Lahat ng Kabanata ng The Billionaire’s Contract Wife: HE Fell First : Kabanata 21 - Kabanata 30

Chapter 21The scent of charred butter and aggressively caramelized sugar filled the newly restored kitchen of the Sterling Estate.Maya stared through the glass window of the oven, her brow furrowed in deep concentration. She was a master architectural restorer. She could look at a crumbled, hundred-year-old gothic cathedral and perfectly calculate the load-bearing stress of its arches. But a simple batch of blueberry scones was apparently her kryptonite."They're smoking," a low, gravelly voice observed from the doorway.Maya jumped, spinning around.Julian stood leaning against the doorframe, his arms crossed over his chest. It had been six weeks since the bloodbath at the hospital. He was dressed in soft gray sweatpants and a plain white t-shirt, though the shirt was currently unbuttoned to accommodate the thick bandages still wrapped tightly around his ribs. The jagged, pink scars peeking out from the gauze were a brutal map of everything he had survived for her.He didn't look l

Chapter 23The harsh fluorescent bulb buzzing above the metal table cast long, sickly shadows across the interrogation room.Maya stared at the photograph resting on the scarred steel surface. Her wrists, raw and bruised from forty-eight hours in federal holding, ached against the handcuffs chaining her to the chair. But the physical pain was entirely eclipsed by the violent, suffocating knot pulling tight in her chest.In the high-resolution glossy print, Julian stood in the apse of a private cathedral. He was wearing a flawless black tuxedo. Standing across from him, her hands resting intimately in his, was a striking, ethereal blonde woman draped in custom white lace. Julian wasn't looking at the camera. He was looking down at the woman with an expression of quiet, focused intensity."Julian isn't coming for you, Maya," Damian Croft purred, pulling a chair out and sitting across from her.Croft was a remarkably handsome man, polished and sleek, but his smile didn't reach his flat,

Chapter 25The heavy, legally bound document hit the marble floor with a dull, sickening slap.I hold the proxy to Lily’s life support.The air in the grand foyer completely vanished. Maya’s vision tunneled, locking onto the glossy white cashmere of her mother’s coat. The floral perfume Eleanor wore the same cloying scent that had lingered in the cheap apartment the day she abandoned them suddenly smelled like a rotting corpse."Don't move, Cross," Julian ordered. His voice didn't rise. It was a terrifying, hollow whisper that scraped against the marble walls.Cross froze, his finger resting heavily on the trigger of his raised sidearm. He didn't lower the weapon, but he didn't fire.Julian’s chest heaved. The bespoke wool of his suit jacket was the only thing hiding the catastrophic tearing of his stitches beneath his shirt. He stepped fully in front of Maya, a human shield of pure, unadulterated wrath."You think a piece of paper stops me from putting a bullet in your head?" Julian

Chapter 27The intercom clicked off, leaving the threat hanging heavily in the red-lit library.Silas.Maya backed up until her spine hit the towering wooden bookcases. The memory of the switchblade scraping against her kitchen table rushed back with terrifying clarity. Silas wasn't a corporate shark like Damian Croft, or a calculated manipulator like Elias. Silas was an underground butcher who reveled in pulling things apart.Julian’s reaction was entirely different.The exhaustion that had been dragging him down seconds ago evaporated, violently incinerated by a pure, demonic rage. The corporate CEO vanished. The warlord was back, and he was completely untethered.He didn't speak. He reached under the heavy mahogany desk, his hand blindly finding a hidden biometric panel. With a sharp click, a hidden drawer dropped open. Julian pulled out a matte-black, suppressed Heckler & Koch pistol. He racked the slide with a fluid, lethal grace."Julian," Maya breathed, her hands trembling. "He

Chapter 29The frantic, chaotic blur of the next two hours tasted like copper and sheer panic.Maya didn't leave Julian’s side as the estate's private trauma team rushed him down to the fortified medical wing in the sub-basement. She stood in the corner of the sterile surgical suite, her arms wrapped tightly around her own ribs, watching as the doctors fought to stop the massive arterial hemorrhaging.When they finally stabilized him, hooking him back up to a web of IV fluids and blood transfusions, the lead surgeon pulled his mask down with a heavy sigh."He pushed himself lightyears past the breaking point, Mrs. Sterling," the doctor murmured quietly. "The human body isn't designed to survive what he just put it through. We repaired the ruptures, but he is in a fragile, exhausted coma. He needs absolute rest.""Will he wake up?" Maya asked, her voice a hollow, trembling rasp."He is incredibly stubborn," the surgeon offered a small, grim smile. "I suspect he will. But it will take t