Chapter 5: "When are we getting our marriage license?" "Today."

Aria's POV

Ethan nearly slammed the brakes on the spot.

Orion's breath caught. His chest rose, heart hammering hard enough that his voice came out tight when he finally spoke. "What did you just say?"

"Get married." I bit my lip lightly. "You and me."

"Okay." The answer flew out of him before I'd even finished the sentence.

Was I imagining it, or did Orion look weirdly... urgent? Like he was scared I'd back out if he slowed down for even a second.

I took a slow breath. "Okay. I'm in." I held his gaze. "Marriage gets me out from under the mistress label, fastest route possible. And you happen to need a wife to keep your family off your back."

Ethan's jaw twitched.

"Who in that whole family has the nerve?"

Three more seconds of silence.

Ethan cleared his throat quietly.

Orion ignored him and kept looking at me. "You sure about this?"

"I just slapped Julian across the face," I said. "I'm very sure."

The corner of his mouth moved. "Then we're doing this."

"So when are we actually filing?"

He pretended to check his phone calendar. "Today's fine." He actually looked, and something on the screen made him pause — then lean into it. "Short notice, I know. But work with me here — my family takes this stuff seriously."

Ethan: "…"

I nodded slowly. "Understood."

Sterling took it seriously too. Signs and bloodlines and the weight of belonging to the right family tree. Which is exactly why they believed in all that enough to strip my name and push me out the door — like I'd brought something unlucky into the house with me.

---

I needed to tell him something.

I stood across from him, hands shoved in my pockets, tone even. "I'm considering going on a dating show."

Orion looked up.

"Couples format," I continued. "The production team would pair me with—"

"I'll go."

I stopped. "What?"

"I'll go." He had already turned his phone facedown on the table. His expression had lightened by a fraction, as if I'd just suggested a decent weekend plan. "Is there a problem?"

I looked at him for a second. "I wasn't finished."

"You want me to go with you," he said. "Right?"

I didn't answer immediately.

Orion leaned back in his chair, lifting his chin. His tone was far too casual. "Sure. That's what brothers are for. You ask, I show up."

Brothers.

I looked at him. "We're getting married."

"I know."

He picked up his phone and glanced at the screen, pressing down the hint of a smile before it could show. "Send me the dates. I'll have my assistant check them."

I didn't move.

He'd agreed too fast. Fast enough to seem suspicious.

"You don't want the details?" I asked. "How long we'll film, where it is, what the format is—"

His voice dropped slightly.

"You ask for me, I'm there."

Then he left.

I stayed where I was, staring after him. It took me a long moment to come back to myself.

...He was way too happy about that, wasn't he?

---

Everything moved fast after that.

Orion made one call, Ethan made another, and I sat in the backseat with the blanket around my shoulders, listening to them work through logistics at a pace I couldn't break into — lawyers, notary, available windows. Twenty minutes later the car stopped outside City Hall.

I stood at the bottom of the steps and looked up at the building.

Orion came to stand beside me. "You're not getting cold feet, are you?"

I glanced at him. "On you? Please."

He tilted his chin up slightly. "Good. Because whatever you want, I'll give it to you." He leaned back against the railing with that lazy, easy posture of his. "We've known each other too long for this to be weird. Old friends making a deal."

Perfectly reasonable. Two people with aligned interests formalizing an arrangement. Nothing complicated about it.

So why did my pulse do that.

I looked away fast.

The paperwork was simpler than I expected.

Signatures, stamps, a notary reading through standard language I didn't fully absorb. Orion stood straight beside me the entire time, signed without even uncapping his pen first, the same way he'd sign any ordinary contract.

I stared at my name on the certificate for a few seconds.

Aria Sterling. Orion Voss.

This is real.

When we walked out of the building, there were already two or three long-lens cameras pointed at us from across the street. Someone had leaked it, or we were just unlucky.

Orion didn't dodge. He turned slightly and placed his hand on my back, easy and unhurried, like he'd done it a thousand times before.

The flashes went off.

Good. Let them.

Before we got in the car, he leaned down near my ear. Voice low, but I caught every word.

"From today, what happens to you happens to me. Anyone gives you trouble — we go through legal channels."

I didn't respond.

"You hear me?" he asked.

"I hear you," I said. "Orion."

He paused. Then: "Good."

---

The news had already detonated before we made it back to the TriBeCa penthouse — and it had already buried the orchestra drama in the trending rankings.

Vivienne called while I was changing. Two rings and I picked up.

"ARIA." Her voice punched straight through my skull. "Do you have ANY idea what's happening on Twitter right now? #OrionVossIsMarried is number one! What the actual — you really went and did it?!"