The CEO's Untamed Contract Bride

Vivienne POV

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The hospital corridors had become too familiar to me. The smell was always the same—a mix of bleach and something faintly sweet, like they were trying too hard to cover up the truth that sickness lived here. The fluorescent lights above were harsh, draining every bit of warmth from the space. My heels clicked against the tiled floor as I walked, a sharp sound that reminded me of who I was supposed to be outside of these walls—professional, polished, in control. But here, I wasn’t the rising executive people admired in meetings. I was just a mother trying not to fall apart.

My phone buzzed in my hand. For a moment, I thought about ignoring it, but the subject line caught my eye: “Congratulations, Director Hartley.”

My chest tightened. I froze in the middle of the hallway, staring at the screen. Director. The title I had chased for years, the recognition I had bled and sweated for. It was here, finally. I should have felt joy, maybe even pride. But instead, my stomach twisted. I looked at the word again and again, but it meant nothing—not when my little boy was lying behind a closed door in this hospital.

“Ms. Hartley?” A nurse’s voice pulled me back. I lifted my eyes to her calm but urgent expression. “The doctor would like to see you now.”

I followed her into a small consultation room. The air was cold, heavy, and the walls felt too close. Dr. Henley sat across from me at a desk, papers spread in front of him. His eyes carried the same weight I had seen too many times before, that quiet pity that told me everything before he even spoke.

“Please, sit down,” he said gently.

I lowered myself into the chair, my hands clutching my phone so tight my knuckles whitened. “What is it?” My voice cracked despite me trying to keep it steady.

He sighed, looking down at the papers, then back up at me. “Vivienne… Liam’s condition is progressing faster than we anticipated.”

My heart sank into my stomach. I swallowed hard. “Faster? What does that mean? He was stable last week.”

“I know,” he said, leaning forward. “But the latest results show that his immune system is declining at a concerning rate. The treatments we’ve been using are no longer enough to hold it back.”

I shook my head, blinking away tears. “So what now? What do we do? You said there were options—”

“There is an option,” he cut in softly. “There’s an experimental treatment program. Early results have been promising. It could slow the progression, even improve his quality of life significantly.”

“Then sign him up,” I said quickly, leaning forward. “Whatever it is, we’ll do it. Just tell me what papers I need to sign.”

He hesitated. His silence was louder than words.

My chest tightened. “Why are you looking at me like that? What’s the catch?”

He sighed again, and his voice lowered. “The treatment is extremely expensive. Insurance will not cover it because it’s not yet FDA-approved. Families who have pursued it have done so privately. The cost runs in the hundreds of thousands.”

I felt my throat close. My pulse hammered in my ears. “Hundreds of thousands?” I repeated. “You can’t be serious.”

“I wish I weren’t.” His eyes softened with sympathy. “I know this isn’t easy to hear. But I promised I would always be honest with you.”

I let out a bitter laugh, but it cracked halfway. “Honest? Honest is telling a mother her son has hope, then taking it away in the same breath.”

“Vivienne,” he said quietly, “I know how much you’ve done for Liam already. You’re an incredible mother. But you need to prepare yourself. This treatment may not be possible without significant resources.”

I stared at him, my chest rising and falling too fast. “Resources? You mean money. You mean the thing I never have enough of, the thing I’ve been fighting for every day just to keep him alive. And now you’re telling me it’s still not enough?”

He lowered his gaze. “I’m so sorry.”

For a long moment, I couldn’t speak. My promotion email still sat open on my phone, the words blurred by my tears. Director Hartley. The dream I had clung to, thinking it would change my life, felt like nothing more than a cruel joke now.

I stood slowly, pressing my hands against the table to steady myself. My voice shook, but it came out firm. “I don’t care what it takes. I’ll find a way.”

Dr. Henley didn’t argue. He just nodded, his eyes heavy.

When I left the consultation room, my mind wouldn’t settle. The words “hundreds of thousands” kept circling like vultures. Everything was quiet, and in that silence, my thoughts went back to William.

He should have been here. He should have been sitting next to me in that cold room, asking questions, holding my hand, being a father. But William had walked away long before the worst of it.

I remembered the nights he accused me of affairs just because I worked late. “You come home past midnight, Vivienne,” he had snapped once, his voice sharp. “Don’t tell me it’s only work.”

Then there was the night I collapsed on the couch after a fourteen-hour day. I could still hear his voice, cold and dismissive: “You act like you’re the only one tired. Everyone works. Stop dramatizing.”

And when Liam first got sick, when we got the diagnosis that ripped my world apart, he didn’t stand by me. He packed his things and left. No phone call since. No visit. Nothing but silence.

The pain of that betrayal still lived in me, but I had learned to survive without him.

I pushed the thoughts away as I walked back into Liam’s hospital room. The steady beeping of the monitor greeted me first, then his small, pale face. Even sick, he found a way to smile at me.

“Hey, champ,” I said softly, sitting by his bed.

His fingers fiddled with the blanket, his voice small. “Mom?”

“Yes, baby?” I brushed his hair off his forehead.

“My birthday’s soon, right?” He hesitated, as if he was afraid of asking. “Do you think… we could still have a cake? Maybe balloons?”

My chest tightened. His tone carried the weight of a child who already expected disappointment. It almost broke me. I leaned closer, forcing my smile to be steady. “Of course we can. We’ll have chocolate cake, the biggest one. With balloons all over the room.”

His eyes widened a little. “Really?”

“Really,” I nodded. “And you know what else?”

“What?” His voice lifted just a bit.

“I’ve already been keeping an eye on that dragon figurine you love. The green one with the wings? The one you showed me online?”

His face lit up, fragile but so bright it pierced through everything. “You remembered?”

“Of course I remembered. How could I forget?” I held his hand, small and warm in mine. “It’s your special day. You’ll get your dragon.”

He squeezed my hand weakly, his smile returning. “Thanks, Mom.”

In that moment, I remembered why I fought so hard, why I never allowed myself to stop. Liam was my anchor. He was the reason I kept standing, the reason I couldn’t give up.

Hours later, when he got discharged and we were back at the apartment, the silence wrapped around me. I lay in bed staring at the ceiling. The promotion email was still on my phone, unread again and again. I should have been celebrating, but instead, I felt hollow.

And then, like a shadow, the thought of William returned. I hated it, but it slipped in anyway. I missed him. Not his love, because that had never been real, but the presence. The way the nights weren’t this empty when he was around. I missed the comfort of not being alone in the dark.

The honesty of that thought stung, bitter on my tongue. I let it sit with me, only for a moment, before pushing it away.

I turned on my side, whispering into the silence, “I won’t fail you, Liam. No matter what it costs me.”

And with that vow steady in my chest, I closed my eyes, ready to fight again tomorrow.