All Chapters of Contractually Yours: Chapter 131 - Chapter 140

151 Chapters

Chapter 106: Contractually Yours

Author's POV Jem blinked slightly, clearly not expecting to be pulled into it so directly. “I think they only work when the people inside them believe they’re untouchable,” he answered carefully after a pause. Samson’s mouth curved faintly, as though that answer interested him more than he was willing to show. “Interesting. And what about pressure?” he continued smoothly. “What do you do when pressure has nowhere else to go?” Jem held his gaze for a second longer this time. “I don’t let it decide for me,” he said quietly. Samson nodded once, slow and measured, as if noting something internally. “Good answer,” he replied simply. Across the table, Dante’s tone sharpened slightly. “You’re asking a lot of personal questions for someone who came here on business.” Samson didn’t even look away from Jem when he replied. “Business is built on people, Dante. I’m just making sure I understand the kind of people I’m dealing with.” That made Dante’s jaw tighten just a fraction, though he s

Chapter 107: Contractually Yours

Author's POV Morning came quietly at the estate, not with urgency but with a slow, heavy calm that seemed to settle over every corner of the grounds. Jem was already in the garden when the light began to spread, sitting on the edge of a stone bench as though he had not moved there consciously but had simply drifted into place sometime after dawn. Dante had left earlier for a meeting inside the mansion, his absence already forming that familiar quiet pressure in the space around Jem, the kind that made time feel longer than it actually was. Jem’s hands were loosely clasped together, resting between his knees, his gaze fixed on the grass ahead without truly seeing it, as though his thoughts were somewhere far beyond the estate itself. He had only just begun to settle into the silence when footsteps approached across the gravel path, slow and unhurried, breaking through the calm with deliberate ease. Samson appeared in Jem’s peripheral vision before Jem even fully turned his he

Chapter 108: Contractually Yours

Author's POV The words did not land loudly, but they landed deeply. Jem felt them immediately, like a quiet impact beneath the surface of his thoughts. He blinked once, slowly, as if trying to understand whether he had heard correctly. “Costs something?” Jem repeated, his voice now noticeably tighter. “What are you saying exactly?” Samson gave a faint, almost sympathetic smile, the kind that could easily be mistaken for reassurance if one did not look too closely. Then he leaned slightly forward, resting his elbows on his knees as if to make the moment feel more intimate, more personal. “I’m saying,” Samson replied gently, “that being close to him is never just about loyalty or friendship or whatever label people try to put on it. There are consequences to being near someone like Dante. Not always immediate. Not always visible. But they come.” He glanced at Jem then, briefly, his eyes calm but sharp in a way that suggested he was carefully measuring every reaction. “And most p

Chapter 109: Contractually Yours

Author's POV The quietness inside the estate did not feel peaceful that afternoon. It felt watchful. Like the entire mansion had become too aware of itself after everything Samson had quietly left behind in the garden earlier that morning. Jem was still sitting outside when the distant sound of footsteps finally echoed from inside the mansion again, followed shortly by the soft opening of the back doors leading toward the garden terrace. He looked up instinctively. It was Dante. He had removed his suit jacket at some point during the meeting upstairs, the sleeves of his black shirt folded slightly past his wrists now, exposing the faint veins along his forearms. Yet despite the calmer appearance, exhaustion still clung to him in ways that had become increasingly difficult to hide lately. There was tension around his eyes again, the kind that never fully disappeared anymore no matter how controlled his expression remained. The second Dante stepped outside fully, his gaze found

Chapter 110: Contractually Yours

Author's POV Jem felt his stomach tighten instantly. Dante continued before Jem could interrupt. “The bond does not remain stable indefinitely once it fully recognizes its match,” he explained carefully. “That’s why the marriage ceremony matters. It isn’t symbolic. It completes the process permanently.” Jem stayed silent, listening carefully now. Dante exhaled softly before continuing. “If the bond remains incomplete for too long… the damage accelerates as the fortieth birthday approaches.” Jem frowned slightly. “Accelerates how?” Dante’s expression hardened faintly, like even he disliked speaking the words aloud. “My heart condition worsens,” he admitted calmly. “The episodes become more frequent. The blackouts. The chest pain. Loss of consciousness.” He paused briefly before adding more quietly, “Eventually the body stops tolerating the strain altogether.” Jem stared at him now without moving. Dante continued anyway. “In the final months leading to the birthday, the curs

