Semua Bab A Contract With My Billionaire Ex: Bab 61 - Bab 70

Anastasia's POVThe flashing cameras were blinding.Leon kept his hand steady on my lower back as we walked down the red carpet toward the hotel entrance. Photographers called out his name from both sides, cameras clicking so fast it sounded like rain on a metal roof."Mr. Hart! Look this way!""Leon! Who is your date?""Miss! Miss, what is your name?"I tried to smile the way Leon had coached me to smile. Natural but not too wide. Confident but not arrogant. Like I belonged here among people who wore designer clothes as casually as I wore aprons."Just keep walking," Leon murmured near my ear. "You are doing great."We paused at a spot where the lighting was best and the photographers went crazy. Leon turned slightly toward me and I followed his lead, angling my body so we looked like a couple posing together instead of two people who happened to be standing in the same place."Beautiful couple!" someone shouted."One more! Give us one more!"Leon's hand pressed gently against my bac

Leon's POVDinner was served in courses, each plate arranged like a work of art. I barely tasted any of it. My attention was split between making conversation with my uncle Richard about quarterly projections and watching Anastasia navigate small talk with my cousin Melissa about wedding planning timelines.She was doing well. Better than I had expected, actually. Smiling at the right moments, laughing at jokes, asking polite questions that made her seem genuinely interested in the lives of people she had just met a few times. No one would have guessed she was terrified.But I could see it in the way her hand shook slightly when she reached for her water glass. In the way her smile did not quite reach her eyes when Aunt Patricia asked about our honeymoon plans. In the tension in her shoulders that had been building all evening.I reached under the table and found her hand, squeezing once. She squeezed back and some of the tension eased from her posture."Are you alright?" I asked quie

Anastasia's POV I let out a breath I had not realized I was holding."Are you okay?" Leon asked quietly."Yes. No. I do not know." I looked up at him. "He looked so broken, Leon. Like seeing us together like this destroyed something in him.""Good," Leon said flatly. "Maybe now he will finally move on."There was something hard in his voice, something that reminded me of the way he had been acting all week when he was avoiding me. Cold and distant and focused on something I could not see.Before I could ask about it, Eleanor appeared at my elbow."There you are," she said warmly. "I have been looking everywhere for you two. The photographer wants to get some photos before the evening ends. Family photos with the happy couple."Leon smoothly shifted back into his charming grandson persona. "Of course, Grandma. Lead the way."The next hour was a parade of photo opportunities. Pictures with Eleanor. Pictures with Leon's extended family. Pictures with the foundation board members. Pictur

Leon's POV After he hung up, I sat alone in my kitchen with my coffee and my tablet full of engagement photos. I should have felt victorious. The plan was working perfectly. My grandmother believed us. The public believed us. The business world was already treating me like I had secured my place as her heir.But looking at the photo of Anastasia and me kissing on that stage, all I felt was guilt.She was falling for me. I could see it in the way she looked at me now. In the way she asked if the kiss felt real. She was catching feelings that were not part of our arrangement and I was encouraging it by going bigger than we had planned.I should tell her the truth. That I had feelings for her too. That when I kissed her last night, I meant every second of it.But telling her meant risking everything. The contract, the arrangement, the carefully constructed plan that was finally paying off. If I told her I loved her and she did not feel the same way, I would lose her entirely.Then I dec

Anastasia's POVLeon picked me up at exactly one thirty in the afternoon. He looked tired, like he had not been sleeping well. There were shadows under his eyes that even his expensive suit could not hide."Ready for this?" he asked as I got into the car."No. But I do not think that matters." I buckled my seatbelt. "Your grandmother does not really accept no for an answer, does she?""Not in my experience." Leon pulled away from the curb. "Fair warning, when Grandma gets an idea in her head, she pursues it with single-minded determination. Wedding planning is going to be intense."He had no idea how right he was.We arrived at the Hart mansion to find Eleanor waiting in the main sitting room surrounded by what looked like a small army. A wedding planner sat at the large table with multiple binders spread out in front of her. A florist had sample arrangements displayed on every available surface. A caterer had set up tasting stations along one wall. There was even someone I assumed wa