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MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 16
ZARA'S POVAt last, Kai had won his battle. I woke up to a smelling fresh linen foreign in my nostrils, with a throbbing head. The previous day's events crashed over me, and I opened my eyes to the soft morning light that seeped through heavy drapes. Slowly, I rose into a sitting position, around me surveying the room clearly. My mind had been so weak with the word opulent when I took in a grand four-poster bed, antique furniture, and lush carpeting. All that luxury in the world could not make this place look more less than a prison, a gilded cage meant to hold me. I began kicking my legs across the bed and then down onto a cold floor below me, anchoring myself into reality. I needed to get out. Groggily, I looked around the room for some exit, anything. But there wasn't as all doors and windows closed tight at their handles while I pulled at them frantically.The door into the hall was open a crack. For one fleet moment, hope pumped through my veins. Maybe I could slip out unseen
Last Updated : 2024-09-02MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 17
Mrs. Adler's eyes sundered into mine, filled with a poison running my blood cold. Her dark, sharp features twisted into a scowl as she stepped toward me. In that frame, her elegance screamed of power and made me feel so small and inconsequential."'So this is the little runaway,' she sneered, her words dripping with contempt, loathing. “The ingrate who had the gall to humiliate our whole family before the whole city.”Somehow I swallowed and did my best not to step back, but oh, that bite from her words. And I felt my resolve weakening."Mother, enough," interposed Kai, stepping in between us. "This isn't her fault."Mrs. Adler turned on her a look that could freeze hell over. "Not her fault?" she repeated, very loudly. "She took off halfway through your welcome party, Kai! After everything that we did for her, after everything I did to her, she runs off like some common little thief!"I flinched at the razor-sharp tone, but Kai merely stood there, that hand still out to catch me shou
Last Updated : 2024-09-02MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 18
It was a little after mid-day, and I was pacing the floor. I tried to drive some of my thoughts from my brain when there was a knock on my door. My heart stopped a beat, and the door creaked open. and it was Madam Tess. Her visage was quite stifling; all the same, something seemed a hair off."Your father and sister are here to see you," she said quite formally.Blinking, my heart now thudding into my chest, but for an entirely different reason. Father and Lena really here? After everything that went on, after the humiliation I'd caused them, they really came?Madam Tess moved out of the way, gesturing to the room on the right. "They're waiting at the sitting room."I didn't speak a word for a moment, although my mind was running a mile a minute, wondering what they would say or think about me. Though it made it impossible to sidetrack my mind, I did press down a deep breath to square up my shoulder and walk out of the room behind her.I walked down the corridor, and in my mind, fear
Last Updated : 2024-09-02MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 19
KAI'S POVThe tension that washed over me was sledgehammer-like as I pushed the door open. The room didn't have any noise except the low hum of conversation flowing from the sitting room. A frown creased my brows as I moved forward through the corridor, pulled by the voice's inflection, Zara's voice. She wasn't alone this time. Her father, Mr Klein and her sister, Lena, were there with her. There I faltered in my stride; at the door sat Zara on a couch, her head tipped just a little forward, her eyes shifting around in quiet defiance. Beside her was her father, Mr. Klein—stiff in posture and steel in his voice while he spoke. Next came Lena, sitting beside her, trying to comfort her from the tension obviously etched into the atmosphere."Zara, you know better than this," he started, his voice low, though laced with disappointment. "You brought shame upon the lot of us. Do you even realize the kind of trouble you brought on yourself?"Zara just kept her eyes on the floor. Those fire-
Last Updated : 2024-09-02MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 20
"Good morning, Zara," I said as I opened the door for her to the dining room, and then I sat and stared at her breakfast. Her hands were wrapped around a cup of tea, but her eyes wouldn't flinch away from mine. "Morning," she muttered back, barely above a whisper.I sprawled in the chair across from her, watching the tension in her form, her shoulders making this painful bowing, like she could make herself small enough to go away. I hated it. Didn't that just explain she refused to look my way? After what she'd seen me do yesterday, I knew she was still so angry at me. It was her right to be, but still, I had to try. I had to make things right."C'mon, you need to eat something," I coaxed, softly. "You've hardly taken a bite out of that."Finally, she looked up; those eyes were cold—ice-like, just like the stare she had been giving me since she stormed into the study yesterday. "I'm not hungry."Well, that would have been an uphill task. That wasn't going to stop me, though. I had s
Last Updated : 2024-09-02MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 21
KAI'S POVI knocked lightly on the door in front of Zara's door, and my heart was pounding a bit faster than usual—damn it. This had to work; she had to believe that I was really trying hard."Come in," her soft voice echoed from inside.I knocked softly, turned the handle, and went in. Zara had been gazing out the window at the sunset, whose light spilled on her as something soft. It gave her a surreal look. But there, in the eyes, was the sadness that anchored her to reality."Hey," I said, as casual as possible with tense silence in the room. "I brought you something.".….She eyed me warily. "What is it?"Moving a step closer, I handed her the package. "Open it and see."She took it from my hands, and with ostentatious slowness, as if she were working up her nerves to the contents, she commenced unwrapping it. The wrapping was cautiously taken off. In the neat little paper-packet was an exquisitely embossed book. Surprise beamed from the windows of her soul as she read its title.
