Contract Marriage With Alpha Snow novel Chapter 32

Chapter 32: Plan In Motion

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Chapter 32

~Zara’s POV~

After Zoe left, the tension slowly dissipated. I leaned back in my chair, letting out a deep breath.

Storm was too focused on his cake to notice the lingering awkwardness, but I wasn’t.

Zoe’s words stung a little more than I cared to admit. She had been around for years, taking care of Storm like he was her own, while I had only just entered the picture.

Though, it shouldn’t matter given that our marriage contract was just for a year and after that I’d leave but still.

It was a battle, and even though I’d won this round, I knew it wasn’t over. Zoe wasn’t going to back down easily.

"Can I have more cake, Zara?" Storm asked, his voice snapping me out of my thoughts.

I smiled down at him, pushing the plate closer. "Of course. But not too much. You don’t want a stomachache, do you?"

Storm grinned, happily taking another bite.

After sitting in the living room for some minutes, I was surprised when Storm walked up to me to ask for noodles.

I had been tempted to call for the maids but his puppy dog eyes prevented me.

Till now, I didn’t know much about Snow and that bugged me. I could swear he knew more about me than he let on.

Turning to Storm, I inquired, "Hey kiddo," I ruffled his hair a bit, "who is Zoe to you? Is she your mother?"

Storm turned to look at me, ready to answer the first question but stupidly I added the second and immediately his mood dropped.

The bubbly child eating the chocolate cake was immediately replaced with a sad boy.

"I..."

My heart stung. What have I done?

Rather than leave things as they were, I questioned again, reaching for his hair, "I can understand if she is and you don’t have to..."

Storm snapped my hand away and yelled some pained filled words.

"She’s not my mother! None of you could ever be!" With that he got down from the chair and rushed out, leaving me alone.

Pain struck in my chest. What have I done?

I stood from my sit, rising half way when my eye glanced up and the sight before me made my heart skip a beat.

"S-Snow."

The cold deadly irritated look in his eyes made me cease my breath, my heart thudding in my chest.

"Snow." I reached out, but before I could take a step in his direction, he snarled, forcing me to halt and walked off in the direction Storm went.

For now, things were calm but I knew better than to let my guard down. Zoe’s will to cling to this family threatened to upend everything.

Watching Storm eat, I felt an urge to protect him. Though not related by blood, I had to shield him from Zoe’s schemes — even if it meant dealing with Snow’s mess no matter how much I dreaded it.

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~Ivan’s POV~

**Lattice Domain**

I leaned back in my leather chair, swirling the whiskey in my glass as I stared out the window of my office.

The skyline of the city glittered under the evening sky, but my mind was elsewhere—on Zara. My former fiancée who had slipped through my fingers.

"She should’ve been mine," I muttered under my breath, downing the rest of the whiskey in one gulp.

Across from me, my best friend Lucas smirked, his feet propped up on the corner of my desk.

"Still stuck on her, huh?" Lucas was finding this amusing but I wasn’t. "You let her go, Ivan. Maybe it’s time to move on."

I leaned forward, my eyes narrowing. "Of course not. If we can’t ruin Zara’s image, we’ll hit Snow where it hurts. His business." _{fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓}