted. "Good. That's the point."

Mara approached with the photographer and media team. "We'll shoot some candids first. No posing yet. Just… look like you chose each other."

She didn't laugh at that.

Leo offered his hand without a word. She took it. Not tenderly. Deliberately. Fingers interlocked like a signature on a deal.

The cameras clicked.

He leaned in slightly, voice low. "Ready to fool the world?"

"I'm not fooling anyone," she said. "This is real. Just not romantic."

"Yet."

She didn't respond.

They posed. They didn't smile much. But the tension between them sparked. Dangerous, magnetic, impossible to fake. The photos would go viral within hours.

Afterward, they retreated into the cool silence of Leo's office. Mara handed them two printed copies of the press release and a sleek tablet showing the first wave of online reactions.

"I'll have the official media assets up by noon," she said. "But the narrative is catching."

Crystabella skimmed the statement.

Brooklyn and Whitewood to Merge in Strategic Union, Professionally and Personally.

Strategic. Not emotional. Just as they planned.

Once Mara left, Leo poured two espressos. No cream. No sugar. Just the kind of bitterness both of them were now used to drinking without flinching.

Crystabella sipped slowly. "Romano's board will strike back. He won't let this pass quietly."

"Let him come," Leo said. "We'll be louder."

"You almost sound like you're enjoying this."

He met her gaze. "I enjoy watching you stop shrinking for people who didn't deserve your loyalty."

That made her pause. Her fingers tightened slightly around the cup.

He kept watching her. "You didn't used to look people in the eye when you were scared."

"I'm not scared anymore," she said quietly.

A silence stretched between them, dense and wordless. It wasn't romantic. But it was intimate in a way that defied categories.

She set her cup down. "I'll brief my board this afternoon. Alone. They need to hear it from me."

"They'll protest," he said.

"They'll fall in line or they'll fall out. Either way, I won't beg."

A faint, impressed smile touched his lips. "I almost don't recognize you."

"Then look closer."

He did. And she hated that her stomach still flipped under the weight of it.

Mara returned with breaking headlines:

From Rivals to Partners: Crystabella Brooklyn and Leo Whitewood Stun the Market With Sudden Engagement.

Romano DeLuca Outmaneuvered in Brooklyn-Whitewood Power Play.

Crystabella scrolled, then passed the tablet back. "Let them speculate. The louder the noise, the stronger the silence we hold behind it."

"You really are cold now," Leo said.

She looked at him, steady. "Not cold. Just clear."

There was a knock, light but urgent.

Mara stuck her head back in. "We've just received a private response from Romano's team. You're going to want to see it."

Leo took the envelope she handed over. It was sealed. Heavy. Personal.

Crystabella's jaw tightened. "Open it."

He did. Inside, a single page. Leo's eyes scanned it and darkened.

"What is it?" she asked.

He handed it to her.

Romano's handwriting, sharp and bold:

I underestimated you.

But now the game's real.

Let's see how long your marriage lasts.

No threats. No desperation.

Just a challenge.

Crystabella folded the paper slowly. Her nails bit into it.

Leo stood. "This isn't over."

"No," she said, eyes flashing. "This is only the beginning."

But before either of them could speak again, Mara reentered, phone pressed to her ear, eyes wide.

"There's more," she said. "Romano's board just made a move. They've called an emergency meeting."

Crystabella frowned. "Why now?"

Mara's voice dropped. "Because someone leaked the terms of your engagement contract. And there's a rumor that Romano has something personal. Something he's about to use publicly."

Leo's jaw clenched. "What kind of personal?"

Mara said, "Something that could ruin everything."

Crystabella went still.

A storm was coming.

And she had no idea what it would destroy first.

Leo's phone buzzed violently on the desk.

He picked it up, scanned the screen, and his expression turned to stone. "It's a video link. From an anonymous sender."

Mara's eyes widened. "What kind of video?"

Leo tapped to play it. The screen loaded. Buffering.

Then it began to play.

Crystabella stepped closer, heart thudding as shadows moved across the screen.

It was her.

Her voice.

A moment she barely remembered. A private conversation in a hotel hallway, months ago.

She was saying things she couldn't deny.

And worse, Romano's voice was in it too.

A dangerous laugh. A promise that sounded far too much like intimacy.

Leo froze. His jaw locked. The screen went black.

Crystabella's breath caught in her throat. "This was never supposed to exist."

Leo turned slowly to face her, his eyes unreadable now.

"Tell me," he said, voice low. "How much of that was real?"

She opened her mouth. But the words wouldn't come.

Not yet.

Not when everything was about to explode.

Mara's voice broke the silence. "If that leaks... the press will think you're still in love with Romano."

The air between them cracked.

Crystabella didn't blink. "Let it leak."

Leo's gaze burned into her. "Why would you say that?"

"Because," she said, her voice like glass, "if this marriage is going to survive... we either bury the truth together."

A beat of silence.

"Or bleed from it."

The room felt colder now.

And somewhere in the distance, her phone started ringing.

Unknown number.

She didn't answer it.

But something told her… she should have.