All Chapters of The Actor's Contract: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

92 Chapters

71 Pillowtalk

Date = 1 JulyPlace = San Francisco (Damion’s house)POV - EnriqueThe house is silent.As if holding its breath against the storm.I know silence. I know it in dark rooms with mossy walls. I know it in Jackson’s voice when he is holding back. And I know it in this absence.River is not in her bed.“River?” I call, already halfway down the hallway. “Hey, where are you?”Nothing.Her hoodie is gone from the hook. So are her dunk-highs — the scuffed ones with the neon skulls on the side.“Damn it,” I mutter. Knowing.But I still check the back porch. The kitchen. Even the laundry room. Still nothing.“Aria!” I call, heading to the front of the house.She appears from the room, one of Mel’s button-up nighties on, with sexed up curls. “What?”“River’s gone.”Her face shifts instantly — first surprise, then annoyance, and finally a dawning edge of panic. “What do you mean gone?”“I mean gone gone.” I rush to grab my phone from the kitchen counter. “Shoes gone. Hoodie gone. Ghosted.”“Oh my

Last Updated : 2025-10-20

72 Blowing up a ship

Date = 3 JulyA week has passed since they took Lee. And we got the next location.Place = San Francisco (Napa)POV - EnriqueHis time is up. Jackson got his location.The same M.O.Except that there is no video this time. Not YET.The main question on my mind is, what are we gonna find? Lee … in the state of Amanda?Axel did the daily recon. Everyone’s accounted for.Except for Lee.But for some reason, unknown to me, Jackson doesn’t look too anxious. He seems calm and collected. Not at all like he was the day at the warehouse.It can be a front. With him, you never know.I asked and got a grunt and an undecipherable mumble.Axel hasn’t said a word since we got in the Jeep. He looks more worried than my brother. His hands, gripping the armrests of the luxurious seats, are tense, and his eyes haven’t stopped looking through the tinted window.I know them well enough to know the two of them are either up to something — or they’ve already done something.I just don’t know what that some

Last Updated : 2025-10-22

73 Another burned body

Date = 4 JulyPlace = San Francisco (Napa)POV - EnriqueThe wail of sirens tears through the quiet.I turn just as the first Napa County fire truck comes barreling down the dusty access road, tires spitting gravel, red lights flashing across the smoke-filled riverbank. Behind it, a second truck follows — smaller — and a water tender close behind.“Car,” Jackson gestures with his head to Miguel.He grabs River’s arm and hardhandedly shoves the pipsqueak into the backseat of the car again. “Please … if they see you, you’ll put everyone in danger. Including Jackson and … her … understand.” She nods.He closes the window and shuts the door. Childlock intact. Without a word, four guards surround the car. There’s no escape this time for the little hooligan.It takes a few minutes for them to kill the flames. We watch in silence.A firefighter in full gear steps back and signals to the others. “Secondary sweep, now! Check for reignition!”One of them turns toward us — his face soot-smudged

Last Updated : 2025-10-27

74 Setting a trap

Date = 5 JulyOne more day passed.Place = San Francisco (Inferno)POV - EnriqueAfter yesterday’s incident, I’m reluctantly thinking of moving myself and Aria to Black Pit as soon as Leyla gets discharged. I figure their safety is more important than my stupid dislike of the place — even if every cell in my body rebels at the idea.I don’t think I will ever feel comfortable there. Not in this lifetime.Still, it doesn’t look the same anymore. Nothing does. Jackson changed everything — the buildings, the gardens, the atmosphere itself. Even the mountain and the ocean seem to be more lustrous, like the land was waiting for someone to scrub off the grime and let it breathe again.Now, the verdant green pastures are alive with livestock. Cattle graze under open skies. Sheep move in flocks like soft clouds across the hills. Ducks and geese glide across the ponds. And flowers — actual, vivid, defiant flowers — bloom everywhere in the gardens.And there are orchards. Fruits. Lots and lots o

Last Updated : 2025-10-28

75 Hunting a rodent

Date = 6 JulyThe day of the trapPlace = San Francisco (Schulz–Sonoma County Airport)We got Matthew’s location.POV - AriaTo anyone watching, we’re just a beautiful couple loitering in arrivals, waiting for Enrique’s very pregnant sister to land.Even though she’s absolutely not on a plane. Or landing. Or even close to the states.There’s just … us. Sitting in the mostly quiet arrivals lounge of a small regional airport, pretending we’re waiting for a flight — that will never come — while surveillance eyes and informants watch to see if the bait gets a bite.We’re here with the kids. Deimos and Haley are at the other airport — the captain’s. Uncle John went to number three — Shoestring’s. All of us acting a part.Enrique blinks at the departure board as if it is plotting against him personally.“It’s been forty-seven minutes,” he mutters, his eyes on where River is leaning against the wall with folded arms, sizing Luke up with the same expression I imagine she uses on unsuspecting

