CONTRACTED BY THE BILLIONAIRE: HIS FOR 6 MONTHS

*SERA'S POV* The last guests were gone. The music had stopped. Only the smell of wilting flowers and expensive perfume lingered in the reception hall. I stood near the head table, staring at the half-melted candles and the abandoned champagne flutes. Another wedding finished. Another perfect day delivered for people who would never know how close my own life was to falling apart. Mia appeared beside me, wiping her hands on a cloth. Her ponytail was messy and there were dark circles under her eyes. We had been running on adrenaline and caffeine for the past forty eight hours. “We pulled it off again,” she said quietly. I nodded, but the usual satisfaction didn’t come. My shoulders felt heavy. My feet ached. More than that, a dull pressure sat in my chest and refused to leave. We packed in silence at first. I folded tablecloths while Mia carefully wrapped the glassware. Our van waited outside, it's side proudly displaying "Vale & Lennox Weddings" in elegant script. The work was familiar, almost comforting, until the bride and groom came back one last time to thank us. The bride’s eyes were bright with happy tears. "Sera, Mia, I don't even know how to thank you. Everything was perfect... It was like you read my mind." The groom shook our hands and said they would recommend us to everyone they knew. I smiled the way I always did. "It was our pleasure. Congratulations again." Inside, all I could think about was the unpaid invoices waiting on my desk. When we were done packing, we climbed into the van, the engine rumbling to life as we headed back to the shop. The drive back to the shop was quiet. Brooklyn looked the same as always — restless, imperfect, real. When we unlocked the door to Vale & Lennox, the small studio greeted us with its usual chaos: mood boards, fabric swatches, artificial flowers, and the framed first payment we had received years ago. That little frame used to make me proud. Tonight it just looked fragile. We unloaded the van and started putting things away. Mia eventually broke the silence. “You’re quieter than usual.” “I’m tired.” I said blankly. She gave me a look that said she didn’t fully believe me, but she didn’t push. We had been through too much together for her to need every detail spelled out. After my parents died in the accident, her family had taken me in. We had grown up side by side, scraped money together, and built this business from nothing. Losing it would feel like losing another home. The supplier arrived not long after. Mr. Rivera stood in the doorway with his cap in his hands, looking uncomfortable. “Mia, Sera, I can’t keep extending credit,” he said. “The last invoices are still outstanding. I need payment before I can fulfill another order.” I tried to negotiate. I told him we were close to a major payment. He shook his head. "I wish I could. But my own suppliers are pressing me. I have to be careful too." He had his own people to pay. When he left, the silence in the shop felt heavier than before. Mia and I sat down with the ledger. The numbers were ugly. Rent. Supplier debt. Salaries. Electricity. Taxes. Equipment that needed repairs. Every line was another weight. Without the large payment we were counting on, we were finished. “We’ve survived worse,” Mia said, though her voice lacked conviction. “I'm just so tired and scared. This shop is all we have. We can't lose it.” I said placing a hand on my forehead. Mia sighed and leaned on a desk. I was still staring at the numbers when my phone rang. I answered on speaker without thinking. The voice on the other end was polite and final. Our biggest client was cancelling the wedding due to some unforeseen circumstances. They were sorry for the inconvenience. And just like that, the contract was terminated. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars — gone. The amount we had been depending on to keep the business alive had just disappeared in a single phone call. I sat very still after the line went dead. I felt like disappearing from this overwhelming world. Mia covered her mouth with one hand. Neither of us spoke for a long time. There was nothing useful to say. The math was simple and brutal. Without that money, Vale & Lennox would not survive the next few months. Eventually, Mia stood up and squeezed my shoulder. “We’ll figure something out,” she said. The words sounded hollow even to her. I stayed behind after she left. The shop felt too quiet. After a few more minutes, I locked up and went home. My apartment was dark and small. I dropped my bag by the door, changed into an old shirt, and made tea I didn’t drink. The silence pressed in from every side. I kept seeing the cancellation email in my mind. I kept seeing the ledger. I kept seeing the look on Mia’s face. Sometime after midnight, I opened my laptop and logged into *Velvet Vendetta*. The cursor blinked on a blank page. For a moment, I just stared at it. Then the anger that had been sitting in my chest all day finally moved. I wrote about the people who made and broke lives without consequence. About contracts cancelled with polite smiles. About how the rich moved through the world protected by money while everyone else scrambled to survive the damage they left behind. The words came out sharper and colder than usual. I didn’t try to soften them. When I finished, I hit publish. I sat back and stared at the screen. The post was live. Another small act of defiance that would change nothing. My phone buzzed a minute later. I expected a comment notification. Instead it was the formal confirmation email of the contract termination. Seeing it in writing made it final. I placed the phone face down on the table and lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. For the first time since Mia and I had opened the shop, I allowed myself to think the thought I had been avoiding. We were going to lose everything. And there was no one coming to save us. *** Thanks for reading and kindly add to your library :) I hope you'll enjoy this piece of mine.