Married to My Bestie's Brother

No need to clock in tomorrow. Bring your ID and come with me to City Hall. My ruthless billionaire boss, forever clad in a bespoke suit, pushed an unlimited black AmEx card across the desk toward me.

He was my best friend's brother, and he seemingly couldn't stand the sight of me.

Play the role of my wife, he demanded.

The money on that card could wipe out my massive debts in a heartbeat.

I agreed without missing a beat.

Deal.

After the wedding, I treated him like thin air, spending my days eating, drinking, and partying all over the city with his sister.

Finally, one day, he pinned me firmly against the corner wall. His warm, dangerously possessive breath ghosted against my ear.

"Wifey, are you really going to keep starving me like this?"

Excuse me?

Chapter 1

Right after I decided to quit my grueling city job and move back to my hometown to just lie flat and exist, my best friend Stella flew out to New York to rescue me. II hadn't even finished wrapping up my projects before I was shoved onto the private jet she sent.

The filthy rich princess and her corporate slave bestie.

"You should have quit and come back ages ago. You have no idea how bored I get at home all by myself. It's so much better now that you're here to keep me company!" Stella threw her arms around me, practically vibrating with excitement.

For the entire flight, she whined in my ear about how lonely her pampered princess life had been during the two years I spent grinding away up North.

"Let go of my arm. Let me hit send on this resume first, then you can hug me," I said, shooting her a mock-stern glare.

She grumbled under her breath and loosened her death grip on my arm.

I called it moving home to "lie flat," but reality check I was just switching locations to be a corporate drone. Bills needed paying. I still had to hunt for a job.

Right after the email swooshed into the sent folder, Stella leaned over my screen. "Wait, isn't that my brother's company? What position are you applying for? I'll drop him a text."

I stared at her, deadpan.

What's it like having the daughter of the state's wealthiest tycoon as your best friend? I wanted to weep tears of pure frustration.

You could have said that earlier, and I wouldn't have spent three hours formatting this stupid resume!

Just like that, I smoothly sailed into a role at her brother Gideon's company. Stella definitely pulled some strings, because my workload was almost suspiciously light. I clocked out on the dot every single day, heading straight out to meet her.

She dragged me to all the hottest spots in town for drinks and dinners. Half the time, we'd crash her massive estate to eat incredible dishes whipped up by her family's staff.

Used to surviving on discounted microwave TV dinners, being fed top-tier, flown-in Maine lobster and A5 Wagyu beef every day by a private chef gave me a dizzying, intoxicating sense of class ascension.

"Cleo, the two years you were gone, I completely failed to vibe with those snobby socialite girls. We had nothing in common," Stella said, handing me a paper plate. "You're the best. Only you would actually eat from a street taco truck with me."

She shoved a couple of tacos toward me. "Yours. No hot salsa."

"Thanks, princess."

"Stop teasing me," she sighed, taking a bite. "Oh, by the way, if you see my brother at the office lately, avoid him like the plague. We had a massive fight."

"Huh?" Honestly, I had been working there for nearly a month and hadn't even caught a glimpse of Gideon.

"All I did was agree with Mom and nag him a bit to bring a girlfriend home, and he lost his mind. He froze several of my credit cards! With that trash temper of his, it's a miracle if any woman actually likes him."

"And honestly, if he ends up finding a wife with the exact same toxic attitude, I'm going to lose it," Stella complained, rolling her eyes.

"I haven't even met your brother yet. He probably doesn't know who I am, right?" I sucked in a sharp breath.

Crap. What if he took his anger out on me and made my life a living hell at work?

I was terrified of toxic corporate culture and gaslighting bosses, but I had bills to pay. I needed to survive. If I hadn't been broken by the soul-crushing commute and endless unpaid overtime in New York, I never would have moved back here.

"You'll meet him sooner or later. Just steer clear for now. When it comes to work, my brother is a hundred times more ruthless than he is in real life."

I nodded immediately, silently swearing a blood oath to never, ever cross paths with him.

Chapter 2

I jinxed myself.

The very next day after making that blood oath, I got caught dead to rights swiping my badge at the exact second my shift started.

It was all Stella's fault. She insisted on dragging me out for drinks, and after downing way too many cocktails, I passed out hard. When I woke up, I threw on the first wrinkled outfit I could find and sprinted to the office.

I slammed my badge against the security scanner. A green light flashed with exactly two seconds to spare. I let out a heavy breath. Perfect attendance bonus, secured.

"Barely on time and looking disheveled. Which department are you in?"

