Just an observation that he's fifteen years older than me and probably wondering what the hell he's gotten himself into.
The officials processed our application with surprising speed, their usual bureaucratic sluggishness transformed into efficient service at the mention of Julian's name.
I watched with growing amazement as doors literally opened for him, people jumped to attention when he wheeled into a room, and paperwork that would normally take weeks to process materialized within minutes.
"Mr. Montgomery," gushed a woman who had to be at least a department head, "we're so honored to have you here. Is there anything else we can do to make this process smoother for you?"
Julian gave her a smile that was polite but distant. "You're already being most accommodating."
I shifted uncomfortably beside him, acutely aware of my borrowed clothes and complete lack of status. Everyone looked at Julian with deference bordering on reverence, while I might as well have been invisible.
Next to these people in their crisp suits, treating Julian like visiting royalty, I felt like an imposter. Which, let's face it, I kind of was.
The ceremony itself was brief and businesslike. No flowers, no music, no tearful relatives—just Julian and me, two officials, and a stack of legal documents that would bind our lives together.
"Do you, Connor Matthews, take Julian Montgomery to be your lawfully wedded spouse?" asked the officiant, a middle-aged woman with efficient movements and a no-nonsense attitude.
"I do," I said, the words feeling foreign on my tongue.
"And do you, Julian Montgomery, take Connor Matthews to be your lawfully wedded spouse?"
Julian's gaze met mine, his dark eyes unreadable. "I do."
The words hung in the air between us, weighted with a significance that seemed at odds with the clinical setting and rushed circumstances.
"By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you legally married. You may sign the documents."
And just like that, with a few signatures and stamps, I became Connor Montgomery.
I stared down at the marriage certificate, my name linked with Julian's in official black ink, still trying to process what hadjust happened. In less than a day, I'd gone from being drugged by my own mother to being married to a billionaire CEO I barely knew.
Life comes at you fast, apparently.
"Are you alright?" Julian asked quietly as the officials excused themselves to file the paperwork.
"Just processing," I replied honestly. "This morning I woke up in your hotel room. Now I'm your husband. It's a lot."
Julian nodded, his expression softening slightly. "It is. But I keep my promises, Connor, and I expect the same from those in my life."
There was something in the way he said my name, something in the intensity of his gaze, that made me think this marriage—hastily arranged and bizarre as it was—might be more than just a convenient solution to my problems.
Or maybe that was just wishful thinking on my part.
The bright afternoon sunlight hit my eyes as we exited the Civil Affairs Bureau, my brand-new marriage certificate and several other papers I’d signed tucked safely in a leather folder Julian had produced from somewhere.
I was still trying to process the fact that I was now legally married to a man I'd known for less than twenty-four hours when my world tilted sideways again.
Three identical black SUVs with windows tinted dark enough to repel sunlight sat at the curb, uniformed drivers standing at rigid attention beside them.
If that wasn't intimidating enough, a man who looked like he'd been carved from granite rather than born from a human woman was striding toward us, his gaze fixed on me with the intensity of a predator sizing up potential prey.
Welcome to day two of your new life, Connor.
Yesterday: drugged by mom.
Today: married to a billionaire with his own security detail.
Tomorrow: probably abducted by aliens.