Chapter 111: Contractually Yours

Author's POV The following morning, Dante’s office felt colder than usual, the kind of quiet that settled heavily over a room where decisions were about to be made and nothing discussed inside it would leave unchanged afterward. Everything about the room felt colder somehow. The long black conference table had already been prepared before Dante arrived, several folders spread neatly across its surface beside a laptop displaying encrypted financial records and transaction routes that had been carefully reconstructed over the past forty-eight hours. Shark stood near the far side of the room alongside two senior security members from Dante’s private operations team, both men silent and alert in the way people became when they understood that whatever meeting they had been called into was not routine anymore. When Dante finally entered the office, the room itself seemed to straighten around him instinctively. He looked composed as always, dressed entirely in black again, though the

Chapter 112: Contractually Yours

Author's POV The private sitting room near Madam Frost’s chambers had always felt different from the rest of the estate somehow. Softer. Warmer. The large windows allowed pale afternoon light to spill gently across the cream-colored furniture while shelves of old books and framed photographs filled the walls with traces of a life that existed long before the heaviness currently living inside the mansion. By the time Jem entered quietly, Madam Frost was already seated near the fireplace beneath a light blanket draped across her lap, a cup of untouched tea resting beside her. The moment she saw him, a small tired smile touched her face. “There you are,” she said softly. “Come sit with me for a moment.” Jem immediately moved toward her without hesitation. “You should be resting,” he said carefully after sitting down beside her. Madam Frost gave a faint amused breath. “At my age, everyone keeps telling me that as though resting has ever solved anything.” Despite himself, Jem smil

Chapter 113: Contractually Yours

Author's POV Jem had barely settled his thoughts after leaving Madam Frost's sitting room when he heard Dante's voice carrying from the study upstairs—sharp, focused, already somewhere else entirely. Whatever the call was about, it had Dante's full attention, and from the tight urgency in his tone, it was not something that would release him quickly. Jem drifted downstairs and stood near the glass doors overlooking the back grounds, arms folded, mind still turning over everything Madam Frost had said to him. He did not hear Samson arrive. "You look like someone who ran out of answers about an hour ago." Jem turned. Samson was standing a few feet away, composed as always, one hand in his pocket, wearing that calm half-smile that never quite reached the back of his eyes. "I didn't hear you come in," Jem said carefully. "The staff let me through," Samson said easily. "Dante is occupied, I take it." "He's on a call." "Yes." Samson glanced briefly toward the upper level of the ho

Chapter 114: Contractually Yours

Author's POV Jem spent the rest of the day carrying Samson’s words like a weight pressed behind his ribs, something invisible but constantly tightening whenever he tried to breathe normally. Whatever had been shown to him earlier refused to settle into something simple or dismissible. It kept replaying in fragments inside his mind, not loud enough to scream, but persistent enough to poison every quiet moment. And yet, he said nothing. He did not confront Dante. Not because he didn’t want answers, but because a deeper fear had settled inside him—the kind that didn’t need logic to survive. If he asked and Dante confirmed it, then everything Jem had allowed himself to feel, everything he had slowly started to trust in spite of himself, would collapse in a way he might not recover from. So he stayed silent. He carried it alone, folding it into his chest like something dangerous that might explode if spoken out loud. By the time evening arrived, Jem had already withdrawn into

Chapter 115: Contractually Yours

Author's POV The walk to the guest wing felt longer than it should have. Dante moved through the corridors of the estate with measured steps, but beneath that outward calm was something far more dangerous than anger. Disappointment. The fabricated document remained folded in his hand, its edges creased from where his fingers had unconsciously tightened around it. The mansion itself seemed unusually quiet. Staff stepped aside when they saw him approaching. Nobody spoke. Nobody dares to stop him. By the time he reached the guest suite at the far end of the corridor, the decision had already been made. This was not a discussion about business anymore. It was not even about betrayal. It was about Jem. Dante lifted his hand once and opened the door without knocking. Inside, Samson was standing near the window. For a second neither man spoke. Then Dante quietly closed the door behind him. The click of the lock sounded unusually loud. Samson's eyes lowered toward the paper

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