Chapter 120 The Proposal #3
And then, her eyes drifted to the corner of her desk - landing squarely on the stack of final notice letters, the cold loan rejections from institutional banks, and the lease expiration notice for the Dumbo warehouse space.
The clock was ticking down to zero. Next week, her dream would be permanently handed over to a commercial retail developer because the corporate world deemed an independent female artist "too risky."
Carlos possessed the liquid power to erase that threat with a single stroke of a pen. He could guarantee her legacy. All he required in exchange was her signature on a marriage license.
It was a total lie, a fraudulent business model that would instantly place her on the front lines of a lethal family war. It meant actively helping the rogue cousin target her best friend's husband.
Teresa set the business card back down, her fingers shaking as she snatched up her phone. She rapidly scrolled through her contacts until Celina’s name filled the screen, her thumb hovering precariously over the dial icon.
She knew she should press it. She should call her best friend right now, confess the absolute madness of Carlos's café proposal, and seek her counsel before executing a move of this magnitude.
But even as her thumb trembled above the glass, Teresa knew with an absolute, crushing certainty exactly what Celina would say:
"Do not sign it, Teresa. Do not get involved with him. Do not dare to place yourself in the crossfire of this family's sins."
And Celina would be entirely, logically right.
It was a catastrophic idea. A dangerous, hyper-complicated, and potentially ruinous gamble that could cost her the only family she had left. But as Teresa looked back at the blank canvas, a sudden, fierce fire erupted in her chest.
What about my dreams? she thought, a bittersweet ache tearing through her. What about the legacy I have bled, starved, and sacrificed everything to build?
Carlos had stood in that café and looked at her like she mattered. Like she was a visionary worth risking his entire corporate future to protect. He wasn't offering her a billionaire's demeaning handout - he was offering her a balanced, high-stakes partnership.
Was she brave enough to play the card? Was she ruthless enough to enter into a fake marriage with a dangerous man she barely knew, simply to guarantee the survival of her soul's work? Was she truly prepared to prioritize her own desperate dreams over her absolute loyalty to Celina?
Teresa closed her eyes tightly, her heart racing at a terrifying velocity as she gripped the edges of her desk. She didn't possess the answer yet. But as the shadows lengthened across her studio floor, she knew the clock was running out. She had to make her choice. and she had to make it soon.
Justin Mason sat behind the massive glass desk of his executive suite, his piercing gaze completely locked onto the confidential investigative dossier resting before him.
The private security team he had deployed had been exceptionally thorough.
Carlos had officially initiated contact with Teresa Stewart.
He had coordinated a secret meeting at a secluded café in Chelsea that very afternoon, and the data confirmed they had spent nearly an hour locked in deep, intense conversation in a back booth.
Justin reached up, rubbing the bridge of his nose as his analytical mind calculated the tactical angles of his cousin's strategy.
"He is going to ask her to sign a marriage contract," Celina stated firmly from the leather armchair across from his desk, her posture rigid with a mounting panic. "It is the only logical move that fits his timeline, Justin."
Justin lifted his eyes to meet his wife's guarded gaze. "You honestly believe Carlos is ruthless enough to ask a woman he met less than twenty-four hours ago to enter into a legal marriage?"
"He is completely desperate," Celina corrected fiercely, her jaw tight.
"Moises is actively dying in that hospital room. If Carlos does not possess a lawful spouse the exact second his father's heart stops beating, his thirty-five percent voting bloc is permanently seized by the board's trust. He runs out of time and loses his entire birthright. So yes,
Justin - I know he is desperate enough to pitch a contract marriage to her. And knowing the financial nightmare Teresa is currently facing with her Brooklyn gallery lease... I am terrified she might actually consider signing it."
Justin felt his sharp jaw lock, a dangerous current of tension charging the air of his office. "We need to deploy every legal resource we possess to completely block this move."
"How exactly do you propose we execute that?"
Celina challenged, her voice tight with frustration.
"Teresa is an independent adult, Justin. She possesses the legal right to make her own choices. If Carlos is sitting across from her offering the massive, unrestricted capital she requires to save her life's work, she has every reason to look past the red flags and say yes."
"Then we simply counter his offer and provide the capital ourselves," Justin stated flatly, his executive authority taking over.
"I can have the Mason Industries alternative investment wing draft an angel funding agreement by tomorrow morning. We can completely finance her Dumbo warehouse gallery, matching his numbers dollar-for-dollar, so she has absolutely no structural reason to enter into a transaction with Carlos."
Celina shook her head slowly, a bitter, knowing sorrow softening her eyes.
"Teresa will flatly reject the paperwork, Justin. You don't know her pride the way I do. She has spent her entire career screaming that she refuses to rely on my billionaire husband's checkbook or family connections to validate her art. She demands to build her legacy entirely on her own merits.
If she discovers we are hand-delivering a rescue package specifically to manipulate her marital choices... she will view it as a total insult to her independence."
"Then what the hell do you suggest we do?" Justin demanded, surging to his feet and pacing toward the massive panoramic windows overlooking Manhattan.
Celina remained quiet for a long, heavy beat, her fingers nervously twisting her wedding ring.
"I don't know," she admitted softly, her voice heavy with a profound worry.
"But Justin, we have to tread incredibly lightly here. Teresa is my sister. She has been my anchor through every single trauma your dynasty has inflicted upon my life. I refuse to lose her over a corporate boardroom dispute. If we push her too hard,
if we attempt to aggressively control her movements or dictate her choices... we risk violently driving her straight into Carlos's arms."
Justin turned back from the glass, his eyes narrowing into lethal slits.
"Carlos is systematically manipulating her, Celina. He is actively targeting your best friend specifically to infiltrate our inner circle, secure his inheritance, and violently seize a board seat he has done absolutely nothing to earn."
"Perhaps that was his initial checklist," Celina murmured quietly, looking down at her lap. "Or perhaps... perhaps he genuinely sees her, Justin."
Justin froze, his brow furrowing. "What do you mean by that?"
"I saw the exact way Carlos was looking at her beneath the gallery lights last night," Celina confessed heavily, looking up to meet her husband's eyes.
"There was an undeniable, terrifying intensity between them. It wasn't the cold, calculating look of a businessman evaluating a corporate pawn, Justin. He looked at Teresa like a man who had suddenly found his match. So maybe this isn't just a cold transaction for him.
Maybe it's something infinitely more complicated."
"That makes the entire scenario significantly more dangerous to our stability," Justin stated, his voice dropping into a low, lethal baritone.
"If Carlos is harboring real feelings for her, and Teresa allows herself to be pulled into his gravity, she is going to be completely crushed in the gears of our warfare. She is a civilian, Celina. She will get hurt."
"I know," Celina whispered, a tear escaping her lashes. "I know, but I don't know how to stop the train."
Justin strode resolutely back to his desk, leaning his palms flat against the dark glass as his eyes burned with an unshakeable resolve.
"We find an alternative legal strategy to permanently invalidate Moises's voting transfer. We find a way to freeze his father's shares in probate before Carlos can even attempt to present a marriage certificate to the board."
"The will is ironclad, Justin," Celina warned softly. "The parameters are absolute. If he is married in time, he inherits."
"Then I will make it my absolute priority to guarantee he runs out of time," Justin hissed, his voice vibrating with an iron authority.
"Carlos thinks he can return to my city and use our inner circle to launch a corporate coup? He is about to learn exactly what it means to cross me. He wants a war? I am going to give him one he won't survive."