“Get up! both of you!” Mrs Everstone shouted. Cole and Adam turned towards their mom. “Let’s get out of here!” she barked as she walked off.

Her heels clicked against the marble floor, the whole party fell into silence. Evelyn could hear her heart pounding in her ears. She knew her dad wouldn’t let her hear the end of this.

Just then, the door swung open and a man in a black suit rushed through the crowd. “Ma’am, we’ve got to talk to you. Something urgent came up.” He rushed out once he was in front of her.

Mrs. Everstone’s head snapped up. “Can’t you see I’m in the middle of something?”

“I’m sorry ma’am,” the man said. “But we need to discuss it now.”

She took a deep breath, scanning the guests around them, then finally said, “Fine. Let’s go into the restroom.”

Her eyes darted to her guards. “You, you, and you, make sure no one enters. If anyone even dares to step close, you’re fired.”

“Yes, ma’am,” they chorused in unison.

Evelyn sat frozen, unsure whether to breathe or enter the ground. Her father was so angry.

Mrs. Everstone, Cole, Adam, and the suited man disappeared through the restroom door. The second the door closed, Evelyn’s father rounded on her.

“I see you know Cole Everstone.”

“Urm.. yes… I know him,” she stuttered, “well, sort of, actually…”

“Oh my God, Evie!” he hissed. “You slept with two brothers?” His voice rose sharply, catching the attention of half the room.

Her heart dropped. “No! I didn’t! And I didn’t even know they were brothers!”

“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” he snapped, slamming his palm on the table. “Is this how you go around? Sleeping with random men? For God’s sake, those are her sons!”

Evelyn’s voice cracked, her eyes widening. “I— I had no idea they were—”

“It doesn’t matter!” he roared, cutting her off. The room had gone silent around them, every pair of eyes was now locked on them.

Her father’s chest rose and fell heavily as he glared at her, his voice dropping to a low, seething tone. “Do you have any idea what you’ve just done? We’ve lost the merger because of you.”

Evelyn flinched, her throat tightening. “Dad, please, I didn’t—”

He shook his head. “So, this is what you do behind my back? You’d rather throw yourself at random men instead of trying to secure a future? You’d rather chase flings than give those responsible billionaires a chance?”

Her eyes stung. “No dad!” She blurted, “I didn’t sleep with Cole!” she said desperately. “We only… we only kissed!”

Her father let out a harsh laugh. “Oh, and that’s supposed to make everything better?”

Tears welled up at the corners of her eyes. “It wasn’t supposed to happen like that. I didn’t even know who he really was. He.. he lied to me!”

“Of course he did!” her father snapped. “And you believed him, like a naive little girl!”

“I thought—”

“You thought what, Evelyn? That you could flirt your way into a partnership deal? That’s what you’ve reduced yourself to?”

Her lip trembled. “No.”

Her father’s expression softened for half a second, but then hardened again. “I raised you to be an independent woman, but now we’re the laughingstock of every investor in this city.”

Evelyn swallowed hard, her vision blurring. “Dad, please. I didn’t mean to ruin anything. I swear I didn’t.”

“Just eat your food,” her dad gritted his teeth. “And stop begging,” he muttered through his clenched teeth, suddenly self conscious of the many eyes staring at them.

###

“Do you two have any idea what you’ve just done?” Mrs. Everstone shouted.

Cole swallowed and looked at his brother. “He started it.”

Adam snorted. “Oh, please. You walked in there pretending to be someone you’re not, what did you expect?”

“Enough!” Her voice cracked as she shouted. “You’ve both turned a multimillion-dollar evening into a scandal!”

Brent cleared his throat softly. “Ma’am, there’s… another issue.”

She turned her glare to him. “What now?”

“It’s Helios,” he said. “They saw the footage.”

Cole’s head snapped up. “What footage?”

Brent hesitated. “Someone recorded the entire dinner fight on their phone. The shouting, the—uh—revelation about… Evelyn. It’s online. Already trending.”

Mrs. Everstone froze. “No. No no no,” she shook her head.

He nodded grimly. “And Helios’s board issued a statement ten minutes ago. They’re reviewing the partnership, citing ‘concerns about reputational alignment.’”

For a moment, no one breathed. Adam looked at Cole, then back at his mom.

She exhaled slowly, “that deal,” she said quietly, “is what’s keeping this family from drowning.”

Adam frowned. “I thought we were fine financially—”

“You thought wrong!” She snapped. “Helios is our last chance. Without them, every bank we owe will come for blood.”

Cole stepped closer, his eyes darting between his mom and Adam. “We have to fix it.”

She looked at him in the mirror. “Oh, we will. Starting now.”

Brent shifted uneasily. “The problem is the narrative, ma’am. The story going around isn’t flattering.”

“Well tell me, what’s the story saying?” she asked impatiently.

“That Evelyn Hunter was sleeping with both Everstone sons to get her father’s company merged into yours.”

