David Hale had never feared birthdays, age was just a number, something other people worried about when they felt their lives slipping out of control, he had control, over his career, over his finances, over the carefully constructed distance he kept between himself and anything that resembled emotional obligation.
What he hadn’t controlled was the date.Thirty.
The number sat heavy in the air of the Hale estate’s dining room, clinging to the polished wood and crystal chandeliers like an unspoken verdict.
The house was too quiet for a celebration. No balloons, no cake. Just a formal breakfast arranged with military precision, as if this were a board meeting instead of a birthday.
David sat at the long table, dressed in a tailored charcoal suit, jacket draped casually over the back of his chair. His phone buzzed with messages he ignored.
He already knew what they would say. Congratulations, drinks later, a reminder that he was officially no longer young, across from him sat his father.
Richard Hale was a man carved from discipline. Silver hair neatly combed, posture straight despite his age, eyes sharp enough to cut through excuses.
He was the kind of man who didn’t repeat himself and didn’t tolerate failure, the kind of man who built empires and expected his son to carry them forward without complaint.
David lifted his coffee, unfazed on the surface. “If this is about the quarterly reports, i already sent...”
“This isn’t about business,” Richard interrupted, that alone was enough to make David pause. Richard set his fork down, the sound soft but deliberate. “You’re thirty today.”
“I’m aware.” “You’ve had ten years to settle down.” David let out a quiet laugh. “we’re really doing this now?” “we’re doing it because time is no longer a luxury.”
David leaned back in his chair, one ankle resting on his knee, adopting the relaxed posture he used whenever he felt cornered. “You didn’t bring me here for a lecture. Get to the point.”
Richard’s gaze didn’t waver. “You have one year to marry.”
The words landed cleanly, without drama, and somehow that made them worse.
David blinked once, then again. “that’s not funny.” “I’m not joking.” “You can’t be serious.”
Richard folded his hands together. “If you are not married by your thirty-first birthday, the family legacy will not pass to you.”
The room felt smaller. David straightened slowly. “You’d strip me of my inheritance?”
“I’d protect it,” Richard said calmly. “tradition demands a married heir. It always has.”
“That tradition is outdated,” David snapped. “You didn’t raise me to be reckless. I run half the company already. I’ve proven myself.”
“You’ve proven you can build,” Richard replied. “Not that you can commit.”
David stood abruptly, chair scraping softly against the floor, he walked toward the tall windows overlooking the manicured grounds, hands clenched at his sides.
“So this is an ultimatum,” he said. “It’s an opportunity,” Richard corrected. “to trap myself in a loveless marriage?” “to build a family.”
David turned back, disbelief flickering across his face. “You want me to marry a stranger just to satisfy a rule?”
“I want you married,” Richard said. “love is optional.” That did it.
David laughed, sharp and bitter. “You’re asking me to gamble my life for a tradition that doesn’t even make sense anymore.”
Richard’s voice hardened. “everything you have exists because of that tradition.” Silence followed, heavy and unforgiving.
David looked around the room, at the portraits lining the walls, generations of Hale men stared back at him, all wearing the same stern expressions, all bound by the same expectations, none of them looked happy.
“One year,” David repeated. “and if I refuse?”
“Then the company passes to your cousin.”
David’s jaw tightened. his cousin was reckless, entitled, and completely unqualified. Richard knew that.
“This isn’t about family,” David said quietly. “this is control.” Richard stood. “this is legacy.”
David grabbed his jacket and headed for the door. “I won’t be forced.”
“You will,” Richard said behind him, “because despite everything, you care.” David paused, hand on the doorframe, he hated that his father was right.
Across town, Mia Carter’s life was unraveling in the quietest way possible.
She stood frozen in the doorway of her apartment, grocery bag slipping from her fingers as oranges rolled across the floor, the sight in front of her didn’t register all at once. It came in fragments.
Familiar laughter, a voice she trusted, a hand she recognized where it didn’t belong, her fiancé.,her best friend, together.
The room smelled like the dinner she’d planned to cook. “Mia...” her fiancé started, she didn’t wait for explanations.
Her chest burned, breath coming in sharp, shallow gasps as she backed away, the betrayal cut deeper than anger. It hollowed her out, stripping away the future she thought was secure.
She turned and ran, no plan, no destination, just the desperate need to escape before the weight of it crushed her completely.
