Contract Marriage With My Billionaire Boss (Venus and Aaron) novel Chapter 257

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VENUS

If Aaron hadn’t come to me that night-if he hadn’t held my face in his hands and told me to trust him-I would have believed it was real.

I would have believed the divorce had carved something final between us.

Because after the papers were signed, he didn’t look at me.

Not once.

The lawyers gathered the documents, their voices soft and professional, already moving on to logistics as if they hadn’t just witnessed the quiet destruction of a marriage. Aaron stood first. His chair scraped lightly against the floor, the sound sharp enough to make my pulse jump.

He didn’t hesitate.

Didn’t linger.

He walked straight for the door.

For a split second, panic flared in my chest. Wait. Stay. Look at me. But I swallowed the urge down because I understood now-this was the part we had to sell.

The door opened.

And chaos poured in.

Flashes exploded like lightning. Questions collided over each other, sharp and invasive.

“Mr. Sinclair, is it true you’ve finalized your divorce?”

“Is this connected to the missing child?”

“Did the Sinclair scandal force this separation?”

Paparazzi.

Of course.

Andrea.

I saw her hand in it immediately-the calculated timing, the spectacle. She wanted the world to see him walk away from me. She wanted proof that she had broken us.

Aaron didn’t answer a single question.

His bodyguards moved fast, creating a wall of broad shoulders and dark suits, guiding him through the swarm. He kept walking, expression carved from stone, gaze fixed ahead.

He didn’t look back.

The door shut behind him.

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And suddenly the room felt too quiet, too hollow.

I stood slowly, legs unsteady, heart hammering against my ribs. Every instinct screamed to follow him, to chase after the only solid thing left in my world.

I didn’t.

I turned instead and walked down the hall, away from the noise, toward the private room where Andrea had told me to meet her.

Each step felt heavier than the last.

The door was slightly ajar.

I pushed it open.

Andrea was inside, perched casually on the edge of a desk like she owned the place. Her red hair fell perfectly over one shoulder, her posture relaxed, almost playful.

When she saw me, her eyes lit up.

Pure glee.

“Well, well,” she said, sliding off the desk. “Look at you.”

My chest tightened.

“Where is she?” I demanded immediately.

Andrea laughed.

Not softly or kindly.

She crossed the room and spun one of the chairs around, dropping into it and rocking back and forth like this

was all entertainment.

“Why are you in such a hurry, Venus?” she asked lightly. “You should learn to relax. You’re always so… tense.” She tilted her head, examining me like a flawed painting. “That’s always been my problem with you, you know. So stuck-up.”

She reached for a bottle on the table and poured liquid into two glasses, the amber color catching the light.

“You’re newly divorced,” she added cheerfully. “We should toast.”

She held one glass out toward me.

I didn’t move.

I just stared at her.

“Oh, come on,” she teased. “It took me forever to pick this one out.”

Silence stretched between us.

When I still didn’t take it, she shrugged. “Well. More for me.’

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She tipped her head back and drank both glasses in quick succession, her throat moving as she swallowed.

I didn’t care.

“Where is my daughter?” I said again, louder this time. “I’m not playing games with you, Andrea. Where the hell is she? I did everything you asked.”

She set the empty glasses down with a soft clink.

“I must admit,” she said slowly, “I didn’t expect you to actually go through with it.”

My nails dug into my palms.

“Some great love you and Aaron have,” she added with a scoff. “You really did a number on him, didn’t you? Didn’t even hesitate before signing those papers.”

Something snapped inside me.

I crossed the distance between us in two steps and grabbed her arm, fingers digging in hard.

“I’m not fucking around,” I hissed. “Where is Iris?”

Andrea’s smile sharpened.

She twisted her wrist and pulled free easily, like my grip meant nothing.

“Careful,” she said quietly.

The warmth vanished from her face. She looked truly cold.

“You’re dumber than I thought,” she said.

My breath hitched.

“If you really believed I’d just hand her back after that little performance,” she continued, her voice dropping to a whisper that felt like a blade sliding under my skin, “then you’re even more pathetic than I imagined.”

The room tilted.

“What…?” My voice barely existed.

She stepped closer, eyes glittering with cruel delight.

“I was never going to give her back,” Andrea said softly. “Never.”

The words detonated in my chest.

I lunged at her.

Pure instinct.

Pure rage.

She moved faster.

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They and heard again my shoulder, sending me stumbling hackward. My heel caught the edge of the m we went down bar, palms slamming against the polished floor.

tom domem there when you belong. Venus Astor,” she sneered, looking down at me. “At my feet. That’s hone this was always supposed to be.”

“‘ crazy.” I gasped, pushing myself up on shaking arms. “I’m telling Aaron everything. Everything.”

Andrea laughed.

“he my fucking guest,” she said. “You thought separating the two of you was the endgame? You thought kidnapping Tris was the endgame?”

She leaned closer, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.

“It was all a distraction”

My blood ran cold.

“For what?” I whispered.

Her smile widened, unhinged.

“For what’s coming,” she said. “And you’d better bare yourselves.*

She laughed – loud, manic, echoing off the waite

The sound made my skin crawl

And then,

The door opened

Andrea’s laughter cut off instantly

Aaron stood in the doorway.

For a second, the world went completely silliest.

His presence filled the room like a star maling se-dark suis, jew fight, eyes colder than I had ever seen them. He didn’t speak immediately the just stand their, taking in the scene.

Me on the floor.

Andrea looming above me.

The shattered tension between us.

Andrea’s face changed.

The glee drained out of her expression so fast it almost looked like fear.

*Aaron,” she said, trying for composure.

He didn’t look at her

Not yet.

His gaze locked on me first-quick, assessing, and searching for damage. His eyes softened for the briefest second before hardening again.

Then he stepped fully into the room and closed the door behind him.

The sound of the latch clicking into place felt final.

Andrea straightened, her smile returning in a thinner, more careful version.

“Well,” she said lightly, “this is unexpected.”

Aaron finally looked at her.

And the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees.

“I think,” he said quietly, his voice calm in a way that felt far more dangerous than shouting, “we’re done playing your games.”

Andrea’s fingers tightened on the back of the chair. Uncertainty flicker across her face.

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