Contract Marriage With My Billionaire Boss (Venus and Aaron) novel Chapter 170

Chapter 170

VENUS

The morning it began, the city outside was just starting to wake. A pale blush of dawn bled across the skyline, the kind of quiet hour where the world still belonged to shadows and whispers. I should have been asleep, curled into Aaron’s warmth, cocooned in that steady heartbeat of his that had become my safest place.

Instead, I was on my knees in the bathroom, clinging to porcelain, retching until my throat burned.

Aaron was there before I could even call his name. He gathered my hair gently in his hands, lifting the strands away from my face with all the care in the world. His palm moved in slow circles across my back, soothing, grounding. The kind of touch that could quiet wars.

“Breathe, Venus. Easy.” His voice was low, commanding, and soft all at once. The kind of voice that bent me without question. “I’ve got you.”

I spat, coughed, wiped my mouth with a trembling hand. My stomach was still heaving, threatening to lurch again, but his presence anchored me. The cool tile under my knees, the warmth of his body crouched behind me, both collided in a strange, humbling moment.

He handed me a glass of water, the rim pressing cool against my lips as he helped me drink. His eyes never left me, dark with worry.

“That’s it,” he murmured when I sagged back against him. His arm slid around my waist, pulling me gently against his chest. “You’re burning up. This isn’t just nothing, Venus.”

I closed my eyes, hiding in the scent of him-coffee, cedar, faint Vanilla clinging to his shirt. “It’s fine. I’m fine. Probably something I ate.”

“Don’t lie to me.” The steel in his tone left no room for argument. “We’re going to the doctor.”

I stiffened, my pulse spiking. No. Not yet. Not until I knew. Not until I could put a name to the suspicion that had been curling in the pit of my stomach like a dangerous secret.

“I don’t need a doctor, Aaron.” My voice was sharper than I meant, brittle with fear. “I’ve just been… stressed. Work, Gerald, everything. That’s all.”

His gaze cut through me, assessing, calculating. The general, dissecting every move. “You’ve lost weight. Your color’s off. Now you’re vomiting. And you want me to believe this is just stress?”

I looked away, clutching the glass. My heart thundered, and not from sickness. Because the truth was-1 hadn’t had my period. Weeks late now. I had brushed it off, told myself it was exhaustion, told myself bodies were unpredictable when lives were under siege. But deep down, I knew better.

I hadn’t told him. How could I? We had never once spoken about children. Not seriously. Not with the world on fire around us, not with Gerald still out there. And me? Me, a mother? The thought was dizzying. terrifying.

“Oh my God…” I whispered, so faint I almost missed it myself.

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Chapter 170

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59

“What?” Aaron’s voice sharpened instantly, every muscle in his body tensing as he leaned closer. “What is it, Venus?”

“Nothing.” I forced a laugh, thin and brittle. “I’m fine, Aaron. Really. Don’t start planning my funeral.”

His jaw clenched, eyes narrowing. He didn’t believe me, not for a second. But he didn’t push. Not yet. Instead, he lifted me effortlessly into his arms and carried me back to bed, as though I weighed nothing. He tucked me under the sheets, pressed a kiss to my damp temple, his hand lingering against my cheek.

“I’m not leaving you.”

“You have work,” I countered, clutching his wrist. “The company, the board, everything that depends on you. I’m not helpless, Aaron. I can handle a little nausea.”

“You’re more important than all of it.”

The conviction in his voice stole my breath. He meant it. Every syllable. And still, I had to force myself to smile, to soften the moment, to reassure him.

“I’ll call if I need anything,” I promised. “I swear. Go. Keep the world from falling apart. I’ll be here, waiting for you.”

His eyes lingered on mine, suspicious, unwilling. But after long minutes, he relented, bending down to kiss me deeply, his hand splayed possessively against my throat.

“Don’t scare me like that again,” he ordered against my lips.

“I’ll try not to.”

Reluctantly, he left. The door clicked shut behind him, and the silence he left behind was deafening.

My hands shook as I reached for my phone.

Sabine.

If anyone could face this storm with me, it was her.

She arrived within the hour, sweeping into the penthouse like sunlight incarnate. A designer tote dangled from her arm, and from within it, she produced a small paper bag with a grin that was far too gleeful for the situation.

“You owe me champagne if this is what I think it is.”

I rolled my eyes, though my stomach twisted. “I don’t even know what it is yet.”

Her eyes danced with amusement as she dropped onto the bed beside me, tossing the bag into my lap. Inside: a pregnancy test kit.

“Sabine…” I whispered, clutching it. My throat tightened.

“What?” she asked innocently, though her voice softened when she saw my expression. “Darling, this is not

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the end of the world. If it’s yes, then it’s the beginning of a beautiful one. And if it’s no, then we drink wine and curse stress for making you sick. Either way, you’re not alone.”

I swallowed hard, nerves clawing up my chest. “Aaron and I never talked about kids. Not once. What if he doesn’t-what if I can’t-”

59

She caught my chin between her fingers, forcing me to meet her eyes. Steel and warmth, Sinclair and sister. “Aaron Sinclair worships the ground you walk on. If this is happening, he’ll move heaven and earth to build a world around you and that child. Don’t doubt that for a second.”

My hands trembled as I rose, clutching the test. The bathroom door shut behind me with a quiet click, and suddenly it was just me, the sticks, and the question that could rewrite everything.

The silence rang louder than sirens as I waited.

Seconds dragged into eternities. My heart pounded, my breath shallow.

When at last it was done, I washed my hands, staring into the mirror. My reflection looked back pale, haunted, a woman on the cusp of something too vast to name.

I stepped out, clutching the sticks in my fist. Sabine sat cross-legged on the bed, her eyes alight with anticipation, her smile softening when she saw the fear still carved across my features.

“Well?” she asked gently.

I opened my mouth. The words caught in my throat.

And then….

#

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