CONTRACT MARRIAGE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN — THE SECRET LEDGER

The move to the Blackwood private medical wing was supposed to be a relief. No more Moretti thugs lurking in the hallways, no more cut-off notices from the hospital billing department.

But as I packed the last of my father’s belongings from his old bedside table, a small, leather-bound book slipped from the lining of his suitcase. It was a ledger, dated twenty years ago—the year the Vance family lost its seat on the Exchange.

I flipped to the final page. My breath hitched. There, in my father’s shaky handwriting, was a list of names. At the very top, circled in red ink, was Arthur Blackwood.

Below it, a single sentence: "He didn't just buy the debt; he created it."

"Elena? The transport is ready," Julian’s voice echoed from the doorway.

I slammed the book shut, my heart hammering. I looked at the man I had just married—the man whose name was on my marriage license and whose ring was on my finger.

"Is everything okay?" Julian asked, stepping into the room. He noticed the way I was clutching the bag. "You’re pale."

"Just... the stress of the move," I lied, the words tasting like ash.

I looked at him—really looked at him. Was he part of this? Was this "Marriage Contract" just the final step in a twenty-year plan to swallow the Vances whole?

"We need to go," Julian said, reaching for my hand.

I let him take it, but for the first time since we signed that paper, his touch didn't feel like a shield. It felt like a handcuff.

As we walked down the hospital corridor, I slipped the ledger into my coat pocket. Julian was worried about Genevieve and the Morettis, but I realized the real monster wasn't at our heels. He was waiting for us at the head of the dinner table.

And I was officially his granddaughter-in-law.