All Chapters of Bullied Wife In A Contract Marriage : Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

~ Gideon ~The interior of the Maybach was silent, a vacuum of leather and expensive climate control that usually served as my sanctuary. Tonight, however, the silence felt different. It wasn't the productive, focused quiet I used to build empires. It was heavy.I looked at the empty seat beside me. Amara had left the charity auction without a single word to me. One moment she was standing there, the target of Selene’s practiced barbs about her "lack of an artistic eye," and the next, she was gone. She hadn't made a scene. She hadn't even looked at me for help. She had simply evaporated into the Raventport night.I adjusted my cuffs, the gold links catching the dim light of the passing streetlamps. My phone vibrated in my pocket—a notification about the Tokyo merger—but for the first time in months, I didn't reach for it.Beside me, Selene was humming a light tune, tapping her manicured nails against her clutch. She looked perfectly unbothered, her posture elegant and her expression v

~ Amara ~The hum of the refrigerator usually filled the silence of the kitchen, but tonight, the world was pitch black. A sudden summer storm had rolled over Ravenport, and with a final, violent crack of lightning, Moore Crest had plunged into darkness. I sat at the small breakfast nook, my hands wrapped around a cold glass of water. I didn't move to find a flashlight. In this house, the dark felt more honest than the light. It didn't pretend the marble was warm or that the portraits in the hall were actually looking at me.The heavy thud of footsteps echoed from the foyer. They were measured, firm, and unmistakable. Gideon was home. Usually, he would head straight to the west wing, his silhouette a brief flicker in the hallway before he vanished into his study. Tonight, the beam of a high-powered flashlight cut through the kitchen doorway, dancing across the stainless steel appliances before landing directly on me."Amara?" his voice was lower than usual, stripped of its corporate e

~ Andrian Locke ~The glass walls of the conference room at Helix Tower usually felt like a shield, but today they felt like a cage. Outside, Ravenport City stretched toward the horizon, a grey grid of ambition and concrete. Inside, the air conditioning hummed with a clinical precision that matched the man sitting across from me.Gideon Moore was leaning back in his leather chair, tapping a fountain pen against a stack of legal documents. He looked every bit the billionaire the papers worshiped—untouchable, composed, and entirely cold."The merger with the East-End docks is finalized," Gideon said, his voice level. "We just need the final signatures from the board."I nodded, scanning the brief in front of me. "It’s a solid move, Gid. The Moore name carries enough weight to crush any opposition."The door opened, and Rolan, one of the senior executives, stepped in. He had a smirk on his face that I’d learned to dislike over the years. He dropped a tabloid onto the mahogany table. On t

~ Amara ~ The Grand Ballroom of the Ravenport Plaza was a sea of black ties and silk gowns. It was the annual Moore Corporate Dinner, a night designed to display the power and unity of the family. To me, it felt like a cage built of gold and glass. I walked a few paces behind Helena Moore. She didn't look back to see if I was keeping up. My dress was a muted navy blue, high-necked and long-sleeved. It was the "appropriate" choice Helena had picked for me, meant to ensure I didn't draw any unnecessary attention. "Amara, do try to keep your chin up," Helena said without turning around. "You look like you're heading to a funeral, not a celebration of my son’s success". "I’m sorry, Helena," I whispered. My voice felt thin, easily swallowed by the hum of the crowd. We reached the center of the room where the seating charts were displayed. Gideon was already there, surrounded by a group of men in sharp suits. He looked perfectly at home, his expression a mask of calm authority. He glan

~ Amara ~The rain in Ravenport City didn't fall; it descended like a heavy, gray curtain, blurring the sharp limestone edges of Moore Crest until the estate looked more like a tomb than a manor. I stood by the floor-to-ceiling window in the library, my forehead pressed against the cold glass. Outside, the sprawling gardens were drowning. The manicured hedges, once so precise, now looked like ragged, shivering walls.I watched a single droplet trace a jagged path down the pane. It moved exactly like I did through these halls—hesitant, searching for the path of least resistance, ultimately disappearing into the dark.The house was silent, as always. Gideon was at Helix Tower, likely buried in the quarterly projections Adrian had mentioned. His mother was out at her club, and the staff had retreated to the kitchens to whisper about my "drab" choices in stationery. In the three months since I had signed the contract, I had become an expert in this specific kind of silence. It wasn't the