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Chapter 77
publish date:
2026-04-14 14:25:59
Latest chapter
The CEO’s Contract Bride Chapter 119
ETHAN’S POV She reached for me first. We didn't talk. Not at first. Not for a long time after.I understood what that cost her. I was not going to waste it by saying too much too soon. I'd learned, at significant cost, that the correct response to something fragile was not to immediately close your hand around it.Later, in the dark, I looked at the ceiling and listened to her breathe beside me and felt the specific weight of the silence in the room. Not empty. Not comfortable exactly. Something in between, the kind of silence that has too much in it to be nothing.I thought about not saying it.I was good at not saying things. I'd built an entire architecture around knowing what not to say and when not to say it. Caleb had once told me my greatest professional skill was the ability to hold information without showing the pressure of holding it.I said it anyway."This stopped being a contract a long time ago." My voice was quiet. "For me."I said it to the ceiling. Not quite to he
The CEO’s Contract Bride Chapter 118
ISABELLA’S POVI stood up to pour the tea. I poured water into both mugs because they were there. It was something to do. A practical motion that gave me somewhere to put my hands and a reason to move and a few seconds of not looking directly at him while I found the steadiness I needed.I poured his cup first. Carried it around the island toward him because he was still leaning against the counter and the island was between us and it was easier to bring the cup to him than to slide it across and watch it stop halfway.That was the reason I told myself.I set the cup on the counter beside him and started to step back and his hand was there, not grabbing, not pulling, just resting against my wrist. The lightest possible contact. A question more than a statement.I looked down at his hand on my wrist, then I looked up at his face.He was very still. Waiting, the way he'd been waiting all evening, all week, possibly longer than that. Not pushing. Not asking. Just present, with that ope
The CEO’s Contract Bride Chapter 117
ISABELLA’S POV Ethan remained quiet like he was through dinner. Through Brahms's bath. Through the bedtime negotiation. He'd been present and functional and entirely contained and I'd felt it all evening. I closed my laptop when I heard him fill the kettle.I could have stayed in the living room. There was no reason to move to the kitchen. I went anyway, because waiting for something that was already in motion was worse than meeting it.He was standing at the counter. He'd made tea, or started to. The kettle was on and he was looking at it with the focus of someone thinking about something that had nothing to do with tea.I sat at the island.We stayed like that for a moment. The kettle began its low sound."You don't have to work up to it," I said.He looked at me. Then he turned and leaned against the counter, arms crossed, and I recognized the posture. It was the one he used when he'd decided to be honest about something and was making sure he was steady enough to do it without l
The CEO’s Contract Bride Chapter 116
ISABELLA’S POVWe were at the kitchen table, the three of us, dinner plates mostly cleared and Brahms working through the last of his food quickly so he could ask for dessert. Ethan was reading something on his phone, or appeared to be. I was reviewing a supplier email.The penthouse had that end-of-day quiet that had become familiar over the past weeks. Settled. Almost comfortable.Brahms looked at Ethan. Then at me. Then at Ethan again."Why does Papa look sad sometimes?" he asked. I looked up from my phone.Ethan looked up from his.Brahms’s question was directed at me. He had decided this was a question for his mother rather than a question for the room."When you're on your phone," he added.The table became silent."Papa isn't sad," I said."But he makes a funny face," he said. "What kind of face?" I asked, keeping my voice neutral.Brahms attempted to demonstrate. He pressed his mouth into a flat line and looked at a fixed point in the middle distance with controlled tension
The CEO’s Contract Bride Chapter 115
KANE'S POVI had a rule about underestimating people.I didn't do it.Every major mistake I'd made could be traced back to misjudging someone. The lesson had cost me dearly once, in a Milan boardroom, and I hadn't forgotten it.I wasn't making that mistake with Isabella Moretti.What I was doing with Isabella was more precise than that. I was reading her accurately and acting on what I found. Those were different operations and the distinction mattered.She was intelligent in the specific way that made people underestimate the emotional current underneath it. She presented as analytical because analysis was her strongest tool, and she'd learned to lead with her strongest tools. Most people saw the boardroom version and concluded that was the whole person.I'd watched her at the charity event. At the dinner. At the gallery. The boardroom version was real. So was everything else she kept behind it.That was what made her genuinely interesting. And what made her genuinely useful were two
The CEO’s Contract Bride Chapter 114
ETHAN'S POVThe first photo appeared on a Tuesday.It came through my morning press digest under industry appearances.A charity event for a children's arts foundation. Kane Rourke's foundation was co-sponsoring. Isabella had mentioned she would attend on behalf of ISMARA.The photo showed them standing together at the edge of a reception room.Professional.Composed.Not touching.Simply talking.Kane was looking at her while she spoke.I noted it, dismissed it as irrelevant, and continued through the digest.At lunch, I opened the photo again.I told myself I was conducting due diligence. Kane Rourke was a known rival with a documented pattern of strategic moves against Dexter Corp, and Isabella was now publicly attached to my name. Monitoring his proximity to her was a reasonable precaution.I almost believed it.~~~~The second appearance happened four days later.A private business dinner hosted by a European retail consortium.I heard about it from Caleb during a routine indust
The CEO’s Contract Bride Chapter 13
ISABELLA’S POVI woke before my alarm, the room still felt unfamiliar.I lay still for a moment, staring at the ceiling, replaying Lucia’s voice from the night before.I got out of bed and dressed carefully, choosing neutral colors, nothing that could be read as indulgent or defensive.I wanted to
The CEO’s Contract Bride Chapter 12
LUCIA’S POVMy phone wouldn’t stop buzzing, and by the time it stopped, the headlines were already old.That was the first thing people never understood about damage control. By the time panic set in, the story had already settled into its shape. The only question left was who would control the nex
The CEO’s Contract Bride Chapter 11
ISABELLA’S POVThe ride home was quiet. The heavy kind that pressed against my chest and made every movement feel louder than it should have.Ethan sat beside me in the back of the SUV, his posture composed, one arm resting against the door, the other holding his phone. His attention was fixed on t
The CEO’s Contract Bride Chapter 10
ISABELLA’S POVLucia and I began seeing the directors privately to convince them.Lucia sat across from me at a quiet restaurant, her tablet glowing softly between us as she scrolled through profiles.“Director Hale likes control,” she said. “So it's best to appeal to stability, not emotion.”I nod
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