Contract Marriage With My Billionaire Boss (Venus and Aaron) novel Chapter 204

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VENUS

Morning came before I was ready for it.

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The pale light pushed its way through the curtains, brushing the walls with that uncertain grey that never knows if it belongs to night or day. I must have drifted in and out of sleep for an hour at a time, hearing footsteps in the hallway, the murmur of Sabine’s voice, Colton’s low replies. Every sound reminded me that something had cracked open in my life, and we were waiting to see how deep the break went.

By the time I finally left the bed, the house was already awake. The smell of coffee and butter drifted up from the kitchen, and the faint laughter of the children carried from downstairs. For a moment I stood at the top of the stairs and listened to it. The sound was too normal.

Colton was in the sitting room when I came down. He had changed into a clean shirt, his hair still damp from a quick shower. The morning paper lay folded on the table, but he wasn’t reading it—just staring past it, his hand curled loosely around a cup of coffee.

“Morning,” I said, though my voice barely made it out.

He looked up, gave a small nod that said more than words would. “You should eat something,” he murmured.

“I will.” It was easier to say than to mean.

In the dining room, Sabine was helping the children with breakfast. They had no idea. Their world was still made of cereal bowls and laughter and questions about cartoons. When they saw me, they waved as if nothing in the world had gone wrong.

Sabine smiled at them, patient and bright. “After you finish, we’ll go run your bath, yes?”

They cheered at the idea. She caught my eye over their heads, the look quiet and steady-one grown woman silently telling another to hold on.

The staff moved through the kitchen with practiced calm. I could tell by the way they avoided looking at me that they had seen the headlines. Soon the nanny would arrive and they would all pretend nothing had happened, because that is how you keep a household standing when the people inside it might fall apart.

I sat at the end of the table and sipped the coffee someone placed before me. It was still hot enough to burn my tongue, but I didn’t taste it. My mind felt suspended between thoughts: what would happen when he came back, what he would say, whether I would believe him if the answers didn’t fit neatly into sense.

Hours passed that way. The children finished breakfast, chased each other down the hall. Sabine helped the nanny dress them, Colton spoke softly on the phone. I watched the clock move toward noon, each tick heavier than the one before.

When the door finally opened, it startled all of us.

Connor stepped in first, he was silent. Behind him was Aaron.

The children reached him before I could stand. They wrapped around his legs, voices tumbling over each other- “Daddy, you’re home!” “Did you bring us something?” “Are you leaving again?”

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Aaron bent to them, managed a smile. He picked up Sabine Jr., kissed her cheek. “Not for a while,” he said, but even the children must have sensed that the smile didn’t reach his eyes.

He looked exhausted. His suit was wrinkled, his face pale under the stubble that had grown overnight. The red in his eyes wasn’t just from lack of sleep. Behind him, Connor lingered in the doorway, expression unreadable.

Sabine clapped her hands lightly. “All right, my gremlins. Let’s give Daddy a moment.” Her tone was gentle but firm, and the nanny understood, shepherding them upstairs. Sabine Jr. clung to Aaron’s collar for a moment before letting go, and he brushed her hair back as she was carried away.

Then the house went still.

Aaron’s gaze finally met mine. For a second we only looked at each other-two people trying to remember how to be what they were before the world intruded.

He crossed the room in three long steps and drew me into his arms. The motion was abrupt, almost desperate. I felt the weight of his breath against my hair, heard the same words repeated under it. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

I held him because not holding him would have broken something neither of us could fix later. “I know,” I said quietly. “It’s all right. Go upstairs, freshen up. We’ll talk after.”

He hesitated, as if unsure whether leaving me for even a moment was safe. Then he nodded, murmured a thank-

that sounded more like an apology, and turned toward the staircase.

you

Connor’s eyes followed him the entire way up.

When the sound of footsteps faded, I looked at him. “What?”

He shook his head once, slowly. “You saw him.”

“Yes.”

“He doesn’t look like a man who knows what happened.”

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. “No. He doesn’t.”

Connor moved closer to the window, keeping his voice low. “I was with him at the airport. He barely spoke. Just kept asking if the children were fine. That’s all. But there’s something off, Venus. It’s not just shock.”

“What do you mean?”

He turned, hesitated before answering. “He looked… frightened. Not guilty. Frightened, like he can’t trust what he remembers.”

The words sank into me, slow and heavy, Sabine said “You think someone did this to him?”

“I don’t know.” Connor rubbed a hand over his jaw. “But if they did, it was careful. Clean. Too clean.”

We stood there for a while, listening to the distant sound of the children upstairs, the faint creak of pipes, the normal life that was still somehow going on.

Finally he said, “Let him rest a bit. Then ask him everything.”

I nodded. “I intend to.”

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Connor glanced back toward the stairs. “He’s lucky you picked up that phone last night.”

I didn’t answer. My hands were folded too tightly to speak of luck. I just looked at the place where Aaron had been standing, as if the air still held his shape.

Outside, the light shifted slightly. The day kept moving, uncaring. Inside, the silence between the walls grew wider, waiting for what would come next.

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