Chapter Three 109 Days Of Chains

The contract was still sitting on the hotel desk.

It hadn’t moved in hours. But it felt heavier every time I looked at it—like it was absorbing the weight of the decision I still hadn’t made.

I had read it again. And again. Highlighted sections. Dog-eared pages. Searched the margins for hidden threats. But it remained exactly what Dominic said it was.

Clean. Precise. Deceptively simple.

A one-hundred-and-nine-day marriage.

No emotional ties.

No media leaks.

No questions.

No falling in love.

I almost laughed out loud when I read that clause.

Dominic Vale wasn’t looking for a partner. He was offering a performance. One that required a pretty face beside him, a story the public would buy, and a guarantee that I would disappear once the curtain closed.

There was no tenderness in the terms. Just ownership dressed in elegant language. I was to be available when needed, silent when not, and convincing enough to sell the illusion of intimacy.

And in return he would offer me power. Position. Revenge.

Everything Caleb thought he’d stolen from me, Dominic was offering back—multiplied.

All he wanted was my signature.

I stood by the desk in silence, fingers wrapped around the pen. It was heavier than I expected, cold metal pressed to my palm.

“Just walk away,” I whispered to myself, “you don’t need to get revenge,..you aren’t that petty.”

But the problem was that I wanted to be petty - for just this once.

Years I’ve had to be the responsible one. The caring one, the one who always had to be kind, to smile through everything. And where had that gotten me?

In the mud with NOTHING.

Just this once I wanted to fight back - to show that I wasn’t to be messed with. That I wasn’t some weakling that everyone can play with and discard.

I wanted revenge.

Besides, it wasn’t just about the revenge. But the chance to get what I’d lost…without having to strive for it.

What do I have to do lose?

It was a clear and straight to the point agreement.

At the end, it was my rage that finally spoke loudest.

Sign it.

So I uncapped the pen. Pressed the tip to the paper. And let the ink bleed my name across the bottom line.

As I signed, I whispered the terms back to myself under my breath.

“One hundred and nine days. Nothing more.”

We were married by noon the next day.

There was no ceremony. No photographer. No music playing in the background or whispered congratulations. Just a cold office inside a government building, a bored officiant in a navy blazer, and two signatures on a sheet of paper that legally bound me to a man I didn’t even know.

The courthouse dress they gave me was cream, shapeless, and too thin for the air conditioning. I didn’t have time to change or prepare. Dominic didn’t care. He was already waiting when I arrived.

He wore black, sharp lines cut into expensive fabric. His suit looked as untouched as his expression.

“You’re late,” he said quietly.

“You’re impatient,” I replied.

Neither of us smiled.

The officiant glanced between us like he had no idea what kind of transaction he was sealing. “Do you, Ava Moreau, agree to the terms outlined in this legally binding marital agreement?”

I looked over at Dominic. He wasn’t even looking at me. His eyes were on the wall behind the clerk, jaw tight, as if we were finalizing a merger.

“I do,” I answered. This was supposed to be my happiest day but I couldn't be

The words were steady. But inside, something snapped.

Dominic’s penthouse was the highest floor in a building that overlooked the entire city. The elevator opened directly into a living space so quiet, I wondered if anyone had ever laughed there.

I stepped out slowly, still wearing the courthouse dress and flats. The heels I came with had given up on me after the ceremony.

He walked in ahead of me and removed his jacket, draping it over the arm of a leather chair. He didn’t speak at first. Just loosened his cuffs and looked out the window like he was still somewhere else entirely.

“So this is it,” I said, barely above a whisper. “This is your idea of home.”

He turned halfway. “It’s efficient.”

“It’s empty.”

“That’s intentional. I do not need any extra baggages.”

“Classy.” I crossed the room, my shoes echoing faintly on the floor.

“It’s your home now too Ava. You can change whatever you want in it if you are not satisfied with its current state.”

I looked at the room with a sigh. The idea of just..,redecorating the whole place and converting it from a cold cage to a space warm enough to be called a home.

The idea was tempting as fuck but….

“I’m just your wife on paper. It isn’t real.” Better not to start getting carried away on day one.

“Doesn’t mean you shouldn’t take advantage of everything while you have the chance.”

Well that was a good point but I said nothing.

“Where do I sleep?”

Dorian gestured toward the hallway. “Follow me.”

I hesitated, but eventually fell in step behind him. We passed two closed doors, then stopped in front of a set of wide, dark-paneled double doors.

He pushed them open and stepped aside.

