Lahat ng Kabanata ng Fallon’s Reid: An Arranged Contract: Kabanata 131 - Kabanata 140

~Fallon~The moment we stepped into the house, I stopped just inside the foyer, turning to face him.“How long has she been back?”Reid barely looked up as he loosened his tie. “Who?”I folded my arms. “Lila.”His smirk was immediate. Slow. Knowing. “Why? Jealous?”I exhaled sharply. “Reid.”He chuckled as he shrugged off his suit jacket, draping it over the back of a chair. “You’re cute when you’re possessive.”“I’m not being possessive.” My voice was flat. “I’m asking a simple question.”His smirk didn’t fade, but he sighed, clearly deciding to indulge me. “She reached out a few weeks ago. Said she was moving back to the city.”I stared at him. “And you just forgot to mention it?”He glanced at me, completely unbothered. “Should I have?”I studied him carefully, searching for any sign that he was taking this seriously. But Reid—frustratingly, infuriatingly—was relaxed. As if none of this mattered. As if I hadn’t just stood there, watching another woman put her hands on him like she

~Reid~The restaurant was all sharp corners and soft light—muted gold accents, low leather booths, and some Miles Davis track whispering through overhead speakers. The kind of place designed to feel exclusive without trying too hard. I hadn’t been here in years. Lila would’ve known that. She picked it for a reason.She always picked things for a reason.She was already seated when I arrived. Of course. Perfect posture, legs crossed just so, in a deep red dress that managed to be both classic and deliberate. She smiled as she saw me, but it didn’t touch her eyes. It never did.“Reid Sterling,” she said, rising to her feet. “Still incapable of being on time.”“Still incapable of ordering a drink I’d actually choose,” I said, nodding toward the bottle of wine she’d already opened.She laughed lightly, kissing the air on either side of my face like we were old friends at some gallery opening instead of two people who’d once burned through each other and left the ashes behind.“You haven’t

~Fallon~The gala was in full swing by the time I arrived.Flashes from the media wall pulsed against the tall glass windows. Waiters glided between clusters of socialites and donors, balancing trays of champagne and absurdly tiny hors d’oeuvres. The kind of event where everyone acted like they were changing the world—while really taking mental inventory of whose watch cost more and who left with whom.Reid was supposed to be here.We were supposed to walk in together, hands linked, a perfectly tailored couple. That was the unspoken deal. He showed up. I smiled on cue. And in exchange, the world kept believing in our polished mythology.But a last-minute board emergency had pulled him away. “Just for an hour,” he’d promised on the phone. “Maybe two.”That was three hours ago.So here I was—smiling, posing, and nodding at people who only half-listened when they spoke to me.I didn’t mind being alone in rooms like this. Not anymore. I’d learned how to carry silence like armor. I knew ho

~Fallon~He went offlineI stared at the screen like it might light back up with some rational follow-up, but no—Reid was already gone. The tone in his text had shifted right before he logged off the app and I could feel it . Not sharp. Not cold.Final.I knew that version of him. The one who didn’t need noise to move. Who didn’t yell when he was about to burn something down. That version went quiet, calculated—and dangerous.I didn’t change. Didn’t stop to grab flats or pull my hair out of its perfect twist. I was in the car with one hand on the wheel and the other on my phone, calling the Burns Industries front desk as I sped through the city.“Mrs. Prescott-Callahan,” the receptionist said quickly. “Yes, we saw your husband heading out just a minute ago. Security said—”I didn’t wait to hear the rest.I parked in the loading zone. Ignored the voice telling me I was being stupid, emotional, exposed.Because this wasn’t about optics.This was about stopping Reid from doing something

~Fallon~I woke slowly, as if my body wanted to stay in that dreamlike in-between. The kind where reality hadn’t fully returned yet. Where everything still felt soft and suspended.The first thing I registered was the warmth.Not from the sunlight filtering through the windows, although that was there too—golden and gentle, casting a glow across the sheets like we were in some curated moment from a romance ad.No, the warmth I noticed first came from Reid. Solid and real beside me.His chest pressed against my back. His arm slung over my waist, heavy and grounding. His breath steady, stirring the hair near my neck. And I lay there, completely still, like if I moved too fast, I might shatter whatever spell we were under.Last night hadn’t felt like a mistake.It had felt like gravity.Like we’d been circling each other for so long, it was inevitable we’d fall. And when we finally did, it wasn’t rushed or reckless—it was intense. Intentional. Slow and seismic.And it had changed everyth