All Chapters of THE BILLIONAIRE'S CONTRACT WIFE : Chapter 151 - Chapter 160

Ellie's POV"If Gerald gets there first, we lose everything we just spent a year rebuilding," I said, and the words tasted like ash even as I forced myself to say them out loud.Nathan sat beside me at the table, his jaw tight, his eyes fixed on the old leather satchel like it might open on its own if he stared hard enough. Rose had not moved from her chair since Elias finished speaking. Margaret, who had come downstairs at the sound of raised voices, stood quietly in the doorway with one hand pressed against the frame, watching a second family crisis unfold on the very night she had finally found her sister."I am not here to threaten you," Elias said gently, sensing the fear settling over the room. "I am here because my father made me promise, on his deathbed, that I would see this debt closed honestly, one way or another, before I ever let it fall into the wrong hands. I have spent eleven years trying to find that receipt myself.""And you never did," Nathan said, not unkindly, jus

Ellie's POV"You are the last person I expected to see standing on this porch again," I said, and I meant every word of it, my hand still frozen on the doorknob.Vanessa Cole stood on the front steps of the house in a coat that probably cost more than the bakery's monthly rent used to, her expression unreadable in the way it always used to be during those early, cold months of the marriage neither of us had wanted at first. But something about her had changed since I had last seen her at Preston's hearing months ago. She looked tired in a way that had nothing to do with sleep."I would not have come if it were not important," she said. "May I come in. What I have to say should not be said on a doorstep."I hesitated only a moment before stepping aside. Nathan appeared in the hallway behind me almost instantly, drawn by the sound of her voice, his posture shifting into the careful, guarded stance I remembered from the early days of our marriage, back before either of us knew what trust

Ellie's POV"There is one more thing you all need to hear, and I do not think you are going to like it," Margaret said, setting her teacup down with hands that were not quite steady.We had gathered back at the house that evening, the whole exhausted, relieved family crowded into the kitchen, still riding the fragile high of having filed the paperwork before Gerald could reach it first. Nathan sat beside me with his arm around my shoulders, Rose across the table holding Preston's hand, Sophie and Marcus quietly reviewing notes on Sophie's laptop, Lily upstairs asleep, blissfully unaware of how much had happened while she slept."What is it," Rose asked gently, though something in her voice told me she had already braced herself for another blow."I told you someone asked me odd questions a few months ago," Margaret said. "About whether there might be more than one branch of the family with a claim to Charles's estate. I did not think much of it at the time. But this afternoon, before

Ellie's POV"You have exactly ten minutes before this recording goes to the board and to the district attorney, so I suggest you start talking," Sophie said, and I had never loved her more than I did in that exact moment.We had called Gerald to the same boardroom where he had once tried to convince a room full of investors that our marriage was a liability to the company, only this time the power in the room belonged entirely to us. Nathan sat at the head of the table, calm in a way that only came from finally having every piece of evidence lined up in his favor. Vanessa sat beside her father, her expression unreadable except for the faint, steady defiance in her eyes. Diane stood near the door, arms crossed, no longer looking like a woman apologizing for the past.Gerald entered exactly on time, dressed as immaculately as always, though something in his posture told me he already sensed this was not a meeting he was going to win."I assume this is another ambush," he said coolly, ta

Ellie's POV"I am not marrying you again just because the lawyers finally ran out of paperwork to throw at us," I said, laughing through tears I had not expected to cry so early in the morning.Nathan stood in the middle of the newly finished bakery, sunlight pouring through the front windows onto the fresh blue tile Rose had insisted on matching exactly to the original, and behind him, strung carefully above the counter, hung a single string of small white lights that Lily had begged us to let her help hang herself."I am not asking you because of paperwork," he said, taking both my hands in his. "I am asking you because two years ago I handed you a contract instead of a proposal, and I have spent every day since then wanting the chance to do it properly."Behind him, Rose stood beside Margaret, both sisters dressed simply, both already dabbing at their eyes. Preston had Claire's hand on one side and little Lily's on the other, and near the door, half hidden behind the counter, stood