Contract Marriage With My Billionaire Boss (Venus and Aaron) novel Chapter 196

Chapter 196

VENUS

Love had a way of sneaking up on you.

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Not the kind that blindsided with fire and chaos-that was Aaron, always Aaron-but the kind that bloomed slow, like dawn seeping over the horizon. Quiet, patient, impossible to ignore once you noticed.

That was Connor and Sabine.

Sabine had clawed her way back from the pit Gerald had thrown her into. She wasn’t the fragile, trembling shadow that had first walked back into the hospital. She was herself again-sharp-eyed, sarcastic, impossibly warm. And she had the twins wrapped around her little finger in a way that made me both laugh and ache.

She spoiled them rotten. Every time she came through the door, it was with something new: soft blankets embroidered with their initials, ridiculous tiny hats that made Rosemary roll her eyes, toys they couldn’t even hold yet.

She’d scoop them up, kiss their little cheeks until they squealed, and whisper promises about all the adventures they’d one day have.

“They’re going to grow up fearless,” she told me once, her voice fierce. “Loved so much they’ll never doubt it.”

And I believed her.

Connor was never far behind.

The night it happened, the twins had finally settled after hours of restlessness. Sabine was sprawled on the couch, cradling my daughter in her arms as if she’d been born for this. Connor sat beside her, his arm slung casually across the back of the couch, but his gaze never strayed from her face.

I busied myself in the kitchen, pretending not to watch, but my heart knew something was shifting in the air.

“Sabine,” Connor said softly, his voice carrying even in its low rumble.

She looked up, startled by the seriousness in his tone. “What?”

He hesitated, the weight of silence stretching until even I held my breath. Then, without any of his usual bravado, he pulled a small velvet box from his pocket.

Her eyes widened.

“Connor,” she whispered.

He opened it, revealing an elegant ring that screamed Sabine’s taste.

He really took notes.

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Chapter 196

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“I don’t know how to do this right,” he admitted, his jaw tight, his eyes locked on hers. “I don’t have the words or the grand gestures. But I know I don’t want a world without you in it. Not after everything. Not ever again.”

Sabine’s breath hitched, her hand flying to her mouth.

“Marry me,” Connor said. No theatrics. Just truth, stripped bare.

Tears welled in her eyes, spilling over before she could stop them. “Yes,” she choked out. “God, yes.”

The twins stirred at her sudden cry, but Connor was already pulling her into his arms, kissing her like he’d been waiting his whole life for this moment.

I turned away, my throat tight, giving them their privacy even though the image seared itself into my heart.

Love, blooming in the cracks of all this chaos. Proof that even in the wreckage, something new could grow.

Later, when I sat beside Aaron’s bed, I told him everything.

“They’re engaged,” I whispered, brushing my fingers through his hair. “Connor and Sabine. Can you believe it? He didn’t even make a speech. Just asked her, right there on the couch, while she was holding our girl. You’d have teased him for it. Said he was unromantic. But you should’ve seen them, Aaron. It was… real. Beautiful.”

I swallowed, pressing my lips to his temple.

“You’d be happy for them. I know you would. And maybe that’s the point. Even in the middle of all this-this nightmare-love still finds a way.”

The twins were spoiled, loved, protected from every angle.

Gianna was my rock, always ready with a sharp command when I faltered, always steady when I swayed. Rosemary, the mother I never had was gentle and patient, reminding me to eat, to rest, to breathe. Sabine was the bright flame, lighting up every room she entered, pouring affection into my children like she was repaying a debt she couldn’t name.

They were loved.

But it didn’t erase the loneliness.

Every night, when the house grew quiet, when everyone else drifted away, I felt the hollow echo of Aaron’s absence. The empty space beside me was a wound that never closed. The silence where his voice should have been was deafening.

Even surrounded, I was alone.

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Chapter 196

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The day Richard came, that loneliness curdled into fury.

I found him in the hospital corridor, his hands twisting together, his suit rumpled like he hadn’t slept. His eyes-God, those eyes-were frantic, red-rimmed, desperate.

“Venus,” he rasped, catching sight of me. “Please. I need to see him.”

The words made my blood run cold.

I crossed my arms, placing myself squarely between him and Aaron’s room. “No.”

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“Please,” he begged, his voice cracking. “He’s my son. I need to tell him, I need him to know how sorry I am. I’ve made mistakes, but-”

“Mistakes?” My voice was sharp, shaking with restrained rage. “You think that word covers it? After everything you’ve done? After everything you cost him?”

His face crumpled, but I didn’t relent.

“You don’t get to come in here and beg for absolution while he’s lying there fighting for his life. You don’t get to burden him with your guilt. Not now. Not ever.”

Tears streaked down his cheeks. “I just want a chance to make it right.”

“You had your chance,” I snapped. “And you squandered it. You don’t get another. Not with him. Not while I’m here.”

He flinched as if I’d struck him.

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“Leave,” I said, my voice low, lethal. “Before I make sure you never set foot in this hospital again.”

He stumbled back, broken, and for a fleeting moment I almost pitied him. Almost. But then I thought of Aarn and the pity turned to steel.

I would not let anyone disturb his peace. Not even his so called father.

That night, I pressed a kiss to Aaron’s forehead, lingering there as the tears finally broke free.

“I’ll guard you,” I whispered into the quiet. “From him. From all of them. From anything that tries to touch your peace. Until you come back to us, Aaron. Until you come back to me.”

The twins stirred softly in their cradles beside his bed, their tiny breaths syncing with the rhythm of the

monitors.

And for the first time in weeks, I didn’t just hope. I believed.

Because no matter how long it took, no matter what it cost me-he was coming back.

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