The Billionaire's Collateral Contract

Prologue: The Cost of Breaking Rule Number One The rain over the private airfield in London didn't fall; it punished. A bitter October wind whipped through the tarmac, tearing at the hem of Evelyn Vance’s thin wool coat. She didn’t feel the cold. Her chest felt completely hollow, as if her heart had been surgically removed and left behind on the marble floor of the Blackwood estate. In her gloved hand, she gripped the handle of a single, battered suitcase. Everything else—the designer wardrobe, the emerald necklaces, the custom-tailored life of a billionaire’s wife—belonged to a ghost. "Evelyn! Evelyn, stop!" The roar of the private jet’s idling engines almost drowned out his voice, but she would recognize that deep, commanding baritone anywhere. It was the voice that had dictated the terms of her cage. The voice that had whispered filthy, breathtaking promises in the dark. She closed her eyes, her shoulders freezing. Slowly, she turned around. Damien Blackwood was sprinting across the wet asphalt. The untouchable, perfectly composed king of the city’s financial district looked completely unhinged. His expensive charcoal suit jacket was gone, his white dress shirt was soaked through and clinging to his broad chest, and his dark hair was plastered wildly across his forehead. He had ignored his own security detail, sprinting past the airfield barriers just to reach her. When he stopped a few feet away, his chest was heaving. For the first time since she had met him, those sharp, calculating grey eyes were filled with absolute panic. "Don't do this," Damien breathed, his voice cracking against the wind. He took a frantic step forward, his hands reaching out, trembling. "Please. I know the truth now. The corporate files, the offshore accounts—it was my uncle. He framed you. I know you didn't betray me, Evelyn." Evelyn looked at him, her face a mask of pale, calm exhaustion. "It doesn't matter anymore, Damien." "It matters to me!" He took another step, his fingers desperately gripping her upper arms. His touch was burning hot against her freezing skin, just like the night she signed her life away to him. "I was blind. My past... my mother... I let the old paranoia take over. But I swear to you, the people who did this to you are ruined. I dismantled your step family's assets by sunrise. Your uncle will never see the light of day. Just come back to the house. Come home." "Home?" Evelyn let out a low, empty laugh that sounded entirely foreign to her own ears. She looked down at his hands on her coat, then back up into his desperate gaze. "That mansion was never my home, Mr. Blackwood. It was a holding cell. I was just the collateral, remember?" Damien flinched as if she had struck him across the face. The raw agony in his eyes was almost enough to make her weaken, but the memory of his cold, cutting accusations from the night before was a shield around her mind. "I tore up the contract," Damien whispered, his voice dropping into a broken, guttural plea. The ruthless billionaire was practically on his knees on the wet tarmac. "To hell with the contract. I don't care about the board seats. I don't care about the inheritance. I want you. Evelyn, look at me. I'm begging you." "You shouldn't beg, Damien. It doesn't suit a king," she said softly. Evelyn reached into her pocket and pulled out the five-carat, rare-cut diamond ring that had bound her to him. She took his hand, pried open his stiff, freezing fingers, and pressed the heavy gold band into his palm. "You told me on the very first night that there was only one rule I couldn't break," Evelyn said, her voice finally trembling as a single, hot tear escaped her eye, mixing with the rain on her cheek. "You told me not to fall in love with you." Damien’s breath hitched, his grip tightening around the ring until the metal bit into his skin. "Evelyn..." "I broke the rule, Damien," she whispered, her heart shattering into a thousand permanent pieces as she confessed it out loud. "I fell in love with a monster who bought me. And this is what it cost me." She pulled her arms from his slackened grip. Before he could process the words, Evelyn turned her back on him, walking firmly up the metal stairs of the aircraft. "Evelyn! No! Evelyn!" His shouts were swallowed by the sudden, deafening whine of the jet engines as the cabin door sealed shut, locking out the storm, locking out the city, and leaving the most powerful man in London standing alone in the pouring rain, staring at the empty sky. Chapter 1: The rain lashed against the arched stained-glass windows of the Blackwood Estate, but inside, the air-conditioned silence was suffocating. Evelyn Vance stared at the heavy vellum paper resting on the mahogany desk. The words Collateral Marriage Agreement glared back at her in a stark, elegant font. "Sign it, Evelyn. I don't have all night to watch you bleed your heart out over a piece of paper." The voice belonged to Damien Blackwood. He stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, a crystal tumbler of scotch resting loosely in his hand. He hadn't even taken off his tuxedo jacket from the gala. His broad shoulders cut a terrifyingly sharp silhouette against the storm outside. At thirty, he was the undisputed king of the city's financial district—and the man who had just bought her life. Evelyn’s fingers trembled as she held the heavy fountain pen. "A year," she whispered, her voice raw. "The contract says one year. And my father’s medical bills... all of them will be fully covered under the Blackwood medical trust? No exceptions?" Damien turned slowly. His dark grey eyes were completely void of warmth, fixing on her like a predator studying a trapped