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Chapter 10
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MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 11
ZARA'S POV "Are you quite sure about this, Zara?" The lady I've been staying with, Margaret asked, filling her eyes with concern, as she handed me a steaming cup of tea.With my hands wrapped around the mug, smelling first the soothing aroma of the chamomile, I responded, "Yes, Aunt Margaret. I have thought long and hard about it. This is the best decision for me."She heaved a sigh and sat down on the other side of me at the narrow kitchen table. In the fine wood grain that stretched between us, we could see the first sunbeams filtered through the lace curtains. "All I want is for you to be sure, dear. Once it's done, there's no going back.""I know," I said, infuriated, reaching out for the cup of tea and taking a sip to calm myself. "But bringing a child into this world under these conditions… that is not fair to anyone, let alone the baby."She reached across the table, her palm coming to rest over mine. It was a warm touch, very comforting in its way, much like everything that w
MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 12
Kai. He stood his ground. His big presence crowded the small room. His dark eyes sparked—anger, but also something else that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Maybe relief? Possession? Anger?But behind him, his men were holding the nurse and security guard without a move, effectively closing off any route of exit for them."Kai?" I tried whispering, so my voice would be soft, gentle, and quite unsure.A step closer, his eyes nailed into mine. "You think you can hide from me, Zara? You think I wouldn't find you?"My very blood went cold as something grasped onto each part of me in fear. This wasn't how this was supposed to happen. He wasn't supposed to find me."How… how did you find me?" I stuttered backwards until my back hit the wall.His lips twisted into something wicked. “Now. Did you think Liam's family would keep you from me? From your husband? No one can separate us, sweetheart."I balled my fists. Psycho to some semblance of bravery, at least. "I don't belong to you, Kai.
MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 13
ZARA'S POV "Are you quite sure about this, Zara?" The lady I've been staying with, Margaret asked, filling her eyes with concern, as she handed me a steaming cup of tea.With my hands wrapped around the mug, smelling first the soothing aroma of the chamomile, I responded, "Yes, Aunt Margaret. I have thought long and hard about it. This is the best decision for me."She heaved a sigh and sat down on the other side of me at the narrow kitchen table. In the fine wood grain that stretched between us, we could see the first sunbeams filtered through the lace curtains. "All I want is for you to be sure, dear. Once it's done, there's no going back.""I know," I said, infuriated, reaching out for the cup of tea and taking a sip to calm myself. "But bringing a child into this world under these conditions… that is not fair to anyone, let alone the baby."She reached across the table, her palm coming to rest over mine. It was a warm touch, very comforting in its way, much like everything that w
MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 14
An hour went by with me pacing up and down my office floor, thoughts churning of what I would do when finally I had Zara back within my grasp. Mine. And she needed reminding of the fact. My phone buzzed an hour later with a new message that I grasped eagerly and read with so much anticipation. "I found her," the words said. "She is being held with an old Lady in a small cottage on the outskirts of town. Attached is the address." A slow, dangerous smile spread across my face. Now Zara was so near, this close, so near to being back to where she belonged. Not a minute could be wasted, and I instinctively tugged at my jacket, began for the door, and texted Ethan, That he should meet me by the car. We were off to see Zara, and it was high time that she learned she couldn't get away with it. The sun dipped under the horizon as Ethan and I turned into the drive, dragging long shadows across the landscape. The tension stirred between us, focusing into a core, sharp edge in the vacuum of s
MARRIAGE PACT 15
CHAPTER 15"'Still not thinking, love," I muttered, half to myself. "You need to come home, where you belong. We'll work this out, Zara. I swear it."She pulled again, but I wasn't about to lose her. "Kai, I don't belong to you, only this child does. I never did. If you were looking out for me, looking out for us, you wouldn't treat me the way you did."Actually, at this particular moment, I was just silent at the words that she said, cutting straight through the layers of anger and desperation that I had built around me. The words I am telling her are strange to my ears, the words that will make her understand that I am not the kind of monster in her view. But maybe, I am a monster. Not that it mattered; I could but barely let her slip away, not now, not ever.Zara wept, soundless, convulsive. "Please, Kai," she said, gasping the words, if you ever cared for me even a bit, make it such that at least I have a choice in this. Let me be free."Her words closed the room in on me, and I
