Chapter 1: The Expiring ContractThe rain lashed against the floor-to-ceiling windows of the penthouse, *lurring the skyline into a mosaic of fractured light. Ava Carson stared at the em*ossed **rriage certificate on her desk, her thum* tracing the expiration **te: July 15, 2025—the same **y as the storm outside."Ms. Carson?" Her assistant’s voice crackled through the intercom. "Mr. Grayson requests your presence in the *oardroom."Ava’s hand hovered over the divorce papers she’d drafted that morning. Three years of **rriage in e***ange for her sister’s leukemia tre***ent. A contract that had *ound her to Julian Grayson, CEO of Grayson Phar**ceuticals, a **n who’d *uilt his empire on cold efficiency.The *oardroom was silent when she entered. Julian sat at the head of the ta*le, his tailored