Billionaire's Betrayal a contracted revenge (Aurelia) novel Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Aurelia’s POV

I kept staring at the two amber bottles in my hand like they were grenades.

The labels looked harmless. Long chemical names.

Nothing about them said your husband doesn’t know he married a barren woman.

Nothing about them said this is the thing that ends you when he finds out.

But that’s exactly what they were.

I had told Rieck they were vitamins.

He hadn’t believed me.

Not fully.

A man who checks labels twice is suspicious.

A man who checks once and says nothing-

-is waiting.

I sat on the edge of the bed,with the bottles in my lap.

We hadn’t had sex.

That was the part that terrified me.

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Two nights ago, I stood in his room half-naked, bracing for something I didn’t want-and he walked away.

He hadn’t called for me since.

We had twelve months.

Dawson had seven.

Charlotte would stand in front of that board with a son in her arms-and I would stand there empty, holding pills that couldn’t fix what was broken.

Because they didn’t work on women like me.

Because I wasn’t just infertile.

I believed I was.

Two years of trying.

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16:58 Fri, Jul 31

Chapter 7

Two years of injections. Diets. Quiet crying into pillows while Dawson slept somewhere else.

Two years of Charlotte squeezing my hand and telling me my time would come.

I twisted the cap off one bottle-

–and the door opened.

Startled, the pill slipped from my fingers and the bottle tipped.

White tablets scattered across the rug.

I dropped to my knees instantly, scrambling to gather them before I even looked up.

“Aurelia.”

I didn’t answer.

I kept my head down, hair falling forward, hiding my face.

Good.

He didn’t need to see it.

He crossed the room and crouched in front of me. Then he picked up the bottle and studied it.

Of course he did.

No apology. Not for the door. Not for last night.

Nothing.

“Get up,”he said.

I gathered the last pills, capped the bottle, and stood.

Too close, close enough that I could feel him.

“You’re moving into my room.”

I blinked. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“But-you told me-”

“I changed my mind.”

“Just like that?”

“Yes.”

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16:58 Fri, Jul 31

Chapter 7

I searched his face.

It was the same cold expression, same stillness.

:

But something underneath it was… off. A tension in his jaw. Shoulders tighter than usual.

I knew that look.

A man doing something he didn’t want to do.

“Rieck.”

“What.”

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“The other night.” My voice felt heavier than it should. “You told me to take my clothes off. Then you told me to put them back on. Then you left.”

He didn’t answer.

“Why?”

“Pack your things.”

“You didn’t answer me.”

“Aurelia.”

“Why didn’t you want me?”

His jaw tightened.

For a second-just a second-his eyes shifted. Something sharper. Colder.

Then it was gone.

“I don’t answer questions like that before breakfast.”

“You don’t answer them at all.”

“Correct.”

And just like that-

he left.

An hour later, I was pulling a dress from the rack when his voice stopped me.

“Leave it.”

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16:58 Fri,

Chapter 7

I turned.

He stood in the doorway of the walk-in closet, arms crossed, black shirt, sleeves rolled.

Less polished but more dangerous.

“I’m moving,” I said.

“You are. Those aren’t.”

“They’re mine.”

“They’re Elara’s.”

I frowned. “What?”

“She picked them. Temporary.”

Temporary.

“I don’t need new clothes. There are dozens here.”

“You need the clothes my wife wears.”

That word again.

Wife.

It shouldn’t have meant anything.

It did.

The closet door slid open.

Ronan stepped in-quiet, composed, forgettable in a way that felt intentional.

“Sir. Downstairs is ready.”

Rieck nodded.

Then looked at me.

“It’s time.”

“For what?”

“Shopping.”

I stared at him.

A week ago, I was invisible to him.

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16:58 Fri, Jul 31

Chapter 7

Two nights ago, I was something to test.

Last night, I was something to question.

Now-

this.

Something shifted inside me.

Not soft.

Not hopeful.

Suspicious.

“Alright,” I said.

The car ride was quiet.

Ronan drove like everything he did-smooth, controlled, invisible.

Rieck wasn’t there.

“I’ll meet you,” he had said.

Of course he would.

I leaned my forehead against the glass.

“Ronan.”

“Ma’am.”

“How long have you known Rieck?”

“Three years.”

“What’s he like?”

“I’m just the driver, ma’am.”

“That’s not what I asked.”

“It’s what I can answer.”

I almost smiled.

Same look as the maid.

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