Billionaire's Betrayal a contracted revenge (Aurelia) novel Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Rieck’s POV

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I stared at the contract on my desk and read the same line four times, but nothing went in.

The numbers on the page kept blurring into the curve of her shoulder. And the way she had whispered my name into my mouth at three in the morning. And her touch.

I leaned back in my chair and dragged a hand down my face.

“Focus, Rieck.”

I had a tower to build. A council meeting in two hours. A waterfront acquisition that needed a second signature before close of business. I hadn’t built this empire by losing my mind over a woman with brown eyes and a clever mouth.

Just then a soft knock interrupted my thoughts.

“Come in.”

Petra walked in with a stack of reports clipped at the corner. She was dressed in a pencil skirt, her hair pinned back, and the scent of paper and printer ink lingered around her. Placing the stack of reports on the desk, she folded her hands in front of her.

“I have the east territory file you requested, along with the signed copies from Kowalski. Your two o’clock appointment is confirmed,” she informed me.

I nodded and reached for the top folder, but Petra did not move.

I looked up at her. “Anything else?”

She hesitated. That was new. Petra never hesitated.

“Are you alright, sir?”

I frowned. “I’m fine.”

“You are acting … different.”

I went very still.

“Different how?”

“For the past few days.” Her voice was small. “You’ve been distracted, smiling sometimes. At nothing. I just wanted to be sure you were not unwell.”

My jaw tightened.

“I am not unwell, Petra.”

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Chapter 17

“Of course, sir. I apologize.”

She gave a small nod and then turned to leave.

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By the time the SUV pulled into the garage that evening I had made up my mind I would be a wall.

I was Rieck Valerius. I had run the Northern Faction since I was twenty-eight. I had buried two challengers in the east woods before I was thirty. I did not get distracted by a contract wife.

I would eat. I would shower. And I would sleep on my own side of the bed.

As soon as the elevator door opened, I smelled her before I saw her.

She was on the sofa with her legs tucked under her, watching a reality tv show. Bare feet. My shirt. She has turned my shirts to her lounge wears, the white one, sleeves rolled twice at the wrist, the hem grazing the top of her thigh. Hair loose down her back. No makeup.

She looked up as I stepped in.

“Long day?” she asked.

“Long enough.”

She lowered the TV volume, and stood up.

The shirt rode up slightly. And I immediately looked at the ceiling.

“Marta left dinner warm in the kitchen,” she said, walking past me toward the hallway. “If you want it.”

She brushed against my arm as she walked by, and without thinking, I caught her wrist.

She stopped but didn’t turn.

“Aurelia.”

“Yes.”

“You are not subtle.”

“I’m not trying to be.”

I let go of her wrist, and she turned slowly to look at me with her steady brown eyes. The same look from last night when she had put her hand on my face and waited to see if I would pull away.

“Come to bed,” she whispered.

I knew I should have walked into the kitchen. I should have eaten the food and slept on the couch and reminded both of us what kind of arrangement this was.

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Chapter 17

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But instead I found myself following her down the hallway.

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She was already pulling the shirt over her head when I shut the door. First, the shoulders, then the edge, and it fell to the rug. She was bare underneath, as expected.

I caught her before she reached the bed. One hand at her hip. The other at the back of her neck.

“Slow down,” I said.

“Why?”

I lowered my mouth to the line of her throat. “The wolf is restless. I don’t want to push you.”

She went still under my hand.

“The wolf,” she said softly. “Or the man.”

“Both.”

She met my eyes, unflinching.

“I’m not made of glass, Rieck.”

“You are carrying.”

“I am still myself.”

A beat

Then she tilted her face towards mine and bit her lip. Slowly, she reached up and placed her hand flat against my jaw.

“Then stop holding back,” she said. Quieter this time.

That did it.

Without thinking, I lifted her.

Her legs came around my waist before her back touched the mattress. And I followed her down. She was warm everywhere. The sandalwood in my own skin and the soft vanilla in hers tangled in the air between us. I dragged my mouth down her collarbone as her fingers laced into my hair and pulled.

I took her hard.

There was no pretending tonight. My hand at the small of her back, hers spread flat against my cheek the whole time, like she had been promised it and was not letting go.

When she came apart she said my name like a prayer she had been holding in her teeth.

And I followed her a breath later with my forehead pressed to hers.

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Chapter 17

Afterwards, I did not get up.

That was the part that bothered me.

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I lay on my back with one arm under her shoulders, her hair fanned across my chest, and listened to her breathing slow. Her fingers curled loosely against my ribs. I kept telling myself I would get up in a minute, but I couldn’t move.

It wasn’t until my phone buzzed on the nightstand at twelve forty that I finally moved.

The message was from Tobias. “East line now.”

Tobias was leaning on the hood of his truck when I pulled up, smoking.

“Boss.”

“Talk.”

He flicked the cigarette into the dirt and ground it under his boot.

“Kaelen took the Ridgeline.”

I stopped walking.

The Ridgeline was three territories west of ours. Old timber money. Two hundred wolves, soft leadership, a patriarch who had been dying for six months. Not a fight. A swallow.

“When?”

“Two days ago. The old man passed on Tuesday. Kaelen had men at the gate by Wednesday morning. The widow signed it over for safe passage out.”

“Coward.”

“Practical.”

I let out a slow breath through my nose. “How close does that put him?”

“Two territories. Maybe one if the Henley clan folds.” He paused. “And boss, there’s more.”

I waited.

“He was also seen at the south mall last Tuesday. Standard sweep.”

My body went still.

“You mentioned that.”

“I didn’t have the full report then.” A pause. “I do now.”

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Chapter 17

The silence stretched.

“Kaelen didn’t just pass through, boss. He approached her.”

The cold in the air sharpened.

“He spoke to her at close range. Long enough for scent transfer.”

“She didn’t alert Ronan,” he added. “Didn’t call it in.”

I said nothing.

“She walked out like nothing happened.

Tobias had mentioned the mall before.

But I had dismissed it as a passing detail, a coincidence.