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
MARRIAGE 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
MARRIAGE 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
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MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 68
ZARA'S POV. FLASHBACK.The pungent smell of disinfectant filled my nostrils as I blinked into consciousness, the fluorescent lights above my head a brutal brightness to the eyes. Blinking a few times, I turned my head slowly around me. That was when I saw him sitting next to my hospital bed, concern etched deep in his features."I am so sorry," he said in that low, firm voice of his. "I didn't see you. I thought.."Stop," I whispered, my throat dry and raw. "You saved my life. You brought me here.""I had to," he pressed on, leaning further in. "You were… I hit you. I was terrified."In a few moments, the nurse came in, took my vitals, and peripherally I had forgotten all the agony that had lanced through my body. Finally finding my voice, I asked in a whisper, "What about my baby?”She reassured me that my baby was all right and that I really was lucky, not to have been hurt so seriously in the accident. The relief that flowed in then was displaced by the weight of my situation. My
MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 67
LENA'S POV.I gripped the edge of the vanity, staring at my pale reflection. Zara. Her name clung to my tongue like poison, filling me with a rush of anger and fear. I'd hoped she would just stay gone after everything-after she found out about Liam and me. She had been so broken, so devastated. I'd hoped that would be the end of it.There she was, back from the past, standing beside no less a figure than Michael Hartmann. Of course, who did not know him: the billionaire whose influence cut across Berlin and beyond. Papa had been dying for a business partnership with his company; he said that was what would take ours to the next level. But if Zara swayed him against us…My bedroom door burst open, and Father stormed in, his face twisted with exasperation. "Lena, do you understand what this means?" his voice came sharp, tinged with anger so barely controlled. "This isn't some girl with a grudge. She's come back with Michael Hartmann. Do you know what that means for us?”"I know, Father,
MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 66
KAI'S POV The room was din around me, the raw shock pounding through my veins, or that moment of clarity when it fell into place, but it just crashed upon me like a freight train. Michael Hartmann-the name which I had heard three years ago in that hospital when they told me she'd been taken out of the country. A man with that last name had been with her. Then, divorce papers. I was off and running. Michael Hartmann was the reason she'd left.I caught her alone just as she slipped away from the crowd. I moved fast, catching her arm and yanking her onto the balcony. Cold air slapped both of us when she whirled, eyes narrowing."What the hell do you think you're doing, Kai?" she snapped, jerking her arm free of my grasp."What am I doing?" I spat, voice shrill, trebly loud with the weight of years in unasked questions. "Zara, what am I doing? You vanished into thin air. You left me with nothing. And then you show up now, pretending… this?" My hand gestured to the door, to everything in
MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 65
Kai's POVThe announcer's voice sliced through the hushed mass of people inside, nothing compared to the increase in tension inside that room, taking my brain away from the Michael Hartmann mystery. That look of wonder, how he stared straight into my eyes as though to know me, some hidden secret which only he can uncover with his eyes-just left something chilling upon my veins.His voice, with the microphone, boomed again, "Tonight, I am delighted to introduce you to a lady who is not only my fiancée but also my bright and supportive partner in this new venture. "The words were like a train that slapped and flung me back into reality. Fiancée? Partner? My gaze sliced to him; my heart was running amok."Ladies and gentlemen, please put your hands together for Zara! "My heart stopped. Of all names, Zara.She walked out towards the stage, and for this one moment, in surreal fashion, the whole world did this weird flip around her. It was her, Zara; my Zara, this woman whom I had looked
MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 64
