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Chapter 45: Contractually Yours
publish date:
2026-04-19 23:23:13
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Contractually Yours Contractually Yours
Author's POV Night came heavy over the estate, the kind of night that did not feel like rest but like waiting. Everything inside the mansion had gone quiet hours ago, the corridors dimmed, the staff withdrawn, the world outside reduced to distant sounds that never quite reached the upper rooms. Jem had fallen asleep without realizing how tired he was, his body sinking into the bed as though it had finally accepted silence as normal again. But somewhere deep in the stillness, something changed.It started as pain.Sharp. Sudden. Right in his chest.Jem jerked awake immediately, breath catching in his throat as his hand flew to his chest. His eyes snapped open in the dark room, the ceiling above him barely visible, but the pain was so real it didn’t feel like his own. It was foreign, like something being pulled through him from far away. His breathing became uneven as he sat up quickly, his back pressing against the headboard. For a few seconds, he couldn’t even think properly, ju
Contractually Yours Contractually Yours
Author's POVThe estate was quieter without Dante in it.Not in a bad way. Just in a way that made every small sound more noticeable. The soft creak of a hallway floor. The distant movement of staff somewhere downstairs. The wind pushing gently against the windows.Jem felt it from the moment he woke up.He lay in bed for a few extra minutes, staring at the ceiling, before he finally got up and started his day.***By mid-morning, he had checked on Madam Frost.One of the staff mentioned quietly that she was having a slower day. That she had chosen to remain in her room rather than come downstairs. Jem did not hesitate. He made his way to her room, knocked softly, and pushed the door open when she answered.She was sitting up in bed, propped against several pillows, a light blanket across her lap. She looked tired. Not unwell in a frightening way, just the kind of tired that came from a body that had been carrying things for too long.Her face brightened slightly when she saw him."Yo
Contractually Yours Contractually Yours
Author's POV She was already seated at the table, a cup of tea resting near her hand while she looked over something on the tablet in front of her. But the second her eyes lifted and landed on them, everything else immediately became irrelevant.Her gaze moved from Dante to Jem.Then back again.She did not say anything at first.She simply looked.Because there was something different.Something she had spent months hoping to see.The way Dante stood slightly closer to Jem without realizing it.The way Jem no longer looked like he was preparing himself to run.The way they moved around each other naturally.Something in Madam Frost’s expression softened.Her eyes filled quietly.But she did not make a comment.She did not tease them.She did not say anything that would embarrass either of them.She simply reached across the table the moment Jem sat beside her and placed her hand over his.Jem looked down at their joined hands.Then he looked at her.Madam Frost only smiled faintly.
Contractually Yours Contractually Yours
Author's POVFor the first time in what felt like a very long time, the morning inside the estate did not feel like a place where everyone was waiting for something terrible to happen.The silence was still there, as it always was inside the Williams mansion, but it was different now. It was softer. Less suffocating. Less like the walls themselves were holding their breath.Jem woke up slowly, his eyes adjusting to the pale morning light slipping through the curtains before his attention shifted toward the person beside him.Dante was still asleep.For a few moments, Jem simply remained there, staring.Not because he was suspicious.Not because he was trying to figure out what Dante was hiding.But because, for the first time since he had entered this estate, he was actually allowing himself to look at him without searching for a reason to protect himself.Without wondering when everything would fall apart.The sight of Dante sleeping was still strange to him in a way he could not exp
Contractually Yours Contractually Yours
Author's POV The morning after Jem said yes carried a different kind of weight inside the estate.The air felt heavy—not exactly tense, but charged, like something important had already shifted even if nothing had been said out loud.Dante hadn’t made any announcements. No meetings, no declarations. He had simply woken up beside Jem and carried the answer inside him in silence, as though it wasn’t ready for the world yet.Jem, on the other hand, couldn’t stop thinking about it.He kept turning it over in his mind, trying to understand how easily it had happened. Yes. He had said yes. And what unsettled him wasn’t regret—it was how natural it had felt. How little hesitation there had been, as if some deeper part of him had already decided long before Dante even asked.He was in the kitchen that morning, standing at the counter with a cup of tea he had not actually drunk yet, when Madam Frost's private nurse appeared at the doorway."She's asking for both of you," the woman said gently
Contractually Yours Contractually Yours
Author's POV The hallway still felt like Samson hadn’t fully left. Jem had only taken a few steps from the garden when he felt it—a shift in the air. He turned the corner, and Mara was already there, standing still by the archway, watching him. For once, she didn’t look in control. She looked tired.“Mara,” Jem said quietly, his voice careful, almost cautious, as though he was unsure which version of her he was about to face. He stopped walking entirely, giving her space without fully understanding why. “If this is about what you saw in the garden, you don’t need to—”“It is exactly about what I saw in the garden,” Mara cut in sharply, but her voice did not carry its usual authority. It trembled slightly at the edges, not with weakness exactly, but with something far more unsettling for someone like her—lack of control. She swallowed once, visibly steadying herself, then stepped closer, stopping just a few feet away from him. Her eyes did not leave his face. “Do you have any idea w
Contractually Yours Chapter 37(N): Contractually Yours
Jem's POV "What the hell are you doing bringing him home? What are you even doing here? Who told you to come anywhere near him?”I jumped.Completely startled by Dante's voice.Dante might have had me pinned against the wall several times, but one thing I'm certain of is that he has never raised h
Contractually Yours Chapter 37(M): Contractually Yours
Jem's POV Before I could recover from everything Liam had just said, he immediately shrugged and added again, "You know, most people would've robbed me by now."I stared."What kind of people are you meeting?""The wrong ones apparently." He laughed it off.Despite everything, a smile slipped onto
Contractually Yours Chapter 37(L): Contractually Yours
Dante's POV Liam laughed—actually laughed, loud and genuine. "I like you already, Jem. Dante didn't tell me you were this funny.”Wait what?!"Dante talks about me?" I didn't even realize when I asked the question.Liam didn't answer.He just smiled and kept driving.I faced forward, seatbelt clic
Contractually Yours Chapter 37(K): Contractually Yours
Jem's POV I watched Dante walk out of the boutique without looking back once.And just like that. He was gone.The female attendant he'd spoken to at the front desk turned around and started walking toward me with a wide, warm smile—the kind that was so genuinely sweet it almost felt out of place
