A CONTRACT MARRIAGE WITH MR. ADRIAN

chapter 2

Nadia’s POV

The words hit me like a physical blow. I felt the air leave my lungs.

“Elena is carrying our baby.”

The baby I’d tried so desperately to give him for five years.

And now Elena was sitting in my living room with a baby growing inside her.

I stared at Damien’s hand resting possessively on Elena’s still-flat stomach, at the tender smile on his face.

“How long?” My voice came out as barely a whisper.

“Three months,” Elena answered softly, not meeting my eyes.

She’d known for three months and said nothing. All those times she’d consoled me about our fertility struggles, she’d been carrying Damien’s child the entire time.

“The baby you’ve always wanted,” Damien continued, his voice almost gentle, like he was trying to soften the blow.

“Elena can give me what you never could.”

Something inside me shattered completely at those words.

I stood up slowly, my legs unsteady beneath me. Both of them watched me carefully, probably expecting me to break down. Instead, I walked to the window and stared out at my front yard.

“I want you both out of my house,” I said quietly, still looking out the window.

“Nadia, we know this is hard, but…” Elena started.

“OUT!” I spun around, and whatever they saw in my face made them both flinch.

“Get out of my house before I do something we’ll all regret.”

Damien stood up, pulling Elena with him.

“We’ll talk about the divorce proceedings—”

“There’s nothing to discuss. You want a divorce? File the papers. You want to be with my sister? Congratulations. You want to pretend like our five years of marriage meant nothing? Fine. But I want you both out of my life completely.”

They gathered their things quickly, exchanging worried glances. At the door, Elena turned back to me one last time.

“Nadia, I’m sorry. You’re still my sister, and I love—”

“You are not my sister,” I said, each word deliberate and cold. “Sisters don’t do what you’ve done. You’re nothing to me now. Both of you.”

After they left, I stood in my empty living room for a long time.

I walked upstairs to our bedroom and opened the closet. I pushed aside my clothes to reveal the small safe hidden in the back. Inside were our important documents—birth certificates, passports, insurance papers—and my grandmother’s jewelry, the pieces worth more than Damien knew.

I picked up my phone and scrolled through my contacts until I found the number I was looking for. Sarah Martinez, the divorce lawyer who’d handled my friend Rebecca’s messy separation last year. Rebecca had warned me that Sarah was ruthless, that she fought dirty when she had to.

Perfect.

“Sarah? This is Nadia Thompson. I need to discuss a divorce. And I want to make sure my husband gets exactly what he deserves.”

Sarah and I had a long conversation. She’d listened to my story and gave me legal advice. Hours after the call, I sat in my car outside Velvet Lounge, one of the clubs downtown. I’d never been to a place like this before—Damien had always preferred quiet dinners at home.

But tonight, I didn’t want quiet.

Tonight, I wanted to drink away my pain.

I changed into a black dress I’d bought but never worn. The neckline was lower than I usually wore, but tonight I didn’t care.

The club was already crowded when I walked in. I made my way to the bar, ignoring the looks from men who clearly thought I was available.

“Whiskey,” I told the bartender.

“Make it a double.”

He raised an eyebrow but poured the drink without comment. I downed it in one go, feeling the burn in my throat.

“Another,” I said, sliding the empty glass across the bar.

As the alcohol began to work through my system, my pain slowly faded. The music was loud enough to drown out my thoughts.

I was on my fourth drink when I felt someone slide onto the barstool next to me.

“Rough night?” a deep voice asked.

I turned to look at the stranger, ready to tell him I wasn’t interested in company. But the words died on my lips when I saw him.

He was devastatingly handsome in a way that seemed almost dangerous—dark hair, sharp jawline, and eyes so intensely blue they seemed to see right through me. But it wasn’t just his looks that made me pause. There was something about the way he carried himself, an air of controlled power that reminded me of a predator waiting to strike.

“You could say that,” I replied, surprised by how steady my voice sounded.

He signaled the bartender for two drinks—whiskey for me, something darker for himself.

“Want to talk about it?”

I laughed, but there was no humor in it.

“You really want to hear about my cheating husband and pregnant sister?”

Instead of backing away like I’d expected, his eyes sharpened with interest.

“Your sister?”

“Ex-sister,” I corrected, taking a sip of the fresh drink he’d bought me. “Turns out family loyalty doesn’t mean much when there’s a good man to steal.”

He leaned closer, and I caught a hint of expensive cologne, something that made my pulse quicken despite everything I was going through.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Nadia,” I said, then added recklessly, “Soon-to-be ex-wife Nadia.”

A slow smile spread across his face, and it made my stomach flutter.

“Well, soon-to-be-ex-wife Nadia,” he said, raising his glass in a mock toast, “I think this might be the beginning of a very interesting friendship.”

We talked for hours. He was a good listener.

“So what are you going to do about it?” he asked eventually.

The question caught me off guard.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, are you just going to let them win?”

“No,” I said, surprised by the venom in my own voice. “I want revenge. I want them to pay for what they’ve done to me. I want them to hurt the way they’ve hurt me.”

His eyes lit up with something that looked almost like approval.

“Now that’s what I like to hear.”

“But wanting it and getting it are two different things,” I continued, my voice breaking slightly. “I don’t even know where to start. I’ve been the perfect wife for so long, I don’t know how to be anything else.”

He leaned closer, his voice dropping to barely above a whisper.

“I can help you get revenge on them. I can help you get divorced as soon as possible, and help you make sure they regret ever hurting you. But on one condition.”