The Billionaire Who Bought Me

My hands sweated uncontrollably as I paced around the room, trying to cram my opening lines for a meeting that was set to start in thirty minutes.

I was at the peak of desperation. I stood to lose my house, cars, assets, investments, savings, everything, if I didn’t pull this through.

Vellano Investments, a branch under the Fabonacci Dynasty, had finally decided to sign the lifeline deal, but only if I could prove myself worthy.

A knock sounded on the door of the private room. It was the secretary.

“You have five minutes remaining. Be punctual. The board does not forgive lateness.”

As soon as she left, my phone rang loudly, startling me. It was my mother.

I picked up. “Mom, it's five minutes to my pitch and you're not here with the documents yet. Don’t you understand how badly our livelihood depends on this?!”

She was my mother and I didn’t mean to holler, but I was a dollar away from being declared bankrupt.

There was an unusual static on the other end.

My heart skipped. “Mom?”

The voice that came through was low and foreboding.

“Am I speaking to Nerissa Alvarez?”

A chill hugged my spine as I looked at the phone screen to confirm it was indeed my mother’s number.

“Yes, this is she. What’s going on?”

“This is a doctor from Ameri Hospital. Your mother was involved in a fatal accident. How soon can you be here to sign the legal consent for her surgery?”

The files I was holding clattered to the floor. It took everything in me to mutter, “Yes. Yes. I’ll be there.”

I stuffed all my paraphernalia into my bag and rushed to the door. The secretary banged it open, startling me again.

She stared at me, confused. “Where are you going? The board is expecting you now.”

I pushed past her. “Please, I have to go! Something unavoidable came up. Can we postpone it?”

She shook her head sadly, gripping her clipboard tight. “Sorry, with the board, there are no second chances.”

Tears clogged my throat, but I swallowed them. I had to get to my mother. She was my lifeline.

Oh God, an accident, on the very day that was meant to be my saving grace.

“Please, I’m here for Margarita Alvarez,” I told the receptionist when I arrived at the hospital.

She looked up at me, and I could see the instant sadness pooling in her eyes. I didn’t know when I grabbed her sleeve.

“Please. Please don’t tell me my mother is dead.”

She sighed deeply and patted my arm. “Emergency unit. Bed 186. She’s in a terrible condition, but the doctors are taking good care of her.”

Heart in my mouth, I flitted up the stairs to her ward. I saw three doctors standing around her bed.

I flung my bag to the floor. “Mom, please don’t leave me. Please.”

I sobbed as I knelt beside her bed. Seeing her jaw dislocated from her face made me sob harder.

“Oh my God! Doctors, what do we do? What happened?”

I had left my mother at home, hale and hearty, and now this.

The lead doctor called me aside.

“Hit-and-run. A speeding driver pulverized her car and smashed her body to a pulp. The police are investigating.”

Tears streamed down my face and mixed with my snot.

“Where are the papers for the surgery? Let me sign.”

“I’m so sorry,” the doctor said, unable to meet my eyes. “We discovered your medical insurance was disabled. We can’t operate without a deposit.”

My hands shook with fear. “Doctor, look at my mother. If you don’t do something, I’m going to lose her.”

His voice was full of empathy. “That’s why we’ve kept her on life support. But we need a deposit to commence the initial surgery.”

My blurry vision flicked between him and my unconscious mother, covered in white bandages. “How much?”

“Five million dollars.”

My mouth fell open. “Doctor!”

“The life machine can only keep her metabolism running for 24 hours. After that... I’m sorry.”

He nodded once and walked to my mother’s bed, leaving me rooted to the spot, my head spinning a million miles per hour.

Where would I get five million dollars in less than 24 hours?

My business was bankrupt, and I’d just lost the only chance I had to redeem it.

I walked up to him. “Doctor, please, you need to give me more time.”

“This is beyond my power, Nerissa.” He shook his head. “My hands are tied. It’s against the hospital’s policy.”

Scorching tears peeled from my eyes as the doctors walked away.

“Mom, please don’t leave like Dad did. You’re all I have. I didn’t tell you, but I was saving up to buy new equipment. I’m going to spend it on you now. Just... please, stay with me.”

It took all my willpower not to look away from her disfigured state.

I checked my bank account to see how much my savings had accumulated.

But then I saw it, my account was locked. All my funds had been seized by DeLuca Bank, another business under the Fabonacci Dynasty.

Panic drenched my soul as I tried repeatedly to access my funds. Nothing.

I called my lawyer. “Please, what do I do?” I cried into the phone. “I just saw a message saying all my assets have been seized due to outstanding loan defaults.”

