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

Chapter 19

Home is where the heart is. That’s what everybody used to tell me.

“What a lovely home,” they’d say with jealousy at our million-dollar mansion with fancy cars and butlers and maids.

I never understood it.

Standing in front of my father’s mansion as it loomed over me as a nightmare did to a child, I realized this place never felt like home to me.

My father decked out the mansion in artwork and vases and a thousand things that I was not allowed to touch. I remembered every rule as Piers welcomed me into the house.

When I lived here, I felt more like the mosaic my father hung on the wall than a daughter. It was no wonder this place had never felt like mine. I never belonged there.

As I entered the large room for gatherings, I spotted every member of our extended family laid out before me. Cousins and distant aunts or uncles that I had barely spoken a word to in my entire life. Why on earth were all these people here?

Corinna and Ashton were here, much to my dismay. They were talking away with my father and stepmother, Tabitha with their plastic smiles. They were all faking their enjoyment in each other, that was plain to see.

I grabbed a champagne glass from one of the tables set up and sipped it, noticing how Ashton looked over at me.

His smile fell as he stared at me intensely, but I didn’t really care. He was nothing to me anymore. And I wanted nothing to do with him.

Surprisingly, I wasn’t in a bad mood just from seeing him. I didn’t feel a rush of anger or resentment toward them.

I just felt nothing.

I shrugged, continuing to search through the wide area until I found who I was looking for.

My grandmother sat on one of the sofas, looking as prim and proper as ever. She looked regal, fitting as the head of our family. I ducked behind

Chapter 19

one of the servants as I snuck up behind her with a grin.

Just when I was right behind her, the guests spotted me before she ever did- I breathed in, ready to scare the bejeebers out of her, reaching with my hands to grasp onto her shoulders.

“Hello, Adelaide,” she said, knowingly without even turning around.

breath I gathered rushed out of me, and my hands fell to my

was me?” I laid my head on the back of the couch

chuckled, “I know everything, dear. Now, come over here

“Yes, Grandma.”

around the couch. She’d cleared a spot for me right next to her, and I took

even though his father was clearly trying to catch his attention, but it was like Ashton couldn’t tear his eyes away

me, but I didn’t really have a choice in

right?” My grandmother wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling me close with a proud smile.

a French accent. She was near my grandmother’s age but looked just as timeless. “Last time I

was the ambassador for France. She used to spend a lot of time here due to your grandfather’s job but

I

about your engagement,” Gretchen smiled.

“Thank you.”

I could ask Gretchen anything about her own life, the snooty

Chapter 19

to roll my eyes at the sound of her shrill

to see me as she and Ashton approached. “I’m a bit disappointed you didn’t come to

appearance. “This is my other granddaughter,

frowned, “Did Maelyn have

went cold. I smirked,

I’m afraid Corinna is my half-sister,” I told her, innocently. “She’s the daughter of my

looking between the two of us. “But you are of similar ages? Maelyn did not pass away until…”

her

see,” she said, simply, the disapproval

families are complicated,” Corinna giggled nervously, her arm wrapped around

do?” Gretchen asked

my maid of honor at my wedding, didn’t you, Addie?” Corinna smirked at me.

Corinna’s smug face and then Gretchen’s. I took a sip of my champagne, not really feeling as angry as I

different today. Or I was

mind kept going back to Damon and the texts he sent me all night until I fell asleep.

considered him my enemy. But I did had to admit, his teasing was always harmless.

didn’t know how to stop, Damon never went far enough that I

Chapter 19

my wife, that’s what he’d said.

if I was being truly honest, I couldn’t

and tricky, but he was also intelligent and always stood up for