Page 36 of His By Contract

The media vultures circled, waiting for Adrian’s empire to crack. If it fell, they’d drag her down too, the gold-digging designer who brought Manhattan’s king to his knees. Her reputation, her mother’s care, everything she’d sacrificed for would vanish.

Georgia sat on the edge of the chair, the newspaper trembling in her grip. The heavy drapes blocked most of the afternoon sun, wrapping the room in shadows that matched her mood. Everything felt frozen, like the moment after glass shatters but before the pieces hit the floor.

Her thumb smeared across the ink, distorting the letters, but not enough to erase their impact.Adler Empire Shows Cracks. The words pulsed behind her eyes, a drumbeat she couldn’t silence.

The rage built in her chest, hot and clarifying. Vaughn had taken her story, twisted it into a weapon, and fired it at Adrian without waiting for her permission.

She’d sat in that meeting room, listened to Vaughn’s promises, let him lay out his plan. She hadn’t agreed, but she hadn’t stopped him either. Hadn’t warned Adrian about what was coming.

The weight of her silence pressed against her chest. She’d told herself she was staying flexible, holding onto whatever scraps of power she could grasp. But now, staring at the aftermath of her inaction splashed across newsprint, she recognized the lie in that reasoning.

The ache in her chest twisted, different from the familiar weight of fear or the sharp bite of guilt. Something deeper, something that made her chest constrict when she pictured Adrian’s empire crumbling.

Not weakness. Not shame.

Loyalty.

The word surfaced in her mind, and she almost laughed at the absurdity. Loyal? To Adrian? The man who’d bought her life with a contract, who’d stripped away her choices one by one?

She stood, pacing the length of the room. The floor felt cold beneath her bare feet, each step echoing in the vast space. This wasn’t her home, it was Adrian’s fortress. Every inch designed to remind her of his control.

And yet…

She remembered his hand at the small of her back, steady and sure. The way he’d defended her against Celeste, not because she needed protection, but because she belonged to him. How he watched her work, silent but present, as if her creativity fascinated him.

Did she owe him anything? Could she really be loyal to a man who’d purchased her compliance?

Georgia pressed her forehead against the cool glass of the window, staring at the city sprawled below. The answer settled in her bones with a quiet, immovable weight. Beyond contracts, beyond obligation, beyond the tangle of power and control between them.

She didn’t want him to fall.

Not like this. Not because of her.

Adrian controlled everything in her life. He dictated her schedule, chose her clothes, sculpted her future with the same ruthless drive that built his empire. He was impossible to read, obsessive in his need for control, and utterly unshakeable in his power.

But something had shifted. The moment she saw those headlines, felt that twist in her gut at the thought of his empire crumbling, she’d crossed a line she couldn’t uncross. Her loyalty wasn’t bought or demanded. It had grown like a stubborn weed through concrete, defying logic and self-preservation.

She hadn’t warned him about Vaughn’s plans. Hadn’t revealed the meeting or the offer. But she’d made her choice anyway.Not because Adrian owned her, not because of the contract that bound them together.

She chose not to destroy him because she remembered how it felt to stand in that ballroom, wine dripping down expensive silk, watching her world fall apart. The helplessness, the rage, the bitter taste of betrayal. She wouldn’t inflict that on anyone, not even Adrian Adler.

Her fingers pressed against the cool glass. She might be Adrian’s wife on paper, might live in his world of power and control, but this choice was hers alone.

Georgia’s feet sank into the plush carpet as she entered Adrian’s office, each step carrying her deeper into the darkness. The city sprawled beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows, a constellation of lights that cast strange shadows across the room.

The door clicked shut behind her with the finality of a coffin lid.

Adrian sat behind his desk, a statue carved from night and shadow. The ambient glow from his tablet cast blue light across his features, turning his face into something ancient and terrible. His stillness filled the room, pressed against her skin like ice.

Her pulse thundered in her throat. She’d faced his anger before, his cold calculation, but this was different. The air felt charged, dangerous, like the moment before lightning strikes.

His gaze lifted from the tablet, pinned her in place. No emotion touched his features, no hint of what churned beneath thatmarble facade. The silence stretched between them, razor-sharp and suffocating.

Without a word, he pushed the tablet across the polished surface of his desk. The screen glowed with accusations: her name woven through headlines about Adler Capital’s instability, speculation about their marriage, whispers of weakness in his empire.

Georgia’s fingers curled into her palms. The evidence of her silence lay exposed between them. She could feel the weight of his expectation, heavy as chains across her shoulders.

Her throat closed around unspoken words as she stared at the tablet.

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