Lahat ng Kabanata ng Her Return : The Billionaire's Contract Wife: Kabanata 61 - Kabanata 70

We were all seated when the Meridian team walked in. Arnold Green and his two lieutenants and Nova.I watched her walk in, and the air immediately changed. It wasn't the way she walked; it was the way she carried herself. She didn't look for me. She didn't acknowledge the room's sudden silence. She just moved, placed her folders precisely, and took her seat at the opposite side of the table like she owned the entire building.She wore a dark blazer and a crisp white shirt that buttoned right up to her neck. There was nothing soft, nothing inviting. She was the professional equivalent of a brick wall—cold, stable, and completely unmoving.Tanya shot me a quick, practiced look, the kind that said, 'Remember your control.' I nodded, but my fists were clenched under the table.Arnold opened the meeting, smooth and easy. "Welcome, everyone. This is the first official steering committee meeting for Project Helios. Killian, your team is ready?""We are," I replied, my voice sounding rougher

"I'm proposing the data should be channeled through a secondary, neutral checkpoint that both parties have to sign off on and monitor before it gets put onto their main server," I explained. "It looks like a necessary check for a joint project, but it serves two much better purposes."I paused for effect. "First, it forces Nova to dedicate extra people and time just to this boring, extra layer of scrutiny. Second, and more importantly, it sends a clear, professional signal to her boss that Killian's company doesn't completely trust Nova Vale to handle our most sensitive information."It wouldn't derail the project, but it would definitely slow Nova down and, more importantly, plant a nasty seed of doubt with her company. It was a subtle, totally legitimate way to remind everyone that their new executive came with baggage—baggage I was still carrying for Killian.I had to keep Nova focused on the tedious, boring stuff and away from the real, deeper secrets of Killian's company. Nova wa

KillianI’d spent the last week feeling like I was living on the edge of a goddamn seismic fault. Every time I stepped out of my apartment and saw that closed door across the hall, my gut twisted. I knew this move was insane, but seeing Nova in the boardroom, so cold and untouchable, had made me desperate. I was here to find the truth, but I was already losing my damn mind.I was waiting for Marcus to come back with the full, final report, the definitive proof that Nova’s original betrayal was absolutely solid. I needed those facts to silence the doubt she'd planted in the boardroom.The chaos arrived late Wednesday in the form of a ridiculous email.Tanya brought the printout into my office, holding the paper between two perfectly manicured fingers like it might infect her."Killian, look at this. It's Nova’s response to our proposed security check," Tanya said, her voice laced with the exact right amount of professional outrage. "It's an aggressive maneuver."I took the printout. No

The silence that followed was thick and heavy, filled only by the sound of our ragged breathing and the distant city hum.He took a step closer, and I instinctively retreated one. The proximity was too much. This was vulnerable, exhausted, middle-of-the-night reality."I didn't come here to argue about traffic patterns," he said, cutting straight to the real issue. "I need to know why you're pushing so hard. What is this all for? The job? The apartment? The security?""It’s for the life you took from me, Killian," I whispered, the exhaustion making my filter disappear."I know I messed up! But you walked away from the life you were given!" he countered, the defense mechanism snapping back into place. "What did you mean earlier tonight? That you lost 'more' than I did when Camille died? What did you lose, Nova? What was so damn important?"I stared at him. He was genuinely confused, desperate to put a label on the pain I had referenced. But I was done explaining."You really think it m

KillianI was sitting in the executive security office at Ashford Global, completely exposed, when the anonymous email landed in Marcus’s inbox.It was Wednesday, the day after the committee meeting where Nova had professionally carved eight million dollars out of my budget just to spite Tanya’s stupid security protocol. I was supposed to be reviewing third-quarter financials, but instead, I was here, breathing down Marcus’s neck.Marcus, my Head of Security, was stiff, efficient, and clearly miserable about my obsessive presence."Sir, you need to understand, surveillance in a dense urban environment is never foolproof," he was saying, trying to sound patient. "Even the best freelance agents have blind spots. We won't know if Ms. Vale noticed until we get the full report…."Ping.Marcus glanced at the screen, and his jaw instantly dropped. The email was untraceable, sent through a dozen proxies, but the content was chillingly precise.Subject: Professional CourtesyPlease advise your