Cold Burn Contract

01

The day I confirmed I was pregnant.

A girl added me on WhatsApp and sent a video of my husband.

He looked into the camera, blew out a ring of smoke, and said, calm as ever, “After we got married, I don’t think I love her the way I used to.”

I handed him the phone.

He went quiet for a long beat, then looked up at me.
“It’s been eight years. People get tired, don’t they?”

Turns out he was the one who said he was tired, and the one who refused to divorce.

The video jerked twice.

The person filming giggled and asked, “What about your wife, you don’t love her anymore?”

At that, Adrian Lane paused with the lighter, then smoothed it over in a blink.
“Nora Wynn? It’s strange,” he said with a small smile, drawing deep on the cigarette. He faced the lens, blew another ring, and repeated, same even tone, “After we got married, I don’t think I love her the way I used to.”

The smoke thinned and his face came back into focus, calm and flat.
Like saying it cost him nothing.

I stared at that face, palm tightening around the prenatal test sheet.

What even was this timing?

We fought so hard for a baby, and the moment we finally had our so-called “little miracle,” he decided he might not love me anymore.

My thumb hovered over the chat box.

I pressed into the sender’s profile.

Only one post sat on her feed.
A photo.

Off-camera, a girl flashed a peace sign. Several feet away, a man faced the lens with a bend in his eyes, his whole body framed neatly inside the V of her fingers.
Shameless and suggestive.

Easy to ship.
If the man hadn’t been Adrian.

I stared at the pinned comment—finally met my idol—until my nails bit into my skin.

My husband had made it into another woman’s feed.
Worse, he was her “star.”

I wanted to call him.

I opened his contact, then backed out.
I wanted to confront him.
I was afraid of what he’d say.

---

02

“Nora?”

Before I could answer, a tear hit my screen with a sharp tap.

I ducked my head, lost, and someone offered a tissue.

I took it and looked up.
The doctor who had just congratulated me on the pregnancy watched me with steady, gentle eyes.
“Nora, try to keep your stress down while you’re expecting.”

“Nora?”
A familiar voice sounded behind me.

It was Adrian.

He stood a little way off, one hand supporting a woman. His gaze flicked between me and the doctor, then settled on me.
“What are you doing at the hospital?”

His brow pinched as he asked it, more impatience than confusion.

I lifted the test results, then stopped halfway.
The words jammed in my throat.

“Another checkup?”
Adrian came closer, nodded politely at the doctor, then turned back to me, frowning.
“I told you there’s no rush about trying for a baby. No one at home is actually pushing you. Don’t do this to yourself, okay?”

I didn’t answer.
I was looking at his hand, braced around the woman’s waist.

Adrian jerked his hand back.
“Nora, Chloe was out on a site visit with me today and a dog got her on the calf, don’t—”

Don’t what?

He closed his mouth.
Impatience slid back into his eyes.

I still didn’t move.
I looked at the woman.

Because of his sudden retreat, she wobbled on her bandaged leg and nearly lost her balance.
She didn’t make a sound, just pressed her lips together and steadied herself, a crease between her brows.

The bright beauty of her face picked up a fragile note.

My fingers twitched.

When I spoke, my voice was rough.
“Chloe Pierce, why is it you?”

---

03

No wonder that laugh in the video sounded familiar.
It was someone I knew.

I first met Chloe Pierce three months earlier.

I got off work early and decided to wait for Adrian Lane at his office.
It was a last-minute idea, so I hadn’t told him. The receptionist knew me and waved me up.

Adrian wasn’t there.
What I did see was a young woman sorting his desk.

She stacked files by category, quick and meticulous.
She hummed while she worked, sunny and full of energy.

Off-key, though.

I let out a small laugh.

She snapped her head up.
I thought she’d ask who I was, but her eyes went wide. She rubbed her palms together, bounced over, and stared at me like I was rare wildlife.

I touched my cheek.
“Do I have something on my face?”

