Chapter 36 The Cost of Staying
The house woke before Serena did.
Not with sound, with awareness.
She felt it the moment her eyes opened, the subtle hum beneath the quiet, like tension pulled too tight. The folder sat exactly where she’d left it by the door. Untouched. Unmoved.
She dressed without ceremony.
There was no need for d...
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Chapters
1. Chapter 1 The Heir Found in Ruin
2. Chapter 2 The Daughter Sold to Settle a Debt
3. Chapter 3 Two Strangers Bound by Paper
4. Chapter 4 A Contract Written Without Love
5. Chapter 5 An Engagement That Shattered the City
6. Chapter 6 What the Contract Didn’t Say
7. Chapter 7 Dinner with Wolves
8. Chapter 8 The Name He Wouldn’t Say
9. Chapter 9 The Woman at the Door
10. Chapter 10 What the Photo Didn’t Show
11. Chapter 11 Fault Lines
12. Chapter 12 The One Who Didn’t Stay Dead
13. Chapter 13 Lines That Cannot Be Uncrossed
14. Chapter 14 The Choice They Forced Her To Make
15. Chapter 15 The Cost of Staying
16. Chapter 16 The Lie They Chose Together
17. Chapter 17 The Shape of Wanting
18. Chapter 18 The Man Who Looked Too Closely
19. Chapter 19 THE THINGS HE DOESN’T SAY
20. Chapter 20 THE DINNER HE COULDN’T CONTROL
21. Chapter 21 THE STORM UNFOLDS
22. Chapter 22 Fracture Lines
23. Chapter 23 Terms of Silence
24. Chapter 24 Breach Clause
25. Chapter 25 Lines Drawn in Blood
26. Chapter 26 The Hidden Beneficiary
27. Chapter 27 Return Without Truce
28. Chapter 28 The Inheritance Clause
29. Chapter 29 Under Observation
30. Chapter 30 Controlled Exposure
31. Chapter 31 The Woman in the Doorway
32. Chapter 32 What Endures
33. Chapter 33 The Shape of Want
34. Chapter 34 The Cost of Safety
35. Chapter 35 Almost
36. Chapter 36 The Cost of Staying
37. Chapter 37 Severance
38. Chapter 38 The Variable
39. Chapter 39 Exposure
40. Chapter 40 The Civic Steps
41. Chapter 41 When the Ground Shifts
42. Chapter 42 Fractures
43. Chapter 43 Terms of the Contract
44. Chapter 44 Lines in the Dark
45. Chapter 45 No More Containment
46. Chapter 46 The Point of No Return
47. Chapter 47 Aftermath Is a Weapon
48. Chapter 48 What She Takes
49. Chapter 49 What Still Binds
50. Chapter 50 The Terms That Remain
51. Chapter 51 Where Pressure Breaks
52. Chapter 52 The Question No One Asks
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