“No, listen.”
He swallowed hard.
“Ever since I proposed that marriage agreement, your life has been chaos.”
I opened my mouth to interrupt him, but he continued.
“You went from fighting with your grandfather to fighting my family.”
“Then Oscar and Amelie.”
“Then the board.”
“Then Nicole.”
“Then the Solys.”
“Then the Vincents.”
He laughed bitterly.
“And now, apparently, we’re uncovering an international trafficking organization.”
I couldn’t help smiling a little.
“When you put it like that, it does sound ridiculous.”
Jason shook his head.
“You were supposed to have a simple contract marriage.”
“Instead, someone tried to blow up the plane.”
I looked down at my stomach.
“Our plane, Mr. Sun. We are married, remember?”
He sighed and looked away.
“I dragged you into this mess.”
For a moment, I simply stared at him.
Then, despite everything-despite the exhaustion, the fear, and the tears I had shed over the past few days-I started laughing. 1
Not elegant laughter.
The kind of exhausted, half-delirious laughter that escapes when life becomes too absurd to process.
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+15 Bonus
Jason looked at me, confused.
What’s so funny?”
I wiped away a tear.
“Do you remember what I told you?”
He frowned, trying to think.
“You said a lot of things.”
I smiled.
“I told you that if I was going to marry someone, I wanted something real. I wanted someone who would stand with me when everything was on fire. Someone who wouldn’t run away. Someone either pulled me out of the flames when I was hurting or made the flames rise even higher.”
Jason finally remembered and laughed softly.
“You did say that.”
I shifted closer to him.
“And you didn’t just stay when everything caught fire.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“What did I do?”
I rested my chin on his chest and smiled.
“You brought the military-grade flamethrower with you.”
For the first time that night, Jason genuinely laughed.
The sound echoed softly through the room.
“That’s unfair.”
“Is it?”
“You make it sound like I’m responsible for the explosions.”
I looked at him.
“Jason, you literally called the military, arrested fake pilots, found a bomb, and ordered an armored Hummer in the same afternoon.”
I poked his chest.
“You brought excitement into my life. Before you, I was working behind a desk, trying to rebuild my life after leaving a company that I helped create with your half-brother.”
I shook my head, half laughing.
“You made me live again.”
Jason stayed quiet for a moment, genuinely considering my words.
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+15 8gnus
Then the corner of his mouth lifted.
Okay, maybe you have a point.”
He pulled me closer against his chest.
“Life was definitely less interesting without you.”
“Interesting?” I laughed. “That’s the word you’re going with? Not dangerous? Not chaotic? Not life-threatening?”
He pretended to think. 1
“Interesting sounds more romantic.”
“You’re impossible, Mr. Sun.”
“And yet, you married me.”
He smiled, but I could still see the guilt hiding behind his eyes.
“I’m serious, Amber. Sometimes I think about what your life would have been like if I had never proposed that
contract.”
I rested my hand against his cheek.
“I know exactly what my life would have been like.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Oh?”
“I would have kept hiding behind work. I would have buried myself in meetings and spreadsheets and convinced myself that surviving was the same thing as living.”
I intertwined my fingers with his.
“Then you arrived with your military-grade flamethrower and set my entire life on fire.”
Jason laughed.
“That sounds strangely romantic and deeply concerning at the same time.”
“That’s basically our marriage.”
I laughed again and buried my face against his shoulder.
For a few minutes, we simply stayed there, holding each other.
Then his voice became quiet.
“Are you scared?”
The question hung in the darkness between us.
I thought about Alice crying in the airport.
About Alex pretending to be brave.
About the bomb beneath the plane.
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About the twins growing inside me.
Terrified.”
Jason wrapped his arms around me.
“Me too.”
I closed my eyes. 1
“I don’t think I can do this alone anymore.”
He kissed the top of my head.
“Good.”
I looked up at him.
“Good?”
“Because you’re not alone.”
His hand moved gently to my stomach.
“We’re in this together.”
“You, me, Alice, Alex, Iris, Rose, the twins…”
He smiled weakly.
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