Billionaire CEO said,“i need a fake boyfriend for a day at my Ex-wedding—What the Single dad said.
The Invitation and a Search for Support
The champagne flute trembled in Victoria Chen’s hand as she stared at the ivory wedding invitation, her name written in elegant calligraphy that seemed to mock her.
Her ex-fiance was getting married to the woman he’d left her for, and somehow she was still invited.
The successful CEO of a tech company worth millions sat alone in her corner office overlooking Manhattan, feeling smaller than she’d ever felt in her 34 years.
She’d built an empire, commanded boardrooms, and changed industries, but she couldn’t face walking into that wedding alone.
The thought of their pitying stares, the whispered conversations, and “the poor Victoria looks” was unbearable.
Victoria had always been the one in control.
She’d clawed her way from a modest upbringing in Queens to the top of the tech world, sacrificing relationships, sleep, and sometimes her own happiness along the way.
But when Marcus had left her two years ago, saying she was married to her work and that he needed someone who could actually be present, something inside her had cracked.
She’d thrown herself even deeper into work, proving him right in the process.
Now, as she looked at his wedding invitation, she realized she couldn’t let him see how much his words had wounded her.
She couldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing she was still alone.
That’s how Victoria found herself in Washington Square Park on an unusually warm Saturday afternoon, watching parents push their children on swings.
She’d posted anonymously on a neighborhood forum, something she never would have done before, explaining her desperate situation.
She needed someone to pretend to be her boyfriend for one day.
Just one day.
She’d pay well, of course.
Everything in her life had a price tag.
Daniel Morrison saw the post while his seven-year-old daughter Emma was showing him a dandelion she’d found.
He was about to scroll past.
It sounded like the plot of a bad romantic comedy when Emma tugged his sleeve.
“Daddy, why are you frowning?”
He smiled at her, this little person who’d become his entire world after his wife Sarah had passed three years ago from cancer.
Emma had her mother’s curious eyes and gentle spirit.
“Just reading something silly, sweetheart,” he said.
But something made him read it again.
The post was clinical, almost business-like, but he could sense the desperation beneath the formal language.
He recognized pain when he saw it.
He’d lived with it long enough.
Daniel responded simply:
“I’ll help you. No payment necessary. Everyone deserves a friend when they’re facing something hard.”
Victoria stared at the message on her phone.
No payment necessary?
Was this person insane?
Nothing in life was free.
She’d learned that lesson early and often, but something about those words, “Everyone deserves a friend,” made her throat tighten unexpectedly.
She agreed to meet him at a coffee shop in the village.
When Daniel walked in, Victoria almost laughed.
He wasn’t what she expected at all.
No designer clothes, no polished shoes, no calculated charm.
He wore a simple button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, jeans, and a warm smile that reached his eyes.
He was handsome in an understated way, the kind of handsome that grew on you rather than announced itself.
