Alice's POV
"GET DOWN!"
Miles tackled me to the ground behind a parked car as gunfire exploded around us. The sound was deafening—nothing like movies, nothing like anything I'd ever imagined. Real bullets hitting real metal, shattering real glass.
People screamed. Tires squealed. My heart pounded so hard I thought it might explode.
Miles covered my body with his, one arm wrapped protectively around my stomach—around our baby. "Stay down," he growled. "Don't move."
More gunshots. Then suddenly—sirens. Police sirens, getting closer.
Richard Zhao's men scattered like rats, diving back into their SUVs and peeling away. The whole attack lasted maybe thirty seconds, but it felt like hours.
Miles pulled me up, his hands running over me frantically. "Are you hurt? Did they hit you? The baby—"
"I'm fine," I gasped. "I'm okay. We're okay."
He closed his eyes for a second, relief washing over his face. Then he grabbed my hand. "We need to move. Now. Before they come back."
He led me to his car—that sleek black sedan that looked like it cost more than my entire life. He shoved me into the passenger seat, slammed the door, and peeled away from the curb before I could even buckle my seatbelt.
"Where are we going?" I asked, my voice shaking.
"Somewhere safe." His knuckles were white on the steering wheel. "Somewhere your father's men can't find us."
We drove in silence for ten minutes, taking random turns, doubling back, making sure no one was following. Finally, Miles pulled into an underground parking garage beneath a building so tall I couldn't see the top.
"What is this place?"
"My headquarters." He killed the engine and turned to face me. "We'll be safe here. I own the building. Security is airtight. Nobody gets in without clearance."
I stared at him—this man who'd just saved my life, who'd used his body as a shield, who looked at me like I was something precious. "Who are you really?"
"I told you. Miles Ashford."
"That name doesn't mean anything to me."
He pulled out his phone and showed me a news article. The headline read: "MILES ASHFORD, 29, YOUNGEST BILLIONAIRE CEO IN THE COUNTRY, TAKES ASHFORD GLOBAL TO NEW HEIGHTS."
The photo showed him in a suit, looking powerful and untouchable. Nothing like the broken man who'd sat next to me in that bar.
"Oh my God." I looked from the phone to his face and back again. "You're actually—"
"A billionaire. Yes." He pocketed his phone. "CEO of a multi-billion-dollar company. Forbes 30 Under 30. All the things that don't matter right now."
"Don't matter?" I laughed, but it came out hysterical. "You're one of the richest people in the world, and you're saying it doesn't matter?"
"Not compared to keeping you alive." His eyes burned into mine. "Alice, those men back there? They'll keep coming. Your father won't stop until he has what he wants—revenge, leverage, control. Whatever it takes."
"So what am I supposed to do? Hide forever?" Tears burned my eyes. "Raise our baby in some underground bunker, always looking over my shoulder?"
"No." He reached for my hand. "You marry me."
I froze. "What?"
"Marry me." He said it like it was simple. Like it made perfect sense. "Right now. Today. Let me protect you legally, financially, completely."
"You're insane."
"I'm serious." He pulled me closer. "Alice, if you're my wife, you have access to my security, my resources, my name. The Ashford family is powerful—powerful enough that even Richard Zhao will think twice about touching you. Powerful enough to keep you and our baby safe."
"You don't want to marry me." I pulled my hand away. "You're just doing this because you feel obligated. Because of the baby. Because your mother made you promise—"
"Stop." His voice went hard. "Stop putting words in my mouth."
"Then tell me the truth!" I shouted. "Why would a billionaire CEO want to marry a nobody waitress he spent one night with? This doesn't make sense!"
"You want the truth?" He grabbed my face, forcing me to look at him. "Fine. Here's the truth: I've been searching for you for six years. Since the night my mother died and made me promise to find Helena's daughter. Six years of wondering what you'd be like, what you'd look like, whether you'd survived."
His thumbs brushed my cheeks, wiping away tears I didn't know were falling.
"Then I walked into that bar on the anniversary of the worst night of my life, and there you were. Crying. Broken. Real. And I knew—before I knew your name, before I knew you were pregnant, before any of this—I knew you were the one I'd been searching for."
