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Chapter Ten
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2026-03-17 17:27:59
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Contracted to The Billionaire CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Alexander's POVThe Sterling situation officially closed on Friday.The SEC inspector general's office announced a formal investigation into Fowler by Thursday afternoon. Sterling released a statement through his PR team that was thin and defensive and pleased nobody. By Friday morning two of Sterling Industries' major partners had quietly requested contract reviews, which David described as the corporate equivalent of rats and a sinking ship.Sterling called me directly at nine a.m. Friday.I answered because I wanted to hear it."This isn't over," he said. No preamble. The confidence was still there but it had a crack running through it."Richard." I leaned back in my chair. "It's over."A pause. "You got lucky with Victoria.""Victoria made a choice. That's not luck." I kept my voice even. "You built this on fabricated evidence and a compromised examiner. When the foundation is rotten the structure falls. You know that.""You think you've won something.""I think you overestimated
Contracted to The Billionaire CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Emma's POVThe anniversary event I'd been planning landed on Thursday.It was a corporate milestone celebration for a mid-size architecture firm, their thirtieth year in business. Small by Alexander's standards, sixty guests, a rooftop venue in Brooklyn, nothing extravagant. But it was mine. I'd sourced every vendor, designed the layout, managed the timeline, handled the client through three rounds of changes without losing my patience or my deposit.I'd told Alexander I'd be out all day. He'd nodded and asked what time I'd be back.That was it. No questions about whether I needed help, no suggestion that being Mrs. Cross meant I should scale back my work. Just what time.I appreciated that more than I'd expected to.The event went well. The kind of well that felt earned rather than lucky. The clients cried during the speeches, the caterer hit every timing mark, the lighting did exactly what I'd designed it to do at sunset over the Brooklyn skyline. I stood at the back of the room at
Contracted to The Billionaire Chapter Fifteen
Alexander's POVMaggie's foundation lunch was Tuesday.I hadn't attended one of her events in three years. Not because I didn't respect what she did with the foundation, she'd built it from a small charitable trust into something that funded education programs across five boroughs, but because her events required a version of me I found difficult to sustain. Warm. Accessible. Present in a way that board meetings didn't demand.Emma had suggested it. So I went.The venue was a townhouse in the Upper East Side that Maggie had used for foundation events for twenty years. Forty guests, board members, donors, a few city officials, and people Maggie described as community anchors, teachers, social workers, a woman who ran a food bank in the Bronx that the foundation had supported for a decade.Emma wore something simple and dark green and moved through the room like she'd been doing it her whole life. Not performing. Just present. She remembered names after hearing them once, asked follow-u
Contracted to The Billionaire Chapter Fourteen
Emma's POVSophie came to the penthouse on Saturday.I'd told her about Harold, about Meridian, about the week in broad strokes that didn't include the parts I was still sorting through myself. She'd listened and then said she was coming over and that wasn't a question.She arrived at eleven with pastries and the particular energy of a pregnant woman who had decided to have opinions about everything.Patricia let her in, looked her over once, and apparently decided she was acceptable because she brought extra coffee without being asked.Sophie stood in the middle of the living room and turned a slow circle taking in the penthouse."Emma," she said."Don't.""I'm just looking.""You're doing the face.""What face?""The face where you're about to say something that sounds supportive but is actually I told you so." I handed her a coffee. "Sit down."She sat, arranged herself carefully around her pregnancy, and looked at me with the focused attention she usually reserved for patients. "H
Contracted to The Billionaire Chapter Thirteen
Alexander's POVNaomi Walsh published Friday morning. The piece ran at seven a.m. and by eight it had been picked up by every major financial outlet. She'd done more than report the documents. She'd connected Fowler to two previous accelerated investigations, named Sterling Industries as the beneficiary in both, and included a statement from one of the previous target companies who'd lost a contract under nearly identical circumstances three years ago.It was thorough. It was damaging. And it was entirely about Sterling and Fowler, with Cross Enterprises mentioned only as the most recent target.David called at eight fifteen. "Meridian just sent a formal statement to our legal team confirming their continued partnership. They moved fast.""Ellison doesn't hesitate when he's decided," I said."Two other contract partners sent similar confirmations within the hour. They were watching Meridian." David paused. "Sterling's PR team has put out a denial but it's thin. No substance.""And Fow
Contracted to The Billionaire Chapters Twelve
Emma's POVI knew something was wrong before Alexander said a word.He came to breakfast at seven thirty, dressed for the Meridian meeting, but there was something different in his face. Not the usual controlled blankness. Something underneath it, something that had been hit and hadn't fully steadied yet.I poured him coffee and didn't ask.He sat, drank half of it, and said, "It's Harold."I set my cup down."The false document. Sterling's contact published it last night using Harold's version." He said it flatly, like reading from a report. "My uncle has been feeding Sterling information. Probably for months."I didn't say I'm sorry or that's awful or any of the reflexive things that wouldn't help. I just sat with it for a moment, letting it be what it was."Does David know what to do with it?" I asked."David knows. We're not moving on it until after Meridian." He looked at his coffee. "Harold raised me.""I know.""He sat at my father's funeral and told me that emotion was weaknes
Contracted to The Billionaire Chapter Nine
Alexander's POVThe mole was someone in my inner circle.David confirmed it at eight a.m. Thursday, sitting across from me in my office with a printout that showed three internal documents Sterling had referenced in his press materials. Documents that had never left the executive floor. Documents t
Huling Na-update : 2026-03-17Contracted to The Billionaire Chapter Eight
Emma's POVHarold Cross came to dinner.Nobody asked me if that was acceptable. Patricia simply informed me at four p.m. that Harold would be joining us at seven, that the chef had been notified, and that I should dress appropriately for a formal family dinner.I called Sophie."An ambush dinner wi
Huling Na-update : 2026-03-17Contracted to The Billionaire Chapter Six
Emma's POVThe justice of the peace was a tired-looking man named Gerald who clearly had better things to do on a Tuesday evening. Patricia had found him through some contact she refused to name, and he arrived at Alexander's penthouse at nine p.m. with a briefcase and reading glasses pushed up on
Huling Na-update : 2026-03-17Contracted to The Billionaire Chapter Seven
Alexander's POVSterling's statement hit every major outlet by six a.m. I was already awake, already dressed, already three cups of coffee into the morning when Patricia forwarded me the links. I read them standing at the kitchen counter while the city below was still gray and quiet.Sterling had s
Huling Na-update : 2026-03-17
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