Contract Marriage With My Billionaire Boss (Venus and Aaron) novel Chapter 70

Chapter 70

Chapter 70

VENUS

I stopped waiting for him to notice.

Aaron Sinclair wasn’t my husband. He was a business partner with a signature on paper and a kiss that clearly didn’t mean

a damn thing when Andrea’s lipstick was smeared on his collar.

So I moved differently.

Quieter.

Colder.

Gone were the nights I waited to hear his key turn in the lock.

Gone were the soft morning greetings and shared silences over coffee that once hinted at something fragile and unspoken. I stopped checking in.

Started going out.

Lunch with Gianna. Coffee with an old classmate. Walks that stretched longer than necessary. One too many visits to my mom’s apartment just to feel warmth, to hear someone say my name without tension curled around it.

And he noticed.

I saw it in the way his eyes lingered a little longer than they should have.

The way his jaw clenched when I walked through the door after dark.

The way his voice dipped when he asked Jude, “Where’s Venus?”

But I gave him nothing.

Let him simmer in the silence he handed me first.

TWO WEEKS LATER

“Venus?” Jude poked his head into my office, tablet in hand. “You’re needed at HQ.”

My brows furrowed. “HQ?”

“Yeah, Al project’s been pushed to cross-sector review. They’re looping in executive approvals now.”

“Who’s the executive?”

He hesitated, then said it like it might bruise me.

“Dorian Sinclair.”

Of course.

I nodded, straightening the stack of files on my desk. “I’ll head over this afternoon.”

I paused. “Does Aaron know?”

Jude gave a half shrug. “I don’t think so. The directive came from Richard. He signed it himself.”

“Right. Got it.”

Dorian wasn’t what I expected.

Not this time.

He didn’t flirt. Didn’t gloat. He didn’t even smirk the way he used to-as if every word was a trap I hadn’t seen yet.

He was… professional. Oddly so.

Still arrogant, still irritatingly composed, but weirdly supportive.

“You handled that transition proposal well,” he said as I entered the glass boardroom at HQ. “Sinclair Tech’s lucky to have you.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You feeling alright?”

Successfully unlocked!

He chuckled. “Even I can give a genuine compliment when it’s deserved, Venus.”

I didn’t trust it.

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Chapter 70

But I didn’t flinch either. I worked. Efficient. Cold. Unbothered.

And I didn’t tell Aaron.

Not because I was hiding it.

But because he hadn’t asked.

And I no longer gave pieces of myself to people who made me feel like I was optional.

THREE DAYS LATER

The library was quiet, filled only by the soft hum of my laptop and the distant ticking of a grandfather clock I always meant to ask about.

Then the door slammed.

Hard.

I didn’t look up. I didn’t need to.

“Aaron,” I said flatly.

His voice was thunder.

“Are you working with Dorian?”

I finally met his gaze-unbothered, unreadable. “Yes.”

His eyes narrowed. “Since when?”

“Three days.”

He stalked toward me, fists clenched at his sides. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

I clicked my laptop shut. “You didn’t ask.”

“That’s not an answer, Venus-”

“No,” I said, rising from the chair. “But it’s the only one you’ve earned.”

His jaw ticked.

“You should’ve told me,” he bit out. “Dorian’s not someone you work with alone.”

I laughed-short and sharp. “Oh, you mean like Andrea?”

His whole body went still.

I stepped closer. “Let’s not pretend. I saw her. I walked in. She kissed you-and you didn’t even move. Didn’t flinch. Didn’t stop her.”

His voice was a warning now. “You don’t know what you saw.”

“Don’t I?” I hissed. “Because from where I was standing, it looked like the man I’m married to-contract or not-was perfectly content with another woman’s mouth on his.”

“|—”

“Don’t lie to me, Aaron.” My voice cracked like lightning. “I asked you for one thing. One line not to cross. And you obliterated it.”

I took a step back, shaking my head.

“You want to talk betrayal? I’ve done nothing but hold up my end of this deal. But the moment I take an assigned meeting with your precious stepbrother, suddenly I’m the one in the wrong?”

His silence was too long.

Too loaded.

Too guilty.

I scoffed. “God, you actually believed it, didn’t you? That I’d run to Dorian to make you jealous? To play games?”

His eyes darkened. “You didn’t have to run to him.”

I blinked. “Excuse me?”

He closed the space between us in two steps.

“You’ll listen to me,” he growled, grabbing my wrist-not rough, but firm. Steady.

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He spun me gently, pushed me into the chair, and loomed over me, eyes burning with something between fury and frustration.

“I’m not in the mood for your double standard bullshit, Aaron.”

“She came to my office,” he snapped. “Claiming she had a proposal-a cybersecurity expansion she’s been pushing since she lost the bid to Silas. She used it to get close.”

I didn’t speak.

“She kissed me, Venus. I didn’t kiss her back. I didn’t even touch her. I pulled away. You want footage?” he spat.

My chest rose and fell in tight, uneven breaths.

“I’m not fucking Andrea,” he said, voice like ground glass. “I haven’t touched anyone since the that I signed the fucking

contract.”

I still didn’t speak.

“Don’t rewrite the story, Venus. You’ve spent two weeks nursing your fury, building your walls. Meanwhile I’ve been watching you disappear. Every damn day. And now I find out you’ve been frolicking around HQ with Dorian–my stepbrother who would sell your bones for a profit?”

I pushed out of the chair. “I didn’t hide it. I just didn’t offer it.”

“Why?”

“Because you didn’t deserve it,” I snapped. “Because you made it clear that what we had-what this is-was nothing more than business. So I treated it like business.”

He stared at me. Eyes burning. Jaw locked.

And then:

“I didn’t stop Andrea fast enough. And I didn’t explain soon enough. But don’t you dare pretend that you haven’t noticed what’s happening between us.”

I opened my mouth.

Closed it.

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