Chapter 3 Any Idea Who You're Talking To

James's assistant hustled after him, nearly tripping over his own feet. "Hold up a second! Do you even know which woman you're supposed to marry? What if you grab the wrong one?"

A few strides into the corridor, James came to an abrupt stop, his jaw set as his attention drifted across the crowded room.

His gaze eventually hooked onto a young woman perched on a bench, a slim cane resting against her knee. A waterfall of glossy hair framed her face, and her plain white dress only made her look softer, almost fragile. She sat with quiet composure-gentle, obedient... and strikingly lovely. Everything he wasn't-wild, volatile, impossible to rein in.

Only a few steps separated them.

James lingered there, studying her with a faint, crooked smirk tugging at his mouth.

Poor thing-completely blind, and still clueless that her fiancé had dumped her off like some unwanted junk.

Leo, rattled by the spectacle James had just unleashed, seized his arm and hauled him toward a quieter corner. "Who told you to pull this stunt? One wrong move and you'll blow everything."

James let out a low, careless chuckle, rolling his shoulders as if none of this concerned him. "Chaos is kind of my signature. I'm tying the knot today-what's a parade of fancy cars to celebrate it? If you're that offended, we can call the whole deal off."

The threat made Leo's face drain. Losing James now would ruin everything. "Alright, alright," he blurted out, lowering his voice. "Just keep your mouth shut once we're inside. Don't say a word while we sign."

The Barnett and Elliott families practically carved up Oranbu between them, ruling nearly eighty percent of the city's economy-and despising each other while doing it.

James had never played by Elliott rules anyway. At twenty-eight, the pressure to settle down had become suffocating, and nothing delighted him more than the idea of bringing home a blind bride just to spite his iron-fisted father.

Leo, on the other hand, saw a way to discard Khloe and humiliate the Elliott family in one beautifully cruel maneuver. It made their partnership disgustingly convenient.

So the agreement had snapped into place with hardly any effort at all.

Khloe settled quietly on the bench, blissfully unaware of the storm swirling around her. When Leo approached, he slipped a hand under her elbow with practiced gentleness, murmuring, "We're the next-let's go."

After leading her forward, he eased her into a chair. A moment later, another figure lowered himself into the seat beside her. Broad shoulders brushed the air above her, and a clean, woody fragrance drifted toward her-strange, unfamiliar.

A faint smile touched her lips.

Whoever this was, it wasn't Leo. Leo was never this tall.

James let his gaze drift toward the petite woman beside him, a crooked smirk forming as he took her in. When that soft smile returned and two small dimples appeared, the unexpected sweetness threw him for a beat.

He lost focus-just a flicker-before catching himself and exhaling a dry, amused breath.

How pathetic! Sold off like nothing, yet she kept right on smiling.

Soon after, they drifted toward the clerk's desk to finish the marriage paperwork.

The three of them settled into the chairs, an odd little trio.

The clerk paused, eyebrows lifting-people didn't usually drag in an extra companion for their marriage registration.

He collected their IDs, tapped the details into his computer, and ran off a stack of forms. A moment later, he slid the papers across the counter for the bride and groom to sign.

Leo guided Khloe's hand to the page, his palm heavy over her knuckles as he eased her fingers toward the signature line. "Right here. And over on this line too," he murmured.

A quiet breath fluttered out of her as Khloe tightened her hold on the pen.

There was no turning back.

Once her name landed on that paper, she would have nothing to do with Leo.

From this moment on, they were essentially strangers walking opposite paths.

James finished scrawling his signature with broad, confident strokes, then flicked the pen onto the desk with a lazy snap of his wrist. He angled a look toward the pair beside him, a faint spark of amusement sliding through his eyes.

Marrying his rival's fiancée? The satisfaction was downright intoxicating.

Worried Khloe might falter, Leo eased her hand downward again, his voice soft but insistent. "Go on and sign. Once this is done, we're good. I'll bring you home."

Khloe released a small, almost weightless laugh, her tension dissolving at last.

As if accepting everything in one quiet breath, she guided the pen with steady, deliberate strokes, placing her name exactly where it needed to be.

When the clerk passed over the freshly certified document, Leo snatched it up with eager hands and slid it into the inner pocket of his blazer. "I'll keep this safe. Stay here-I'll bring the car around."

James lingered a few steps away, one hand buried in his pocket as he watched Leo jog off in excitement.

A sudden, dry chuckle burst out of him, edged with disbelief.

Was he for real? It was nothing more than a sheet of paper, yet he acted like he'd just snagged first place in a lottery.

His attention shifted back to the petite woman at his side.

She stood still with her cane resting against her palm, her composed expression carrying a faint, lonely quiet that tugged at something he didn't like to acknowledge.

For a man who prided himself on being hard and unsentimental, the reaction annoyed him.

Yet staring at this blind, unsuspecting woman, a thin thread of sympathy slipped through anyway.

He was supposed to keep his mouth shut for twenty-four hours-Leo's one condition-just until the wedding ceremony ended tonight.

But honestly? This was him. An unruly heir had never been good at following rules, much less honoring promises he didn't care about.

With a soft clear of his throat, he leaned subtly her way.

"So," he inquired, voice dropping into an easy drawl. "Any idea who you're talking to?"