A deep, overwhelmingly oppressive male voice drifted from behind me. I stiffly turned my head and crashed straight into a pair of dark, ruthless eyes. The cold, crisp scent of cedarwood cologne instantly enveloped me. It was a face that was dangerously aggressive, devastatingly handsome, and lethal.

"Admin"

"Admin, and you show up looking like a complete mess? Have you even glanced at the employee handbook?"

"I'm sorry. I'll go fix myself up right now."

"Name."

My lungs seized. Stella's warning from last night echoed in my skull. Oh my god. Is this her psycho brother?

"Cleo."

"New hire?"

"Been here a month."

"Got it."

Got what? I stared at his broad back in total confusion as he strode toward the executive suite.

I was so dead. That was definitely Stella's psycho brother. And he definitely knew I was his sister's nepotism-hire bestie. I smacked my forehead, wanting to disappear into the floorboards.

Because of Gideon's lethal glare, my nerves were shot for the rest of the day. I stared at the clock, counting down the agonizing seconds until my shift ended.

The exact second five o'clock hit, I bolted out of the office, terrified of running into him again. The moment I stepped into the lobby, I saw Stella waiting for me.

"Cleo, babe! Our private chef said she's making a massive seafood spread tonight! Your favorite!"

"Let's go, let's go, we're eating at my place. Her pan-seared sea bass is literally to die for!"

She looped her arm through mine, but I dug my heels in.

"Going to your place are we gonna run into your brother?"

"What happened? Did he yell at you?" Stella's bubbly demeanor vanished, instantly turning dead serious.

"No, no, nothing like that"

"Relax. Ever since that fight we had about him finding a girlfriend, he hasn't stepped foot in the house. He's been staying at his penthouse downtown."

"Okay, good. Good." Hearing that Gideon wouldn't be there, the tight knot in my chest finally loosened.

"Come on, let's go. The chef wanted me to ask if you're craving anything else. She can make pretty much whatever."

"I just want a massive Caesar salad and a green detox juice. I feel so bloated after all those greasy tacos yesterday"

"Done and done!"

Later, right as I was stuffing my face in Stella's massive dining room, the front door clicked open.

Gideon walked in.

My fork froze halfway to my mouth, and I locked eyes directly with him.

His gaze swept indifferently over Stella and me as we happily ate. Without a single change in his icy expression, he turned and headed straight upstairs.

Stella's parents were vacationing in Europe, and Gideon lived at his penthouse. Stella had this massive estate all to herself. Neither of us expected him to actually show up here.

We exchanged a wide-eyed look across the table and immediately shoved our faces back into our plates, abandoning the spicy gossip we were just talking about.

Dead silence.

[I swear to God I had no idea he was coming back.]

[Is it too late for me to make a run for it?]

[Chill. The uninvited one is the third wheel. He's the extra one here.]

We sat there, aggressively tapping on our screens under the table, texting each other in complete silence.

Chapter 3

Right in the middle of our silent, frantic texting, Gideon walked down the sweeping staircase.

"Playing on your phones at the dinner table. Have you completely forgotten your manners?" His familiar, icy tone sliced through the room. I didn't dare look up.

"Thirty-two and still no girlfriend. Have you completely forgotten your manners?" Stella shot back without missing a beat.

A choked snort escaped my lips. I swear I have solid self-control, but that caught me off guard.

Gideon's face darkened instantly. He slammed a stack of documents onto the dining table. His long, elegant fingers tapped aggressively against the polished mahogany. He shot a lethal glare at Stella, then turned his dark eyes on me.

"Cleo, right? Bring these files to my office before ten tomorrow morning."

"" I shot Stella a desperate, pleading look. She deliberately avoided my eyes.

My phone buzzed twice in my lap.

[Sorry, Cleo babe. I need to keep my mouth shut. If I piss him off again, we'll only be able to afford the bargain-bin male strippers for our next Vegas trip.]

[Stay strong, queen! Take the hit for me!]

""

The next morning, I cautiously carried the thick stack of files into Gideon's sprawling executive suite. He wasn't there. Instead, a drop-dead gorgeous woman with a killer figure was lounging on his custom leather sofa, scrolling on her phone.

If I had to guess, this was the girlfriend. Any woman who could casually hang out in the ruthless boss's office had to be a VIP.

I flashed her a polite, entirely professional smile, neatly stacked the files on Gideon's massive desk, and turned on my heel, ready to sprint out of there.

But she called out, stopping me in my tracks. "Hey. Do you know where Gideon went?"

I shook my head blankly. Not only did I not know, but I was aggressively praying he wouldn't show up right this second.

Anyone dropping Gideon's first name so casually was way out of my league. Probably his girlfriend.

