Contracted to the Ruthless Billionaire Who Never Loved Me

📖 Episode 5: Hidden Wounds

The words “what belongs to me” kept echoing in her mind long after the woman had left the mansion.

She tried to ignore it. She told herself it meant nothing. It was just his way of speaking—cold, possessive, controlling.

But deep down, it unsettled her more than she wanted to admit.

She stayed in her room most of the day, only coming out when a servant brought food. The mansion remained quiet, but it was the kind of quiet that felt heavy… like something was always being watched.

By evening, she couldn’t take it anymore.

She needed air.

She stepped out into the garden for the first time.

The space was massive, filled with perfectly trimmed flowers and long stone pathways. The beauty was undeniable, yet it still felt empty—like everything here existed only to look good, not to feel alive.

She walked slowly, trying to steady her thoughts.

Then she heard footsteps behind her.

She turned quickly.

It was him.

He stopped a few steps away, hands in his pockets, his expression unreadable.

“You are wandering,” he said.

“I didn’t know I needed permission to walk outside,” she replied before she could stop herself.

A brief silence followed.

Most people would have been scared of his stare. But something in her was starting to resist him.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

“You are learning to talk back,” he said.

“And you are learning to treat me like property,” she shot back immediately.

For a moment, the air between them changed.

Sharper. Heavier.

Dangerously close to breaking.

He stepped closer, and her heartbeat quickened despite herself.

“Be careful,” he said quietly. “You are still living under my protection.”

She didn’t move back this time.

“I didn’t ask for your protection.”

That line landed between them like a spark.

Something flashed in his eyes—anger… or something deeper she couldn’t identify.

But instead of responding, he looked away first.

A rare crack in his control.

Then, unexpectedly, his voice lowered.

“You don’t understand what kind of man I am.”

She frowned slightly. “Then make me understand.”

For a second, he said nothing.

The wind moved between them, soft but tense.

Then he finally turned away.

“Some truths are not meant to be understood easily,” he said.

And just like that, he walked away again.

Leaving her more confused than before.

But this time… something had changed.

Because she realized he wasn’t just cold.

He was hiding something.

Something painful.

Something dangerous.

And she was already too close to it.