Contract Marriage With My Billionaire Boss (Venus and Aaron) novel Chapter 66

Chapter 66

VENUS

Sabine wasn’t ready to talk.

But that didn’t mean she didn’t.

She told me everything in that signature Sabine-way-truth wrapped in glitter, deflection folded into sarcasm. But beneath all the sparkle, the story bled through.

It started last year. An accident, she said. A drunken night that wasn’t supposed to repeat-until it did. Again and again. And now? They were stuck in a rhythm of not-quite love, not-quite lust, and definitely too many secrets.

“I don’t do commitment,” she muttered, twirling the stick of her now-finished lollipop between her fingers. “But with him… it’ s like he sees through every performance I try to give.”

I didn’t press her. The look on her face said more than enough.

She was scared.

And maybe-just maybe-a little in love.

But we didn’t get to dig deeper. Because a few minutes before dinner, she found me.

Rosemary.

She slipped beside me in the hallway, poised and graceful in that timeless, silk-wrapped way of hers.

“Venus,” she said, gently curling her fingers around my arm. “Walk with me?”

I nodded, surprised, and followed her into one of the smaller parlors-the kind designed for whispers and wine.

She waited until the door clicked shut behind us before speaking.

“I know,” she said.

I froze. “You… know what?”

She smiled faintly. Not smug. Not cold. Just… sad.

“Aaron. The marriage. The inheritance.”

My blood turned to ice.

“I know my son,” she continued softly, crossing the room to the fireplace. “Too well, perhaps. He’s brilliant-scary brilliant. He doesn’t do anything without precision. So when he married a girl he barely knew? I knew there was a reason.”

I swallowed hard. My throat felt dry. “You’re not angry?”

She turned to me, eyes glinting with a thousand unspoken things.

“No. Because… I also saw something else.”

She stepped closer. Her voice softened.”

“I saw how he looks at you.”

I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t even know how to feel.

“I’ve watched Aaron build walls his entire life,” she went on. “Not just around himself-but around me, too. For the longest time, I thought I’d lost him. But now, with you… he’s opening. Slowly. Cautiously. But it’s happening.”

I looked away. “It’s just an agreement. And to be sincere? He doesn’t even like me. He just puts up with me.”

She sighed, sinking gracefully onto the edge of the settee.

“I know that. But I also know something about agreements turning into something real… and about love born from desperation.”

Then, she told me.

About Richard.

About the truth Aaron never talked about.

“I got pregnant again when Aaron was seven,” she said, her voice trembling slightly. “It was complicated-my health wasn’t strong, and the doctors warned us. Richard… he didn’t care

She took a breath. It shook her whole frame.

Successfully unlocked!

“One morning, I collapsed. Placental abruption. There was too much blood. I lost the baby. And then… I slipped into a

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Chapter 66

coma. For three years.”

My heart cracked in my chest.

“A few days before the miscarriage, he told me he wanted a divorce,” she added, her voice hollow. “That’s when I found out he was already married. To Caroline. Long before he married me.”

I felt the sting in my eyes.

“And Richard?” she gave a bitter smile. “He wasn’t there when it happened. He only came back when he heard I was in a coma. Then he took Aaron away. To live with him and Caroline. I didn’t know. I couldn’t stop it.”

Her fingers clenched the armrest.

“When I woke up… Aaron was different. Older, yes, but also colder. Sharper. There was a… violence in his silence. He was just ten. My little jovial baby changed so much.”

I couldn’t breathe.

“He never told me what happened in that house. But I saw enough to guess. And he’s never forgiven Richard. Not for abandoning me. Not for forcing him to survive in that hell. I was just… grateful he could confide in his grandfather. They were very close.”

She paused, eyes distant.

“His death hurt him, I know it did. But Aaron didn’t even flinch when it happened. He didn’t cry. Didn’t grieve. He just held me, like I was the one who’d lost something precious.”

She turned, meeting my gaze.

“Everything he does? It’s to protect me. Even now.”

Silence settled between us. Heavy. Full of history and pain.

And then-

“I don’t blame you,” she said quietly. “For the contract. For any of it. I just need you to know something.”

She rose, stepped closer, and gently took my hand.

“I’ve never seen Aaron care like this before. Not even close. You make him alive, Venus. And I know my boy. Somewhere under all that ice… he’s capable of love.”

Tears burned hot behind my eyes. I blinked them away.

“I’m not asking you to fight for him,” she added gently. “Just… don’t give up. Not yet. Not when he’s finally learning how to feel again.”

A soft knock echoed at the door.

Dinner was ready.

But inside me?

Nothing felt ready anymore.

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