Contract Bride: Rising From The Shadows

steady, practiced movement, the kind she used to employ when memorizing a script, but tonig

ngs. Ticker

5.4 percent in af

t was a push alert from Page Six. The headline was bold and unapologetic: Heir Apparent Cas

istakable. Casper had his hand on the small of the woman's back. It was a possessive grip. She

anager. This was precisely the kind of emotional volatility her predecessor, the late Elara Vance, had embodied-th

k a scr

Assessment and dropped the image insid

mahogany surface of the desk.

nd set the phone down, her eyes

er, breathless and loud. "I saw the photos, Dosha. I am literally sh

Under the column marked PR Crisis,

osha said. Her voice was flat, stripped of the cadence

owed to be angry. You are allowed

n't get Sienna pregnant, my quarterly distribution from the grandfather's trust fund remains s

e other end of the line.

sound like a calculator. Whe

ars don't pay off b

a hu

ss was cold against her forehead. Below, Central Park was a

view Dinner was sc

r two. There were no candles. There were no flowers. Instead, a bound

r chimed in

ing up the corners of her mouth into a pleasant, neutral curve. It was the fa

't Casper w

ts of stairs. His tie was crooked. He stood on the marble of the foyer, hesitating

with the Cartier lo

somewhere over her left shoulder. "Mr. Stuart... Casper... he has been det

d. It was a tell. The micro-expression of a ma

fixed. "Is the conference taking place at So

er lip. He extended his arm, thrusting

From Mr. Stuart.

e looked at the bag, then at the

the plate. I need his signature on page four. My KPIs for the

k. He set the bag down and snatche

ia

hand on the el

aten, take the food. It's Michelin three-star

rst time. He looked horrified. He muttered a thank y

osha's face instantly. I

recessed lighting. It was delicate, expensive, and completely impersonal. It was the

vet boxes. Necklaces, earrings, brooches. None of them had ever been wo

. She opened a message

the animated feature. The NDA

zzed. A text

e

acknowledgment that he had received the digital

een until the backlight

sure doing bus