Adam smirked. “Well—”

“Don’t start,” Cole growled.

Mrs. Everstone’s expression hardened. “Then we change the story.” Her face suddenly lit up.

She turned to Cole fully now. “You. You’re the older one. The heir.”

“What exactly do you want me to do?” Cole asked.

“I need you to make the world believe she’s not sleeping around,” she said. “Make her look respectable and loyal. Tell them you’re both engaged, that she met Adam many years ago before she even met you.”

Adam snapped his head up. “You can’t be serious.”

Cole stiffened. “You want me to pretend to date her?”

Mrs. Everstone looked him dead in the eye. “No, darling.” She shook her head. “I want you to make her your fiancée. Do it tonight if you can.”

Adam laughed bitterly. “Perfect. Let the woman who slept with me marry my brother.”

Cole turned sharply. “You shut your damn mouth.”

“Or what? You’ll fight me again?”

“Enough! The both of you!” She shouted again. “You will do exactly as I say, or I swear on your father’s name, you’ll both lose everything you have right now. Do you understand?”

“Yes mum.” Cole answered while Adam nodded reluctantly.

“Good,” she forced a smile, smoothed her hair, exhaled, and said coolly. “Brent, get me our PR team. We’re announcing their engagement before midnight.”

###

Evelyn hadn’t slept. Her eyes burned from staring at the glow of her phone, she’d been refreshing one cruel headline after another.

“Heiress Between Two Brothers: The Scandal That Shook Hunter Holdings.”

“Who Is Evelyn Hunter, and Why Is She Playing the brothers?”

Her name was everywhere — on gossip blogs, investor feeds, and finance bulletins that should’ve been writing about the market, not her personal life.

She curled up on the couch, her knees tucked under her silk robe, clutching a mug of untouched coffee.

When the doorbell rang, her heart stuttered.

She ignored it the first time. But then it rang again. The third ring was firmer. It was obvious someone knew she was inside and wasn’t leaving until she answered.

Evelyn dragged herself up and opened the door.

Cole stood in front of her. “You didn’t call,” he stated simply.

Evelyn tried to stand taller, to find some composure. “I’ve had a few… distractions.”

Cole’s gaze flicked over her, from her rumpled robe to the sleepless circles under her eyes. He stepped inside without invitation, bringing the scent of his cologne in with him.

“It’s been over twenty-four hours,” he said, setting his phone on the counter and looking around the apartment with disgust in his eyes. “You never gave me an answer.”

She blinked. “You came here to talk about that? After what happened last night?”

“Yes.” He didn’t hesitate. “Because what happened last night made this offer more necessary than ever.”

Evelyn let out a short, humorless laugh. “Necessary? You think me humiliating myself in front of your mother, in front of half the city, makes a fake marriage necessary?”

He turned toward her slowly, his expression infuriatingly calm. “I think it makes survival necessary for both of us.

Cole placed a folder on her coffee table. The same folder from the night he’d first offered her the contract.

“Three months,” he said. “That’s all I’m asking. Three months as my wife.”

She stepped back. “You can’t be serious.”

“I’m completely serious.” His voice was quiet. “You need this, Evelyn. Your father’s company is collapsing by the hour. Investors are pulling out and your stocks are crashing. The scandal has spread faster than your PR team can delete posts.”

Her hands curled into fists. “That’s because your brother couldn’t keep his mouth shut!”

Cole didn’t flinch. “And I can fix that.”

He leaned forward, resting his hands on the back of her sofa. “You sign this, and I go public immediately. I’ll tell the press you’re my fiancée — that you’ve been my girlfriend since college. That you met Adam years ago, before either of us knew about each other. That this entire thing was a misunderstanding.”

She stared at him. “You’d lie like that? Just to fix your merger?”

He looked at her. “To fix both our names. You get your reputation back. I get my company’s deal back. Your father gets his investors back. Everyone wins.”

Evelyn shook her head. “You don’t understand. Everyone already thinks I’m some sort of sl—”

She stopped herself before saying the word.

Cole’s jaw tightened. “They’re thinking wrong,” he stared into her eyes softly. They don’t know you like I do Evelyn.” He closed the distance between them and took her hands into his. Then gently pressing her hand on his palm he said; “but they’ll keep thinking it unless you do something about it.”

Her throat tightened. “Why are you doing this?” she asked quietly. “You don’t even like me.”

He hesitated, and something unreadable flickered in his eyes. “Because I don’t like watching someone be destroyed for something they didn’t do.”

Her lips parted.

He straightened, buttoning his suit jacket again, as if he wanted to seal away whatever emotion had slipped out. “You have until tonight to decide.”

“Tonight?” she repeated.

“Yes.” He reached the door before stopping. “If I go to your father first, you already know what he’ll say.”

She already knew what would happen, her father wouldn’t even blink before saying yes.

Cole looked back at her one last time. “Don’t take too long, Evelyn. You’re already running out of choices.”