Operating on the basic survival instinct of 'never piss off the boss's inner circle,' I kept my tone neutral. "I'm just here to drop off some paperwork. I'm not sure where he is. You might just have to wait a bit."

"Fine."

I nodded, silently thanking the universe that the boss's girl hadn't given me a hard time, and practically speed-walked toward the glass double doors.

Of course, my luck is actual garbage.

I stepped out and slammed face-first into a solid, muscle-packed wall of a chest coming right around the corner.

I gripped the doorframe, my heart hammering wildly against my ribs, trying to steady my shot nerves. I stared at Gideon, my brain short-circuiting.

He stared down at me, his jaw tightly clenched, not saying a single word. The oppressive silence was suffocating.

I forced myself to break the tension. "Boss, the files are on your desk. Your girlfriend is waiting for you inside. If there's nothing else, I'm going to head back down."

Gideon's dark eyes narrowed instantly. "Girlfriend?"

"Huh?"

"There is something else. Follow me."

"Wait, what?"

I dragged my feet, awkwardly trailing behind his broad shoulders. He took one step into the office and abruptly stopped dead. I plowed straight into his rock-hard back again. Pain flared sharply across my nose.

"Why did you stop"

"How many times do I have to tell you? Do not look for me, and do not barge into my office." Gideon's icy voice sliced right over my complaint.

Victoria instantly stood up from the leather sofa. She stepped right into his personal space, deliberately leaning in to press her impressive cleavage against his arm.

"Gideon, living abroad was an absolute nightmare. I regret everything. Let's start over."

Gideon looked down at her, his expression violently cold. "Do you honestly think I'm a toy? Something you can throw away and pick back up whenever you feel like it?"

"But you've been single this whole time aren't you just waiting for me? Gideon, I know you still love me. And I'm back now."

Victoria's voice spiked with desperation. She lunged forward to throw her arms around his neck, but Gideon took a sharp, disgusted step back, dodging her touch.

Because he stepped aside, I was left standing directly in the line of fire. Realizing a total stranger had just witnessed her humiliating rejection, Victoria shot me a lethal, venomous glare.

"Why the hell are you still standing here?" she snapped.

""

Trust me, lady. You think I actually want to be here?

Chapter 4

"Victoria, we broke up a long time ago. Keep clinging to me, and it's harassment."

"Gideon, please, just hold me."

Her whiny, sickeningly sweet tone made my stomach churn. I pivoted, ready to slip away during the distraction, but Gideon's large hand clamped down on my wrist.

"Besides, I already have a girlfriend."

Gideon's arm whipped around my waist, yanking me flush against him. He crushed me seamlessly into his broad, rock-hard chest, his grip intensely territorial as he locked me in his embrace.

What the

"Her?" Victoria's voice spiked an octave, dripping with disbelief.

"Her."

Gideon's arm banded even tighter around my waist. My entire body went stiff, paralyzed by the sudden proximity.

"Walk out that door yourself, or I'll have security physically drag you out." His voice was a low, lethal hum that vibrated right through my spine.

I barely dared to breathe. Delivering a stack of papers and getting front-row seats to this massive drama? This was prime gossip material for dinner with Stella tonight. I frantically started drafting the text to her in my head, desperately using the distraction to block out the suffocating, overwhelming alpha energy radiating from Gideon's body pressed against mine.

Realizing Gideon wasn't going to budge, Victoria let out a frustrated huff. She shot me one last venomous glare and finally stormed out, her stilettos clicking sharply against the marble floor.

The heavy glass doors shut. The office plunged into dead silence, leaving only the two of us.

The air instantly thickened. I cleared my throat softly. "She's gone. You can let go of me now."

His grip was iron-tight. Being this flush against a man's chest made my pulse spike. Stella and I might have hired a few male entertainers for our Vegas trips, but they were strictly there to pour shots and look pretty. Despite all our wild talk and open-minded jokes, my actual real-life experience with this kind of intense, suffocating physical intimacy with a guy was essentially zero.

Gideon let out a low cough and finally dropped his arm. "Cleo"

He trailed off. Another deafening, heavy silence stretched between us.

"Take tomorrow off. Bring your ID. We're going to City Hall to get married."

Excuse me? "Are you out of your mind?"

"Sign this marriage contract. In exchange, I will clear every single one of your outstanding debts by the end of the day. Stella's frozen, unlimited black AmEx cards will be transferred to your name. You can swipe them as much as you want."

Wait. A deal like that wasn't a loss at all. The limit on just one of those cards was more money than I could make breaking my back in the corporate world for a lifetime.

"The premise is zero interference in each other's personal lives. But to ensure my parents don't see through the act, you will have to move into my penthouse. I won't micromanage you."