Everything I had was gone. The little money I saved, and the documents to my company, destroyed in the crash.

“I advise you to get your mom’s medical file and go to the bank for an appeal. They might listen, they might not. But it’s worth a try.”

Twenty-four hours. My time was ticking.

I took my mother’s medical file and went to the headquarters of DeLuca Bank.

“Please, who can I talk to?” I begged the busy receptionist. “My accounts have been locked and I need a chance to appeal.”

Who would have thought that Nerissa Alvarez, once a peak technocrat enjoying the prime of her entrepreneurship, would be throwing the word ‘please’ at a lowly receptionist? But here I was and humbled.

“You’ll need to speak with the acting branch manager, but he’s very busy and won’t be available right now.”

Her eyes roved over my worn but neat attire, eyes from all my crying, and restless hands.

“I’ll set up an appointment for you. Please don’t do anything that would cost me my job.”

I nodded, spewing thanks like a faulty machine. A few minutes later, I was in front of the office I had been directed to. I knocked.

“Come in,” a familiar voice boomed.

I was edgy and anxious as hell as I stepped into the office.

As my eyes landed on the bank manager, the files in my hands crashed to the floor. For two minutes, we held gazes, stunned.

Finally, he spoke, laughter booming. “Nessy, look at you. It’s so nice seeing you after such a long time.”

He was looking at my second-hand suit. Once upon a time, I was a connoisseur of designer clothes.

“Enzo,” I muttered, bending to pick up my files.

Five years ago, when my tech startup was thriving, I had dated Enzo. He didn’t earn nearly as much as I did. We planned to get married, but at the surprise engagement party, I told him no. Flung the ring away. Humiliated him in front of everyone. Then I ghosted him, my career came first and I chose it instead.

That wasn’t all. On the day he asked to meet for closure, he found me in his cousin’s arms, kissing him like my life depended on it.

He loved me, but I broke him, choosing status and success over love.

Now here I was. The tables had turned.

He was no longer the sweet, loving, broke Enzo.

He was refined, polished, and dripping in wealth, in a penthouse office overlooking Venice.

“What are you doing in my office, Nerissa?” His tone hardened.

“My company is about to be declared bankrupt—”

“Oh wow.” A dead smile graced his lips. “Interesting.”

“My accounts were seized,” I continued, ignoring the mockery in his voice. “These are my mother’s medical files. She was in a fatal accident this morning, and I urgently need money for her surgery.”

He leaned back in his chair, clearly enjoying this.

“Well, your accounts were locked because they were empty. Your lenders took everything.”

“Enzo, please,” I blurted, the tears choking my voice. “I don’t know what to do. She’s in a critical state and I have just 24 hours to get the deposit.”

He sat up. “What do you want me to do, Nerissa? That’s a you problem, not mine.”

When we were dating, my mother had been the staunch antagonist. She didn’t understand why I had to date a poor man when I had wealthy suitors from my business circles.

“Enzo, I know we haven’t spoken in five years, but I’m begging you. I need a loan.”

I expected him to laugh and tell me to leave. But instead, he leaned closer, his expression serious.

“It’s a loan of five million dollars, but I’ll pay you back, I promise,” I said, my resolve cracking under his stare.

“How will you, with zero dollars to your name, pay a loan of five million dollars?”

Shame clutched my stomach. I looked down at my worn-out shoes.

“You’ll marry me.” He said it calmly, but the sentence sent a shockwave through me.

“What?! No—”

“Yes.” His eyes gleamed wickedly. “Because you have no choice. No hope. Because you’re dead broke, jobless, and you stand to lose your mother tonight.”

His voice was laced with derision so raw it scraped at what was left of my ego.

“Tell me—what other option do you have?”

I bit my lip, holding back a sob. He wasn’t going to see me cry. Not now.

He stood from his desk, and I nearly ogled his impressive physique, his muscles taut beneath his suit.

He stepped around the table and leaned against it.

“Marry me. Be my wife,for six months. Public, contractual, no emotions involved. In return, I’ll pay for her surgery. And maybe… keep your company breathing.”

I was speechless.

I searched his expression and saw he was serious.

“I’ll do it,” I whispered, my pride cracking in two.

He called his secretary and arranged the documents for me to sign.

My hands trembled as the pen skated across the paper.

I turned back and caught the diabolical smile on his lips. I turned away, and the tears I’d been holding back fell like rain.

I knew what this was.

He was going to manipulate, humiliate, and use me for six months.

This was his perfect revenge.

And I had just signed up for it.