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Chapter 56

Author: Gem
last update Last Updated: 2025-06-12 23:54:42

POV: Brandon

When I opened the door and saw Cameron standing there, I thought maybe I was fucking dreaming. Or hallucinating. Or had finally lost my grip on reality and conjured him from sheer emotional burnout.

But nope. There he was. On my porch. In real life. With messy hair, anxious eyes, and this strange energy rolling off him in waves.

He looked like he’d sprinted across a battlefield and landed at my door like it was the last safe zone left.

“You okay?” I asked, stepping out.

His eyes darted everywhere—my shoes, the street, the crack in the sidewalk—anywhere but me. He opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.

“I—uh—I didn’t know where else to go,” he finally said.

I blinked. Okay. Definitely not a hallucination.

“You wanna come in?” I asked gently, stepping aside.

He nodded, sort of, but his feet didn’t move. It was like he was glued to the spot, one wrong move away from bolting.

“Cameron?” I asked again, softer now.

He looked up. Finally. And there was something in his ey
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  • Rival's Contract Marriage    Chapter 146

    Cameron’s POVBy the time I got home from the conference, my head felt like it had been in a vice all day. Between the fake smiles, the corporate jargon, and… Brandon… sitting next to me for hours, I was exhausted. I didn’t even bother turning on the lights when I stepped into the apartment.I just wanted silence.But apparently, life was in the mood to punch me in the face again.Because there he was.Drake.Leaning against my kitchen counter like he owned the place, a glass of whiskey in his hand, eyes that dark, sharp shade that always meant trouble.I dropped my bag onto the couch. “What the hell are you doing here?”He smiled—slow, deliberate, like he’d been waiting for me. “Relax, little brother. Just thought I’d pay you a visit.”“I don’t need a visit.” I started to head toward my room, but he stepped in my way, blocking the hall.“Conference go well?” he asked, too casual.“Move.”“Who’d you sit next to?” His voice had this knowing edge to it, and my stomach twisted.I glared.

  • Rival's Contract Marriage    145

    I slid into my chair, my hand tightening around the pen they’d placed at each setting. He didn’t glance at me, not once. Not when I sat down. Not when I said, “Hey.” Not even when I leaned slightly closer and muttered, “Guess they ran out of places to hide me from you.”His only reaction was this tiny twitch at the corner of his mouth. Could’ve been annoyance. Could’ve been… something else.The keynote speaker started, but I wasn’t really listening. I could hear Cameron’s breathing. I could see the way his fingers tapped lightly against his notepad when he was trying not to fidget.I leaned back, whispering just low enough for him to hear. “You look good.”His pen froze mid-word. He didn’t look at me. “Don’t.”“Don’t what?” I asked, even though I knew exactly what.“Don’t do this here.”I smiled, even though my chest hurt. “I’m literally just sitting.”He finally turned to look at me, and wow, bad idea. His eyes were sharp, all control and ice, but I caught it—the flicker. The one tha

  • Rival's Contract Marriage    144

    Brandon’s POVI didn’t even want to come to this convention.Like, at all.But Coach said it would be “good exposure” for me and the team. Networking, PR photos, the whole fake-smile package. And here I was — wearing a stupid badge with my name in bold letters like anyone needed a reminder of who I was.The ballroom was huge. Too many people, too much chatter, and the kind of hotel carpet pattern that made you dizzy if you stared too long. I was halfway through a lukewarm bottle of water when I saw him.Cameron.It was like the air shifted. My grip on the bottle tightened, and my pulse did that annoying jump it always did when I wasn’t ready to deal with him. He was across the room, talking to some guy in a navy suit. Sharp jaw, perfect tie, hair done like he had a personal stylist — which, knowing him, he probably did.And then, like the universe hated me, the event organizer appeared beside me with a clipboard.“Brandon, right? You’re at Table 14. Oh! And you’ll be sitting next to—”

  • Rival's Contract Marriage    143

    Cameron POVDad’s home office still smelled like him.That mix of old leather, expensive cologne, and the faint tang of ink from his fountain pens. The heavy curtains were half-drawn, muting the late afternoon light into a dim gold. Dust motes floated in the air like the room was holding its breath. Everything was still in place—his glasses next to the ledger, a pen left uncapped, the coffee cup with a faint ring of dried black at the bottom.It felt wrong being here without him.Like I’d stepped into a shrine.I was flipping through the latest reports, trying not to let my eyes glaze over, when the door burst open.“Why haven’t you canceled your engagement with Brandon?”Drake’s voice cut through the room like a knife. No hello. No knocking. Just him, storming in like he owned the air I was breathing.I didn’t even look up. “Nice to see you too, Drake. How’s your day going?”He ignored that, striding up to the desk and planting both hands on it. “I’m serious, Cam. This should’ve been

  • Rival's Contract Marriage    142

    Brandon’s POVI didn’t even realize I was pacing until Mom leaned against the kitchen counter with her arms crossed like I’d just told her I got someone pregnant or something.“Brandon,” she said slowly, like I was some bomb she didn’t want to set off, “you’ve been wearing a hole in my floor for the last ten minutes. Either sit down or start paying rent.”“I can’t just sit down,” I muttered, running my hand through my hair for the hundredth time today. “He won’t even talk to me, Mom. He just… looks at me like I’m the enemy.”“Maybe because you’re acting like a stalker?” she suggested, raising her eyebrows.I flinched. “I’m not— okay, yeah, maybe showing up outside his apartment every day wasn’t… ideal.”“Not ideal?” she said, tilting her head. “That’s what you call camping in front of someone’s place like you’re auditioning for a bad romance movie?”I groaned and dropped into the chair, my knees bouncing. “It’s the only way I can see him. If I don’t show up, he disappears. He moved ba

  • Rival's Contract Marriage    141

    Cameron POVI thought moving back home would fix it. Or at least numb it.But it didn’t.The first morning back, I dragged myself to the bathroom, still half-asleep, toothbrush dangling from my mouth as I stared out the window.I could feel my heart pounding against my ribs and I just wanted it to stop.And then I saw him.That stupid fucking Brandon.I choked on the foam and nearly spat toothpaste all over the glass.What. The. Hell.There he was. Right outside our fucking gate. In the pouring rain. He had his hoodie up and his legs were crossed like he had every right to be parked there, like this wasn’t the tenth day in a row he had been trailing me.Just sitting on the hood of his car, headphones in, like he lived there.My blood boiled at his audacity . My hand shot up and I yanked the curtain shut so hard the rod almost came off the wall.What was his problem?Was this some kind of punishment? Some slow-burn, wet-sock, freezing-core-of-my-soul kind of apology?I stormed out of t

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