The billionaire's contract marriage

As she listened, Emily's palm shook against the doorframe, her heart already aware of what her head would not believe. Each muffled sigh and box spring creak was another breach in her universe, and the regular sounds coming from beyond the door left little room for imagination. This isn't possible. Two days before our wedding, no less. Time seemed to stop as she pushed the door open. Her fiancé, Jayden, was entangled with an unknown person in their bed, creating a tableau that resembled a warped artwork. Their bed. The one she had assisted him in selecting when the penthouse was equipped. They were so engrossed in their time that neither of them cared to look up. The woman purred, "Harder, baby," and Emily felt a sudden jolt. The hardwood floor sank with her feet, the sharp c***k sounding like a gunshot. When Jayden looked at her, his expression was more a matter of annoyance than shame or surprise, as if she were just an interruption to his afternoon. With a grumbling voice, he asked, "What the hell is up with you?". His question was so absurd that Emily wanted to chuckle. "Absolutely!". With the scream building up in her throat, Jayden was choked by the words. "What do you think?". Jayden stooped over his pants with an exaggerated speed, seemingly uninterested in the situation. Instead of being modest, he simply tossed the sheet to his companion as an afterthought, more protocol than manners. The woman opened her mouth to speak, but Emily interrupted her with a rage finally consuming her hurt. "Shut your trap! You should be quiet and ashamed of your childish self. Going around with just anyone." "Jayden, she's bullying me!" The woman's voice turned syrupy sweet, playing the victim with practiced ease. "Get out, Emily." Jayden's repeated command felt like a physical blow. Emily straightened her spine, gathering what remained of her dignity. The decision came into focus in her head, accompanied by a bizarre, feeling of tranquility. "I will no longer marry you." Jayden's grin was emotionless, assured the grin of a person accustomed to always winning. "You what? You wouldn't dare." Just imagine how wrong you are, Emily thought, turning towards the door already. Some things are worth more than a billion-dollar wedding. "Watch me," Emily spat, venom lacing her words. Jayden's expression turned ashen, his pinstripe billionaire's facade dissolving into a far more ugly truth. "Nobody would touch you after I'm done. Not a single man in this city would dare. So be a good little girl and walk away while I'm still being generous, or I'll make sure you regret ever crossing me.". She'd rather die forever than spend another moment pretending to love this beast. The taxi ride home felt like a journey through her hell. At twenty-one, she should have been living her dreams. Rather, silent channels of tears ran down her cheeks as she faced the grim truth of her existence. Since birth, she'd been nothing but a disappointment to her family, a tool to be used and discarded. They'd pushed her into working, surviving on her own, yet still demanded she be their golden ticket to wealth. Her mother, father, and sister were vultures circling, waiting to pick her bones clean. Their contempt was the only consistent thing they'd ever given her. "Miss?" Here, a tissue here," the driver's voice was soft as he handed it to her and gently tugged her back from reality. She hadn't even realized she'd been sobbing. She received it with shaking hands and closed her lips in a semblance of a smile. "Thank you," she whispered, the simple kindness from a stranger making her heart ache even more. If only my own family could show a fraction of this compassion. "We're here," he announced, and Emily's stomach clenched. Back to her prison, where love came with conditions she could never meet. The moment she pushed open the door, she walked into a wall of hostility. Three pairs of eyes locked onto her like predators spotting wounded prey. "Good evening, Mom and Dad," she mumbled, trying to slip past them to the sanctuary of her room. They sat around the dinner table like a tableau of family perfection, her sister Rose's eye-roll breaking the illusion with its familiar disdain. "Why are you here?" The question cut through the air, with the implication of accusation and raw fury. "You're supposed to be at the Mason mansion," Olivia Grant's words slithered out like poison. Every syllable dripped with the desperate hunger of a woman who saw her meal ticket trying to escape. "I'm not marrying him." Emily's voice was barely a whisper. "WHAT?!" Olivia and Rose's twin screamed all over the place. Olivia's face contorted with rage. "Don't you dare destroy this family's chance? Do you think you can shame us like this? Get your worthless self back to the Masons. Now!" Her words were bullets, each one aimed at a wound. For the first time in her life, Emily didn't flinch. Didn't bow. Didn't break. This defiant self-efficacy physiologically startled Olivia, whose pupils dilated in surprise. "No, mother. I won't marry—" The snap sound of Rose's hand against Emily's cheek rang in the room. "How dare you defy our mother?" Rose whirled toward their silent father. "Father, do something!" Williams Harper sat like a statue, something flickering behind his eyes as he watched his youngest daughter. Emily turned to him, clinging to a child's desperate hope that somewhere inside this weak man, a father still existed. "Father, please... Jayden will destroy me," she pleaded. "Destroy you? That's all you deserve, you ungrateful parasite!" Olivia's words were razor blades. Every syllable from her mother's lips a fresh set of cuts made into Emily's chest. Twenty-one years of this poison, and yet every drop still stung fresh. [She] observed her father's face, witnessing that inflection when his spine became liquid at the sight of Olivia’s death look. "Emily," he mumbled, not meeting her eyes. "Obey your mother. Return to the Masons." Obey. Obey. Obey. * The eternal command that had shaped her life. Emily ran to her room, anger and hopelessness tears streaming down her face. Mother and daughter looked over each other's shoulders in a calculation of predatory subjects. "Mom, we can't let her ruin this," Rose hissed. "Think about it – the money, the status, the power. Everything we've worked for. She has to go through with it, right?" Olivia's eyes gleamed with cold determination. "Of course, she'll marry him. The wedding is in two days, and she has to be in that mansion tonight. We can't risk them changing their minds. But this sudden rebellion." Her voice trailed off in frustration. A cruel smile twisted Rose's features. "Leave it to me, Mother. She'll go to that mansion tonight whether she walks there or I drag her bleeding body across the threshold.