Last Updated : 2024-09-02MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 22
KAI'S POV The next morning, we were there again, breakfast at the café, just Zara and me. I smiled as we were shown to a table, and though it was a small step, it felt monumental. We chatted; we laughed, even that felt like some sort of coup. But I was determined to build on that. The moment I crossed the threshold, I knew what I had to do. "I should probably get heading to work," I told her casually as we arrived home, walking up the stairs. "But I'll catch up with you later?" She nodded. Her smile is small but real. "Sure, I'll be around." Perfect. I reined in the urge to scan for more and merely smiled back at her. "Great. Have a good day." I went up with that, swooping into my room to get my phone right away. Without a doubt, the person I would call would definitely be very instrumental in making this night arguably unforgettable. "Madam Tess," I opened when her voice answered, trying to modulate my tone. "I need your help for something special." "Sure, Mr. Kai," she
Last Updated : 2024-09-02MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 23
ZARA'S POVThe sunset beams were reaching through a window and filling a sofa in my lying body, turning the pages of a book but not really reading. My thoughts have been kinda spread through and replayed some scenes with Kai during this day like some sort of recording. Something in him was different lately, something that made me not feel so much on guard and more open to the fact that maybe, just maybe, things could really change between us.But what really went through my mind when, above all things, the door was softly tapped, and I was brought back to earth? I started up. At least, I had not in the least expected someone."Come in," said I, laying the book by the side. Madam Tess entered the room, holding a package. Her warm smile added with a gleam in her eyes kind of swayed my curiosity as in what she had before my eyes."Good evening, Miss Zara," she greeted me as she stood before me. "I have a delivery for you.""A delivery?" I parroted, finally catching the cue and sat up. "
Last Updated : 2024-09-02
Latest chapter
MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 98
ZARA'S POV I sit beside Liam's bed; the smell of the hospital is sterile. Machines beep steadily, their monotony no longer a reassuring sound. The sallowness of Liam's skin has sucked that vital spark from his face. With every breath, his chest rose and fell weakly. I could never have believed it would turn this way, the ending part with him. First, he came into my life as that confident, charming friend, one who would even make me laugh when I wouldn't want to smile. But here we are; the fact that one moment of his bravery sealed it for all of us changes everything.The creaking door opens, and in comes Michael, quietly, his gaze working its way around the space before finally resting on me. A faint trace of a smile bursts across that worn face, housing so much of the love held for me. He closes in before laying a reassuring hand on my shoulder in silent support."How is he?" Michael said softly, his voice barely audible over a whisper.I shake my head. "He's hanging on, but not fo
MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 97
ZARA'S POV I'm not quite sure how long has passed, even, since I sat here fisting the recording in my hand, every word uttered on that recording was mere evidence to substantiate this dreadful truth I had existed with all these years, couldn't change, prove, or even escape. Everything stands so different now, however-Kai is dead and, with my future at last within reach, so it is time for my father's name to be cleansed of the stains attached.I glance down at the file full of all evidence against him in front of me to bring Mr. Klein into the courtroom. It was finally over: the man who killed my mother and, the man who framed my father for a crime that he did not commit, was finally going to pay for his misdeeds.Behind me, footsteps echo, and turning, I see Michael standing in the doorway. His eyes are fatigued yet full of determination. He had been at each turn with me through my journey and now was down to the final move he and I would make."How are you holding up?" he asks softl
MARRIAGE PACT 96
MICHAEL'S POVMy veins surge with adrenaline as I approach the mansion. It's what I have been planning for weeks-each move, each little thing calculated. Tonight is the night everything changes. Tonight, I take Zara home, which means everything I have sacrificed will pay off.Liam's inside now, on the path we rehearsed. I can hear Liam's voice in my ear, slow and steady, soothing even. He's good.What I need to do now is distract Kai with something.I step onto the property, my footsteps silent yet heavy with intent. I head for the main door at which Kai will already be waiting; timing will play a very big role here. Should anything go wrong, this whole thing goes up in smoke.I push the door open and step inside the dimly lit hall. The slight creak of the door does not send a jitter down my bones. One shot at this, and I am not going to back down now."Kai," I call out, hearing my voice echo in empty corridors.He sits behind his desk, that cold, calculated expression carved into his
MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 95
