The Contract Bride

Seven-A Stranger’s Kindness

Elena POV

The penthouse was a gilded cage, and I was sick of the silence inside it.

So when I slipped out for a walk in the city, breathing fresh air for the first time in days, it felt like freedom. I wandered until I found a little bookstore tucked between two cafés. The smell of old paper and coffee wrapped around me, warm and familiar.

“First time here?” the man behind the counter asked. He was tall, maybe late twenties, with kind blue eyes and a smile that actually reached them.

I nodded, tracing my fingers along a row of books. “Just… browsing.”

“Well, let me know if you need a recommendation. Personally, I’m a sucker for classics. But you strike me as a woman who likes stories with strong heroines.”

His words made me smile. Genuine. Easy. Something I hadn’t felt in weeks. “You’re not wrong.”

We talked a little more, laughter spilling between us as he told me about his favorite novels. For a brief moment, I felt normal—like Elena Carter again, not Mrs. Steele, not a prisoner of a contract.

And then the door opened.

The air shifted.

I didn’t need to look to know who it was.

Alexander.

He filled the room, his presence so sharp it made the stranger beside me fall silent. My smile faded as his gaze locked on me—dark, stormy, lethal.

“Elena,” he said smoothly, too smoothly. “Enjoying yourself?”

The stranger cleared his throat, trying to stand tall. “We were just talking about books.”

Alexander’s lips curved, but it wasn’t a smile—it was a warning. “Books. How… innocent.”

His hand closed around mine, firm, possessive. “We’re leaving.”

“But I—”

“Now.”

The stranger frowned, concern flickering in his eyes. “Are you okay, miss?”

I opened my mouth, but Alexander’s grip tightened, cutting off the words. His voice was velvet laced with steel.

“She’s more than okay.” His gaze burned into mine, daring me to deny it. “She’s mine.”