Pacey Kade의 작품

Isabella's Pov The gala was dazzling, huge chandeliers, designer clothes everywhere, and New York’s top business people filling the ballroom. I wore a rich emerald dress that Damien had chosen for me. It looked good and still hid my pregnancy. His hand stayed protectively on my lower back as we walked in.People turned to look. Whispers started right away.Damien looked strong and powerful in his tuxedo, the silver in his hair catching the light. He walked us through the room like I belonged there with him.I spotted Ethan across the room with Vanessa. She looked elegant in her jewels. Ethan’s face went completely pale the second he saw us.Damien didn’t wait.He raised his glass during the main toast. His voice carried clearly through the quieting room.“Tonight I want to share something personal. After years of focusing only on Blackwood Holdings, I’ve found someone worth building a future with. Please welcome my fiancée… Isabella Hart.”Gasps went through the crowd. Camera flashes

Isabella POV“Yes” came out before my brain could catch up.Not from love. But because Damien Blackwood’s steady gray eyes made the alternative, being alone, broke, raising this baby while Ethan played house, feel impossible.Damien didn’t grin or celebrate. He just gave one firm nod, like business was done.“We’ll get the papers drawn today. No romance. No expectations beyond the contract. You keep your child safe. I manage everything else.”It sounded so cold and practical. Yet my heart beat faster whenever he looked my way.The following days went by in a blur. Lawyers, papers to sign, a private doctor who said the baby was healthy. Damien moved me into one of his places, a beautiful but cold apartment with amazing views of the New York skyline. He was always polite and in control, but I would catch him watching me with an expression I couldn’t figure out.On the second day, while I was unpacking some clothes the staff brought over, Damien stopped by with some documents. “How are y

Damien POVShe was Ethan’s ex.The full report hit my phone at 3 a.m. while Isabella slept in the guest room of my suite. My team worked fast when I asked.Isabella Hart. Twenty-eight. The hidden force behind my son’s rapid rise. Pregnant with his child while he flaunted Vanessa Sinclair like a prize.I stood on the balcony with another whiskey, staring at the lights below. It wasn’t just anger. Disappointment with Ethan had been growing, his cocky attitude, how he used people and tossed them aside. This cracked everything wide open.But Isabella was something else.I had watched her that night. Broken but still holding her head up with real dignity. No desperate pleas, no manipulations. Just honest exhaustion. It touched a part of me I thought died with Clara years ago.The board’s latest warning still stung: “Fix your image or we push the vote. Marriage. Stability. Family presence. Or you’re out as CEO.”They called me unstable, said I was too cold. A dark smile crossed my face in

Isabella's Pov I don’t know why I kept talking to him. Maybe it was because he didn’t look at me with pity. For the first time in hours, someone saw me as a real person instead of a problem.We talked for almost two hours. I didn’t go deep into my mess or say Ethan’s name. We just talked about small things. How the New York skyline looked beautiful at night from the hotel. How he hated fake small talk at big parties. How I used to love making business plans but never wanted to be in the spotlight. He listened like every word mattered. His voice was low and calm, but I could feel a deep loneliness underneath that matched mine that night.“You’re not from New York originally,” he said, looking at my face carefully.“I’m from Chicago,” I replied. “But I’ve been here for years because of… him.” I stopped myself. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”Damien leaned back and swirled the last of his whiskey. “Everyone has a ‘him’ or ‘her’ story. The main thing is not letting them destroy you complete

Isabella's POV“You really think this baby is going to change anything, Isabella?” Ethan’s voice was cold and sharp. He stood in the middle of his fancy Manhattan penthouse office, the one I had helped design with the expensive walnut floors and big windows looking out over the city. “I’m engaged, for God’s sake. Vanessa and I announced it two weeks ago.”I held the positive pregnancy test in my shaking hand, feeling like my whole world was spinning. “Engaged?” The word came out weak. “Ethan, we’ve been together for six years. I gave up everything for you — my own career, putting my name on the projects, giving you all my best ideas….”“Your ideas?” He laughed in a mean way. A couple of staff members stood near the glass doors, pretending they weren’t listening. “Don’t flatter yourself. You helped a little, sure. But Blackwood Tech is mine. You were just… support.”The pain hit me harder than the morning sickness I’d been fighting for weeks. I had written those pitch decks that got th