The room inside was massive. Floor-to-ceiling windows lined the far wall, though the blackout curtains were drawn shut. A king-size bed sat in the center, perfectly made in dark grey linens. There was a fireplace—unlit—and a wall-mounted screen. The chandelier overhead looked like shattered crystal frozen in time.

“This is your room,” I said, though I already knew the answer - not that it was a question to begin with. The room screams DORIAN from the top to the black floors.

“Yes, captain obvious.” He looked over his shoulder. “It’s ours now.”

“Ours as in…?”

Dorian grinned, “ours as in you and I, Ava.”

I didn’t move. “You expect me to sleep in the same bed?”

“You signed the contract.”

“Which clearly stated that I’m to be your fake wife. No strings or emotions attached. I didn’t read any clause that stated I was supposed to crawl into your sheets and pretend we’re anything close to married.”

“You don’t have to pretend for me,” he said coolly. “Only for the public.”

I folded my arms, clenching my jaw tightly to stop myself from bursting out in anger. “Then I’ll sleep on the couch.”

He walked further into the room and opened what looked like a panel in the wall. A click echoed as a shelf slid aside, revealing a private office.

He stepped inside.

I followed only far enough to see him return with the contract.

He flipped it open and handed it to me. “You missed something.”

I took the folder from his hands with hesitation, my fingers brushing his by accident. The air between us sparked briefly, then turned sharp again.

He pointed to a line halfway through.

I read it. Twice.

The spouse will fulfill all expectations—public, personal, and physical—as deemed appropriate by Mr. Vale.

My blood ran cold.

“This wasn’t here before.” I hissed my hands shaking.

“It was,” he replied.

“I didn’t see it.”

“You didn’t look hard enough.”

I stared at the words, the weight of them pressing down.

I had looked, over and over again so there was no way I’d miss this. 

He fooled me. The bastard decieved me - fuck I should have known yet somehow I end up being a fool.

“You expect me to sleep with you?” My voice wasn’t shaky but it rose with each word, angry.

Dominic’s gaze didn’t waver. “All I expect is that you to uphold the agreement.”

“You deceived me.”

“I didn’t. The agreement was right there before you signed it.”

“I don’t care about your stupid agreement you pervert! You fooled me, you took advantage of the situation pretending you cared and….” My voice trailed off as he took two long strides towards me covering the distance between us and tilted my chin with his finger so I’d stare into his angry eyes.

“I have no intention of fooling or taking advantage of you, Ava. We will talk about this in the morning but for now I’m tired and need some rest.”

“I’m still not getting in that bed with you.”

“You’re my wife.”

I took a step back. “No. I’m your wife on paper.”

His smirked. “That still doesn’t change the fact that for the next one hundred and nine days you are mine, Ava. Body and soul - you signed it yourself.”

“You don’t get to touch me just because I signed a piece of paper.”

He stepped closer, licking his lower lip slowly and my gaze followed the movement of his tongue across that lip. I’ve never noticed just how beautiful they were before now.

Fuck!

I cleared my throat and darted my gaze away from his lip. We were in the middle of an argument - although right now my mind was too busy thinking about those lips on me to remember the reason for the argument.

But we were in an argument.

He smirked as if he knew just what I was thinking, “don’t worry my beautiful wife. I’ll not be touching you tonight but make no mistakes…I will. And when I do, you would be begging me for more.”

“Over my dead body.” I said, breathing hard, 

For a second, something flickered in his eyes—heat, maybe. Or warning.

But it was gone before I could comprehend what it was.

“We shall see about that. But until then…you are sleeping here Ava. And I will NOT take no for an answer.”

His tone changed from playful to something more dark and dangerous.

Something that pulled at every will in my body, forcing me to drop any objection I have and obey.

I’ll be fucking damned.

I opened my mouth to protest but the look in his eyes made me snap my mouth shut instantly.

“Fine. I’ll take the left side of the bed. Don’t cross it.”

He nodded once. “Agreed.”

He turned and walked into the bathroom, the door shutting behind him with a quiet finality.

I exhaled slowly.

I stood there, alone, in the middle of the room that wasn’t mine. In the home of a man I’d legally bound myself to for less than the price of my pride.

Eventually, I climbed into bed.

The sheets were cold. The mattress too wide. I curled toward the far side and pulled the covers tight around my body, tucking my hands beneath the pillow like that would make me smaller, harder to reach.

The lights dimmed when the bathroom door opened again. I didn’t turn to look at him but I felt his weight dip the other side of the bed.

Thankfully he didn’t speak nor did he try to touch me. 

And a part of me was grateful for that.

But there was another

traitorous part of me that just wishes to toss the fucking agreement in the air and get him to touch.

I am very damned.