LOGINShare
Chapter 16
publish date:
2026-07-03 16:07:29Chapter 16
Harper
I stared at the envelope taped to the glass door.
The ocean breeze suddenly felt colder.
Beside me, Damian stepped forward immediately. His body shifted in front of mine without thinking. Protective. Always protective.
I touched his arm. “Damian.”
His jaw tightened. “Stay here.”
I rolled my eyes. “We’re on vacation.”
“And?”
“Nobody is trying to kill me.”
“That’s debatable.”
Despite myself, I laughed. The tension eased instantly.
Damian carefully opened the door and grabbed the envelope. A few seconds later he examined it. Then frowned.
“What?”
He turned it around. The envelope wasn’t threatening. It wasn’t mysterious. It wasn’t dangerous.
It was addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Blackwood.
My stomach did a strange little flip.
Mrs. Blackwood.
I still wasn’t used to that.
Damian looked equally distracted.
Then he slowly opened it.
Inside was a single card.
I blinked. Then blinked again.
“What is it?”
His expression changed. Amusement appeared. Then actual laughter.
“Well.”
“What?”
He handed me the card.
My eyes widened.
A complimentary honeymoon package. Complete with couples massages, private dinners, sunset cruises, and romantic activities.
I immediately started laughing. “They think we’re newlyweds.”
Damian’s eyes met mine. The smile on his face became dangerous.
“We technically are.”
Heat rushed into my cheeks.
The annoying man noticed immediately. Of course he did.
“You blush a lot around me.”
“No, I don’t.”
“You absolutely do.”
I threw a pillow at him. He caught it effortlessly.
“Violence is not the answer.”
“Sometimes it is.”
His laughter echoed through the villa. The sound did strange things to my heart.
Because this version of Damian felt completely different from the billionaire everyone feared. This Damian smiled. Teased. Relaxed.
And somehow I liked him even more.
The realization was becoming impossible to ignore.
A few minutes later, Damian held up the card again.
“So?”
“So what?”
“Do we accept?”
I narrowed my eyes. “The honeymoon package?”
“Yes.”
I pretended to think about it. “Hmm.”
“Harper.”
“Hmm.”
“You’re enjoying this.”
“A little.”
His expression became patient. The expression he used whenever he was waiting for me to stop being difficult.
Unfortunately for him, I enjoyed being difficult.
Finally I smiled. “Fine.”
The victory in his eyes was ridiculous. “You said yes.”
“Don’t make it weird.”
“Too late.”
The next afternoon we found ourselves on a private yacht sailing across crystal-blue water.
I leaned against the railing. The ocean stretched endlessly around us. No phones. No meetings. No responsibilities.
Just peace.
I could get used to this. Dangerously easily.
Damian appeared beside me carrying two drinks. “Here.”
I accepted one. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
For a few moments we watched the waves together. The silence felt comfortable. Natural. The kind of silence that existed between people who genuinely enjoyed each other’s company.
Not strangers. Not enemies. Not people trapped in a fake marriage.
A married couple.
The thought startled me. Because lately it felt true. More true every day.
“You look happy.”
I glanced at Damian. “So do you.”
His smile softened. “Maybe this was a good idea.”
I laughed. “Maybe?”
“Fine.” He sighed dramatically. “It was a good idea.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t get used to being right.”
“I’m always right.”
His eyebrow lifted. “Always?”
“Always.”
“Interesting.”
I immediately regretted that answer. Because Damian suddenly stepped closer. Very close. Close enough to make my pulse jump.
“Then tell me.” His voice dropped lower. “What am I thinking right now?”
I swallowed. The ocean. The yacht. The sunshine. None of it helped. Not when he was looking at me like that.
“I don’t know.”
A victorious smile appeared. “Exactly.”
I hated how attractive he looked.
A few hours later we returned to shore.
The resort had prepared a private dinner on the beach. Candles surrounded the table. Soft music drifted through the air. Everything looked ridiculously romantic.
I sat down and laughed. “This is insane.”
Damian pulled out my chair. “You’re complaining?”
“No.”
“Good.”
The evening passed easily. We talked about childhood memories. Favorite foods. Travel. Dreams. Normal things.
For the first time, I felt like I was learning who Damian really was. Not the billionaire. Not the CEO. Not the Blackwood heir.
Just Damian.
The man beneath everything.
And I liked that man far more than I should.
At one point he reached across the table and took my hand. Naturally. Like it belonged there.
Neither of us commented on it. Neither of us pulled away.
The moonlight reflected across the ocean. The atmosphere felt almost magical.
Then Damian suddenly spoke.
“Can I ask you something?”
I looked up. “Sure.”
“If there had been no scandal…” His thumb brushed my hand. “No fake marriage.”
My heart accelerated.
“No revenge.” I couldn’t look away.
“No complicated history.” The world seemed to narrow until only he existed.
“Would you have given me a chance?”
The question stole my breath.
For a moment I couldn’t answer. Because the truth terrified me.
The truth was simple.
Yes.
I would have. Maybe not immediately. Maybe not easily. But eventually?
Definitely.
Because somewhere along the way I had fallen for my husband. Completely. Hopelessly. Dangerously.
I smiled softly. “Yes.”
The answer hung between us. Real. Honest. Important.
Damian stared at me. Like he couldn’t quite believe what he had heard.
Then slowly he stood. Walked around the table. And stopped beside me.
