All Chapters of THE BILLIONAIRE'S CONTRACT WIFE : Chapter 171 - Chapter 180

Nathan's POV"Who sent it," Ellie asked, and there was something in her voice that made the whole kitchen go quiet, a fear I had not heard from her since the night Gerald's texts first found their way into our house.I took the phone from her hands and stared at the screen. Unknown number. No name. Four words sitting there like a threat dressed up as a warning."It could be nothing," I said, even though I did not believe it myself. "A wrong number. A prank.""Nathan," Ellie said, "we just spent two years proving Gerald had nothing left to threaten us with. Do not stand here and tell me this is nothing."I set the phone down on the counter and pulled her gently into the chair beside me, kneeling so we were at eye level, the way I had learned to do whenever fear started creeping back into her expression. "It is not Gerald," I said. "His accounts are frozen. His lawyer confirmed it this morning. Whoever sent this is not connected to him.""Then who," Ellie asked. "Who else even knows abo

Nathan's POV"Foster," I repeated, and the word landed in my chest like a fist, because there was only one Foster who had ever mattered to this family, and she had spent two years standing far too close to every secret we thought we had already uncovered."Diane," Ellie said, her voice barely a whisper. "Nathan, that cannot be a coincidence.""It is not a common surname," Marcus said carefully, still holding the folder like it might combust in his hands. "But I want to be clear. This is one document. It could be an aunt, a cousin, a completely unrelated family who happened to adopt a child the same year.""Or it could be Diane," Rose said quietly, and something in her voice told me she had already half suspected this, some piece of the puzzle she had been quietly holding onto since the courthouse.I sat down slowly on the old wooden bench near the photographs, my head spinning through every interaction I had ever had with Diane Foster, every moment she had shown up exactly when the fa

Nathan's POV"Somebody is definitely living in that cottage," Marcus said, staring across the yard at the small flickering light, "and I am willing to bet every file I have ever filed that it is not a stranger.""Then let us go find out," I said, already moving toward the tree line before anyone could talk me out of it."Nathan, wait," Ellie called, hurrying after me despite Rose's protests behind her. "You cannot just go knocking on a stranger's door in the dark.""She is not a stranger," I said. "If Diane's instincts are right, and mine are telling me the exact same thing, then she is my grandmother, and I have spent thirty years believing she was dead."Ellie fell into step beside me, her hand tightening around mine. "Then we go together," she said. "But slowly. She just ran from us once already. Whatever fear made her do that is not going to disappear because we showed up faster the second time."She was right, the way she almost always was when my instincts ran hotter than my pat

Nathan's POV"There is one more letter," Eleanor said softly through the doorway, "I never opened it either," and even wrapped in the exhausted, golden haze of holding my daughter for the first time, those words sent a small, sharp jolt straight through my chest."Come in," Ellie called weakly, though her smile never wavered as she cradled our daughter against her. "All of you. Come meet her."The room filled slowly, carefully, Rose first, pressing a trembling kiss to Ellie's forehead before leaning down to look at the baby with an expression I had never seen on her face before, pure, unguarded wonder. Lily crowded in right behind her, standing on her toes to peer over the edge of the blanket."She is so small," Lily whispered. "Nathan, she is so, so small.""You were this small once too," I said, smiling despite the exhaustion pulling at every muscle in my body.Diane hung back near the door, her hands twisting nervously in front of her, until Ellie caught her eye and beckoned her cl

Nathan's POV"Ask Eleanor about the second envelope," the message read, and I sat up so fast in that hospital chair that Ellie startled awake beside me, Hope stirring softly in her bassinet at the sudden movement."What is it," Ellie asked, blinking against the early morning light already creeping through the blinds.I turned the phone toward her without a word. She read it twice, her face going pale in the exact same way mine surely had."Another message," she said. "Nathan, who keeps sending these?""I do not know," I admitted. "But I intend to find out this morning."We did not have to wait long. Claire arrived just after breakfast, still in the same travel clothes from the night before, dark circles under her eyes that told me she had not slept at all."I need to talk to you," she said, standing awkwardly in the doorway. "Before anyone else gets here.""Claire," Ellie said carefully, "was it you? The messages?"Claire's shoulders sagged, and for a moment she looked far younger tha