Kai's POVThe host strode up the stage, his voice sonorously resounding in the luxurious ballroom and pulling me out of my conversation with Alina and Lena. I had been waiting for a reason, any reason, to tune out of their chit-chat, and it seemed I finally had one.“Ladies and gentlemen,” the announcer spoke dramatically. “We are really privileged to introduce to you the CEO of Hartmann Enterprises: a man of vision, of legacy, who brings with him not just an empire but the promise of a new future.”I covered a yawn; the interest was just about nil. Each night was one and the same: a platform of cash and prestige filled with people dying to show off their influence. But as he went on further, I really did wrap myself up in one phrase that said: "A man of legacy." It resonated, though I couldn't quite place why."Tonight, please welcome… Michael Hartmann!”I straightened; my eyes narrowed. Hartmann. The name sounded to reverberate in my brain, tugging from a memory buried deep. I could
MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 63
Lena's POVThe crystal chandeliers above cast soft golden glows on the finest of Berlin. I snapped the diamond bracelet onto my wrist and then turned to Liam standing beside me; his expression was set in that mask of disinterest so characteristic. He hadn't said a word all evening, but that didn't matter. Tonight was not about him-it was about appearances. And I needed ours to be impeccable."Can you believe this?" I said beaming, taking in the passing guests. "This CEO that everyone's talking about-he's already causing such a stir and he hasn't even arrived yet. Apparently he's young, from New Zealand and his family's legacy is-what's the word I'm looking for? Legendary.”Liam nodded shortly, his gaze already roving to the exits. I clench my teeth, hoping he would just bloody well fake interest in this. My voice didn't quiver as I plunged on, "Father is talking about a partnership, and if we play our cards right, it's going to be a translation of more influence inside Berlin business
MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 62
Kai's POVI stared blankly at the woman across from me as my brain went numb, listening to her list all that she had accomplished, all of those high-end fashion events she had attended, and all those awards she had won. More than full-fledged into the fifth minute of elaboration about her high-end fashion career, her voice rose with each sentence ringing with pride.".and last year, I received the European Fashion Innovator award," she concluded, her chin just that fraction higher. "Honestly, it felt like a walkover without stress. I was kind of disappointed, all the others were just no competition at all. You understand how that goes, Kai-mediocrity has no standing against true talent.”I didn't change expression, only nodded a little to forward the encouragement. It was a trick I'd gotten pretty good at: the supportive nod and the accompanying hum that let people know I was really, really paying attention. She didn't catch on that I hadn't said a word in the last ten minutes. Or may
MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 61
Kai's POVI stared blankly at the paper works in front of me, my mind was far from it. Three years…. Three years of searching, of questions that had gone unanswered, of nights that had gone with sleeplessness. Three years of wondering if Zara even remembered me, if she still thought of me-or if she was already lost in a world with someone else. And if she was… Is she raising our child with him? At the thought, my chest tightened with churning anger in my tummy, like a bitter edge.A knock on my door yanked me out of the spiral my thoughts had taken."Come in," I said, gruffer than I intended.My mother stepped in, the lines of her face set in that soft look of concern she had been wearing of late. "Kai," she said softly, seating herself across from me. "It's late. You should be home, rather than burying your nose in work.”"Work's all I have left, Mother," I replied flatly, without emotion, uncaring if the honesty hurt. The concern swirled in her eyes, but after years of her hinting a
MARRIAGE PACT Chapter 60
KAI'S POVI pulled up to the address Mark had given me, eyes narrowing as I took in the tall gray façade of the building. A hospital. My chest clenched as anxiety crept up my throat. Why would Zara be here? Has she been hurt? And what about the baby? My baby. But no sooner was I inside, the sliding of automated doors, the sterile smell of antiseptic hitting my nostrils, did little to improve my disposition. My eyes did a quick sweep of the waiting room before they settled upon the receptionist, a girl, probably in her early twenties, fidgeting over a stack of files.I approached her; urgency practically dripped from my pores. "Excuse me," I said, stammering and fighting to keep the shakiness out of my voice. "I'm trying to find someone, a patient named Zara Adler. She was just recently admitted here this month."She looked up at me, with a courteous expression, voice detached. "Let me check," she said, fingers already racing across her keyboard. "Zara Adler, you said?""Yes, Zara Ad
