Chapter 4 — An Unlikely Proposal

Emily Carter

The elevator doors slid shut with a soft chime as Emily watched the floor numbers tick downward. Her usually steady hands clutched her handbag tightly, her knuckles whitening. Her mind was a churning storm of rehearsed lines, each one crumbling under the weight of her growing doubts. She couldn’t believe she was about to do this. She couldn’t believe she already had. The lie about her so-called boyfriend had burst out of her mouth before she could stop it, and now she was about to make it a reality—with Charlie Bennett, of all people.