本棚
検索
ホーム / Romance / Love Beyond Contract / Chapter 7 – The Burden of Choice

共有

Chapter 7 – The Burden of Choice

作者: Mulan Writer
last update 公開日: 2026-03-23 07:59:42

A few weeks before his death, Victor called me to his hospital room. The faint smell of antiseptic hung in the air, sharp and sterile, clinging to everything. He lay propped against crisp white pillows, frail and tethered to machines, his face thinner by the day, but his eyes were still sharp when they found mine.

“Elena,” he said softly. “Come closer.”

I moved to the chair beside his bed and sat down, my bag resting stiffly in my lap. My fingers curled around it so tightly my knuckles turned p
この本を無料で読み続ける
コードをスキャンしてアプリをダウンロード
前のチャプター 次のチャプター
ロックされたチャプター

最新チャプター

  • Love Beyond Contract   Chapter 10 - Midnight’s Strike

    Adrian leaned back against the headboard, eyes closed for a brief moment.Melissa shifted beside him, draped in one of his shirts, her fingers tracing idle patterns against his chest as she leaned closer, seeking warmth, closeness, something he wasn’t fully present for.“You’re so tense,” she murmured, pressing herself against him. “You should relax.”But Adrian didn’t respond. Not really.His mind was elsewhere.Elena.The thought came uninvited, sharp and persistent.The way she had been these past few days… it didn’t sit right with him. She had been quieter. Different.And last night—She had apologized last night.That alone was enough to unsettle him.Elena didn’t apologize. Not like that. Not without a remark, not without pushing back. She would have said something sharp, something biting, something that reminded him she wasn’t weak.But she hadn’t.She had just… taken it.His jaw tightened slightly. Maybe I went too far. He wondered The thought lingered longer than he expected

  • Love Beyond Contract   Chapter 9 – The Great Erasure

    The sound of a key scraping against the lock pulled me out of my thoughts.Before I could even sit up properly, the door swung open, and Adrian stepped inside. He was drunk. I could tell immediately from the way he moved, from the faint stagger in his steps, from the sharp smell of alcohol that followed him into the room.For a second, I thought he would do what he always did, walk past me, ignore me, disappear into his room as if I were invisible.But he didn’t.He stopped just inside the doorway and leaned back against it, one hand dragging through his hair, his breathing uneven. His eyes found mine, dark and heavy and full of something I could not quite name.“I can’t do this anymore,” he said.The words landed hard in the silence between us.My heart clenched. I rose slowly from where I had been sitting, my fingers tightening around the edge of the sofa. “I know you’re angry about what happened at the bar, but I swear to you, I did not push Melissa.”His jaw tightened.“I didn’t,”

  • Love Beyond Contract   Chapter 8 – The Dying Wish

    I sat on the edge of my bed, the soft hum of the air conditioner blended with the quiet of my room. Around me, my packed luggage stood like silent witnesses to a decision I had yet to fully process. The divorce papers lay across the small table beside me, crisp and final, the ink still smelling faintly of authority and inevitability.I picked them up again, letting my fingers trace the edges, and I wondered… had I fulfilled Victor’s dying wish? Had I done what he hoped I would do?The thought carried me back to those long days in the hospital, years ago. I could still see him lying there, frail, yet sharp-eyed, a spark of the man he had been stubbornly alive in his gaze. I had sat by his side for hours, tending to his needs, listening to his thoughts, his regrets, his hopes.“I don’t know where I went wrong with Adrian,” he had whispered that one evening, voice raspy. His hand reached for mine, though I held back, knowing the weight of it. “I thought… I thought I was raising a son who

  • Love Beyond Contract   Chapter 7 – The Burden of Choice

    A few weeks before his death, Victor called me to his hospital room. The faint smell of antiseptic hung in the air, sharp and sterile, clinging to everything. He lay propped against crisp white pillows, frail and tethered to machines, his face thinner by the day, but his eyes were still sharp when they found mine.“Elena,” he said softly. “Come closer.”I moved to the chair beside his bed and sat down, my bag resting stiffly in my lap. My fingers curled around it so tightly my knuckles turned pale. The heart monitor hummed beside him, steady, each sound pressing against the silence.“I need to ask something of you,” he said.Something in his voice made my stomach tighten. “What is it?”He looked at me for a long moment, as if weighing the words before letting them go. “I want you to marry my grandson.”The words settled between us heavily.For a moment, I could only stare at him. I had expected many things, but not that. Not this.“I…” My throat felt dry. “Sir, I don’t understand.”“I

  • Love Beyond Contract   Chapter 6: The Reckless Heir

    Seven Years Ago“You’re not listening to me, Elena.”“I am, Mum.”I wasn’t.I was staring at the road, but all I could see were numbers. Debts. Deadlines. The weight my father had left behind.“They came again yesterday,” she said. “I can’t keep telling them to wait.”My grip tightened around my phone. “I’ll handle it.”“How?”I didn’t answer.“Elena—”“I’ll call you back,” I said quickly. “I’m crossing the road.”A pause. Then she spoke softly, “Be careful.”“I will.”I lowered the phone but didn’t hang up. Just for a second, I stood there, breathing, steadying myself.Then I stepped forward.The engine came out of nowhere.Loud. Fast. Too close.My head snapped up–Headlights.Everything froze.A sharp screech split the air as the bike swerved violently, missing me by inches. The force of it pushed me back, my heart slamming as the rider barely kept control before stopping a few meters away.Silence followed.Then I ran.“I’m so sorry, are you okay?”The words spilled out as I reach

  • Love Beyond Contract   Chapter 5: Something Is Different

    Something had changed.I could feel it vibrating in the air, though the shift wasn't in the penthouse, and it certainly wasn't in Adrian. It was in me. For seven years, this sprawling residence had been a gilded cage fashioned from cold glass and expensive marble. It was beautiful, prestigious, and utterly suffocating. Every day, I had moved through its halls like a dutiful ghost, cleaning, cooking, and waiting.Always waiting. Waiting for a husband who looked through me as if I were part of the architecture.But today, the air felt lighter. The suffocating weight on my chest had vanished because, for the first time, I had finally stopped waiting.I sat on the plush velvet sofa in the living room, the television flickering softly. A random, high-melodrama was playing, the characters wailing about grand betrayals and shattered hearts. I found it ironically appropriate.Behind me, the private elevator chimed, the doors sliding open with a soft, expensive hiss. I didn’t turn around. I di

続きを読む

あなたも気に入るかもしれません

無料で面白い小説を探して読んでみましょう
GoodNovel アプリで人気小説に無料で！お好きな本をダウンロードして、いつでもどこでも読みましょう！
アプリで無料で本を読む
コードをスキャンしてアプリで読む
DMCA.com Protection Status