Semua Bab Signed In Silence : Bab 1 - Bab 10

Wren's POV The only thing worse than watching Ms. Squeaky strut past my desk with her chest aggressively on display at 9:00 AM was knowing I couldn't legally throw a stapler at her head. I kept my mouth shut, hammering away at my keyboard, until she planted her manicured nails on the reception counter and let out a sharp, dismissive tap. "I'm looking for my lovely Leander," she purred, her voice dripping with artificial sweetness. "Tell him Serene is back and waiting for him." Darn it. Must she always drag her irritating face here? She exhausts me before the morning coffee has even hit my bloodstream. As usual, she was wearing a dress so short it looked like a fashion misdemeanor, her cleavage spilling out like she was auditioning for a late-night cable special, complete with that sickeningly smug look that said she thought she owned the building. I admit, objectively speaking, she’s attractive, possessed of the kind of asset-heavy curves that make men lose their minds. No wonder sh

Wren The betrayal did not strike with the sudden, clean impact of a gunshot; rather, it bled in slowly through the hairline fractures of a dozen small, deliberately ignored inconsistencies that had accumulated over the past year of my life. I lay awake in the absolute darkness of the bedroom while Raphael breathed softly and evenly beside me, staring up at the ceiling fan lazily spinning and slicing shadows across the drywall. My mind raced backward and forward, looping endlessly around Vivienne’s parting words at the door... ignorance might be bliss, but it’s remarkably expensive. The warning echoed in my ears like a persistent tolling bell, eroding the last remnants of the trust I had placed in him. Slowly, carefully, I slipped out from under the heavy cotton duvet, making sure not to make a single sound that might disturb him. I padded down the hallway in my bare feet, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs, and slipped into his private study. The house was dead

Wren’s POV The heavy door of Leander’s executive office clicked shut, sealing me inside a quiet that felt less like a sanctuary and more like a decompression chamber after a deep-sea dive. My fingers still gripped the heavy leather-bound folder containing the Conditional Matrimonial and Operational Agreement like it was a lifeline thrown to a drowning swimmer. Two years of public marriage. One biological heir to secure the Voss lineage against a hostile board takeover led by his predatory cousins. Complete financial independence upon completion, and ironclad legal protection against the federal fallout of Raphael’s fraudulent shell companies. It was absolute madness. A cold, clinical transaction disguised as a wedding vow. Yet, as I walked back to my temporary desk in the antechamber, my mind was racing with a fierce, burning clarity that had been entirely absent twenty-four hours ago. Leander hadn't just pulled those terms out of thin air to trap me; he had engineered a precision i

Wren's Pov I was torn between going to the apartment Leander had given me or just going out to clear my head. At the end, I went to Noelle's instead. She opened the door and took one look at my face. "Oh no," she whispered. "What happened?" I walked past her into the apartment. Dropped the folder on her coffee table. Sat down on her couch. "Just read it," I simply responded. She opened the folder. I watched her face as she read. The shock. The confusion. The anger. "Wait, our Leander ?" She asked shock and surprise, still visibly evident on her face. "Yeah." "He wants you to have his baby?" She looked up at me. "Wren, this is—" "Insane. I know." "Insane?" She shook her head. "This is insane. This is—" She read the contract again. "Wait. He's offering you thirty thousand a month? And legal leverage over Raphael?" She looked at me. "Wren, this is—" "Freedom. I know right" "It's a way out," she agreed slowly. "But at what cost?" I laughed, and it came out hollow. "Every

Wren Later that day, I got a text from an unknown number. And the moment I clicked on it, the content of it told me everything I needed to know about who sent it. Apparently, Raphael stated there was something I need to know. To say I very much liked the idea would be gross. It irritated me but I had to find out whatever he had to say. Maybe one of the lies. He texted me the location, and I followed to see what he had. ♧♧♧ I saw him waiting for me in the lobby. I spotted him from across the room—rumpled, unshaven, nothing like the confident man I'd known. The tailored suits were gone. The easy smile was gone. Everything about him screamed desperation. He looked like a man who'd lost everything. Good for a start. "Wren." He stood as I approached. "Thank you for coming." "Don't thank me." I stayed standing. "Say what you need to say." He glanced around the lobby. "Not here. Is there somewhere we can talk?" "No." "Wren—" "Either you talk here, or you don't tal