Chapter Three: The Paper Rings

Three Weeks Later

The courthouse in downtown Los Angeles didn’t look like the place you signed your life away. It was sterile, efficient—white walls, polished floors, and fluorescent lighting that flickered a little too often. Stella sat in a navy-blue dress Dominic had picked out, her hands folded tightly in her lap. She kept checking the simple silver band on her finger as if it might disappear if she blinked.

There was no aisle. No music. No vows whispered in the wind.

Just a government official with a stack of paperwork, a sharp pen, and a clock on the wall.

“You may kiss the bride,” the official said dryly, clearly indifferent to the lack of affection between them.

Dominic turned to Stella. She braced herself—awkward, bristling.

But he didn’t lean in. Instead, he nodded slightly and said, “We agreed—no theatrics.”

The relief hit her faster than expected. She nodded back, her lips twitching. “Right. Strictly business.”

They shook hands instead of kissing.

And just like that, she was Mrs. Dominic Salvatore.

The car ride back to the estate was quiet. Stella stared out the window, watching LA blur past in a series of palm trees and neon signs. Dominic sat beside her, reading emails on his phone, completely composed—as if he hadn’t just married someone he barely knew.

“I sent the marriage certificate to the court,” he said casually. “Ava’s hearing is next Friday.”

She nodded, her fingers still worrying the ring. “Do we tell her?”

Dominic hesitated, then looked at her. “Not yet. Let’s ease her into it. She already sees you as family. Let’s not confuse her.”

Family.

That word rang differently now.

By the time they arrived at the estate, Ava was waiting in the foyer with a paper crown on her head and her stuffed unicorn in hand.

“Where were you two?” she asked, running up to them.

Dominic froze for a second, but Stella smiled and knelt. “Just doing grown-up things.”

Ava eyed the ring on Stella’s finger. “That’s new.”

Stella glanced at Dominic, unsure. He stepped forward.

“Miss Stella is going to stay with us forever now,” he said gently.

Ava beamed. “Yay! That means you’ll be my real family, right?”

Stella hugged her, heart squeezing. “Something like that, sweetheart.”

---

Later that night, Stella walked into the room that had once been just hers. Now, it was labeled “theirs.” The staff had already moved in Dominic’s things—his suits neatly hanging in the walk-in closet, a leather briefcase placed on the bench at the foot of the bed, a watch case displayed on the dresser.

It felt… surreal.

Dominic walked in minutes later, holding a small box.

“I had this delivered. It’s for show.”

He opened it to reveal a set of wedding rings—hers, a thin band of white gold set with a single diamond; his, a simple platinum band.

Stella touched it hesitantly. “Looks real enough.”

“It has to.”

She took the ring and slipped it on.

And that was when she noticed something else. On her pillow sat a single white rose. Next to it, a note in clean, expensive handwriting.

This may be pretend, but I won’t let you fall alone.

Her breath caught.

She turned to Dominic, but he was already in the bathroom, the door closing softly behind him.

She stared at the note again. A pretend husband. A pretend marriage.