Contract Bride: Rising From The Shadows

The library at the Stuart Estate on Long Island was a mausoleum of books that no one read. Three lawyers stood behind the desk, watching Dosha like vultures.

Dosha read the final clause.vacate the Penthouse within 48 hours.

She took a breath. She thought of the basement. She thought of the three million dollar necklace around Sienna's neck.

She touched the pen to the paper. She wrote the letter D.

Bang.

The double mahogany doors flew open, hitting the walls with a violence that shook the room.

Casper strode in. He was wearing golf attire-a polo shirt and slacks-but his face was thunderous. He was breathing hard.

He walked straight to the desk, reached over, and snatched the document from under Dosha's hand. The pen skidded across the paper, leaving a jagged line of ink.

He scanned the page. His jaw clenched so hard a muscle feathered in his cheek. He looked at Eleanor.

"You are liquidating my assets, Mother."

Eleanor sipped her tea. "I am cutting your losses, Casper. She is a liability."

"She is my liability."

Casper ripped the document in half. Then in quarters. The sound of tearing paper was loud in the silent room.

Dosha stood up, her chair scraping backward. "Casper! That was my exit!"

"Sit down," he barked at her. He threw the confetti of paper onto the desk. "You don't get to leave until I say you leave."

"That was a two-hundred-million-dollar agreement!" Dosha shouted. The mask was gone. The cool, calculated wife was gone. She was just a woman watching her life raft sink.

Casper grabbed her wrist. He pulled her toward him. "You think you're worth two hundred million? You?"

"She wants to go, Casper," Eleanor said calmly. "You cannot force a merger."

Casper laughed. It was a dark, ugly sound.

"She doesn't want to go. She's throwing a tantrum because I gave the necklace to Sienna."

He looked at Dosha. His eyes were wild. "Tell her. Tell her you want to stay."

Dosha opened her mouth to scream No.

Casper pulled out his phone. He held the screen up to her face. It was a list of debts. Her mother's medical bills. Her father's gambling debts. The lien on her childhood home.

"Without the Stuart name," he whispered, "the creditors will eat you alive before the ink on that check dries."

Dosha froze. He had bought her debt. He owned her debt.

She slumped. The fight went out of her shoulders.

"I... I don't want a divorce," she whispered.

Eleanor sighed. "Foolish."

Casper yanked Dosha toward the door. "We're leaving."

As they reached the exit, Asset came bounding down the hall. The dog looked happy to see them.

Casper shoved the leather leash into Dosha's hand.

"Take your dog," he said. "We're going home."

Dosha stumbled after him, the dog trotting beside her. She looked back at the mansion. It wasn't a home. It was a fortress, and the drawbridge had just been raised.

Casper shoved her into the passenger seat of his Aston Martin. He got in the driver's side and slammed the door. He revved the engine, the sound like a beast waking up.