"Miles—"
"I'm not asking you to marry me because of obligation." His voice dropped to something raw and desperate. "I'm asking because I'm terrified of losing you. Because those thirty seconds of gunfire were the worst thirty seconds of my life. Because when I thought they might hurt you, might hurt our baby, something inside me shattered."
He pressed his forehead to mine, his breathing ragged.
"Marry me, Alice. Not because you have to. Not because it's logical or safe or makes sense. Marry me because I'm standing here begging you to let me love you. To let me protect you. To let me prove that you're not nobody—you're everything."
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. Everything was happening too fast—the gunfire, the revelations, this impossible proposal from an impossible man.
"I don't love you," I whispered.
"I know." He didn't flinch. "I hurt you. Lied to you. Gave you every reason not to trust me. But Alice, I have loved you since the moment you told me your heart was broken and I wanted to fix it. I will spend every day for the rest of my life proving it to you."
"This is crazy."
"Probably." A ghost of a smile. "But so is everything else about us."
He pulled a small box from his pocket—black velvet, clearly expensive. Inside was a ring so beautiful it made my chest hurt. Not huge or flashy, just perfect. A single diamond that caught the parking garage lights and made them look like stars.
"This was my mother's," Miles said softly. "The only thing I kept after she died. I was saving it for someone special. Someone worth everything."
He slid from his seat, actually got down on one knee in that parking garage, and looked up at me with those golden eyes full of desperate hope.
"Alice Chen, will you marry me? Will you let me keep you safe? Will you give me the chance to earn your love?"
Every logical part of my brain screamed no. This was insane. I barely knew him. He was a billionaire, and I was nobody. This couldn't work.
But my hand was already moving to my stomach, protecting the tiny life growing there. The baby that made me a target. The baby that needed protection I couldn't give alone.
And Miles—dangerous, powerful, broken Miles—was offering me everything.
"Okay," I whispered.
His eyes widened. "Okay?"
"Yes." Louder now. "Yes, I'll marry you."
He surged up and kissed me—hard and desperate and real. When he pulled back, his hands were shaking as he slid his mother's ring onto my finger.
It fit perfectly.
"We'll do this today," he said, already pulling out his phone. "I'll call my lawyer. We'll go to the courthouse. Make it legal before Richard can make another move."
"Today?" My head spun. "But—"
"Alice, trust me. Please." He cupped my face. "Just for today. Trust me."
I nodded, even though nothing about this felt real.
Miles made three phone calls in rapid succession—his lawyer, his assistant, his security team. By the time we took the elevator up to his office, everything was arranged. Courthouse at 2 PM. Private judge. Airtight security.
We'd be married in three hours.
The elevator doors opened into a massive office with windows overlooking the entire city. And standing there, waiting for us, was a woman I recognized from the funeral.
"Alice." She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes. "I'm so glad Miles found you. We have so much to discuss."
"Who are you?"
"Linda Martinez," she said. "Your mother's estate executor. I believe we had an appointment today?"
Miles tensed beside me. "How did you get up here?"
"Your assistant let me in. I told him it was urgent." Linda's smile turned sharp. "And it is. You see, there's something in Helena's will that neither of you know about yet. Something that changes everything."
My stomach dropped. "What?"
Linda pulled out a document—thick, official-looking, covered in legal language. "Your mother's inheritance comes with one condition: Alice must marry before claiming it. And not just anyone." Her eyes flicked to Miles. "She must marry the man Helena designated as her guardian."
Miles's face went pale. "No."
"Oh yes." Linda's smile was predatory now. "Helena specified exactly who Alice must marry to receive her inheritance and protection. But here's the twist—it's not you, Mr. Ashford."
The document slipped from her hands to the desk, and I saw the name at the bottom in my mother's handwriting.
Guardian and Required Spouse: Derek Wu.
My ex-boyfriend. The man who betrayed me. The man who destroyed me.
"That's impossible," I whispered.
"It's very real. And legally binding." Linda's voice was cold now, all pretense of friendliness gone. "Marry Derek Wu by midnight tonight, or forfeit everything—the money, the protection, even Miles's ability to keep you safe. You see, your mother's fortune is what funds the security keeping Richard Zhao away. Without it, you're defenseless."
She leaned forward.
"So what's it going to be, Alice? Marry the man you hate to survive? Or marry the man you don't trust and watch your baby die?"