Page 5 of The Billionaire’s Contract Bride

Aria’s fingers curled tightly around the edge of his card. “Which is?”

Damien’s expression hardened into something entirely unreadable.

“Under no circumstances will you fall in love with me.”

Aria gave a faint, disbelieving laugh. “You’re already assuming I’m going to agree to this insane offer.”

Damien looked past her toward the medical center he owned, a secret he had worked to keep from Aria, then back down at the woman whose life he had meticulously dismantled piece by piece.

His smile was devoid of warmth.

“You’re mistaken, Ms. Vale,” he said. “You already have.”

Chapter Two: Forty-Eight Hours

Aria should have thrown Damien Blackthorne’s card into the gutter.

Instead, she carried it with her.

Every minute became a brutal argument between survival and self-respect. She walked quickly, wondering what dignity was worth when someone you loved needed care you couldn’t afford. She drafted refusals in her head, only to picture Evelyn’s empty bed. By the time she got to Bellamy’s, seventeen minutes late, every possible answer felt like a betrayal. The card felt like a loaded gun more than a piece of paper.

One million dollars.

The number was obscene. So was the fact that she had already calculated how much would remain after paying her mother’s medical bills, clearing their debts, and securing an apartment where the heat actually worked in the winter.

“You’re late.”

Aria stopped inside the restaurant’s service entrance.

Mr. Bellamy stood beside the employee lockers with his arms folded. He was a narrow man with thinning hair and a permanent look of disappointment, but tonight something else flickered behind his eyes.

Guilt.

“The hospital elevator stalled,” Aria said, wiping water from her forehead. “I called twice.”

“I received your messages.”

She reached for her apron. “I’ll stay late to cover it.”

“Don’t bother.”

Her hand froze.

Mr. Bellamy exhaled and looked away toward the kitchen line. No one met Aria’s eyes.

“We’re making staffing changes,” he said flatly.

“What kind of changes?”

“The kind where I need your locker emptied tonight.”

For a second, she heard nothing except the faint hiss of rain against the alley door.

“You’re firing me?”

“I’m letting three people go.”

“Then why did Elena start yesterday?”