Last Updated : 2025-10-29

76 Bunnies and boots

Date = 10 JulyFour days after the airport fiasco.Place = San Francisco (UCSF Medical Center)Taking the girls to meet my sister.POV - AriaWARNING – Semi-sex scene!!!The sun’s out, the sky ridiculously blue, and the breeze smells like lemons and clean pavement. I could kiss the whole world right now.Enrique leans closer to me as we approach the main entrance.“Hey.”“Hmm?”“I’m proud of you,” he says softly. “You’ve held so much together lately.”I blink at him. “You’re the one who bought an entire Build-A-Bear store just to make them happy.”“Yes,” he says solemnly. “Because parenthood is sacrifice.”I smile. “You’re ridiculous.”“I’m yours.”Oh.Oh, that’s not fair.I lean up and kiss his cheek, fast and firm, before the kids can notice — though I’m pretty sure River sees. She doesn’t say anything, but the side of her mouth twitches, and she adjusts her new stuffed toy like she’s shielding him from too much public affection.The hospital doors swish open with that oddly theatri

Last Updated : 2025-10-30

77 One way or another

Date = 10 JulyRiver disappeared hours ago, and it’s partly my (hormones’) fault.Place = San Francisco (Some industrial harbor site)I’m not even sure where we are.POV - EnriqueThe docks always have that metallic silence at night. A different quiet. It vibrates peacefully — a faint wind that slithers between shipping containers, the distant clang of chains, a rusty seagull-scream echoing like a dying violin.Even the streetlights flicker as if they regret being installed. The air reeks of rust and damp concrete, the kind of smell that coats the back of your throat until you want to spit it out.This part of the industrial zone feels like the city’s unwanted organ — rotting away in silence — forgotten by everyone but rats, ghosts, and now — apparently — a man with a stalker complex.Or a death wish.He was at Schulz–Sonoma County Airport … making Matthew the rat. But then again, there were those other guys at the second airport … which means Shoestring could be the rat.Or maybe the

Last Updated : 2025-10-31

78 Peachy love

Date = 15 July Five days of peace.Place = San Francisco (Inferno penthouse) And we have the whole place to ourselves.POV - EnriqueWARNING – sex scene!!!It’s late.The kind of late where the moon’s done with her shift and even the raccoons have called it a night.I let myself in and find her curled up on the sofa like a sexy little tortilla, fast asleep under a blanket, while some badly dubbed romcom plays in the background. She must’ve passed out halfway through whatever tragic masterpiece it is.I strip with stealth that would make a cat burglar weep with envy and slide in next to her, naked, because I have my priorities straight. Her warm, silky form fits perfectly into mine, like we were built in a lab for spooning. Her nightie — and I use that term loosely, because it’s basically a see-through red piece of cloth — is doing a damn fine job of waking up every dirty thought I’ve ever had. And I’ve had a lot.“Sport?” she mumbles sleepily.Who else? A****n delivery?“Hi, Batnip,”

Last Updated : 2025-11-01

79 Birthday peaches

Date = 25 JulyThe days pass slowly, but uneventfully - no more messages or choices.Place = San Francisco (Inferno)POV - AriaWARNING – Sex scene!!!I am blindfolded.Not in the kinky way, though I won’t have objected. No, this is Enrique’s theatrical kind of blindfold — the silk is so soft it probably has a fancier passport than I do. The elevator beneath my feet hums quietly, rising higher and higher until the quiet ping marks our arrival. I feel his hand tighten around mine.“Are you going to push me off the roof?” I ask, my voice dry. “Because if this is how you’re dealing with your commitment issues, it’s against the contract.”He laughs. That deep, melted-chocolate sound that always makes my stomach do flips.“You should read the fine print first.”The door whooshes open. I smell something sweet — candles? Flowers? Something soft and indulgent in the air, like warmth and peaches. His hand is at the small of my back now, guiding me forward.One step. Two. My heels click against

Last Updated : 2025-11-02

80 Chaos, crates and condoms

Date = 30 JulyEveryone got here in record time.Place = San Francisco (Black Pit)And we’re all moving here for safety.POV - AriaThey say moving house is one of the best but most stressful things you can do in life.They say this like it’s a normal process. Like you box up your books and your throw pillows and your cat, and you carry your curated life across town with the assistance of some overly muscular moving men and a U-Haul.What they don’t say is that if your life includes your hunky fiancé, three feral children, and the entirety of the Blackburn-Grimm baggage buffet, moving becomes something else entirely.It becomes hell.Sweet, sentimental, wildly inappropriate hell.We’re officially moving into the newly renovated cottage at Black Pit — the one I woke up in after the warehouse incident. An act of madness I apparently consented to while distracted by Enrique’s dimples and the promise of honeymoon sex.Or maybe because it’s the only option at the moment. We can’t move into

Last Updated : 2025-11-02

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