animal. "Every single cent. The moment your signature touches that paper, the debt your stepmother racked up with Harold Finch is wiped clean. The thugs guarding your father’s hospital room will be replaced by my personal security detail. You will never have to look at Finch's disgusting face again." He took a slow step forward, the expensive leather of his shoes clicking softly against the marble floor. The sound sent a shiver straight down Evelyn's spine. "But let’s be perfectly clear about what I am buying, Evelyn," Damien murmured, leaning down slightly so his shadow completely enveloped her. "You came to my gala begging for an anchor. This is it. In exchange, you play the doting, fiercely loyal Mrs. Blackwood. My uncle is breathing down my neck for the board seats my grandfather left behind. I need a wife to secure my position. You need a shield. It’s a transaction. Nothing more." "I know what it is," Evelyn said, biting the inside of her cheek until she tasted copper. She hated how small her voice sounded compared to his absolute authority. "I'm the collateral." "Exactly," Damien said, a cruel, faint smirk touching his lips. "Collateral doesn't get to have a say in where it’s kept. You live here. You attend every public function on my arm. You smile when the cameras flash, and you make the world believe I’ve fallen completely mad for a girl from a ruined family." "And when the year is over?" "We file for a quiet dissolution due to 'irreconcilable differences.' You walk away with a comfortable settlement, and your father keeps his life. But until that day comes..." Damien reached out, his long, calloused fingers catching her chin, forcing her to look up into his icy gaze. His touch was burning hot against her freezing skin. "You belong strictly to this house. You do not talk to other men. You do not make independent moves. And above all else, Evelyn... do not mistake my protection for affection. Rule number one of this contract: do not fall in love with me." Evelyn swallowed hard, her heart hammering against her ribs like a wild bird trying to break free. She twisted her face away from his grip, gripped the pen tightly, and pressed it to the paper. Her signature was messy, a stark contrast to his perfect, sweeping script already dried on the line below. "I won't," Evelyn whispered, staring at her own doom. "I could never love a monster who buys people, Mr. Blackwood." Damien didn't look angry. Instead, he let out a low, humorless chuckle as he picked up the signed document. "Good. Let's hope you remember that when the bedroom doors are closed and the cameras are gone it would be our moment. Our romantic moment, Evelyn." His lips are on her ear whispering softly his romantic words towards Evelyn. Evelyn didn't move as if she was being thrown in a dungeon and her body was filled with unbreakable chains. Evelyn step a distant against Mr. Blackwood. She moved four steps backwards from Damien. Her mouth began to speak towards the devil. Though cameras are gone and if I will be in your room I wouldn't either have my body because I am not really your wife remember?I'm just your collateral." Damien's forehead began to move. He lay his fingers on his side making it moving. He responded to what Evelyn told him . So you are expecting from me to make you not a collateral wife? You are expecting from me to treat you as my one and only beloved wife? Moving his feet forward . He is again coming closer to Evelyn's presence. Evelyn move backward again until she landed her back on the wall. Damien cornered Evelyn with his body towards her while putting his hands on the wall and not letting Evelyn escape from his presence. Evelyn swallowed her saliva with no way to escape from Damien's body covering her body. "What are you doing Damien . I'm not doing anything Evelyn . I just to see your face closely. " Damien's response to Evelyn. " Let me out Damien." Evelyn told Damien. " I am just letting you escape from my arms of you will honestly answer me." "I suspected you of liking me." By too much confident to utter these words from his mouth, he seemingly became a frank questionaire towards Evelyn making her surprise by his question. Evelyn responded immediately to him . " Me? Liking you? Oh come on Damien, you are just thinking. too much! Are you drunk? Because your mouth is full of surprising words. How come that you were thinking that I am liking you? In what grounds? Ha ha ha ha!! You really make me laugh Damien." Damien's face was about to smile on Evelyn's laughter. He could feel the beating of her heart while his body was closely on Evelyn's chest. " You are so beautiful in my eyes Evelyn but unfortunately you are just my collateral wife." He chuckled again. He taps his finger repeatedly. Evelyn pushed him away. Evelyn ran away from him. " I will now go Damien . Goodbye. See you tomorrow." Damien is now give steps away from Evelyn. He rolled his eyes and started to touch his own head. His hands was already on his own head while turning his head left and right. He ran to Evelyn before Evelyn could came out from the door . " Wait Evelyn! Would you mind if we are going to go outside and have some coffee.? He asked Evelyn politely. The devil appears to be a gentleman suddenly and by now is offering a cup of coffee for her collateral wife. Evelyn stop from running. She paused at once. She answered yes to Damien she often called the Devil. " Let's get out here." Damien said. They are now walking away from that door. They are going to go to Susan's coffee shop to drink their aromatic coffee deliciously. Damien hold Evelyn's hand. Evelyn looked on Damien's hand holding hers. Evelyn watched Damien's face deeply after looking on his hand holding her hand.