Contract Marriage With My Billionaire Boss (Venus and Aaron) novel Chapter 56

Chapter 56

VENUS

“You’re so comfortable,” I mumbled, snuggling deeper against him.

“Don’t get used to it,” came his grumpy voice, rumbling beneath my ear.

Too late for that, Aaron Sinclair.

Somehow, we’d ended up sprawled on the couch-me half-draped over him, limbs tangled, his shirt thoroughly drenched with my tears.

If you’d told me a few months ago that I’d be baring my heart to Aaron Sinclair, and he’d actually comfort me, I would’ve laughed in your face.

But here we were.

And who knew? The cold, ruthless Aaron Sinclair could be gentle-his kind of gentle, at least. He sat stiff as a board, but he let me use him as emotional support. Unconventional, sure. But it worked.

I sniffled. “Why were you so mean to me when I started working as your PA?”

He glanced down at me. “That’s what you want to talk about?”

I tilted my chin up, wobbling voice and all. “I’m the emotionally distraught one here, and that’s what I want to talk about.”

He groaned under his breath. “I hate Richard. He hired you.”

He said it like that explained everything.

“That’s all?” I blinked. “Why is Richard CEO of Sinclair Tech anyway? I heard you founded it.”

I probably sounded nosy. Curiosity killed the cat, sure-but I was already curled up in his lap, so what did I have to lose?

“You ask a lot of questions when you’re sad.”

I nodded against him, not even pretending otherwise.

He sighed, the weight of it moving through his chest.

“My grandfather and I founded Sinclair Tech. Mostly me, if we’re being accurate. But when it came time to appoint a CEO, my grandfather thought it would be good for me to ‘learn cooperation.” A bitter scoff. “So he handed the role to Richard, thinking working with him would…fix things between us.”

Another dry laugh. “He couldn’t have been more wrong. Richard used the title as a power play. A way to undermine me at every turn.”

I swallowed the next question-why do you hate him so much?

It hovered at the tip of my tongue, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready to press that far.

But then, as if reading my silence, Aaron’s voice lightened, almost wry.

“When I was seventeen…” He exhaled slowly, the sound dragging rough across my skin. “I got into a fight with him. A bad one. He-” Aaron’s jaw flexed under my cheek. “He was talking shit about my mom. Saying things no man should say about a woman, let alone his own wife.”

A long pause.

“I punched him.” His tone was colder now. Final. “Broke his nose. Didn’t regret it for a second.”

And the way he said it-you could hear the satisfaction still there.

I let out a quiet chuckle. “I wish I could’ve done that.”

A small sigh slipped from me before the words followed.

“When I was still a kid, Dain would lock me in the dark attic anytime I misbehaved. Mom would beg him to let me out, but when he refused… she never really did anything to stop him.”

I swallowed hard. “That’s why I’m scared of the dark. And thunderstorms.”

“He’s a dick,” Aaron said flatly.

“Yeah.”

And after everything… Mom still chooses him over me

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The silence pressed in around us, heavy, full of all the thing. I couldn’t say

I buried my face deeper against him, tears dried now but my heart still raw. His arm stayed firm around my waist, steady as

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Chapter 56

the storm inside me ebbed into exhaustion.

Aaron’s voice came again, rough but quieter. “Go to sleep, Venus.”

“No… look at us, sharing trauma like best friends.” I yawned. “You’re a good man, Aaron.”

“Far from it. Don’t romanticize me, Venus.”

His voice was stone cold-spoken with such conviction it almost cut.

I smiled faintly, eyes fluttering shut. “Too late,” I mumbled. “You’re already ruining my standards for men.”

The last part came out dripping with sarcasm, lazy and slurred.

He huffed a quiet laugh. “That’s your mistake, not mine.”

“Mhm.” I sighed, half-asleep now, words blurring. “Still think you’re a good man… somewhere under all that grump.”

“Stop talking, Venus.”

But there was no bite to it this time.

His fingers-steady, almost hesitant-brushed a stray lock of hair from my cheek.

The smallest touch, like he couldn’t help himself.

I felt it more than heard it-a breath catching in his chest.

But my exhaustion finally won.

“G’night… Aaron,” I whispered.

And this time… he didn’t tell me not to say it.

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