The Five-Year Contract's End

The Five-Year Contract's End

Gavin

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My five-year contract marriage to Ethan Cole was finally over. Five years of polite estrangement, a polished cage built on a merger of empires. I had signed the divorce papers, ready to escape to Austin, chasing a desperate echo of what I'd lost. My fiancé, Michael, had died five years ago, and now, a musician named Noah Evans, his spitting image, offered a fragile hope he could bring a piece of him back. But Ethan' s manipulative stepsister, Chloe, had other plans. Consumed by a twisted possessiveness for Ethan, she launched a campaign of terror against me. First, a poison attempt, then a brutal kidnapping, and finally, a chilling plot to throw me off a cliff. Each escalating attack was met with Ethan' s blind indulgence, his desperate attempts to protect Chloe at all costs, leaving me brutally exposed and utterly alone. Why couldn't he see her true nature? Why did he always choose her over basic decency? My life was a constant dance with death, fueled by Chloe' s deranged jealousy and punctuated by Ethan' s hollow apologies. I clung to Noah, an unwitting lifeline in this nightmare. Then, during Chloe's final, explosive act of madness, Noah made a choice. He sacrificed himself, pushing me to safety as the world erupted in flames. As he lay dying, he revealed a truth that shattered my carefully constructed world: "Michael... Michael was my older brother." Suddenly, the desperate echo became a profound connection. My anonymous benefactor for years, the boy I unknowingly sponsored, was Michael' s flesh and blood, a man who loved me not merely as a proxy, but for who he was. With Chloe gone and Ethan finally facing his own devastating regrets, I chose a new path. A path not away from loss, but towards a genuine, healing love with Noah. Ethan, adrift in his remorse, was left with only the bitter taste of everything he' d so carelessly lost.

Introduction

My five-year contract marriage to Ethan Cole was finally over.

Five years of polite estrangement, a polished cage built on a merger of empires.

I had signed the divorce papers, ready to escape to Austin, chasing a desperate echo of what I'd lost.

My fiancé, Michael, had died five years ago, and now, a musician named Noah Evans, his spitting image, offered a fragile hope he could bring a piece of him back.

But Ethan' s manipulative stepsister, Chloe, had other plans.

Consumed by a twisted possessiveness for Ethan, she launched a campaign of terror against me.

First, a poison attempt, then a brutal kidnapping, and finally, a chilling plot to throw me off a cliff.

Each escalating attack was met with Ethan' s blind indulgence, his desperate attempts to protect Chloe at all costs, leaving me brutally exposed and utterly alone.

Why couldn't he see her true nature?

Why did he always choose her over basic decency?

My life was a constant dance with death, fueled by Chloe' s deranged jealousy and punctuated by Ethan' s hollow apologies.

I clung to Noah, an unwitting lifeline in this nightmare.

Then, during Chloe's final, explosive act of madness, Noah made a choice.

He sacrificed himself, pushing me to safety as the world erupted in flames.

As he lay dying, he revealed a truth that shattered my carefully constructed world: "Michael... Michael was my older brother."

Suddenly, the desperate echo became a profound connection.

My anonymous benefactor for years, the boy I unknowingly sponsored, was Michael' s flesh and blood, a man who loved me not merely as a proxy, but for who he was.

With Chloe gone and Ethan finally facing his own devastating regrets, I chose a new path.

A path not away from loss, but towards a genuine, healing love with Noah.

Ethan, adrift in his remorse, was left with only the bitter taste of everything he' d so carelessly lost.

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My world revolved around Jax Harding, my older brother's captivating rockstar friend. From sixteen, I adored him; at eighteen, I clung to his casual promise: "When you're 22, maybe I'll settle down." That offhand comment became my life's beacon, guiding every choice, meticulously planning my twenty-second birthday as our destiny. But on that pivotal day in a Lower East Side bar, clutching my gift, my dream exploded. I overheard Jax' s cold voice: "Can't believe Savvy's showing up. She' s still hung up on that stupid thing I said." Then the crushing plot: "We' re gonna tell Savvy I' m engaged to Chloe, maybe even hint she' s pregnant. That should scare her off." My gift, my future, slipped from my numb fingers. I fled into the cold New York rain, devastated by betrayal. Later, Jax introduced Chloe as his "fiancée" while his bandmates mocked my "adorable crush"-he did nothing. As an art installation fell, he saved Chloe, abandoning me to severe injury. In the hospital, he came for "damage control," then shockingly shoved me into a fountain, leaving me to bleed, calling me a "jealous psycho." How could the man I loved, who once saved me, become this cruel and publicly humiliate me? Why was my devotion seen as an annoyance to be brutally extinguished with lies and assault? Was I just a problem, my loyalty met with hatred? I would not be his victim. Injured and betrayed, I made an unshakeable vow: I was done. I blocked his number and everyone connected to him, severing ties. This was not an escape; this was my rebirth. Florence awaited, a new life on my terms, unburdened by broken promises.

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