SACRIFICE 2

SACRIFICE 2
~JAMES'S POV

Home - 2 AM

I sit in my study surrounded by Marcus's evidence. Proof of Elena's lies. Documentation of the conspiracy. Truth that should matter but won't save her.

My phone shows zero messages not even from Anna.

But I won't have twenty-seven days.

In seven hours, I face the board. Either I marry Elena, or they destroy Anna's future.

I pull up her photos on my phone. Anna laughing at her birthday dinner, golden in candlelight. Anna in the theater, transformed into the princess she was born to play. Anna walking away three nights ago, choosing herself even as it shattered us both.

"I'm not small anymore, James. And I won't be made small again."

No. She's strong and brave and deserving of a life without scandal.

I close Marcus's files. The evidence doesn't matter if using it destroys what I'm trying to protect.

Tomorrow I'll face them all. Harrison with his ultimatums. Elena with her lies. The board with their judgment.

And I'll do what I have to do.

The house creeps and settles around me. Somewhere in the city, Anna sleeps safely at Daisy's apartment. Protected. Free from all of this.

For now.

I close my eyes and see her face that last night. The pain when I said I'd do "the right thing." The determination when she turned away.

She asked me to fight for her.

This is how I fight.

Even if she never understands why.

\---

9 AM - The Boardroom

I push open the heavy mahogany doors.

Eight faces turn toward me. Harrison at the head of the table, looking satisfied. Elena beside him, hand resting on her stomach. Six board members arranged like a firing squad.

"James." Harrison slides two documents across the polished surface. "Marriage contract. Merger agreement. Both require your signature."

I don't sit. Don't touch the papers yet.

"Let me be clear about your options," he continues. "Sign both documents. Announce your engagement to Elena at noon today. Wedding scheduled for sixty days from now. Santos merger proceeds. You remain CEO." He pauses for effect. "And Anna Chen's name never gets mentioned publicly. She stays completely anonymous."

"Option two?"

Harrison opens a folder. The surveillance photos spill out across the table. Anna and me at dinner. At the gala. In my car. Innocent moments that will be twisted into something ugly.

"We vote to remove you as CEO. Effective immediately. Then Elena holds her press conference with every photo we have." He checks his watch with deliberate calm. "Anna's face would be on every tabloid and news site by dinner tonight. You know exactly what headlines they'll write."

I do. "Groomed by Her Guardian." "The Inappropriate Relationship." "How Long Has This Been Going On?"

They'd destroy her.

"So marry me," Elena says softly, almost gently. "Or watch her burn."

I look at the marriage contract. Sixty days minimum. A wedding built on lies and blackmail.

But Anna stays safe. Anonymous. Free to build her theater career without this scandal following her forever.

She asked me to fight for her. To choose her.

This is me choosing her.

Even if she never knows it.

I pick up the pen.

"One condition," I say. "Anna's name is never mentioned. Not in press releases. Not in merger documents. Not anywhere. Or this deal is off."

Harrison and Elena exchange glances.

"Agreed," Elena says. "As long as you cooperate fully."

I sign.

Each stroke of the pen feels like a betrayal. Like I'm signing away my soul. But it's the only way to protect her.

Harrison collects the papers with obvious satisfaction. "The announcement goes out at noon. Press conference at one. I suggest you look happy, James. You're about to become a father and a husband."

The words taste like poison.

Elena stands, smoothing her dress. "You should call her. Anna. Tell her yourself before she sees it on the news."

My stomach turns. "I know."

"Make her believe you chose me. That this is real, that you want this." Elena's smile is sharp as glass. "If she thinks you're protecting her, she'll try to stop it. Better she believes you moved on. That the baby and your responsibility mattered more than your feelings for her."

I want to tell her to go to hell. But she's right. If Anna knows this is a sacrifice, she'll fight it. And fighting means exposure, means exactly what I'm trying to prevent.

The boardroom empties. Papers filed. My life sold to the highest bidder.

I stand alone in the empty room and pull out my phone.

Forty-seven missed calls to Anna over the past three days.

Now I have to make the forty-eighth.

The one that breaks everything.

I check my watch: 11:32 AM.

Twenty-eight minutes until the announcement goes live across every news platform.

Twenty-eight minutes to call Anna and lie to her face.

Twenty-eight minutes until she learns I've chosen someone else.

My finger hovers over her name in my contacts.

I dial.

It rings. Once. Twice. Three times.

Please don't answer. Please just let it go to voicemail so I don't have to hear your voice break—

She answers on the fourth ring.

"James?"

God. Her voice. Careful. Guarded. Still somehow hoping despite everything.

"Anna." Her name cracks in my throat. "I need to tell you something before you see it on the news."

Silence stretches between us. Then: "What?"

"I'm announcing my engagement to Elena. Today. At noon."

I hear her breath catch. Sharp and painful.

"We're getting married. In sixty days. Before the baby comes." Each word is broken glass in my mouth. "I'm choosing to be a father to my child, Anna. I'm choosing responsibility."

"You're..." Her voice is so small. "You're choosing her."

"I'm choosing to do the right thing."

"Two days." She's barely whispering now. "It's been two days since I left."

"I know."

"And you've made up your mind."

"Anna, I need you to understand—"

The line goes dead.

She hung up.

I stand in the empty boardroom, phone pressed to my ear like I can still hear her breathing through the silence.

I didn't get to tell her it's to save her. That every photo Elena has would destroy her future. That every headline would follow her forever. That I'd rather she hate me for the rest of my life than watch her world burn because of me.

I didn't get to explain.

My watch shows 11:45 AM.

Fifteen minutes until the world learns I'm marrying Elena Santos.

And Anna thinks I chose someone else after two days. Thinks the baby mattered more. Thinks I moved on from sixteen years of loving her in forty-eight hours.

Twenty-seven days left of the thirty she asked for.

But they won't matter now.

Somewhere across the city, Anna is crying. Hating me. Believing the worst of me.

And I can't tell her the truth.

Not for sixty days.

Not until after the fake wedding.

Not until Elena's threats have passed and Anna is truly safe.

Even if by then, forgiveness will be impossible.

I've saved her.

And lost her.

Both at the same time.

Some sacrifices don't look like love.

They look like betrayal.

And sometimes the greatest act of love is becoming the villain in someone else's story.

Even when it destroys you both.