Her stepmother drugged the champagne to hand her to her fiance - so she walked out of that room, and into the arms of his billionaire alpha stepfather instead. Ten seconds on the phone and the men outside vanished.
Chloe's stepmother pours her champagne for the engagement night, and the plan is simple: get Chloe compliant and married to David, so the family debt goes away. The drug hits Chloe hard, the men who were waiting for her are outside the door, and she runs to the one powerful man in the building - David's billionaire alpha stepfather. A ten-second phone call makes the waiting men vanish. Now she is engaged to David in a month to save her father, and the stepfather who saw through every lie of hers is the one who wants to know exactly why.
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Source: YourChannel official drama page & player — editorial coverage based on the opening arc; series details verified 27 Oct 2026.
The champagne is the setup. Chloe's stepmother hands her a glass for the engagement night; the drug hits, her legs go numb, and the men she knows are coming for her are already outside the floor. She has nowhere safe to run, so she runs to the billionaire alpha stepfather and asks him to help her through the night. He makes one ten-second phone call, and every man waiting outside is gone.
The morning after becomes a public announcement. Chloe is to marry David next month, a wedding she is forced into to keep her father alive and out of debt. The stepfather has already seen through her act, and at the family dinner - required of every fiance - he makes it clear he knows the prey walked to him on its own.
By episode five the leverage turns brutal. David cuts Chloe's father's life-saving medication and tells her to come back and beg on her knees, to bark like a dog in public, before a single pill is reconnected. The contract marriage was never just a deal, and the only man who can undo it is the one she is forbidden to want.
Engaged to a man she did not choose, trying to save her father and his debt. When the spiked champagne hits, she escapes to the one man powerful enough to make her pursuers disappear - her fiance's stepfather.
David's powerful stepfather, older, commanding and used to getting what he wants. He makes a ten-second call, then investigates exactly why this girl is marrying his stepson.
The man Chloe is being forced to marry. He cuts off her father's life-saving medication and makes her beg and perform in public before he will restore it.
The opening arc moves from the drugged champagne, to the public engagement, to the medication hostage. Three editorial picks from episodes 1, 3 and 5 - no ending spoilers.
Chloe's legs go numb mid-engagement night. The men who came for her are outside; she runs to the alpha stepfather, and a ten-second call makes them all vanish.
The engagement to David is announced in public to save her father. The stepfather already knows she is lying, and the family dinner makes his interest clear.
David cuts Chloe's father's life-saving medication and tells her to beg on her knees and bark in public before a single pill is reconnected. The contract turns into a hostage situation.
Frames from the opening arc — swipe to browse.
Our editors' notes on the opening arc — personal picks, not audience feedback.
"The ten-second phone call is the kind of power move that instantly defines the alpha stepfather. The show wastes no time telling you who the real protector is."
"The forced engagement and the medication hostage turn a romance into a dilemma: marry the toxic fiance, or trust the forbidden stepfather who already knows everything."
Best for viewers who like dark billionaire forced-marriage romance with a drugged-engagement premise and an age-gap stepfather lead; if you want a light contractual relationship, the opening episodes stay on debt, medication and coercion. Compared with most contract-marriage shorts, this one anchors the deal in a spiked champagne night and a hostage father rather than a business arrangement - that focus is both its strength and its limit.