All Chapters of CONTRACTED TO THE COLD CEO: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The fluorescent lights in the hospital hallway buzzed like angry insects. I sat on the hard plastic chair outside Room 407, staring at the white floor until the lines blurred. My hands wouldn’t stop shaking. I pressed them between my knees, but it didn’t help.Dad’s condition had worsened overnight. The doctor’s words still echoed in my head: “He needs the surgery within two weeks, Miss Reed. Without it…” He didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t have to.I already knew.The bill sitting in my bag was thicker than my last three paychecks combined. The numbers on it made my stomach twist. Forty-eight thousand dollars. And that was just the deposit.My phone vibrated. I already knew who it was before I looked.Lila: (Any update? I’m scared, Ava.)I typed back with stiff fingers.Ava: (Still waiting. Don’t worry. I’ll handle it.)I always handled it. That was the deal ever since Mom died six years ago. I became an adult. Lila got to keep being a kid, even though she was nineteen now and s

Rosa arrived at exactly two o’clock.She was polite but distant, the way people are when they already know you won’t be staying long. We took a different black car, this time sleeker, with a partition between us and the driver. As the city slid past the windows, I caught my reflection in the glass. The same tired face. The same cheap sweater. Only the background had changed.The first store Rosa took me to didn’t have price tags.A woman in a cream suit greeted us like we had expected. Within minutes I was standing in a private fitting room larger than my old bedroom while silent attendants brought dress after dress. Deep greens. Soft blacks. A blood-red gown that made me look like someone else entirely.“Mr. Voss prefers classic tones,” Rosa said quietly when she saw me hesitate over a bright blue dress. “Nothing too loud.”I put the blue one back.By the time we left, the back of the car was filled with garment bags and boxes. Shoes that cost more than three months of my old rent. A

The announcement dropped at 9:17 a.m.I was sitting at the kitchen island with a cup of coffee that had gone cold when my phone started lighting up like a warning signal. First one message. Then five. Then too many to count.“Unknown: Is it true you’re married to Damien Voss?”“Unknown: How long have you been together? ““Unknown:Any comments on the sudden marriage?”I locked the screen without answering.Rosa appeared quietly and placed a tablet in front of me. The headline was already everywhere.“Voss Empire CEO Marries in Private Ceremony” Damien Voss, the notoriously private billionaire, has confirmed his marriage to Ava Reed. Details of the relationship remain scarce.A single photo was attached, one I didn’t even remember being taken. Damien and I were standing near the elevators in the lobby of Voss Tower. His hand rested lightly on the small of my back. I was looking straight ahead, expression carefully blank. The caption called me his “new wife.”I felt sick.My phone rang

The private car stopped in front of the hospital at 10:03 a.m.I sat in the back seat for a full minute after the driver opened the door, staring at the familiar glass entrance. The last time I walked through those doors, I was terrified and broke. Today I wore a cream coat that cost more than my old monthly rent and a diamond that caught the morning light every time I moved my hand.Rosa had insisted on the coat. “Mr. Voss prefers you look composed in public,” she had said. I didn’t argue.Inside, the difference was immediate. The nurse at the desk recognized my name and smiled too politely. “Mrs. Voss, right this way. Your father was moved to the executive wing yesterday.”Executive wing. Even the hospital had a hierarchy.Dad’s new room was quiet and flooded with soft light. He looked smaller than I remembered against the white sheets, but the machines around him were newer and quieter. When he turned his head and saw me, his tired eyes widened.“Ava.” His voice was rough. “You l

Thursday passed in a strange, suspended quiet.I woke early, as I had every morning since moving in, and found the penthouse empty again. Damien had already left for the office. Rosa served breakfast without conversation. The gown hung in the closet like a promise I wasn’t ready to keep. The diamond earrings waited on the nightstand beside the rings I now wore even when I slept.I tried to fill the hours. I called Lila and listened to her talk about classes and a boy she liked, carefully avoiding any real questions about my new life. I spoke to the hospital and confirmed Dad’s pre-surgery schedule. I even attempted to read a book I found on one of the living-room shelves, but the words refused to stay in my head.Every time I looked at the clock, Friday crept closer.In the afternoon Rosa appeared with a small black box and a note written in Damien’s sharp handwriting.“Wear these tomorrow night. Do not remove them until we return.”Inside were a pair of black heels so delicate they