The Contract Lover He Couldn't Keep

Chapter 4 Every Touch Was a Transaction

Vol.4

He wore a long black wool coat. The cut was sharp, the lines clean, and the fabric fell perfectly. It was the birthday gift she had given him last year.

Unmelted snow clung to Julian's hair. He looked as if he had rushed straight out of the blizzard, with a terrifying chill radiating from him.

His face was paler than the snow outside. His lips were pressed into a straight line. His black eyes, usually as cold as snow deep in the mountains, were now fixed on her.

Claire's heart suddenly clenched. A thought flashed through her mind without warning.

'Julian heard that phone call.'

"Julian..." Claire instinctively stepped back, and her back hit the cold wall behind her.

Julian's hand at his side clenched into a fist as he closed in on her.

"Contract?" Anger flickered in his eyes.

Claire opened her mouth, wanting to explain.

She wanted to tell him it wasn't what he thought. She wanted to say that she had only said those things because she had been playing along with Evelyn.

But the contract had already been fulfilled, and she couldn't explain too much.

She fell silent, as if silently accepting Julian's misunderstanding of her.

Julian took another step closer, close enough for her to smell the cold and snow on him.

His voice trembled faintly. "So these 12 years... staying by my side, studying abroad with me, climbing into my bed, all of it was only to fulfill a contract?"

"It's not..." Claire instinctively retorted. Her voice was hoarse and awful.

"Not what?"

Julian took a deep breath, and his eyes suddenly turned red. He reached out, gripped her wrist hard, and dragged her in front of him.

"Not for money? Not for your mother's surgery fee? Not because you traded your body and soul for the Prescott family's resources and connections?"

Claire was forced to meet his intense gaze. Those ink-black eyes, always cold and still, were now roiling like a storm, as if they would swallow her whole on a night of thunder and rain.

Julian tugged at the corner of his mouth. A cold, self-mocking smile appeared on his pale face.

He stared at her with reddened eyes. "Claire, did you have no true feelings for me at all?"

Claire's face instantly turned white. She pressed her lips tightly together and couldn't answer a single word.

"All just for money? You studied with me in Ardenia, and then you slept with me… What did you take me for?"

His words were cruel and cutting. They were full of resentment, yet every syllable trembled.

"So every time I touched you these past few years, it was all a transaction."

"Shut up!"

Claire finally broke.

She used all her strength to push him away, and her tears broke free in that instant.

She stumbled back like a trapped animal driven into a corner and glared at Julian in anger.

"Yes! I signed the contract! I sold myself to you for that 1 million in surgery fees!"

Tears covered Claire's face. Her voice was hoarse and raw, as if it might break apart.

"Julian Prescott, do you think I wanted to? Do you think I wanted to serve you like a housekeeper, get into your bed like I was for sale, and humiliate myself between you and Vanessa by delivering condoms to the two of you? Tell me, what choice did I have? 4 years ago, my mother suddenly had an accident. My stepfather didn't care whether she lived or died. He left her lying alone in the emergency room, waiting to die. If... if I hadn't signed that contract, my mother would have died. Julian, wake up. I had to survive. I had to find a way out. I couldn't spend my whole life kneeling for scraps and wagging my tail at the Prescotts."

Her tears were hot as they fell.

The fever blurred Claire's vision, but she didn't want to waste even a moment. She stared fiercely at Julian's face, looking at the man she had secretly loved for 12 years.

"Are you satisfied now? You know the truth. I am exactly the kind of person who would sell my body and soul for money."

Julian froze and looked at Claire helplessly. For some reason, a sharp ache twisted in his chest.

He suddenly realized that he might have said or done something wrong. The words he had spoken in a rage, after losing control, now circled back and cut hard into him.

Julian reached out, wanting to touch her cheek and wipe away the tears that kept sliding down her face, but Claire avoided him.

"Don't touch me!" Her voice was absolute, though her body trembled. "Julian, we are even. The contract has expired. I owe the Prescott family nothing. From now on, you can keep being the high and mighty heir of the Prescott family, and I will return to my world as a free person. We..."

Claire took a deep breath and used the last of her strength to keep her back straight. Her expression was cold and resolute as she looked straight at Julian.

"Will never meet again."

Julian's outstretched hand froze in midair.

He stared at Claire's pale face. The anger that had filled his chest at first was gradually replaced by the terror of losing her. For the first time in Julian's life, he felt fear.

"Claire, that isn't what I meant."

Claire lifted a hand and wiped the tear tracks from her face. "Mr. Prescott, what you meant no longer matters to me. Our transaction is over."

With that, Claire turned and walked toward security.

"Claire, stop!" Julian's shout rang abruptly through the noisy airport hall.

She didn't stop. In fact, she walked faster.

"If you dare leave..." Julian's voice shook, close to collapse. "Then we're over for good. I swear, you will never see me again."

Claire's chest tightened. Fierce tears surged back into her eyes, and she instinctively stopped. After that brief pause, Claire walked toward the security gate without looking back.

Her brand-new life would begin again beyond that gate.