Contract Marriage With My Billionaire Boss (Venus and Aaron) novel Chapter 219

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VENUS

The moment the door slammed behind Gerald, the silence hit me like a physical blow.

For a long breath, I just sat there. Staring at the metal door. Listening to the fading echoes of his chains, the fading sound of his laughter, the fading ghost of his final words:

You’ll never find her.

My stomach twisted. My vision blurred. I gripped the edges of the table until my fingers burned, grounding myself in the cold metal because everything else felt like it was slipping.

I forced myself to stand.

My body didn’t appreciate that. Pain shot through my ribs, sharp and white-hot, slicing through the thin layer of adrenaline that had carried me through the confrontation. The room tilted for a second, walls leaning in, and I pressed my hand against the table until I found balance again.

Then I walked.

One foot. Then the other.

Each step felt like dragging weights through mud.

The guard outside straightened immediately when I pushed the door open. His smugness was gone, now replaced by something heavier, something closer to pity.

“Ma’am-”

“I’m fine,” I lied, brushing past him.

My legs trembled, but I didn’t slow. If I stopped, even for a second, I wasn’t sure I’d start again.

The hallway blurred around me-harsh lights, metal doors, uniformed guards, muffled voices-but none of it felt real. It was like moving through a tunnel underwater, every sound distant, every color dim.

I just needed to get outside.

I just needed air.

I reached the lobby and pushed through the doors.

Cold hit me instantly.

Wind rushed across my skin, slipping under the thin fabric of the dress, cooling the sweat gathering at my neck. I wrapped my arms around myself, not for warmth but to hold myself together because for the first time since waking up in that hospital room, I felt like I might actually break.

My steps slowed on the concrete walkway.

I blinked, trying to clear the fog in my head.

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Outside the gate, a sleek black car-a model I couldn’t name through the haze-idled quietly, its windows tinted dark. I didn’t think anything of it at first. Not until the driver’s side door opened.

And a familiar figure stepped out.

Tall.

Silver-haired.

Expensive suit, even in the cold.

A face I hadn’t seen in years.

A face Aaron refused to see.

Richard Sinclair.

I stopped walking.

My breath caught somewhere between my ribs.

He looked at me like he’d seen a ghost.

“Venus,” he said, voice low, careful.

I swallowed, my throat dry and tight. “Richard?”

We stared at each other, both of us suspended in a moment that shouldn’t have been happening.

He took one step closer. Not too close. Not enough to threaten. Just enough to show intent.

“What are you doing here?” I whispered.

He glanced around the parking lot, jaw tight. “We should leave here first.”

My instincts flared instantly.

I stepped back.

He raised both hands, palms open, like he was approaching a wounded animal.

“Venus,” he said quietly, “I’m not here to hurt you. I swear it. I just… we can’t talk about this out in the open.”

I didn’t move,

Didn’t answer.

Didn’t trust.

Richard exhaled shakily, something strained flickering across his face.

“I’m not lying to you,” he murmured. “Please. Let me take you somewhere safer. I’ll explain everything. I promise.”

Despite the cold, sweat trickled down my spine.

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Every part of me screamed caution.

Aaron would be livid.

Aaron might actually murder him.

But something else whispered beneath it-intuition, maybe. Or exhaustion. Or the faint tremor in Richard’s voice. Something told me this wasn’t random. That there was a reason he was here. That something was happening behind the scenes I didn’t understand.

And Iris…

I didn’t have the luxury of ignoring anything that could be a lead.

Slowly too slowly-I nodded.

“I’m trusting you,” I said. “Don’t make me regret it.”

His relief was subtle but real. He opened the back door for me.

My injured side protested as I slid into the seat. The leather was cold. The car smelled faintly of cedar and something expensive. Memories flickered-old board meetings, whispered arguments behind glass walls, Aaron’s jaw clenched as he walked out on this man forever.

Richard got in beside the driver and shut the door.

Silence filled the car as the engine hummed to life.

We pulled away from the detention center.

Only once the building disappeared in the rearview mirror did he reach into his coat pocket and hand back a phone.

His personal phone.

The screen was already awake.

A text message glowed at the top.

From an unknown number.

Go pick up your daughter-in-law from the federal confinement center

or something is going to happen.

And no one will like it.

My blood turned to ice.

I looked up slowly.

Richard was watching me carefully, like he didn’t want to startle me.

“You got this today?” I asked.

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“This morning,” he said. “About fifteen minutes after you arrived at the detention center.”

“So someone knew I was going.”

“Yes.”

“How?” My voice cracked. “How would they know where I was?”

He didn’t answer at first.

Then he sighed, long and heavy.

“Because whoever sent this,” he said quietly, “is watching all of us. Not just you. Not just Aaron. Me too.”

My stomach sank.

Richard Sinclair was many things, but a liar wasn’t usually one of them-not about threats. Not about danger.

I stared down at the message again.

Daughter-in-law.

Not employee.

Not Venus.

Daughter-in-law.

“Why would they send it to you?” I whispered.

He gave a humorless laugh. “I don’t know, maybe it’s because no one else would have gotten you out of that building without a scene.”

I stiffened. “You’re not working with them?”

His head snapped toward me, eyes wide with something between anguish and offense.

“Venus,” he said, voice low and fractured, “if I wanted to hurt you-if I ever wanted to hurt you-I would have done it years ago. And Aaron wouldn’t be alive to hate me now.’

Silence.

Just my breath trembling in my chest.

Just the world rushing past outside the window.

We drove for a while without speaking. The city blurred-light posts, storefronts, apartment buildings. My fingers shook in my lap, and I curled them into fists.

Richard’s voice finally broke the silence.

“I’m sorry about Iris,” he said softly.

The words hit harder than I expected.

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But with purpose.

He stopped right in front of me and placed a firm, warm hand on my shoulder.

“Venus,” he murmured, voice low. “I’m so sorry.”

That was all it took.

The dam that had been cracking since the moment Iris was taken finally gave way.

A sob tore out of me, raw and broken.

Dorian didn’t flinch.

He pulled me into a quiet, steady embrace-not crushing, not smothering, just enough to keep me standing. His arms were firm, grounding me in a way my own body could no longer manage.

“I’m so sorry,” he repeated.

My hands fisted in his shirt as I cried into his shoulder.

Because Iris was gone.

Because I had faced a monster from my past and walked away with no answers.

Because everything was spiraling and I had no control.

Because I was so, so tired.

Richard silently watched from beside the car.

Expression unreadable.

But he didn’t interrupt.

He just… watched. And for once, that didn’t feel threatening. It felt sad. Heavy. Like he knew exactly how grief tasted.

When I finally pulled back, Dorian kept his hands on my arms, steadying me.

“Come inside,” he said softly. “Rosemary’s waiting.”

I nodded.

But before I turned away, I looked back at Richard.

“Thank you,” I said quietly.

He nodded once.

Then I walked toward the house.

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