All Chapters of BLOOD CONTRACT : WINTER'S VOW: Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

ISABELLAThe Caldwell family fortune died on a Tuesday.I was standing in my studio, barefoot on the paint-splattered floorboards, when I heard my father's howl from two floors below. Not a shout or a yell,a howl. The kind of sound that cracks foundations and shatters family legacies.My paintbrush clattered to the floor, splattering crimson across the hem of my white linen dress. Fitting. Everything about this day would soon be stained with red.I didn't run downstairs. Not immediately. Instead, I stood frozen, watching the dark red paint creep through the fabric fibers of my dress, blooming like blood. The canvas before me,nearly finished after weeks of work,suddenly looked childish and trivial. A commission for a local gallery that had once seemed so important.The grandfather clock at the end of the hallway chimed three times, snapping me back to reality. Whatever had made my father sound like that couldn't be good. I tossed my palette onto the side table and hurried toward the st

ISABELLA"I killed his parents."My father's words hung in the air between us, awful and impossible."What are you talking about?" I whispered, my legs trembling as I sank back into the chair opposite his desk. The velvet ring box still sat where Blackwood had placed it, a silent harbinger of my future. "Tell me you're not serious."He wouldn't meet my eyes. "It's complicated, Izzy.""Then un-complicate it!" My voice rose sharply. The shock was wearing off, giving way to a fury I'd never felt before. "How exactly does one accidentally kill someone's parents?""I never said it was an accident." He drained his glass and set it down with a heavy thud. "But I never meant for it to happen.""That makes absolutely no sense." I ran shaking fingers through my hair, loosening strands from my messy bun. "Start from the beginning. Please."My father looked older than I'd ever seen him, the weight of secrets visibly crushing him. He stared at the empty glass for a long moment before speaking."Ja

ISABELLAI made it exactly three blocks from Blackwood Tower before my composure shattered.My knees buckled beneath me, and I barely managed to steady myself against the cool stone of a building facade. Pedestrians streamed past, a few casting curious glances at the woman in the black dress who suddenly couldn't remember how to breathe.The weight of what I'd just done pressed against my chest like a concrete slab. I'd said yes. I'd agreed to marry Alexander Blackwood,a man who had meticulously orchestrated my family's downfall, who had watched me for years with cold calculation, who had openly admitted that I was nothing more than an instrument of revenge.And I was to be his wife in four days.I stared down at the black pearl ring glinting on my finger, its darkness both beautiful and ominous. Rare. Formed under pressure. Beautiful, but not in the conventional way.His words echoed in my mind, the unexpected moment of something almost like sincerity in an otherwise transactional en