Novels by Grace ink

ADRIANS POV"How do you know Sebastian cole?" I broke the silence with my question.Her lips parted but no words came out."Are you just going to sit there and act like I am talking to the air?"She continued staring at me with no response. We arrived at the mansion and walked in to the living room.Everyone was in thier rooms, that gave us time to have a better conversation."Amelia?" I called her attention."How do you know Sebastian cole and why did you feel uncomfortable seeing him?" I asked her again"I knew him before we got married""From?""Why are you so bothered about who I know and where?" She replied."This is a contract marriage not a real marriage, I can meet anyone I want and do what so ever thing I want to do""Yes it is a contract marriage, but you are my wife in public and whatsoever thing you do can ruin my reputation, I am not asking how you knew him because I care I am asking because I don't want anything to tarnish my image"My jaw tightens.She moved towards the

Amelia's POVThree weeks passed, and Adrian treated me like furniture. He spoke to me only when other people were watching. In the mornings he left the house before I woke, and at night he came home after I had gone to my room. We lived like strangers who happened to share a roof.I told myself I preferred it that way. A cold husband was easier than a cruel one. I did not have to explain myself, and I did not have to hide my face. I only had to survive each day until the contract ended.Daniel visited often, and he made the house feel less like a museum. He brought pastries from a bakery in Brooklyn and told terrible jokes at breakfast. He asked me questions about my life and actually listened to the answers. One morning he caught me staring at the garden and sat down beside me."My cousin is not as bad as he seems," Daniel said."He seems quite bad," I said."He seems bad on purpose." Daniel smiled gently. "Give him time.""I only have a year," I reminded him."A year is longer than

Amelia's POVWe married four days later in a quiet ceremony at the courthouse. I wore a simple white dress that Victoria Blackwood had sent to my apartment without a note. Adrian wore a black suit and the same cold expression he always wore. A judge read the vows in a bored voice, and we repeated them like two strangers ordering lunch.When the judge told Adrian to kiss the bride, he leaned down and pressed his lips to my cheek. It lasted barely a second. His skin smelled like cedar and rain, and my heart gave one hard, foolish thump. I told myself it was nerves.My father stood in the back row with a satisfied smile. Adrian's lawyers had already paid his debts, and his shoulders looked lighter than they had in years. He did not hug me when it ended. He only nodded once, the way a man nods when a business deal closes.I did not speak to him again that day.The Blackwood mansion stood behind iron gates on the Upper East Side. It was bigger than the entire block where I had grown up. A

Amelia's POVBlackwood Enterprises rose above Fifth Avenue like a blade of glass. I stood on the sidewalk and stared at it for a full minute before I found the courage to walk inside. I wore my best dress, which was a navy blue one I had bought at a thrift store. I had ironed it twice that morning, and I still felt like a child playing dress up.The lobby was cold and enormous, with a ceiling so high that my footsteps echoed. A woman at the front desk looked at me over her glasses. She did not smile, and she did not say good morning."I have an appointment with Mr. Blackwood," I said."Name?""Amelia Hart."Something changed in her face then. It was small, but I saw it. Her eyes moved over me from head to shoe, and her lips pressed together. She knew who I was, and she knew why I had come. I felt my cheeks burn as she picked up the phone.A security guard escorted me to the top floor. The elevator moved so smoothly that I only knew we had arrived when the doors opened. A long hallway

Amelia's POVMy father was waiting for me the next morning with a smile I had not seen in years. He had shaved, and he wore the one good shirt he kept for funerals. He had even made coffee, and it did not smell burnt. He poured me a cup and slid it across the table as if we were a normal family."Sit down," he said. "I have good news."I stayed standing. "What did you do?""I solved our problems." His eyes shone with something I did not recognize. "Sit, Amelia. Please."I sat slowly. My stomach had already started to twist. He opened a folder on the table and turned it toward me. Inside was a photograph of me that I had never agreed to give to anyone.I stood outside the diner in my work apron. My hair was messy, and I was laughing at something off camera. I remembered that day, because Claire had told a terrible joke about a customer's toupee. Someone had taken the picture without my knowing. My father must have taken it from his phone."Why do you have this?" I asked quietly."I sho

Amelia's POVThe rent notice was taped to our door again. I peeled it off before my father could see it. I did not need to read it, because I already knew what it said. We owed three months, and our landlord had finally run out of patience.I folded the paper into my coat pocket and unlocked the door. Our apartment sat on the poorer side of Manhattan, where the pipes rattled all night and the heater worked only when it felt like it. The kitchen smelled like burnt coffee and old paper. My father sat at the table with a pile of unpaid bills spread out in front of him. He did not look up when I came in."Did you find work today?" Thomas asked."I picked up extra shifts at the diner," I said.That was a lie, and I told it as smoothly as I told all of them. The truth was hidden in an envelope inside my coat. A man had paid me in a hotel room the night before. I had left before the sun came up, and I had walked home through empty streets with my shoes in my hand. I had been ashamed every st