All Chapters of The Billionaire’s Contract Bride: Chapter 21 - Chapter 28

28 Chapters

Chapter 21

Adrian's PovThe moment I opened my door, I closed it hard and gripped the wheel, struggling to breathe.He was hiding something. Maybe he wasn't responsible for the messages. But he was holding something back. I saw it in his eyes, the spark of guilt, the flash of anger when I mentioned Val's name. This wasn't all about me.He wanted her too. Not for love, but for control. The attention. He wanted her as a bait to get to me and I would not let her be used as a pawn in his game.I drew out my phone again and sent a text to Jules.Double the efforts to break through. Dig deeper, trace the traceables. I want the source. I don't care if it's behind fifty walls of encryption, find it.My thumb hovered over the send button for a moment before I typed another line:And trace Damian's devices too.Then I hit send. The game was on. This wasn't about who was sending the texts anymore. It was about who was willing to hurt her to get to me. And that? That was a boundary they should have never cr

Last Updated : 2025-05-15

Chapter 22

Valentine's PovBastard.The word lingered at the tip of my mind like cobwebs from spiders, sticking tenaciously irrespective of how I wriggled out of them. It screamed in my head louder with every chime of the very old clock hanging at the far end of the room, the library's silence suffocating me like an airless shroud.The scent of rosemary and dark chocolate still hung in the air, a reminder of an evening that had promised so much but delivered so little confusion. The tea had long since gone cold hours previous, when he had left. It sat beside me, a silent witness to my guilt.I shouldn't have opened up. I shouldn't have let him Into the corners I had kept closed, locked behind steel and silence. I hadn't said a lot but I had said too much.Adrian had come like a cure to my pain. He had listened to me. His voice deep and intent, eyes darker than usual, as if the weight of my words had actually carried meaning. I should have known better than to trust in that kind of fantasy. Kindn

Last Updated : 2025-05-19

Chapter 23

Adrian's Pov The glass trembled in my hand, causing a rippled movement in the whiskey. I settled deeper into my chair, looking into the fire burning in the hearth at the opposite end of the room. The flames wavered and spat as though they were sneering at me. Each flame seemed to whisper her name.Valentine.She'd looked at me as if I were something to be counted on. As if she needed me to come closer. And God have mercy, I'd wanted to. My body had cried out to bridge the space between us, to kiss the quiet she wouldn't keep, to drown in the maelstrom of her.But I'd left. Like a coward.I scrubbed my loose hand against my face, the bristles scratching my palm like a rebuke. I wasn't sure what had kept me from it. Guilt, or fear, or the stubborn little voice in my head that just kept reminding me what happened the last time I let someone in.No. I wasn't going there.I pushed the chair out of the way, igno

Last Updated : 2025-05-21

Chapter 24

Valentine's PovThe email stared back at me like an alarm I had never set.Reminder: Fall Semester Begins Next Week – Please Verify Your Enrollment.I stared at it for what seemed like hours, not budging. My fingers rested on the screen, but I didn't click, didn't delete, didn't even flinch. I just…stared. It wasn't that I hadn't expected school to resume. It was the fourth week of semester break. But somehow, with everything that was happening—the chaos, the trips to the hospital, the brawls, the times that I quietly felt my life being threatened, I had forgotten I'm a student, too.I sighed and dropped the phone on the bed beside me.The journey to the hospital yesterday came into my mind. Oliver had been better, a lot better. The doctor had finally cracked a smile since this hell began and told me that my brother would be out by the weekend. A few more tests as a precautionary measure, but all was well. I remember thanking him, my throat too constricted to utter much more. I had we

Last Updated : 2025-05-22

Chapter 25

Valentine's PovThe ride home was quiet.Adrian had not spoken since we both read the headline. He had clenched his teeth, tossed his phone into the glove compartment, and told the driver to take us directly back to the estate. One part of me was grateful we went with the driver today cause with the way Adrian was upset, he would have run us into the ditch.I didn't say anything. I didn't know what to say. I just fought the tears burning my throat. My heart was a bloody sledgehammer in my chest, and my mind was a jumble of panic, shame, and shock. I just kept going over the image in my head—Who took it? How did they get so close? Why at that exact moment when school was preparing to resume, was someone setting me up for ridicule?And then the words: "Cinderella or charity case?" Why would people be so mean.When the car pulled up in front of the house, my hands were damp. Adrian stood at the open door but said nothing. His silence was greater than any words he could have uttered.We

Last Updated : 2025-05-22

Chapter 26

Valentine's PovThe door closed behind Eleanor Sabastine with a deafening finality, her heels ringing like a war drum on the marble floors until even her shadow was gone beyond the glass archway. The house was plunged into a crushing silence, heavy and oppressive, like the air preceding a thunderstorm."Val, I…" Adrian began but I stopped him.My hand went up automatically, shaking and clenched. "Please," I said, my own voice firm but in a way that terrified even me. "I just need space."He hesitated, his eyebrows drawn together with concern, his lips slightly parted as if he had something further to add. But he didn't push it. He only nodded reluctantly, compressing his mouth into a tight line. I turned on my heel and climbed the stairs, each step heavier than the last, my body moving sluggishly as if through water.The second the door snapped shut behind me, my knees buckled. I slid along the floor, back to the wood, panting in my throat. My fingers clutched hard in my lap as if ho

Last Updated : 2025-05-23

Chapter 27

Adrian's POVWhen we got home, I couldn't help but be burdened with the moment. Valentine said nothing—she just walked away, and I stood there like an idiot. I meant what I had said in the garden but she didn't say anything. Not a word. And when we got here, she just nodded, and disappeared.It was a strange kind of silence, one that was almost too loud. What did it signify? She'd been upset with me the other day, furious when I led her on. She'd obviously been upset because she cared right? That wasn't an emotion born of indifference. She had to care about me, didn't she? But tonight, it was different. I had told her I liked her and she'd given me nothing. I cannot really understand women.I opened the door and stepped inside, attempting to brush aside the sense of not knowing that gnawed at me. I understood she had a right to be confused, to be angry. I also understood, however, that I couldn't let this pass now, not when I was begining to be sure of what I wanted. And what I wanted

Last Updated : 2025-05-23

Chapter 28

Adrian's PovThere was a pause between us for a second after she whispered. I did not budge or speak. I just looked at her, my heart pounding against my ribcage, not having any idea what came next. Maybe I shouldn't need her this badly. Maybe I shouldn't have kissed her. But maybe, maybe, I shouldn't have waited so long as well.I took a step back, far enough to give her space, to let her catch her breath. Her eyes dropped to the tray between us, then rose back to mine again, hoping for something. Maybe answers."I didn't do it on purpose," I said, my voice gruff and low. "I promise I didn't bring you breakfast just to… to end up here.""I know," she said quietly.“Yeah, but for the record, I'm glad we're here." I rested my arms on the chair beside her bed and massaged a hand across my face. Taking a deep breath, I spoke."You asked me why I like you. And I said I didn't know."She nodded."I lied,"Her eyebrows twitched slightly."I didn't lie because I was being dishonest," I contin

Last Updated : 2025-05-29

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