The Billionaire’s Contract Wife Can't Let Go のすべてのチャプター: チャプター 131 - チャプター 140

Alex POVI'm doing my best, pretending to enjoy the party. If it wasn't for my best friend Stanton, I'd probably be out there somewhere spying on Dana. Stanton leans back in his chair and says, "She's ravishing.""Hm."He turns to look at me. "Is that all you have to say? Look at her, Alex. Any man would want a woman like Jodie." “Yeah.”His gaze crosses the room. "Is that her brother?"He's pointing at Roger, tall, dark, the creole look about him making him stand out, curly hair falling to his collar. Jodie's older brother, flown in from California like the rest of them."Yeah," I say.Fanny comes over and sets a plate of cake on the table in front of us. "Hey, Stanton."Stanton brightens immediately. "Fanny. You look incredible. How do you do it?"She laughs and says, "Good food, sleep, and peace of mind," and then she's gone, drifting back toward the cluster of women near the speakers . . . Jodie's friends. And there's more of them arriving by the hour from California, from New Y

Dana POV: Dana Meets Hester WashingtonIt's Monday and I'm at my desk staring at my phone instead of working.Fanny's message is long. Because she writes the way she talks, but the heart of it is simple enough: “Dana, make Alex trust you. He loves cufflinks. Buy him one. Do something he'd love. Just like he bought a recorder for you.”I read it a third time, wondering why Dana is so invested. Even more than I am. I'm pregnant for Alex and can't even bring myself to tell him it's his. God. Derek enters the office, her face coloring slightly. "You busy?""No. What's up?""There's a conference in an hour at the Astoria. There will be important people there." “Okay.”“But I'm hungry. Alex isn't coming in so I'll be attending on his behalf. He says he has to fly to California for something."My heart does a small, involuntary skip at the thought of Alex being with Jodie. Fanny had mentioned it on the phone last night that Jodie is pushing for a quick wedding. She's been doing it since De

Dana POV: Let Alex GoThe Ostrich and Fern is for old money people, young men who wear right fitting pants and jackets and old men with beer bellies who smoke stinking cigars. The place smells of the stinking cigars and fresh-cut grass.Stanton is at a table in an open lounge looking out at the course where a cart is slowly carrying away players. He stands when he sees me. Stanton and his impeccable manners."Dana." He kisses my cheek. "You look well.""You too," I say. Stanton Kelly doesn't seem to age. We sit, and he tells me he's just come from a meeting with some investor on Alex's behalf.I look around the scantily crowded place, looking to see if Alex is lurking."He couldn't make it," Stanton says.I settle back into my chair. "Roger told me yesterday he's in California. Roger is Jodie's brother.""Oh," Stanton says. "Okay." I look at him, itching to hear what he has to say. He looks back at me too. He asks, "What do you think of Jodie?"I feel a nervous smile pull at my li

Dana POV: The Conversation Backfires I recorded my conversation with Stanton. Now as the taxi moves through traffic, I sit with my recorder in my palm, listening to myself lie in real time.My own voice sounds very hurt, raw and tremulous, against Stanton's pragmatic cool one: “Let Alex go,” he says. A single tear slides down my face. I stop the player and close my eyes and let the city noise fill the space where the words just were."Ma'am?" I open my eyes to see the cab guy looking at me in the rearview mirror. "You alright?" he asks. "I'm okay."He nods and looks back at the road. He's not a talkative one. Good. I'm not sure I want a psychoanalyzing can driver asking me questions why I'm crying in his backseat. Back at my desk, I open my laptop and start to type. “Dear Alex . . .”—no, too personal. “To Whom It May Concern . . .” —no, that's absurd. I delete and start again. I need something clean and final and professional, the way you are supposed to end things.That's w

Alex POV: Can't Ask Dana, Because It's Offensive?My family doesn't believe me. I can see it in the way they're sitting and staring at me. Fanny is tucked into the corner of the couch with her arms crossed, Mom is perched at the edge of the armchair like she's ready to intervene at any moment, and Dad in the middle of all of it, looking at me like I've just told him the earth is flat."What is this world coming to?" Dad says. He looks at Fanny first, then swings his gaze to Mom. "You can't ask Dana if she's pregnant for you because it's offensive?"Ray Logan has never been a complicated man. He sees a problem, he solves it. He raised me the same way, and most of the time I'm grateful for it. But right now, sitting in my parents' living room with this uncomfortable subject pressing down on my chest, I wish he could step outside of my skin for just five minutes."That's how it is these days, Dad," Fanny says. "I mean, think about it — if my husband asked me who I was pregnant for, I'd l