Special Chapter
Blood trickled slowly from the corner of James’s eyes as his heartbeat began to slow, each thud weaker than the last.
Mia stood right in front of him, her face pale, eyes filled with panic and worry. Her lips were moving—but he couldn’t hear her.
The world around him faded.
All he could hear were fragments of the past, memories crashing into him one after another as his vision blurred red. The pain in his chest dulled, slowly disappearing, replaced by a strange, hollow calm.
James exhaled shakily as the memories began to surface.
The first one—
William slid a photograph across his desk.
“Mr. Sinclair,” William said, pointing at it, “this is the photograph your mother asked me to give you. She wants you to see it. This is the daughter of the Bennetts. They’re willing to arrange a marriage.
In return, they’ll support you in business and offer several major deals—as long as you marry her. ”
James didn’t even look up at first.
Still focused on his computer, he assumed it would be someone plain, unattractive. With clear disinterest, he picked up the photograph and glanced down—
And froze.
The girl in the picture was young. Beautiful. Soft-eyed.
His heart skipped for a brief, traitorous second.
Masking his reaction, James quickly tossed the photo back onto the table without meeting William’s eyes, careful not to let him see the sudden flicker of nerves.
“I don’t have a problem with it,” he said calmly. “Check their net worth. If the marriage is worth it, let’s get it done.”
A month later, he stood in the wedding hall.
His mother stood beside him at the altar as they greeted guests, accepting congratulations with practiced smiles. The crowd buzzed around them.
Athena leaned closer to James, her lips near his ear.
“That girl invited her friends too, didn’t she?” Athena asked quietly, her tone smug. “Good. I’ve already arranged for some men. We’ll seat her friends at their tables. They’ll keep the men company for the night.”
James’s eyes flickered toward his mother.
“They’re not coming,” he said evenly. “There was a shortage of seats. I invited our business partners instead.”
Athena stiffened.
She clenched her teeth and stared at him in disbelief. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier? What am I supposed to tell Mr. Hardin and Mr. Anderson now? They wanted someone fresh to spend a few nights with while they’re in the city.”
Her jaw tightened in irritation. Then she waved it off.
“Never mind,” she muttered, pulling out her phone. “I’ll call Ezra. I’ll arrange some callgirls and have them pretend to be the bride’s friends. Those men hopefully won’t suspect anything.”
James turned his gaze away, murmuring a quiet, cold, “Sure.”
Athena huffed and walked off, her heels clicking sharply against the floor as she disappeared into the crowd.
Minutes later, the music swelled.
The chatter died down.
“Please take your seats,” the announcer’s voice rang out. “The bride is entering.”
James straightened unconsciously.
For reasons he didn’t understand, his heart began to beat faster. His gaze lifted toward the entrance as the doors slowly opened.
And then—
She walked in.
Dressed in white.
That was the first time James Sinclair saw Mia Bennett.
And that was the first time his heart truly lost control.
His breath caught. His chest tightened. A strange, unfamiliar nervousness wrapped around him. Something he had never felt before.
He had never believed in love at first sight.
But now—lying here, blood blurring his vision as he stared at the woman kneeling before him—he finally understood.
It had happened to him the moment she walked down that aisle.
He remembered her smile. The way light had seemed to follow her steps. How he had forgotten how to breathe until the priest began the vows and forced him back to reality.
Even now, as he looked up at her trembling face through a veil of red, all he could remember was her smile—the same bright smile she wore when she walked toward him in that wedding dress.
James’s vision dimmed further.
And with it came one final thought—
He had fallen in love the first day he saw her.
And he had never even realised it.
Time passed with Mia living under his roof.
From the moment she married into his house, James’s first struggle wasn’t her—it was himself.
He didn’t know how to live with her. He had never lived with anyone before. He hadn’t even spent a single night with another woman.
His life had always been filled with studies, business plans, expansion meetings, and sleepless nights spent building his empire. He had never dated. Never learned how to share space with someone else.
And the thought of being alone in the same room with her—his wife—made him inexplicably nervous.
So when William called and mentioned an overseas client who required James’s personal attention, he didn’t hesitate. He packed his bags and left for Australia the very next day of his marriage.
Not long after he landed, Athena called him.
Her voice was bright—almost giddy.
“I have already signed the deals with the Bennetts,” she said, laughing softly. “I still can’t believe how generous—no, how stupid—they are. They agreed to every condition I put forward. They didn’t even argue when I demanded a higher share in several deals.”
Her laughter echoed through the phone.
“I honestly don’t understand how people like them are richer than us,” she scoffed.
Then her tone shifted—surprised, uncertain, edged with doubt.
“Either these deals benefit them far more than we can see,” she muttered, “or something else is going on behind the scenes.”
James hung up soon after. But Athena’s laughter stayed with him.
Her words echoed in his ears again and again.
And for reasons he couldn’t explain, it unsettled him.
The more he thought about it—the way the Bennetts had practically paid to marry their daughter into his family—the more it irritated him.
The unease grew quietly.
By the time he returned home, that unease had turned into annoyance.
And that annoyance slowly hardened into resentment.
Toward Mia.
Days passed. Then months.
At some point, Mia quietly moved into another room.
He noticed.
But he chose to ignore it.
A few months later, Athena summoned Mia to attend a business meeting in James’s place. He had refused to drink at the party, so Athena ordered Mia to drink instead—to ensure the deals wouldn’t be affected.
When James saw her later, drunk and pale, vomiting in the car before collapsing against him—
The rage that surged through him shocked even himself.
It wasn’t just anger.
It was something sharper.
Something he didn’t want to name.
Grinding his teeth, he carried her inside and laid her gently on the bed. Even as irritation churned in his chest, his hands moved carefully—rubbing her head, pressing her feet, making sure she wouldn’t wake up aching the next morning.
Before leaving, he placed painkillers, a glass of juice, and water on the bedside table.
Then he turned away.
He stopped in the hall and called for Mrs. Maisel.
“William dropped off some things for Mia,” he said coldly. “He put them on her bedside table. She ruined our party last night. Make sure she fixes herself before I come home.”
And without another word, he walked out.
He refused to admit the truth.
That he had cared.
His pride wouldn’t allow it. Neither would the fear—fear that if she ever found out, she would laugh at him.
After all, she wasn’t his family.
His family was Athena and Ezra.
Why would he feel anything for a woman from another family?
Wouldn’t that make him pathetic?
So he buried it.
It was a secret.
It had to remain one.
A secret that James Sinclair had fallen in love with Mia Bennett at first sight.
Now, as darkness crept heavier into his vision, he could still see her standing before him in that same wedding dress—the same face, the same smile, those same eyes that had stolen his breath from the very glance.
But some secrets… are meant to die with you.
***
“I can’t give you love. This marriage is just a deal. You’re not allowed to care about what I do with my life.”
Magnus Graves, the ruthless billionaire, hid a smug smile, convinced the woman standing before him would shatter.
Instead, Sophia King barely spared him a glance.
“Don’t worry. I don’t have the time to care about you,” she drawled with effortless indifference, leaving him seething in shock.
The contract marriage was meant to free him from relentless pressure to marry.
A cold deal. Clear rules. No emotions. No interference. No public acknowledgment.
A flawless arrangement.
Yet the very man who despised marriage soon finds himself breaking every rule he created.
He can’t stop snarling, “You are my wife!” every single day, consumed by jealousy.
Magnus refuses to admit that what grips him is anything more than a need to keep the contract intact.
Until Sophia accepts his words.
And the contract truly ends.
She walks out of his life. Vanishes without looking back.
And now, no matter how desperately he searches… she is never coming back.