Contract Marriage With My Billionaire Boss (Venus and Aaron) novel Chapter 98

Chapter 98

VENUS

I paused in the hallway, hand on the knob, breath caught somewhere between my lungs and ribs.

The silence on the other side wasn’t peaceful, it was too still, too sharp.

Less like calm… more like a warning.

I pushed the door open slowly.

The penthouse looked the same.

But it didn’t feel the same.

The lights were low. A single lamp flickered near the bar, casting jagged shadows across the marble floor.

A glass of whiskey sat untouched on the counter.

His navy blue jacket-the one I always reached for-was draped across the back of a chair.

And the faint trace of his cologne still lingered, haunting and intimate.

But him?

Nowhere.

“Aaron?” I called out.

Silence.

I moved through the living room, past the kitchen, down the hallway.

The study door hung half-open, light spilling through like a spotlight on something unspoken.

My hand hovered above the handle.

Then I pushed.

He was there.

Behind the desk.

Sleeves rolled.

Jaw shadowed in stubble.

Eyes like winter storms-cut-glass and unreadable.

He didn’t look up right away.

“Close the door.”

His voice was quiet. Too quiet.

My fingers obeyed before my brain caught up.

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12:18 Mon, Jan 5 G Maj

Chapter 98

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He stood. Moved around the desk, slow and deliberate like I was something fragile… or something about to explode.

“You’re back,” he said.

“I had to be.”

“Did you?”

The edge in his tone was quiet, but it cut like a blade.

I swallowed. “You think I wouldn’t come back?”

He didn’t answer.

Just pulled something from behind him.

A folder.

The folder.

Photos.

The contract.

My copy.

He handed it over like it weighed nothing.

It landed in my hands like a stone.

“Why are you giving me this?”

His eyes didn’t move from mine.

“You don’t remember the copy you gave Dorian?”

“I didn’t give him this,” I said, voice low. Steady. Almost.

Aaron’s stare didn’t blink. “You expect me to believe that?”

“I’m not asking you to believe,” I snapped. “I’m asking you to trust.”

“Same damn thing,” he growled.

“No, it’s not.” I met his fire with my own. “Belief is blind. Trust is earned. And I’ve earned it—haven’t I?”

He stared at me. A heartbeat. Two.

Then, like pulling a trigger:

“He said you kissed him.”

My stomach dropped.

“What?”

“Dorian. He told me you kissed him. That you touched him.”

12:19 Mon, Jan 5 GM •

Chapter 98

I reeled back like he’d slapped me.

“That’s a lie.”

“Is it?”

“You think I would do that to you?”

“I don’t know anymore, Venus!”

His voice cracked, furious and broken.

“I don’t know what’s real. Everyone has a version of you now and none of them match the woman I married.”

Silence.

Loud. Cruel. Final.

My fingers gripped the necklace at my throat-the one he’d fastened there weeks ago.

I hadn’t taken it off. Not once.

“I didn’t kiss him,” I whispered.

He didn’t blink.

“I didn’t give him the contract. I don’t know how he got it. I swear, Aaron.”

“Then how did he get it?”

His voice was low now. Dangerous.

I opened my mouth.

Closed it.

My copy had always been here. In this penthouse. In my closet.

But suddenly, everything I thought was safe felt… violated.

Exposed.

Someone had been watching.

“I didn’t give it to him,” I repeated, voice trembling. “I would never”

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Aaron said nothing. His gaze searched mine like he was begging me to be telling the truth and bracing for the moment 1 didn’t.

Then:

“The pictures. They’re lies too?”

I froze.

“No,” I said finally. “They’re real. But… they were taken at the wrong angles. They look worse than they are.”

He let out a dry, humorless laugh.

12:19 Mon, Jan 5 GM

Chapter 98

“There’s no good angle to betrayal, Venus.”

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“It’s not betrayal if it’s a setup,” I snapped. “He’s trying to destroy this. Us. And it’s working.”

“I’m looking at you,” he growled, stepping closer. “And I don’t know if I’m seeing my wife… or a stranger wearing her skin.”

That cut deeper than anything else.

“You think I’m lying.”

“I think I’m drowning,” he said.

“And I don’t know if you’re the one throwing me the rope… or holding my head under.”

The air between us choked with rage.

Grief.

History.

Then he whispered it. The one name I never wanted to hear on his tongue.

“It’s like Andrea all over again.”

I went still.

Cold.

He compared me to her.

She sold him out.

To Dorian.

For money. For power. For revenge.

And now he was lumping me in with her?

“You really believe I’d do that?” My voice cracked. “With him?”

“You think betrayal needs romance?” he bit out. “All it needs is proximity and silence. You gave him both. You let him buy you for a bigger price.”

I stared at him. “You don’t trust me.”

“No,” he said. “I don’t.”

The truth was louder than any accusation.

“You’re just going to throw all of this away?” I whispered. “Everything we’ve shared, everything we’ve built-I care about you

He raised a brow. “Do you? Because last I checked, you walked into this marriage for money. That makes it a transaction, not a partnership.”

The words hit like a knife to the gut.

“Don’t do that,” I said, quietly. “Don’t twist this into something ugly. I’ve been loyal to you.”

12:19 Mon, Jan 5 G M

Chapter 98

He walked closer. Towering. Cold.

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“You were loyal,” he said, “when it served you. When it gave you comfort. Status. Don’t paint yourself a martyr, Venus. You sold yourself to me.”

I couldn’t speak.

Couldn’t breathe.

Then he turned away.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me… I have real work to do.”

Dismissed.

Just like that.

田

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