Once Our Contract Marriage Ended, I Married His Uncle

“Have you really made up your mind to divorce Elio? Just because your contractual marriage was about to end?”

Facing the lawyer’s persuasion, I let out a muffled, bitter laugh.

“No. It was because he had never truly seen me. I no longer had the strength to keep waiting for Elio to fall in love with me.”

Two days ago, Alyssa and I had been kidnapped together.

When the thug’s knife came down, Elio’s hesitant gaze swept across my face. But in the end, he gritted his teeth and lifted Alyssa into his arms instead.

“Alyssa’s in poor health. Hang in there. The police will be here soon.”

As they stood up, Alyssa viciously kicked my three-month pregnant belly.

Clutching my aching abdomen, I watched Elio disappear without looking back, carrying someone else in his arms. I bit my lip until it bled, determined not to let the tears fall.

In the final moment, the police arrived and shot the thug dead.

Late that night, when I returned home from the hospital, the pink lace underwear lying at the foot of the bed shattered the last of my strength. The tears I had held back finally burst free.

I had thought that even a stone would soften after five years. I had believed that giving everything I had would be enough to make Elio finally turn back to me.

But he kept using betrayal to remind me that what we shared had never been more than a transaction.

In that case, I would give him exactly what he wanted.

Wiping the tears from my cheeks, I slipped the medical abortion certificate into the drawer and dialed a familiar number.

“Bruce, does your promise still stand?”

Elio, in five days, we would both be free.

1

"Did I hear that right?" A mocking voice drifted through the line. "I told you long ago that he never loved you."

Yes, how could I not have known that Elio Ledger never loved me?

From the very beginning, it was because the woman he truly loved, his adoptive sister Alyssa Mavis, had gone abroad. Forced by his parents to marry, he found me, a substitute who merely resembled her by thirty or forty percent.

At that time, my father was critically injured in a car accident and falsely accused by someone powerful. I had no choice but to accept Elio’s offer.

"I’ll handle your father’s case and cover his medical care. In return, you must marry me and be Mrs. Ledger for five years."

After our marriage, I gradually fell for this young, handsome, refined man. I even foolishly imagined that our five-year contract could become a lifetime.

But just over two months before the contract was due to end, Alyssa returned to the country.

At first, I thought perhaps Elio only felt some lingering sibling affection for her.

After all, in recent years, he had held me so gently, brought back thoughtful gifts from every business trip, and never once forgot our wedding anniversary.

On that day each year, he would always set off an extravagant fireworks show, wrap me in his warm embrace, and whisper tenderly in my ear, “I’ll love you forever, baby.”

That fragile illusion shattered the day I overheard him speaking with a friend in the garden not long ago.

“Now that Alyssa is back, what will you do about Abigail Lavigne?”

Elio paused, his voice turning low and cold.

“It was all just an act with her. Every time I held her, I had to imagine Alyssa’s face just to get through it.”

“So you chose the day Alyssa left to get married, and every year on that same day, you light her favorite fireworks. Aren’t you afraid Abigail will learn the truth and leave you? Especially now that your contract is almost up?”

After a long silence, Elio’s gaze darkened.

“She won’t find out. My parents are pleased with her. She has no choice but to keep being my wife. And you’d better keep your mouths shut.”

His oppressive presence made his friend instantly fall quiet.

I stood frozen behind the pavilion, my entire body turning cold. My pale fingers clutched the pregnancy report against my chest.

After they left, I collapsed to the ground, retching uncontrollably.

It was at that moment I finally understood that my foolish dream had to end.

Snapping back to reality, the man on the phone spoke in a cold, domineering voice.

“My promise to you still stands. But if you dare to play me again this time, I won’t just take you away. I’ll make sure the Ledger family goes down with you.”

I nodded quietly. “Don’t worry. Come pick me up in five days.”

“Good. Be a good girl and wait for me.”

When the call ended, Elio stepped out of the bathroom, his phone still in hand.

Water droplets slid from his hair, traced down his sharply defined jaw and toned waist, and disappeared into the towel wrapped around his hips.

Seeing my gaze fall on his neck, he seemed to remember something. His fingers absently brushed the fresh scratch marks there.

“I’ve started keeping a little wild cat at the office. Who were you just talking to on the phone?”

He kept asking questions, yet his head stayed buried in his phone.

I told him I was checking with the doctor about my dad’s routine medical review. He only muttered an absent “oh,” never once lifting his gaze.

As always, his full attention was locked on his chat screen with Alyssa. He couldn’t have cared less about anything I said.

And for once, I didn’t argue or make a scene.

When Elio reached for his water glass and didn’t find the warm milk I prepared every night, he finally seemed to remember something. He looked up with the air of bestowing me a favor.

“You don’t need to worry. The thug’s accomplices were all handled by the police. I spoke to a hospital specialist, and he said your hand only has a surface wound. Just apply medicine, and it’ll heal soon.”

Today, I had been slashed across the hand by the thug.

And the child I had longed for had been kicked out of me by Alyssa.

Seeing my face turn cold, Elio frowned, about to say something, when his phone suddenly buzzed.

He smiled faintly. “It’s my secretary.”

He turned and stepped out onto the balcony.

I opened my alternate account and pulled up his Instagram.

There it was, a new post, hidden from me.

A self-penned apology.

[My darling was taken hostage, and I was late, which frightened her. From now on, I’ll always come running, never letting her worry again. To make it up to my beloved, I’ve decided to give her a baby as a gift.]

Staring at that so-called precious gift, I pressed a hand against my empty belly. My stomach churned, and a bitter laugh slipped out.

My child was never wanted by its father; perhaps it was better she had left this world early.

I tapped “like” and then opened the email from my lawyer, which included the electronic divorce agreement attached.

Half an hour later, Elio came back in from the balcony. I pulled up the signature page and handed him my phone.

“Elio, I want to buy a new car. Here’s the e-contract.”

Too busy flirting with his darling, he didn’t even glance at it before signing.

Then he brushed a kiss over my cheek. “Go to bed. I have some work to finish.”

The next morning, Elio uncharacteristically woke up early.

When I walked to the dining table, he stood there in the apron Alyssa had given him, smiling as if nothing was wrong.

“Baby, I made you breakfast.”

As I reached to open the steak box, he suddenly slapped my hand away.

“Don’t you love bread? I made your favorite nut bread just for you.”

I froze, and in that instant, I understood.

The steak wasn’t for me. It was for Alyssa.

And the so-called nut bread looked exactly like the ones from the bakery down the street.

My chest tightened. Even after everything, even after I’d stopped expecting anything from him, my nose still stung with bitterness.

“Elio, I’m allergic to nuts.”

Five whole years as his stand-in, and he’d never cared enough to learn a single thing about me.

His expression flickered, then darkened with impatience. He shoved his chair back and stood.

“Quit pretending. Don’t eat it, then.”

He picked up the thermal box and headed for the door.

I called after him and held out a small bag.

“Please return this to Alyssa.”

When he looked inside and saw the lace underwear, his pupils trembled.