Bound By Blood: The Billionaire's Contract

Author: Out Of Town

Chapter 1 No.1

Word Count: 914 | Released on: 03/02/2026

n, but the world was a blur of gray and black. Her hands clawed at the leather seat beneath her, expecting the cold steel of

tal or the mold of the penitentiary, but the cloying sweetn

a voice drawled from beside her. "My hair is going to frizz

Her tormentor. The woman whose carefully crafted lies, whispered to the right people, had helped orchestrate Dawn's professional and personal ruin five

hree years. She was holding a compact mirror, checking her lipstick, completely indifferent

rything was supposed to change. She looked at her wrists. No handcuffs. No needle marks. She flexed her

n was i

er stomach. She turned to the window. The I-495 sign flashed by, blurred by the gathering stor

I said, Dozier is going to be there. He specifically asked if the '

r four counts. Hold, for four. Out, for four. It was a technique s

opped from Dawn's face to her neck. A

s skin crawl. "The theme tonight is 'Vintage Glamour.' That Van Cleef necklace... it

ated. She had said no, politely. Catrina had pouted, then accidentally spilled champagne on Dawn later, forcing a trip to the bathroom wh

brushing against Dawn's collarbone as

. You're just going to stand in the corner anyway. Le

stantly. She wasn't the victim anymore. She was a fixer. And Catrina was just a tu

metal was cool against her skin. She felt the weight of the gold and t

necklace free a

to be this easy. A flicker of suspicion crossed

Her voice was raspy

from her palm. "Fina

the darkened window. Catrina didn't know she had just put a target on her back. That necklace was a

id softly. "Be carefu

"Unlike some people, I ca

eye in the rearview mirror. He looked concerned. He was a good ma

hour until she was supposed to meet Dozier Buck

t going t

e, replaced by a cold, clinical calcu

Chapter End

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Bound By Blood: The Billionaire's Contract

Out Of Town Romance

“I woke up gasping for air, expecting the cold concrete of a prison cell, but my fingers sank into the plush leather of a luxury Lincoln. I was twenty-four again, wearing the silver silk dress from the night my life was systematically destroyed. Beside me sat my cousin Catrina, the woman whose carefully crafted lies had orchestrated my ruin and sent me to a penitentiary for five years. In my first life, this was the night the dominoes fell. Catrina stole my jewelry to paint me as mentally unstable, and by morning, I was stripped of my medical license and labeled a criminal. My mother's family, the Montgomerys, stood by and watched as my father's company was devoured by wolves, treating my existence like a "liability" that needed to be managed. I still felt the phantom tremors in my hands from prison fights and the stinging betrayal of being discarded by the people I called family. I had lived through five years of absolute hell, a former surgeon rotting in a cell while the people who framed me toasted to their success at galas I was no longer invited to. "Don't be selfish, Dawn," Catrina whispered, reaching for the necklace that would later be used as evidence against me. "Let the jewelry shine on someone who actually matters." She thought I was still the fragile victim she could manipulate, but she didn't realize I had returned from the grave with the cold, clinical calculation of a fixer. Instead of walking into her trap at the gala, I forced the car onto a dark service road and dragged a dying billionaire, Jennings Stafford, from the wreckage of a burning SUV. He was the only man powerful enough to destroy my enemies, and as I stitched his wounds with stolen supplies, I didn't ask for a thank you. I looked him dead in the eye and proposed a contract that would set the world on fire. "I want a strategic marriage. You get a harmless wife with a legacy name to calm your board, and I get immunity from everyone who ever touched me." The bill for my five years in prison had finally come due, and I was here to collect.”