All Chapters of Signed the Devil’s contract: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

AMARA’S POVThe garden had been transformed overnight, white flowers strung along every archway, soft golden light catching the late afternoon sun in a way that made the whole space feel like something out of a dream rather than the same estate where I'd once stood terrified, clutching a folder that changed everything I thought I understood about my life.I stood at the edge of the aisle, Kian's small hand tucked firmly into mine, his other hand smoothing the front of his little suit jacket with a seriousness that made my heart swell despite the nerves twisting through my stomach."You look beautiful, Mommy," he said, glancing up at me. "Daddy's going to cry. I can already tell."I laughed despite myself, some of the tension in my shoulders easing at the simple honesty of it. "Are you ready?""I'm watching everyone," he said, his voice dropping into something more serious, though his grip on my hand remained steady and reassuring. "Everything looks normal so far."The music began befo

AMARA’S POVThree days after the wedding, the detective called with news that Damian's brother, a man named Elias Cross, had vanished entirely, his apartment cleared out overnight, his phone disconnected, every obvious trail gone cold before the investigation had even properly begun."We'll keep looking," the detective assured us, though the frustration in his voice told me exactly how unlikely that felt to him in the moment. "These things take time."Adrien paced the length of his study after the call ended, frustration radiating off him in waves. "Time is exactly what I don't want to give him," he said. "Every day he's free is another day he could be planning something worse than a wedding crasher."I sat curled in the armchair by the window, watching him pace, my own mind circling uselessly over the same dead end the detective had described. It was Zuri's voice, drifting up from the hallway outside the study, that pulled both our attention away from the conversation entirely."I fo

AMARA’S POVI noticed it on the flight home, the way certain smells suddenly turned my stomach in ways they never had before."You okay?" Adrien asked, watching me push away the meal the flight attendant had just served."Fine. Just not hungry."He raised an eyebrow but let it go. By the time we landed, I'd counted back the weeks twice in my head, and the math refused to add up the way I wanted it to.I didn't say anything for three more days, not until the nausea hit hard enough one morning that I barely made it to the bathroom in time."That's it," Adrien said, standing in the doorway with genuine alarm on his face. "I'm calling a doctor.""Adrien, wait.""You've been sick every morning this week.""I know." I sat back against the cool tile floor, looking up at him. "I think I might be pregnant."He went completely still, something unreadable flickering across his face. "Might be?""I haven't taken a test yet. I wanted to say it out loud first. See if it felt real.""Does it?""Terr

AMARA’S POVThe pain came suddenly on a Tuesday afternoon, sharp and low in my abdomen, doubling me over the kitchen counter before I even had time to call out for help.The nanny found me first, her face going pale the moment she saw me clutching the countertop, knuckles white, breath coming in short, panicked gasps."Mrs. Morretti?""Call Adrien," I managed, the words barely making it past the fear clawing up my throat. "Please. Now."He arrived home in what felt like both an eternity and no time at all, bursting through the door with a wildness in his eyes I'd never seen on him before, not even during the worst of Scott's threats."What happened?" He was already lifting me carefully, the pain still radiating through my abdomen in waves that stole my breath."I don't know," I gasped. "It just started. I'm scared, Adrien. What if something's wrong with the baby?""We're going to the hospital right now," he said, his voice steady despite the terror I could see barely contained behind

AMARA’S POVI sat in the therapist's waiting room for nearly ten minutes before I found the courage to walk through the door, my hands twisting together in my lap, every old instinct screaming at me to simply leave and pretend I'd never made the appointment at all.Adrien had suggested it gently, weeks earlier, after a night I'd woken from a nightmare so vivid I'd been shaking for nearly an hour afterward, unable to fully separate the dream from the memory it had drawn from. He hadn't pushed. He'd simply mentioned, quietly, that carrying five years of silence alone couldn't be sustainable forever, that perhaps I deserved somewhere safe to finally set some of that weight down.The therapist's office was warm, unassuming, nothing like the clinical coldness I'd braced myself for. She introduced herself simply as Dr. Reyes, and something in her steady, patient expression made the tightness in my chest ease, just slightly, enough to let me finally sit down across from her."Take your time,