Chapter 1: Contractually Yours

Jem's POV 

It’s a stormy night, and I’m just returning from my mother’s hospital when the rain starts to fall heavily.

I rushed to huddle beneath a tiny metal shelter by the bus stop, already drenched, arms wrapped around myself as I tap my feet against the cold pavement. The storm has chased everyone away—no buses, no people, just the relentless drumming of rain above me.

With nothing else to focus on, my thoughts drift back to the hospital. I can’t stop thinking about how pale Mom’s smile looked before I left her ward.

I remembered how the doctor avoided my eyes when he told me the outstanding payment for my mom’s treatment was now more than a week overdue—and that if the debt remained unpaid, he would have no choice but to disconnect her ventilator.

The words kept ringing in my ears. I bet that was the most polite way of saying I couldn’t afford to keep her alive anymore.

I wasn't feeling the cold anymore.

Right now, all I could feel inside of me was pure disappointment.

I'm disappointed in myself.

I ran my fingers into my hair as I stared at the road before me, but I wasn’t seeing it.

All I could see was her—Mara.

Mara was my girlfriend, now my ex…

I could remember the first time she’d sat beside me in the police training academy library, her shoulder brushing mine like it was an accident.

The way she smiled at me screamed of a woman deeply in love.

The way she reached out to me and made me tell her everything about how I managed to get into the academy despite my poor background.

And I'd asked her why she joined the force, and I’ll never forget her response, “I hate corruption, so I want to help expose it.”

God, I had believed her. In fact, I fell in love with her instantly.

Another drop of water slides from my hair down my chin as I remember how Mara and I were just fine a few hours ago, before everything fell apart.

Three years ago, I was in my first year at the academy and my relationship with Mara had just started. We became inseparable.

We started off as training partners, then slowly we turned into investigation partners.

We became the top trainees for the semester… people knew us and thought we were just perfect for each other.

And just somewhere between case files and coffee stains, I'd fallen deeply in love with Mara… somehow I couldn't go a day without fucking her.

Slowly, she became my second half and I'd told her things I had never told anyone—about my mother’s illness, about working three jobs, about the fear that if I failed, everything in my life would collapse.

I opened up to Mara. She saw me, she knew my fears.

I can remember how she'd held my hand and said, “You won’t fail. I’m with you.”

While I was still lost in thought, a car suddenly sped past me, and the screeching sound of tires hissing on the wet floor dragged me back to the present for a brief second.

I shook my head and swallowed hard. “Stop thinking about her, Jem!” I warned.

How can I stop thinking about her?

How am I supposed to believe Mara never loved me—that all these years, I was just convenient?

Three years in the police academy, and I really thought I had found my person. The one I’d build a future with. The one who made the long nights, endless drills, and field simulations feel worth it. But somewhere along the way… something shifted.

Looking back now, the signs were there—I just didn’t want to see them. Or maybe I couldn’t make sense of them at the time. Things that felt small back then now seem so much bigger.

Sometime last year, during the practice drills and trainee mock operations we’d have in private, details would somehow find their way out. Strategies we hadn’t shared with anyone, plans we’d barely finalized—suddenly, other trainees knew. At first, I brushed it off as coincidence. The academy is competitive, and rumors travel fast.

But now… now I can’t help but wonder if it was ever just coincidence at all.

Because not long after, things started to go missing. Physical evidence started disappearing too.

Criminals that we were just about to track down started to stay one step ahead of our investigation. Somehow they knew our next move even before we strike.

I had blamed myself, thinking I’d made mistakes, missed something. I never suspected her. I never imagined it would be her.

I suspected everyone in my team but never did I think about Mara as the spy.

She knew my weak points and used them against me—got me drunk, rode me real hard, until I didn’t just spill out cum, I ended up spilling all my secrets to her too.

I trusted her.

I never imagined that while I was dreaming about building a future with her, Mara was busy negotiating my downfall.

I replayed Mara's smile in my head as I began to question if maybe I really deserved any of what happened to me today.

Maybe I missed something.

Maybe Mara tried to tell me.

Maybe I was just too blind to see the signs—the warnings.

For a second… the thought suddenly came to my mind, “What if I just disappear?”

But then I saw Mom’s face again—sick, dying and helpless.

And just like that, the thought died down, followed by how the incident had happened earlier today.

It was after my morning training—Mara and I were stepping out of the academy premises to go grab breakfast.

Then there were security officers waiting outside our training hall.

Then it happened like a dream. I was being accused.

My name is now tied to the very criminals Mara and I have been trying to expose. Every day, we work nine extra hours, piecing together evidence just to take down this same mafia group.

And just like that, I became a traitor.

They claimed I was the traitor all these years who has been leaking confidential information to the criminals and they've evidence that I'm working directly with them.

Trainees had already gathered around us, pointing fingers at me for something I didn’t even know about.

Then everything became clearer the minute Mara was called out as a witness who saw me in the point of making physical transactions with the said criminals.

Everywhere blurred at the moment.

I turned around and waited for Mara to deny everything… to step out and grab my hand and tell them I was innocent.

But no.

Mara stepped back slowly, pointing her trembling finger at me, “Yes, it's him. I saw him. He even told me to join him and get rid of all evidence against the criminals.” she said.

My eyes watered instantly.

I didn't even realise when I rushed forward to grab her at once, “What are you saying, Mara?” I screamed. “What happened to you?” I shook her roughly and she began to cry.

“Stop, you're hurting me,” she begged.

The security officers didn't hesitate before they rushed towards me and separated me from her.

Almost all the trainees had gathered around the academy, so I just stood there confused and lost.

Frozen faces of my fellow trainees stared at me with judgemental eyes. Disappointed eyes of instructors lingered from the corners.

Within that second, my sponsorship was instantly terminated. Every single one of my access into the academy was revoked. My reputation was shredded in a single morning.

And Mara?

I didn't get to have that breakfast with her and she just stood there, in the back of the crowd, eyes wide with fake shock… while she watched the officers drag me out of the academy premises.

She hadn’t even looked guilty.

She looked safe. Happy.

I ran a hand over my face, rain and tears mixing together.

I told myself it was just the storm. But deep down, I knew I was going crazy.

I still couldn't believe everything that had just happened to me today.

Even after they dragged me out of the academy today, I still couldn't believe it… so I sat by the gate for about an hour or two. I didn't know where to go.

It was after a while that I got a call from my mother's doctor, he wanted me to come to the hospital immediately.

I rushed to the hospital without a second thought, and the doctor didn't hesitate before dropping the bombshell. Mom's weekly dialysis has stopped… the debt has exceeded what they can tolerate.

In that moment, it felt like my entire world was collapsing.

Everything that was ever dear to me has now been taken away from me—my dream to complete police training and become the most respected officer around the world—and the choking need to take good care of my sick mom.

I straightened slowly on the bench, I was completely tired to the bones.

The rain is refusing to stop.

If I stay here, I freeze. If I go home, I have nothing.

If I want Mom to live, I need money. And at this point, I don’t care what it costs.

Right now, if a devil appeared and offered me a deal in exchange for my future, I wouldn’t hesitate. I’d sign it away without a second thought.