Zara's POV I peer into the mirror, and the image staring back shows only an empty shell of the girl that once used to be. Michael's dead, and here I am in this mansion, caught by that very man who ruined my life. Every thought about him, Kai, grasps my heart with a fit of anger. But still, he presses on: he wants me to forget Michael, learn to cope with this kind of life-the twisted reality-to be his wife every waking day."Zara," his voice floats into the room deep and insistent. "Come out here. We need to talk."I didn't move. Not an inch. His commands mean absolutely nothing to me. Not anymore.The sound of his footsteps drew closer and I shrink further into the corner, knowing well how pathetic it sounded but quite beyond my control. A man who had taken away everything that mattered from me was master over this house. Well, today was different; at least he wasn't getting that satisfaction. The door creaked open."You can hide in here all you want, but you're never going to escape
MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 94
ZARA'S POVI sat on my bed by the window, and the raindrops falling against the panes coursed down in rivulets without sound-a reflection of the void inside my soul. There lay my son, sleeping still peacefully on the bed, curled up into a small bundle, his steady breathing the only sound in my room. For an instant, at the sight of him, all was well again, but pretty soon my reality confronted me.A knock shattered the fragile silence."Ms Zara," Madam Tess's voice was indistinct from the other side. There was something odd in her tone, like hesitation, even fear.Slowly, I rose, quickening at the pulse. Opening the door, I found her standing there, clutching a folded piece of paper in her shaking hands."What is it?" I asked, a knot already forming in my stomach.It's. It's a message," she breathed over her shoulder, eyes wide in that wild, frantic way. "From jacob."I plucked the paper from her shaking fingers, mine shaking too as I unrolled it. The words were a real kick in the guts
MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 93
ZARA'S POV For the past three years, I'd been telling myself-lying to myself, actually-I would never pass through those doors. Well, here I was at Kai's mansion gate with one heart in the rib, walking like gazelles all full and weighing in this huge over-reined guilt.The smell of polished wood and a touch of cologne wafted in as the heavy door now groaned open, while Madam Tess stood in the hall, her face alight with so much welcome just like always. "Madam Zara, you have returned!" she exclaimed in a voice that shook.I gave her no thought, strode right past her, as if she had never been, never broke my stride, my headset with one thing on my mind and one only, my son.Where is he?" I demanded ice with growing venom while whirling back a few feet to see Kai with dancing dark eyes and relishing the success.“Sleeping," growled gruff and small with curving lips ending into a smirk. "Welcome home, Zara.""It is not my home," I snapped.Kai's smirk grew. "Oh, but it is. Legally, nothi
MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 92
Zara's POVThe shrill buzz of my ringing phone pulled me from my reverie. I had sat in my office, staring rather blankly at the papers on my desk, unable to focus on anything. When I glanced at the screen, the headline flashing across it stole the breath from my lungs: Jacob Donovan Arrested for Attempted Murder of Mr. Klein.I shook my head, hardly able to say the word. "No," I whispered, shaking it now as if that somehow was going to make this vanish. My hands had some kind of tremor when I unfolded the article to read it. And damned if the accusations weren't-wild, depicting Jacob as an avenging business that finally snapped under all those pressures.A wave of nausea rolled over me. It wasn't a Jacob attack; it was personal.I banged my phone down and leaned back in my chair, racing my mind. One didn't have to be a genius to know behind whom this was-Kai. It had his fingerprints all over it. Jacob had been my rock, my ally in this war against him, and sat now behind bars for somet
MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 91
ZARA'S POVI sat at Hartmann's Enterprise, in my office, staring aimlessly at the screen of my computer. The numbers all seemed blurred together, the reports dim and far away. The only thing my mind replayed was the sound of the judge's ruling, the image of Kai walking out of the courtroom-smug-with my son in his arms. With every passing moment, the weight in my chest crushed me from the inside out.A soft rap at the door sliced through my fog. "Ms. White, you have a new message," my assistant Lily said in a faltering voice and laid an envelope on my desk before wheeling around to beat a swift retreat.I frowned at the plain white envelope. There was something about it that was … not quite right. I opened it, shaking, and pulled out a single sheet of paper.*Come home, Zara. You have to be with me and our son. Don't compel me to do something we'll both regret later on. Tell Michael to leave the matter alone- or he may not live any longer.*Those words sent a shiver down my spine. The
MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 90
ZARA'S POVThat was one heavy courtroom; I could feel it, a weight palpable upon the air. Seated beside the plaintiff's table, clutching the photo of my son tightly between my clasped hands, every beat of my heart seemed to feel this invisible vice squeezing tight. Across the room, Kai sat oozing smug confidence: the expensive suit, cool, calm demeanor molding him into every inch of the untouchable mogul he wanted the world to think he was."Ready?" Michael whispered beside me, his hand light on my arm.I nodded, but by now my stomach had started to do its wildest churning ever. "I have to be," I whispered low, "for my son."In strode the judge, and to his presence as one single body rose the courtroom. "All rise," cut through the silence of the voice of the bailiff.We sat in a chair as the trial began and stood up to address the court with that gloss of refinement only money can provide."My client, Mr. Kai Adler, is here for safety and welfare for his son," he began, "He has testif
