Lahat ng Kabanata ng A Million-Dollar Marriage: A Story Of Heart Over Contract: Kabanata 51 - Kabanata 60

The intruder moved around the room with purpose, then crossed to the bathroom door, where he stopped for a moment. He cocked his head slightly as if listening for something and Gianna pursed her lips tighter. Then, he let go of the bathroom door and walked inside.Immediately seeing this as an opportunity, Gianna’s instincts pushed her to move away from the door. She bolted out from her hiding place, feet barely touching the ground as she fled the room. Her heart pounded a frantic rhythm, drowning out everything else but the desperate need to escape.She could now hear a muffled curse behind her, and the thunder of pursuing footsteps. The further lent wings to her feet as she raced down the hallway. But in her panic, she misjudged the distance to the stairs. Her foot met empty air where she expected solid ground. For a sickening second, she was airborne. Next came a series of bruising thuds when she tumbled down the short flight of stairs. The final collision came with her head crack

David Harrison. This was the name on the report Mason read keenly on this particular Tuesday afternoon some weeks back. Apparently, he was Gianna’s brother, who he’d never heard about nor seen in her file when he previously ran a background check on her. But recently, when she mentioned having reconnected with her sibling, Mason had to do a bit of digging into who he was.He was orphaned at a tender age (like Gianna) and eventually got adopted as David White from an orphanage, by a couple. Obviously, his last name had to change from White to Harrison. David reportedly worked as a contractor at a big warehouse and recently reunited with his long-lost sister— Gianna.Mason got to find out through Gianna’s frequent calls with her brother that his actual name was Finn.David. White. Harrison. Finn.Turns out these were all lies. The bloodied man Mason gaped at was none of these.According to the cops, he was an assassin and his real name was Bernie Gad—also known to himself as the guy who

DENIALReluctantly, Sonia got up from the chair while darting gazes between Gianna and the impassive-looking woman."I'll be back in no time, sweetie," she said, kissing Gianna on the forehead.After Sonia and Darrell had left, she was alone with Tara, Liam's wife, of all people. 'Why was she here?' Gianna thought, not knowing where exactly to place her emotions. A good sign or a bad sign?To begin with, she had no trust for Mason's family, ever since the first time she met them; she had no reason to. This was why Gianna eyed Tara warily, thinking about the possibility of her husband being involved in her plight even though there was no evidence of it...yet.Tara settled into the same chair Sonia had been sitting in earlier. She looked composed, and a bit too unbothered for someone who had come to visit a sick person."I'm guessing you don't want to be here. So why did you come?" Giana made a rasp that scraped against her throat.Tara's lips curved into a brittle smile, which l

Sloan grunted in agreement, then turned to the young officer hovering nearby. "Pull everything we've got on victim number four. I want it on my desk in an hour."When the officer scurried off to comply, Sloan started to turn back towards the main room, where he now saw Mason. There were several other eyes that recognized Mason also glancing in his direction."You were just here this morning," the detective noted as he swept his hand in the direction of his office, taking the lead while Mason followed behind him.When they were in the privacy of the office, he gestured for Mason to take a seat in one of the chairs facing his desk."She told me something new today, Mason started, causing Sloan's interest to sharpen."She said she received a text that foretold the attack. I had my team recover it from her phone."He then pulled out the phone from his jacket, tapped the screen a few times, and then held it out for Sloan to see.He read the message displayed there."It could mean t

She woke up to a fuzzy brain, in the middle of the night. Her body hadn’t yet recognized that she was back home until Gianna took a disoriented look around the room, and then at Sonia who was snoring away beside her. Her stomach injury wasn’t hurting as much as it used to, which didn’t cause any hassle while she got out of bed and headed for the door. Out in the hallway, it was normally quiet. And even her light sigh as she shut the door seemed loud in the space. Up ahead, Gianna noticed a light spilling out in the dimness from under one of the doors and so she curiously headed in that direction.Mason was hunched over something in his lap, on the couch he was sitting in, as Gianna opened the door gently. He turned, then sat up. There was a first aid kit lying open on the coffee table in front of him. “You're up,” he gruffly and she made a “mhm” sound as she came in and closed the door again behind her.“Are you hurt?”“It's nothing. Just a little scratch.”Still, she perched herse