All Chapters of Billionaire’s shadow contract : Chapter 61 - Chapter 70

Chapter 62The road stretched ahead like a dark ribbon into nothing. I drove with one hand on the wheel, the other pressed hard against my side. Blood seeped between my fingers, warm and constant. Every bump sent fresh agony through my ribs, but I kept my foot on the accelerator. The closer signal was moving again — slow, deliberate, as if Marcus wanted me to catch up just enough to hope.Two hours forty minutes.The guilt was heavier than the pain. I had chosen proximity over certainty. Speed over caution. I would never forgive myself if something happened to Lila because of this decision. Riven had said her name first in the clip. I had gone against it.The car swerved slightly as another wave of dizziness hit. I corrected it at the last second, jaw clenched so tight my teeth ached. The factory lights had long since faded behind me. Now there was only the empty industrial zone, abandoned buildings and chain-link fences flashing past in the headlights. My vision kept tunneling, black

Chapter 64The first thing I felt was the beeping.Steady. Mechanical. Annoying.Then the pain — duller now, muffled by drugs, but still there, a deep ache in my side that reminded me I was alive.I opened my eyes to white walls and the faint smell of antiseptic. Hospital. Private room. The kind of place where questions weren’t asked.Riven was in the chair beside the bed, elbows on his knees, head down. He looked like he hadn’t slept. There was a fresh bandage on his arm where Kane had grazed him. Lila was curled up in the armchair across the room, asleep under a blanket.I tried to sit up. The room tilted, but less violently than before. Tubes tugged at my arm. Monitors beeped faster.Riven’s head snapped up. “Easy. You’ve been out for almost twelve hours. They had to transfuse you twice.”I swallowed. My throat was raw. “Lila?”“She’s okay. Shaken, but okay. She hasn’t left your side except to sleep.”Lila stirred at the sound of my voice. She sat up, eyes wide, then rushed to the

Chapter 66The gates opened with a heavy metallic groan that echoed across the parking lot. I stepped out into the morning light, a small duffel bag over my shoulder and a release packet in my hand. The air smelled different out here — cleaner, sharper, full of possibility and ordinary things like coffee and exhaust and distant rain.I was thinner than I had been. Older in the eyes. The scar on my side pulled tight with every step, a permanent reminder of how close I had come to losing everything. But I was free. Parole granted early for good behavior and continued cooperation. The empire was long gone. My name still carried weight in courtrooms and boardrooms, but mostly as a cautionary tale.A black car waited at the curb. Riven leaned against it, arms crossed, watching me walk toward him. He looked the same and completely different — hair a little longer, a few more lines around his eyes, but the same steady gaze that had anchored me through the worst nights.He didn’t speak when I

Chapter 68The coffee mug shattered on the porch, ceramic shards scattering like broken promises. The sound cut through the quiet evening air sharper than any gunshot I’d heard in the warehouse that night. For a second, none of us moved. The phone was still pressed to Lila’s ear, her face pale under the porch light.“Dad?” she whispered again, voice trembling.I took the phone from her hand before she could drop it. My fingers were steady — years of boardrooms and prison had taught me that much. But inside, something cold and sharp twisted behind my ribs.The line was still open.I brought it to my ear.“Who is this?”A pause. Then a voice I hadn’t heard in years, calm and familiar in the worst possible way.“Hello, Damien. It’s been a long time.”Marcus.Riven was already on his feet, one hand on Lila’s shoulder, the other reaching for the phone. I held up a finger — wait — and kept my voice level.“You’ve got some nerve calling this number.”Marcus laughed softly, the same dry sound

Chapter 70The photo stayed on the screen longer than it should have. Lila’s studio window, lit from inside, the edge of her easel visible. Someone had stood beyond the tree line, close enough to watch her.Riven’s hand tightened on the phone. “He’s testing us.”I nodded. “Or showing what he can do without trying.”Lila appeared in the doorway, drawn by the tension. She took one look at our faces and crossed her arms. “What now?”I handed her the phone. No secrets. Not this time. She stared at the image, her jaw working silently. For a moment she looked like the little girl who had been taken from me years ago. Then the steel returned — the same strength that had carried her through the aftermath.“We change the cameras,” she said. “We add lights. Motion sensors. Whatever it takes.”Riven was already nodding. “I’ll handle it at first light. But we need to assume every system we touch could be compromised.”We moved to the living room, the three of us clustered on the couch like we use