Secret Billionaire’s Contract Bride: Marrying My Enemy’s Lover
Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Chapter 37

The wedding was supposed to be today.

I stared down at the swirling heat of my coffee, the mug held close in my hands. It was hot enough toburn my fingers, but I didn’t care at the moment.

The sun had just begun to rise as I contemplated my thoughts like the steam from my coffee thatevaporated into the air.

“Adelaide?”

I flinched at the sudden sound disturbing the morning silence I was used to. I turned around, a frown onmy lips as I met the dark eyes of my husband.

“Yes?”

My voice cracked from disuse as I spoke and I cleared my throat, taking a sip of my coffee.

“How long have you been out here?” Damon said as he frowned. “The bed is cold.”

“I don’t know,” I mumbled as I glanced at the pot of coffee I had reheated only minutes ago. It had beendark when I stumbled out here and made it in the first place.

As Damon took out his cup and poured himself some, I noticed the pot was half-empty.

Or was it half-full?

Who cared, for that matter? It just meant I’d need to make more soon.

A hint of a smile graced my features as Damon sat on the chair next to me, his mug clutched in hishands.

An uncomfortable silence fell between us. The kind of discomfort that made you shift in your seat orlook away like when a smile had too many teeth.

There was just something wrong with it. Something wrong between us. Even though there shouldn’t be.

I knew he loved me. I just couldn’t get the previous night out of my head.

“Is it about the wedding?” Damon started, cautiously, not looking up from his coffee. He paused, a flashof hesitance crossed his face before he soldiered on, “Or is this about yesterday?”

I flinched, not having caught myself in time, and Damon caught it. He always did know how to read mein an instant.

Damon sighed and reached out to me, grabbing my hands in his. “You know I didn’t mean a word of it.Addie. I love you. I always have and I always will. Only you.”

He gazed into my eyes imploringly, desperate to be believed, but I was more wounded than I’d thought.There were no bandages for scars.

No cure for heartbreak.

“I know,” I murmured, looking away from his honesty. I hated myself that I doubted him at all, but mybrain and my heart were not getting along.

Not now.

“Addie.”

The soft touch of his fingers brushed against my cheeks, pulling my eyes to meet his i a clash ofemotions. Like a tidal Falling er me. I was frozen in place-only able to see him as he looked at

“Please,” his voice was begging. “Talk to me, Addie.”

“Damon.” I trailed off, my tongue twisted in my mouth with words I couldn’t say. Words I didn’t knowhow to say

But I knew I had to try. I wouldn’t

this fester like an infection. I wouldn’t let this come between us. I couldn’t.

I was with Damon I couldn’t let Corinna ruin thi

I had never been happier than W

“It hurt.”1 admitted, quietly 1 clasped my hands over his, keeping them on my cheeks where I could feelhis warmth- allowing it to ground me where I was. I couldn’t get lost in the misery-the fear and anxiety

“Hearing you say what you said. I know it’s stupid but-

“Adelaide,” Damon said, firmly. “It’s not stupid. I hated having to say that, but you know it’s not true,right?”

“But you were dating her for so long. I couldn’t help but think that it might be true.” My thoughts pouredout of my mouth before I could stop them, and my eyes widened at the confessiÓTE

It was true that it had bugged me for a long time. Ever since I had seen them together, it infuriated me,but also wounded a little bit of my heart.

“No!” Damon leaned back, letting go of me, and I wanted to chase after him, to bring him close to meagain, but instead, I reached for my coffee. The feeling of the warm ceramic was comforting to me.

The coffee was tepid by now, but I didn’t care.

I glanced over at Damon, full of uncertainty. He pinched the bridge of his nose, breathing in and outvery slowly like he was trying to calm himself.

“Corinna and me.” Damon started, then cut himself off with a mumbled curse. “There was never aCorinna and me in the

first place.”

“What?” I blinked in surprise, unsure if I could believe what I was hearing. I knew for a fact the two harddated.

“At least not like what you’re thinking. Damon confessed. He sighed and grabbed my left hand, hisfingers automatically going to my ring. He looked at me then, intensely.

“Corinna had a stalker. A nasty “sshole who was following her everywhere and leaving threateningmessages. She wanted him gone, so we made a deal.”

He glanced down at my hand where his fingers rubbed against mine.

“At the same time, my father wanted me to marry this heiress who was interested in me. I refused, butneither of them would give up. So Corinna and I made a deal. I got rid of her stalker, and she got rid ofthe heiress. Once we got what we wanted, we ended it.”

“But

“Addie,” Damon looked at me firmly in the eyes again. “I promise you we were never together. I haveonly ever loved you. and I will only love you for the rest of eternity. I could never love someone morethan 1 love you. You’ve always been it for me since we were kids.”

My fears didn’t disappear completely. My anxiety didn’t erase itself.

But the love I had for the man in front of me was more than either of them could destroy. And I knew hislove for me was real and unwavering.

“I love you, too,” I whispered a small smile tugging at the corners of my mouth.

When our lips met. I felt whole again. With his arms around me, I felt safe and

FITL

Finally, I’d found a home for my heart. I felt so full knowing that no matter what happened next, I hadsomeone to face the world with. He would never leave my side.

His hands traveled up my shirt, igniting a trail of flames along my body. Suddenly, he kissed meforcefully, and I met him with the same ferocity.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, running one hand into his hair as he kissed down my neck and lethis hands roam seductively over my body.

I let out a small moan, and Damon looked at me with a sly grin.

I grinned back and pulled him to me again, kissing him passionately as I moved my hips into his.

We probably would’ve been lost to it if a phone didn’t start ringing.

We broke apart, gasping for breath as we turned to Damon’s phone vibrating on the table.

“D”mn it,” Damon growled, reluctantly releasing me as he snatched his phone up unhappily, placing itto his ear.

“Steyn,” he said, roughly into the phone.

I sighed, pulling down my shirt from where Damon had hitched it up.

“What?”

The color drained out of Damon’s face, and I flinched at the fury burning in his eyes. I reached out forhim, not sure whether I intended to grill him for answers or soothe the wrinkle between his eyebrows,but before I could, a loud ding cut through the air.

I frowned, grabbing my phone as I opened it up. I had a text message.

It was Grandma.

The wedding is postponed.”

That was the entire line, written correctly with no errors or emojis to be seen. It was deadly serious in away that my grandmother never was.

Postponed?

What on earth had happened?

My mind went to the worst thoughts as I turned to Damon, biting my bottom lip in worry.

Damon slammed his phone onto the table, a dark look on his face as he turned to me.

“We have a problem,” Damon said, angrily. He flipped his phone over, showing me the screen.

It was a news article for a well-known gossip magazine. I gasped as I read the headline.

‘Ashton Steyn caught with another woman the night before his wedding!”

The picture was clear. It was definitely taken at a club or bar of some sort. It was clearly Ashton, but thewoman in his arms and attached to his lips was not Corinna.

She was tall with long legs, the two of them wrapped up in one another with no room for interpretation.

Ashton was cheating on Corinna.

And now, the whole world knew