It was 3 AM on a Tuesday when Sophia's water broke.
She woke Ethan up by shaking his shoulder. "We need to go to the hospital. Now."
He went from asleep to fully alert in seconds. He grabbed the hospital bag they'd prepared. He helped her into clothes. He called the car service and informed them they were coming down in five minutes.
By the time they got to the hospital, Sophia was having steady contractions. The baby had decided to come three weeks early.
"The baby's healthy," the doctor assured them. "Just eager to meet you both."
Eighteen hours later, after a labor that made Sophia want to kill Ethan several times before also not kill him, they had a daughter.
A perfect, tiny, utterly miraculous daughter.
Ethan was crying. Actually, genuinely crying as he held their baby for the first time.
"She's so small," he whispered.
"That's a baby for you," Sophia said from the hospital bed, exhausted and happy and overwhelmed and in love.
They named her Elena. After Ethan's grandmother and Sophia's mother. She had Sophia's dark eyes and Ethan's strong jawline. She was absolutely perfect.
"I've never been so terrified in my entire life," Ethan admitted that first night, sitting in the hospital room chair with Elena sleeping on his chest.
"Welcome to parenthood," Sophia said.
"How do we not ruin her?"
"I think that's the question every parent asks." Sophia smiled. "We're going to screw up. We're going to make mistakes. But as long as we keep loving her and loving each other, I think we'll be okay."
They brought Elena home to the penthouse, which they'd transformed from a luxury apartment into a home. The nursery was ready. The bedroom had been rearranged to fit a bassinet next to their bed. Ethan had installed safety locks on every cabinet.
The first few weeks were chaos and exhaustion and completely overwhelming. Sophia wasn't sleeping more than two hours at a time. Ethan's hair got long because he didn't have time for haircuts. They both existed in a fog of diapers and feedings and trying to figure out what a baby's different cries meant.
But it was also magic.
Watching Ethan hold Elena while she slept. Hearing him sing badly off-key lullabies. Seeing the way he looked at their daughter like she was the most precious thing in the world.
One night, at 4 AM, while they were both awake with Elena, Sophia said, "I can't believe we made a person."
"We're pretty good at it too," Ethan said.
"So far. She might turn into a teenager and ruin everything."
"Probably. But at least we'll face it together."
He bent down and kissed her. It was gentle and sweet and full of all the feelings that words couldn't quite express.
By month three, they'd found their rhythm. Ethan had hired a nanny to help during the day so Sophia could do some work and get sleep. They split nighttime feedings. They figured out how to be parents without completely losing themselves in the process.
Sophia went back to some office work. Ethan had been handling her company with his trusted team, but she needed to be present. She needed to feel like herself, not just a mother and wife.
"I'm going to bid on Techvision," Ethan told her one evening while Elena napped. "Final offer tomorrow."
"Okay," Sophia said. "But if you do, I'm going to try to acquire that hotel chain you've been looking at."
"The one worth three times what Techvision is worth?"
"The very same."
Ethan smiled. "Ready to be rivals again?"
"I never stopped."
"Me either," he admitted. "I like this better though. Competing with you while knowing I get to come home to you and our daughter at the end of the day. That makes it feel like we're both winning."
"That's actually really sweet, Blake."
"I have my moments."
They did both make their moves. Ethan acquired Techvision. Sophia ended up in a bidding war for the hotel chain and won. They'd both made smart business moves. They'd both won. And somehow, that made their life together stronger, not weaker.
Because they were competing at work but building something real at home.
Three months after Elena was born, Ethan asked Sophia an important question.
"I want to legally adopt Elena," he said. "I mean, I'm raising her. I'm her father. But I want it to be official. I want her to have my name legally. If that's okay with you."
Sophia looked at him, this man who was her enemy and her husband and her partner, and said yes.
The adoption was finalized before Elena's first birthday. In some legal sense, Ethan Blake had always been her father. But now it was official in every way that mattered.
On Elena's first birthday, they threw a small party. Just family and close friends. Elena was fascinated by the cake and made a mess. Ethan took a million pictures. Sophia watched them both and felt like her heart might burst from happiness.
This wasn't the life she'd planned. This wasn't what either of them had expected when they signed that contract marriage.
But it was exactly what they both needed.
**What would come next in their lives together?**