She bolted back to the desk, grabbed a framed photo, and practically howled, “Oh my God, I’m meeting the boss’s wife in the flesh.”

“Guys, you have no idea, I’m shipping the real OTP.”

The next second Adrian filled the doorway, face dark. He slid an arm around my waist and glared at her.
“Chloe Pierce, put that down. Who told you to touch my frame?”

Chloe eased the photo back, hands up in surrender.
“Sorry, sorry, I got carried away.”

Loud, chaotic, a bit much.
I rubbed my ear and still couldn’t help smiling.

She was a good kid.

I’m not stingy with kindness to girls like that, so when she latched onto me to gush about our “ship,” I humored her.
Every time she’d pep-talk herself, swearing she’d have a love like that someday.

So this was her “someday”?

---

04

“Nora.”

Chloe’s face changed. She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood.

“Don’t,” I said with a thin smile. “Don’t call me that. I don’t deserve it.”

She blinked and forced back the tears that pain had pushed to the surface.
“Nora, I’m sorry. I was careless and didn’t see the crazy dog. It’s my fault I got hurt, and I took up Mr. Lane’s time to bring me to the ER.”

“Please don’t be mad at Mr. Lane. Don’t let me mess up what you have.”

I had never realized Chloe could talk like this.
The girl who used to squeal about shipping us could show this side over a man.

“Nora?”
Adrian frowned at my silence.

He stepped forward and angled himself to block Chloe behind him.
The reflex surprised both of us.

With him that close, I caught a perfume on his coat, a scent I didn’t recognize.
Funny thing was, it matched Chloe’s.

Funnier still, I had noticed it more than a month ago when he started coming home late.
Light, not harsh, and impossible to stomach.

“Adrian,” I looked straight at him, “don’t what?”

“You know Chloe only joined a few months ago. She works hard. I just see her as someone I can mentor.”

He stopped.
Something in his expression loosened, the look in his eyes gone shadowed.

That was when I realized my face was wet.

I lowered my head and wiped it with the back of my hand.
“Sorry. I didn’t keep it together.”

He watched me for a few beats, then let out a breath.
“Chloe, wait in the car.”

She obeyed, limping toward his sedan.

Once she was gone, Adrian lit a cigarette.
“It’s been four years since we got married. Nora, stop overthinking everything.”

His tone was steady.
Exactly the way it sounded in the video where he said he didn’t love me like before.

“Adrian,” I opened the clip and held out the phone, “you don’t love me anymore, do you?”

“Nora, it’s strange.”
“I don’t think I love her the way I used to.”

His own voice came out of the speaker.

Adrian froze.
The cigarette went still between his fingers.

---

05

“Enough. Don’t look at me like that.”
Adrian crushed the cigarette and gave a small smile.
“I just don’t love you like I used to, it’s not that I don’t love you at all.”

“Be good, go home first, and stop stressing about trying for a baby. We’ll take our time.”

He said that and walked toward Chloe.

I stared at his back.
He told me not to care.
How was I supposed to not care?

In our third year of marriage we spent New Year’s at his parents’ house.
There were relatives everywhere, most of them strangers to me.

Kids flocked to my side.
Some called me by name, one tiny boy of two even blurted out “mom.”

I froze.
Adrian’s mother’s expression softened.

She was an old-school academic, the type who believed in marrying within your circle.
From day one, I hadn’t been in Adrian’s circle.

She didn’t approve of me, but gave in to her son.
Her education kept her polite. She never insulted me, never made a scene.
She just spoke with a smile that never reached her eyes.

That day, watching me buried in a pile of kids, she smiled for real.

After the holiday she said, “Nora, you and Adrian should have a child.”

So we started trying.
Every month we hoped.
Every month we were disappointed.

Until now.
After hope and letdown on repeat, we finally had a baby on the way.

I was over the moon. I thought Adrian would be too.
Life had other plans.
He really didn’t love me the way he used to.

---

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