The Billionaire Contract

Too Many Eyes

The next few days were a blur of events, interviews, and charity appearances.

It was exhausting, but that wasn’t what wore me down.

It was the constant awareness that Ethan and I were always being watched.

Not just by cameras, not just by the public.

By each other.

I noticed it first. A lingering gaze as I adjusted my hair. A hand that brushed mine just a little too long. A smile that felt meant only for me, even in front of dozens of people.

And I couldn’t decide if it thrilled me… or terrified me.

We were in New York this time, attending a gala for a tech startup. Huge ballroom. Thousands of people. Flashing lights. Endless introductions.

I felt like a performer in someone else’s life.

“Stay close,” Ethan murmured as we walked in.

I raised an eyebrow. “Since when do I need a bodyguard?”

“Since you’re mine,” he said quietly, letting the words hang just long enough for me to choke on them internally.

I didn’t respond. I just stayed close, like he’d asked.

The gala went on, conversations went on, but I couldn’t shake the tension between us.

Later, we found ourselves on a balcony overlooking the skyline. The city lights twinkled below, but it felt quieter up here. Private. Safe.

“You’re thinking too much,” Ethan said, noticing the way I kept checking my phone.

I sighed. “It’s not my phone. It’s everything. People, cameras… Vanessa.”

He frowned. “She’s gone.”

“For now,” I muttered.

He stepped closer. “You don’t have to deal with that alone.”

I turned to him. “I’m not weak.”

“You’re human,” he said simply.

That stopped me.

We stood there in silence, shoulders almost touching. It was the kind of quiet that could either calm you or ignite something you weren’t ready for.

“I hate that this is all so complicated,” I admitted.

“It doesn’t have to be,” he said.

“It does,” I said. “We’re pretending. We’re under contract. Everything we do is under a microscope.”

“I don’t care about the microscope,” he said. “I care about you.”

And just like that, I felt it again. That impossible pull between us.

I looked away, blinking rapidly. “Ethan…”

He didn’t move. Didn’t speak. Just watched me like he was waiting for me to decide something I wasn’t sure I could.

The city noise felt distant. The world felt like it had shrunk down to just the two of us.

And I realized something I hadn’t dared admit yet:

Pretending wasn’t enough anymore.

Not for either of us.

Not when feelings like this existed.