All Chapters of THE BILLIONAIRE'S CONTRACT MARRIAGE : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

Ella’s phone buzzed against the desk before she’d even taken off her coat.Ella, where are you? Daniel’s asking for the file. Her thumb hovered over the screen. Twenty minutes ago, she’d been holding her father’s hand, cold in that hospital bed, listening to the sound of his heartbeat like it might stop between one beep and the next. Now she was supposed to sit here, in this chair, and act as if none of that happened. She texted back with trembling fingers. On it. Sorry, family matters. Family matters… as if these two words were enough to explain everything.She placed the phone down, pressed her hands flat on the desk until they stopped shaking. Around her, the office sounded the same as usual. Printers running, someone typing too fast, a phone ringing over and over again before someone picked it up. None of it slowed down for her. None of it knew.She sat at her desk and started making a contact list of the people she would call.Mom’s sister. Aunt Carol.She hadn’t spoken to her

The dress was borrowed. That was the first thing Ella noticed in the mirror at city hall… pale white fabric hanging off her shoulders, belonging to some stranger from a rental shop two blocks away. It felt about right. Nothing about today belonged to her either.“He has all the money in the world, yet he couldn’t even buy me a decent dress?” Ella muttered under her breath.Her father sat in a wheelchair by the window, three days out of surgery, and he was thinner than she’d ever seen him. His color was back in his cheeks for the first time in weeks.She had asked the doctor for permission to bring her father to the wedding. She owed him that much… to let him be part of her big day. Even if it didn’t feel like her big day, at least to him it did. The doctor had granted it on the condition that a nurse must be with him throughout, just in case.“You look beautiful,” he said, his voice had that fragile, careful sound. “Your mother would be so proud of you.”“I might cry,” Ella admitted,

Rule number one: Never enter my room without my permission.Rule number two: Do not go into my office without my permission.Ella’s grip tightened around the paper, she knew Ethan was rude but she hadn’t realized just how controlling he was until now.She let out a slow breath and continued reading.Rule number three: Do not touch my personal belongings.Rule number four: Do not ask about my private life.Ella frowned. The list felt like she was a prisoner in this house. She flipped the page over, hoping she had reached the end.Instead, one final sentence stared back at her.Comply with these rules, and we won’t have any problems.Ella sighed. She folded the paper, kept it back into the envelope and kept it on the nightstand.She crouched down, taking her suitcase from the floor. She opened her suitcase and poured her clothes out on the bed.Her eyes searched for the wardrope, till it landed on one. Walking over to it, she opened the doors and found rows of empty wooden hangers insid

I AM WATCHING YOU.Ella stared at the four words again.Marcus had found her. He could be in this office. He could be outside. He could be anywhere.She dropped her phone on the desk with trembling fingers. Her chest had gone tight.She yanked her blazer off her shoulders like it was on fire. Her fingers found their way to the top button of her shirt, undoing it without even thinking about it.The place had suddenly become hot. Sweat prickled down her face. She went to the window and peeked through, searching for the eyes she dreaded most.A loud knock came at the door.Ella’s heart skipped. She turned to the door. Her breath came out short and fast, like she’d been running. For a second, she couldn’t move at all, just stood there staring at the door like it might swing open on its own.The knock came again, harder this time.“Ella, are you there?” Priya asked, her voice filled with worry. “Angela asked me to bring you some files.”Ella’s shoulders dropped. Her breath slowed.She grab

"Brother, it’s been a while,” The man said with a smirk.Ethan’s hand curled into a fist at his side, his jaw clenched as he tilted his head to his father. “You didn’t tell me he was coming.”“Oh, come on. Don’t keep the young woman standing there for too long,” his father said, ignoring his comment.His father walked towards them. “Oh, darling, I don’t think we’ve officially met.”“Mr Blackwood.” Ella held out her hand with a smile.He took it and held it for a bit too long. “Please, Richard.”“Shall we?” He said, leading Ella toward the house. “And that’s my son James, Ethan’s younger brother.” Inside, the house was as cold as Ethan’s voice had been. Polished floors, tall windows, everything perfectly in place, like a magazine spread nobody was allowed to touch. They reached the dining room, and a woman was standing there, with different types of cuisines perfectly arranged on the dining table.James was already seated on the dining chair, his eyes focused on his phone.“You can s