Contract Bride: Rising From The Shadows

I was hired to be the "cure" for the Stuart family’s reputation, a wife whose only job was to manage the emotional risks of Casper Stuart’s cold-blooded empire. My life was governed by spreadsheets and compliance reports, and my value was measured solely by my ability to remain a silent, perfect asset. On our second anniversary, Casper didn't come home for dinner; instead, a Page Six alert showed him with a Victoria's Secret model at Soho House, his hand possessively on her back. When he finally returned, he didn't offer an apology, but a clinical reminder of my "obligations." I soon discovered he had given my three-million-dollar anniversary bonus—a pink diamond necklace—to his mistress, while tossing me a cheap bracelet his assistant had picked out. When his mother offered me a two-hundred-million-dollar settlement to disappear, Casper tore the contract to shreds in front of me. He whispered that he had bought up every cent of my family’s medical and gambling debts, turning my marriage into a life sentence of indentured servitude. To prove his power, he kicked me out of his car in a rainstorm twenty miles from the city, leaving me to walk home barefoot while he drove off with my dog. "Tell her you want to stay," he had commanded in front of his mother, using my mother’s life as leverage to keep his "portfolio" intact. I stood in the mud, shivering as the rain washed away the mask of the supportive wife, realizing that to the Stuarts, I wasn't a human being—I was a line item that could be liquidated or crushed at will. But Casper forgot one thing: I am an actress, and I’ve finally landed the role of a lifetime. I’m done managing his risks; I’m about to become his greatest liability.

Chapters

Chapter 6

The library at the Stuart Estate on Long Island was a mausoleum of books that no one read. Three lawyers stood behind the desk, watching Dosha like vultures.

Dosha read the final clause.vacate the Penthouse within 48 hours.

She took a breath. She thought of the basement. She thought of the three million dollar necklace around Sienna's neck.

She touched the pen to the paper. She wrote the letter D.

Bang.

The double mahogany doors flew open, hitting the walls with a violence that shook the room.

Casper strode in. He was wearing golf attire-a polo shirt and slacks-but his face was thunderous. He was breathing hard.

He walked straight to the desk, reached over, and snatched the document from under Dosha's hand. The pen skidded across the paper, leaving a jagged line of ink.

He scanned the page. His jaw clenched so hard a muscle feathered in his cheek. He looked at Eleanor.

"You are liquidating my assets, Mother."

Eleanor sipped her tea. "I am cutting your losses, Casper. She is a liability."

"She is my liability."

Casper ripped the document in half. Then in quarters. The sound of tearing paper was loud in the silent room.

Dosha stood up, her chair scraping backward. "Casper! That was my exit!"

"Sit down," he barked at her. He threw the confetti of paper onto the desk. "You don't get to leave until I say you leave."

"That was a two-hundred-million-dollar agreement!" Dosha shouted. The mask was gone. The cool, calculated wife was gone. She was just a woman watching her life raft sink.

Casper grabbed her wrist. He pulled her toward him. "You think you're worth two hundred million? You?"

"She wants to go, Casper," Eleanor said calmly. "You cannot force a merger."

Casper laughed. It was a dark, ugly sound.

"She doesn't want to go. She's throwing a tantrum because I gave the necklace to Sienna."

He looked at Dosha. His eyes were wild. "Tell her. Tell her you want to stay."

Dosha opened her mouth to scream No.

Casper pulled out his phone. He held the screen up to her face. It was a list of debts. Her mother's medical bills. Her father's gambling debts. The lien on her childhood home.

"Without the Stuart name," he whispered, "the creditors will eat you alive before the ink on that check dries."

Dosha froze. He had bought her debt. He owned her debt.

She slumped. The fight went out of her shoulders.

"I... I don't want a divorce," she whispered.

Eleanor sighed. "Foolish."

Casper yanked Dosha toward the door. "We're leaving."

As they reached the exit, Asset came bounding down the hall. The dog looked happy to see them.

Casper shoved the leather leash into Dosha's hand.

"Take your dog," he said. "We're going home."

Dosha stumbled after him, the dog trotting beside her. She looked back at the mansion. It wasn't a home. It was a fortress, and the drawbridge had just been raised.

Casper shoved her into the passenger seat of his Aston Martin. He got in the driver's side and slammed the door. He revved the engine, the sound like a beast waking up.

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