All Chapters of The Billionaire's Binding Proposal: Chapter 81 - Chapter 90

Chapter 82~ Kesley ~The disappointment hit me first.That familiar sting of rejection—of being found lacking, of being too much of something or not enough of something else.I wasn't naive. I'd heard enough conversations, listened to enough podcasts, absorbed enough cultural commentary to know what men thought about virgins. Too complicated. Too emotional. Too much pressure. The experience came with expectations and feelings and aftermath that most men didn't want to deal with.But I wasn't a virgin by some grand romantic choice.I wasn't saving myself for marriage or waiting for the perfect spiritual connection or any of the noble reasons people sometimes cited.I was a virgin because of Dan.Because for fourteen years I'd been waiting for Dan Mitchell to see me. To look at me the way I looked at him. To choose me the way I'd already chosen him in my heart.And while I'd been waiting, while I'd been turning down the occasional date and the handful of interested guys because none of

Chapter 84~ Niklaus ~She wanted to marry me.After everything. After refusing me multiple times, after running away, after turning down fifty million dollars to my face—she'd looked me in the eyes with absolute determination and said let's get married.The turnaround was remarkable.Was it the kiss? Had kissing me made her realize that perhaps marrying me wasn't the worst fate imaginable? That maybe being Mrs. Specter—even temporarily, even contractually—came with certain... advantages?I smiled at the thought.Because something about the desperation in her voice nagged at me. The way she'd said no so quickly when I'd tried to release her from the arrangement. The way she'd looked at me with something urgent and frightened underneath the determination.She needed this marriage. Badly. Whatever her reasons, whatever she'd been trying to tell me all night, she needed this arrangement more than her pride wanted to admit.Which was fine. I needed it too.We both needed something from th

Chapter 86~ Kesley ~Tuesday arrived with the kind of quiet, unremarkable gray that felt appropriate for the limbo I was living in.Nothing resolved. Nothing decided. Everything suspended somewhere between last night and whatever came next.I got dressed for work on autopilot. Professional blazer, neat ponytail, minimal makeup. The complete opposite of the woman who'd been in a penthouse suite less than twelve hours ago with smudged lipstick and a backward dress.Mom was in the kitchen when I came out, frying eggs and humming something under her breath. Kim was on the couch, already watching her K-drama, a cup of tea on the coffee table in front of her.Normal. Domestic. Like everything was fine."You're up early," Mom said, glancing at me over her shoulder. "Eat before you go.""I'll grab something at work," I said, kissing her cheek and heading for the door before she could argue.I couldn't sit at that kitchen table making small talk about eggs when my entire future was hanging by

Chapter 88~ Kesley ~Soju was exactly what this Tuesday evening needed.Not a lot of it. Just enough to take the edge off the day, to quiet the part of my brain that kept replaying last night on a loop. The kiss. The suite. Niklaus's hand on the back of my head, pulling me toward him.I poured another glass and focused very hard on the K-drama playing on my laptop, which Taraji had positioned on the coffee table so all three of us could see it from the couch.Kim was curled up under her blanket, thoroughly invested in the drama, commenting on every plot development with the energy of someone who absolutely was not supposed to be this animated given her medical condition. Her color was better tonight.Small mercies.Mom had gone to bed early, claiming exhaustion, which left the three of us in companionable chaos. Empty noodle cups on the coffee table. Laptop balanced on a stack of books. Kim's blanket taking up entirely too much couch space. Taraji with her legs thrown over the armres

Chapter 90~ Niklaus ~I paid for the pork I didn’t eventually get with mint cash in my wallet and Mr. Todd didn’t stop thanking me, but no time for pleasantries. I was boiling. I followed her out of the shop.Keeping enough distance that she wouldn't notice. Staying in the shadow of the building's overhang where the streetlights didn't quite reach.She walked slowly, the paper bag of soju tucked under her arm, her messy bun slightly lopsided now. She was looking at her phone with one hand, the other adjusting the bag.And then she stopped.Right in front of my car.I stepped back instinctively, pressing myself against the building wall.She was looking at it. Really looking at it, her head tilted slightly, recognition flickering across her face even from this distance.Come on, I thought. Look harder.But then she shook her head—a small, dismissive movement—and turned away. Like she'd decided the idea that it was my car was too absurd to entertain. Too much of a coincidence.She walk