He laid out the terms smoothly, strictly business, like he was closing a massive corporate merger. I just stood there, absorbing the information like a stunned sponge.

I swallowed hard. "I need to think about it."

"Don't discuss this with Stella. She won't agree to it."

""

Damn it, he read my mind.

"Give me your answer by tomorrow."

That afternoon, I faked a migraine and took PTO. I needed to go home and seriously process this insane proposition.

Chapter 5

As absurd as it sounded, I was desperate for the cash. Gideon's offer was basically a custom-made Cleo trap.

I wasn't like Stella. I grew up dirt-poor, scraping by on nothing. My mom passed away early, and my dad was later involved in a severe accident that left him permanently paralyzed, saddling me with astronomical medical bills.

I never really had a home as a kid. I bounced around between reluctant relatives, sleeping on hand-me-down couches and learning to read the room just to survive. I became hyper-vigilant, analyzing every micro-expression and shift in mood around me to keep myself safe.

I met Stella in college while working double shifts as a barista. We clicked because we were from the same hometown, but we lived in different universes. Being around her was a revelationI didn't know a girl could actually be that carefree, that ridiculously happy and oblivious to the world's harshness.

We cemented our ride-or-die status sophomore year when some trash guy scammed her out of ten grand. To get her money back, I chased that loser down five blocks, physically tackled him, and forced him to wire it back.

Ten grand. That was more than my tuition and living expenses combined for four years. No way was I letting some smooth-talking punk walk away with that.

From that day on, Stella looked at me like I was a superhero. She stuck to me like glue, dragging me to VIP clubs and Michelin-star restaurants.

And I went with her, because she was also the girl who would sit silently in the library with me for ten straight hours while I crammed, never uttering a single complaint.

Stella was the real deal. Cleo stamped and approved. (Usually, she said that about me, but right now, I was claiming it.)

After graduation, I headed to New York to hustle. The big city meant bigger paychecks. Stella moved back home and begged me to come with her, but I shot her down. I needed to grind and make enough money to chip away at my dad's medical debt, even if it was a total long shot.

I clawed my way through New York for two brutal years, wiring almost every cent back to the hospital. The breaking point came a few months ago when the doctor called to tell me he was gone.

I didn't break down or shatter. Honestly, I just felt a crushing weight lift off my spine. The suffocating burden was gone, leaving only a mountain of debt in its wake.

My duty was fulfilled. I just wanted to check out and coast, paying off the debt slowly. I told Stella I was coming home to be a corporate nobody.

Being broke was fine; preserving my sanity was the priority. I had suffered for twenty-six years. Year twenty-seven was going to be the year I finally lived for Cleo.

Which was exactly why Gideon's offer was dangerously tempting.

His money would instantly zero out my massive debt, actually giving me a life where I wasn't constantly running on a hamster wheel to survive. Marriage meant absolutely nothing to me anyway.

I had long ago given up the delusion that some epic romance was in the cards for me. And now, I was literally getting paid to tie the knot. Why the hell not?

So, without breathing a word to Stella, I signed the papers to marry her brother.

The next day at City Hall, my brain checked out. I was stuck on a loop, agonizing over how I was going to break the news to Stella. The thought of losing her friendship physically tightened my chest.

I turned to Gideon. "Boss, if Stella finds out and completely loses her mind, what exactly am I supposed to do?"

Gideon didn't answer. He just stood there, staring intently down at the freshly stamped marriage certificate in his hands, engrossed.

Seriously? Is a piece of paper really that fascinating?

Chapter 6

"Boss," I raised my voice.

"Huh yeah?"

"I said, if Stella finds out I married you behind her back and completely loses her mind, what exactly are we going to do?"

"Stella's temper burns hot but fades fast. We definitely can't hide this from her anyway. Tell you what, I'll go with you to see her right now."

Gideon broke it down for me logically. He was right. If I had to face her alone, I wouldn't even know where to start explaining.

The guilt was eating me alive. I felt like a total traitor.

Gideon parked his sleek SUV smoothly in front of his family's massive estate. I shot Stella a quick text telling her I was outside.

She was too good to me. I swear I could cry. The second my text delivered, I saw her waving frantically from her second-story balcony before practically sprinting downstairs.

Seeing how genuine and excited she was to see me made the knot of guilt in my stomach twist even tighter. I had zero idea how to drop this bomb.

I shot Gideon a desperate, pleading look. "Boss, can you please be the one to tell her?"

"We face this together," he replied calmly.

""

Stella burst out the front door, freezing dead in her tracks the second she saw me standing right next to Gideon.

"Cleo? Gideon? What are you guys