All Chapters of The contracted heart : Chapter 1 - Chapter 7

The ride home from the gala was wrapped in silence, but it wasn’t a comfortable silence, it was heavy, suffocating, thick with unspoken words. Vanessa sat on the far side of the backseat, her hands twisting in her lap, her heart still racing from the humiliation Clara had put her through and the shocking way Alexander had silenced the room with just one line.My wife.The words echoed in her mind. He had spoken them like a shield, his voice sharp enough to cut through Clara’s mockery. For a moment, Vanessa had almost believed him. Almost believed she mattered to him.But then she remembered his rules, his cold gaze when he made her sign the contract, the way he had reminded her over and over again that their marriage was nothing more than business.She shouldn’t care. She shouldn’t feel anything at all. Yet her pulse refused to calm.Finally, unable to bear the silence any longer, she spoke. Her voice was softer than she intended, almost tentative. “You didn’t have to do that.”Alexa

The glittering ballroom pulsed with soft music, chandeliers scattering golden light across polished marble floors. Laughter rippled through the crowd, blending with the clink of champagne flutes and the occasional pop of a camera flash. To Vanessa Carmichael, the room felt like a battlefield disguised as a gala, where every glance carried judgment, and every smile hid a dagger.She adjusted the delicate strap of her gown, a midnight-blue dress Alexander had ordered delivered earlier that day. It clung to her figure with unnerving precision, as though he’d known her measurements before she ever entered his life. Her palms were clammy against the clutch she held, but she squared her shoulders, determined not to look like the outsider she felt.Alexander Cole walked beside her with his usual commanding presence, sharp in a tailored black suit that screamed power. His hand rested lightly at the small of her back, a gesture that was both possessive and oddly protective. If Vanessa hadn’t k

The hospital reeked of disinfectant, but all Vanessa Carmichael could smell was desperation. Machines beeped steadily around her, their rhythmic tones mocking her racing pulse. Her mother lay pale against the starched sheets, a cluster of tubes snaking from her fragile body. The doctor’s words rang relentlessly in Vanessa’s ears:“Without the surgery, she won’t make it through the month.”Three million dollars. That was the cost of keeping her mother alive. Three million that Vanessa didn’t have, could never hope to earn.Her life had already been stripped bare. She had sold her jewelry, her phone, even begged distant relatives until shame burned hotter than hunger. Yet the amount was still impossibly out of reach.By the time her shift ended that night, the hospital’s fluorescent lights had burned a permanent ache into her skull. She trudged to the bus stop under a gray drizzle, her threadbare shoes squelching against the wet pavement. Rain plastered her hair to her cheeks, but she b