Chapter 2 The Contract

Veronica's POV

I stared at the black envelope with my hands trembling like it was a ticking bomb. The thick, elegant paper held a faint musky masculine scent, expensive and wrong. It was sealed with a wax emblem I didn't recognize, its deep red sheen catching the light. My fingers twitched, torn between the urge to rip it open and the fear of what might explode out of it. Not in reality, but inside me.

My tiny apartment felt like a cage now. The peeling wallpaper and secondhand furniture were glaring reminders of everything I didn't have. The memory of Damien Cross's cold, hungry gaze from last night still lingered on my skin, like fingerprints I couldn't wash off.

I paced. One step. Another. The envelope dragged against my palm like it was breathing.

What if this isn't an invitation? What if it's a trap?

My phone buzzed. A text. Mia.

"Did you talk to the foundation? We really need that grant."

My chest tightened.

That grant was more than money-it was Mia's future. Her escape. My redemption.

And Damien Cross might be the key to it.

A dangerous, controlling, arrogant key.

I sat on the edge of my couch and finally tore the envelope open with a ragged breath.

Inside was a single, black card. The kind that looked like it belonged in a secret society-or a warning.

Six months. One contract. Total submission. No exceptions.

No fine print. No promises.

Just a single line at the bottom.

Signature: _____________________

My stomach turned. The air in the room shifted.

If I signed this, I wouldn't just be agreeing to terms-I'd be giving away control. My body. My will. Maybe even my soul.

But if I didn't?

The phone buzzed again.

Unknown Number.

I answered, hesitating.

"Veronica Blake?" A calm, authoritative male voice.

"Yes," I whispered.

"You made it this far. The choice is yours."

The line went dead.

My hand dropped the phone.

I couldn't breathe.

The card burned against my skin.

Six months of total submission...

I closed my eyes, remembered the way Damien had held me-like he could crush me, or worship me. Like he didn't know which he preferred.

I wasn't naive. This wasn't love.

This was power.

And I was about to hand mine over.

But I was out of time.

And maybe, just maybe... I wanted to know what it would feel like-to fall, to be seen, to surrender without breaking.

I lifted the pen with a shaking hand.

---

Damien's POV

I stood by the window of my penthouse office, the city laid out before me like a kingdom I owned-and yet my thoughts were fixed on one thing.

Her.

Veronica Blake.

She wasn't just beautiful. She was defiant.

The way she'd met my eyes through the mask last night... the way she didn't flinch, even when I backed her against the wall.

She was fire wrapped in trembling flesh.

And I wanted to burn with her.

Most women bent to my will with a smile. But Veronica? She looked me dead in the eye and dared me to try.

I didn't offer contracts to women like her. I didn't offer anything.

But something in her... it made me wonder if chains could feel like freedom, if submission could be trust.

The truth was, I didn't want her obedience.

I wanted her surrender,real, raw, aching.

I wanted her to choose me, knowing full well who I was.

Because she wasn't a game.

She was the gamble.

The glass of whiskey in my hand went untouched.

My phone vibrated.

"She's considering it."

A slow smile tugged at the corner of my mouth.

Let her take her time.

Let her choose.

When she signed, I wouldn't just own her body.

I'd own her silence. Her secrets. Her nights.

Her surrender.

---

Veronica's POV

The clock ticked.

Every second sounded like a scream.

I ran my thumb over the edge of the pen, eyes locked on the signature line. My reflection in the window across the room looked like a ghost-haunted, hesitant.

What am I doing?

Another buzz.

"You have until midnight. No extensions."

I could almost hear his voice, velvet and steel.

No mercy.

My fingers curled into fists. My pulse pounded in my throat.

I remembered the heat of his hand on my back. The way his breath had touched my neck. The calm in his eyes when he said he could own me.

I hated how much I wanted to feel that again.

I hated that a part of me craved being chosen.

My phone rang again.

I froze.

"Veronica," Damien said, softer this time. Almost... gentle.

I bit down on the emotion rising in my throat.

"Why me?" I whispered.

There was silence, and then"Because you're the only one who doesn't back down. Because you're worth the risk."

A tear slid down my cheek.

Not because I believed him.

But because, for the first time in a long time, I wanted to.

The line went dead.

And I made my choice.

---

Damien's POV

Noon.

The moment of reckoning.

I sat behind my desk, staring at the contract notification portal on my laptop.

Nothing.

A single drop of sweat slid down the back of my neck.

Not from anxiety. From anticipation.

She was going to do it.

Because Veronica Blake wasn't just another submissive.

She was a storm waiting to be unleashed.

My phone buzzed.

"I signed."

I exhaled slowly, then whispered, "Good girl."

Game on.

---

Veronica's POV

My fingers were still trembling when the ink dried.

It felt like a brand.

A scar in waiting.

A door closing behind me, even before I knew what was on the other side.

My phone buzzed again.

"Midnight. Be ready. This is only the beginning." – D.

I stood up, the weight of the signature sinking into my bones.

I was his now.

Whatever that meant.

A soft ding echoed behind me.

The elevator.

I hadn't buzzed anyone in.

I turned.

The sound of heavy footsteps echoed in the hall.

My heart seized.

Then I saw him.

Damien.

He stood at the threshold, mask in hand, eyes darker than I remembered. His smile was slow. Icy.

"You just signed your life away, Veronica," he said.

And I realized...

The real contract hadn't even begun.