My phone suddenly vibrated frantically as a series of texts from Mia popped up on the screen.

"Holy crap! Liam's assistant just contacted me. They want to track the IP address of your throwaway account! I managed to deflect it for you, but your husband is actually pissed!"

I scrambled to lock my screen, but Liam caught my wrist in a tight grip.

He glanced across the screen, a dark undercurrent swirling in his eyes. "So it was a calculated prank all along?"

"I just wanted to know if you actually cared!" The words burst out of me in sheer desperation, but a second later, he pinched my chin.

"It's my fault for making you feel insecure all this time." His fingertips brushed across my lips. "Do you know now? How much I care."

---

The air inside the car practically froze solid.

Mia's texts had acted like a bomb, blowing our hard-earned romantic tension completely to pieces.

"I—" Just as I opened my mouth to explain myself, his phone rang.

Catching sight of the name "Brandon Reed" on the screen, Liam's gaze instantly turned cold. He let go of me to answer the call.

"Father wants to see you. Now."

The man's voice carried a blatant sneer, filled with utter disdain. "Bring that little trophy wife of yours with you. Come to the family estate in half an hour."

The line went dead. In the silence of the dial tone, I could hear my heart beating non-stop.

"Don't be scared." Liam buckled my seatbelt for me and stepped on the gas. The moment he did, I grabbed his sleeve.

"The contract didn't say anything about meeting your parents!"

"It does now." He wrapped his hand around mine, his palm burning hot. "Full performance, Mrs. Reed."

When the ornate iron gates opened, I almost bit my tongue.

The villa was brightly lit. A butler bowed and pulled open the car door. I lost my footing and almost stumbled, but Liam caught me securely by the waist.

"Stop shaking," he whispered, his hot breath brushing past my earlobe. "What you should be thinking about right now is how to make them believe we are a real couple."

I glared at him, but let out a sharp breath the second we stepped into the foyer.

The middle-aged man sitting in the armchair in the center of the living room looked seventy percent like Liam. On the couch to the right, a young man was idling with a lighter.

It was Brandon, a regular face in financial magazines.

"I heard you've been trying to acquire land in the eastern district lately?"

Harold set down his teacup. The porcelain hit the rosewood table with a dull clack.

"Brandon settled that project last month, yet you just had to meddle? Did everything I taught you go straight down the drain?"

Liam's jaw tightened, but a relaxed smile remained on his face.

"Brandon's quote was thirty percent below market value. I was just worried word would get out that the Reeds exploit their business partners."

"Bullshit!"

Brandon snapped to his feet, his face turning an ugly shade.

"Why don't we let our sister-in-law weigh in? I heard Nina recently started working as a secretary at Liam's company, so she must be familiar with the real estate market."

Suddenly getting called out, I glanced over at Brandon. I caught a fleeting glimpse of his phone screen, and my eyes locked onto the photo on it. It was the exact picture I had sent to Liam.

Blood instantly rushed to my head, and a cold shiver ran down my spine. It turned out a photo I sent to Liam as a prank was already in someone else's hands.

"I really don't know anything about real estate," I said. Once I snapped back to reality, I heard my own voice coming out sugary sweet. "But I do know that results matter more than office politics. As long as it benefits the Reeds, it doesn't matter who gets it done."

Amid the absolute silence in the room, Harold's expression remained completely unreadable.