My pulse raced. The world disappeared. The ocean faded. Everything faded.
Except him.
His hand lifted. Gently touching my cheek.
“Harper.”
The way he said my name made my heart ache.
“Yeah?”
For a second he simply looked at me. Then his expression softened completely.
And I realized he was about to tell me something important. Something that could change everything.
But before he could speak, a familiar voice suddenly shouted from behind us.
“Well, this is awkward.”
Both of us froze.
Slowly we turned around.
My stomach dropped instantly.
Because standing twenty feet away on the beach was Ethan Blackwood.
Watching us with a smile and holding a hotel room key in his hand.
Latest chapter
MARRIED TO MY ENEMY'S FATHER Chapter 45
Chapter 45HarperThe morning started slow, the way most mornings did now that Grace had finally settled into something resembling a predictable sleep schedule. I woke before my alarm, sunlight filtering thin and gray through the curtains, the house still quiet except for the faint hum of the refrigerator downstairs and the occasional creak of old wood settling.I lay there for a while, not moving, simply listening. Damian’s breathing beside me, slow and even. The distant chirp of birds just beginning to wake outside the window. A stillness I’d learned to appreciate more than I ever had before Grace, before Lily, before any of this.Eventually Damian stirred, one arm tightening slightly around my waist before his eyes opened.“You’re awake,” he murmured, voice still thick with sleep.“Have been for a while.”“Thinking?”“Just listening. It’s quiet.”“Suspiciously quiet,” he said, propping himself up slightly. “Which usually means one of two things. Either they’re both still asleep, or
MARRIED TO MY ENEMY'S FATHER Chapter 44
Chapter 44HarperGrace’s first birthday arrived on a warm Saturday in early summer, the same season that had once carried us through an island vacation neither of us had expected to change everything.“One year,” I said, watching Damian assemble a highchair decorated with far too many balloons for a child who wouldn’t remember any of it. “It feels impossible.”“It feels exactly right,” he said. “Every single day of it.”Lily had appointed herself party coordinator months in advance, insisting on a theme that combined, somehow, both unicorns and outer space, a combination that had become something of a family joke over the past year.“She’s one,” Lily explained patiently to anyone who questioned the theme’s logic. “She can like whatever she wants.”“She’s one,” I pointed out. “She doesn’t actually have opinions about party themes yet.”“She will. And when she does, she’ll thank me.”Nobody argued further. Some battles, we’d learned, weren’t worth fighting against an eight-year-old’s u
MARRIED TO MY ENEMY'S FATHER Chapter 43
Chapter 43HarperGrace slept in fifteen-minute increments those first few weeks, a pattern that left both Damian and me perpetually exhausted, stumbling through hallways at odd hours, trading shifts with the quiet efficiency of two people determined to survive new parenthood together rather than separately.“Your turn,” I mumbled at three in the morning, nudging Damian awake as Grace’s cries drifted through the baby monitor.“Already up,” he said, though his voice carried the particular roughness of someone who’d barely slept in days.I watched him disappear down the hallway, listening to his low, steady voice through the monitor as he settled Grace back to sleep, murmuring something too quiet to make out clearly. Six months ago, I might not have believed this version of Damian existed — the cold, controlled billionaire reduced entirely to soft murmurs and gentle rocking at three in the morning, entirely devoted to a tiny, demanding person who couldn’t yet understand any of it.He re
MARRIED TO MY ENEMY'S FATHER Chapter 42
Chapter 42HarperThe contractions started at two in the morning, quiet and manageable at first, easy enough to mistake for the same false alarms we’d grown accustomed to over the past few weeks.I lay still for a long while, counting the space between them, watching Damian sleep peacefully beside me, reluctant to wake him over something that might amount to nothing again.By three, the pattern had grown too consistent to ignore.“Damian.”He stirred slightly, not fully waking.“Damian.” I shook his shoulder gently, another contraction tightening across my stomach as I spoke. “I think this might be it.”He was awake instantly, years of careful business instinct apparently translating well to sudden crisis. “How far apart?”“Six minutes. Maybe seven.”“That’s early. We have time.”“I know.” I breathed through another tightening wave, slower and steadier than the panic I might have expected myself to feel. “I just wanted you to know.”Damian sat up fully, reaching for my hand, something
MARRIED TO MY ENEMY'S FATHER Chapter 41
Chapter 41HarperThird trimester arrived with swollen ankles, an inability to see my own feet, and a level of exhaustion I hadn’t fully anticipated despite months of preparation.“You should be resting,” Damian said, finding me attempting to reorganize the nursery closet for the third time that week.“I’m nesting.”“You’re supposed to nest sitting down.”“That’s not how nesting works.”He gently pried the folded onesies from my hands, guiding me toward the small armchair we’d added specifically for this purpose. “Sit. Direct. I’ll organize.”“You don’t know how to organize a nursery closet.”“I run a multi-billion dollar company, Harper. I think I can manage folded baby clothes.”I laughed, settling into the chair despite my protests, watching him attempt to categorize tiny socks with the same serious focus he brought to boardroom negotiations. Something about the sight, absurd and tender all at once, made my chest ache with affection.“You’re doing it wrong,” I said eventually, watc
MARRIED TO MY ENEMY'S FATHER Chapter 40
Chapter 40HarperSecond trimester brought energy back in full force, along with an appetite Damian found endlessly amusing.“You ate an entire jar of pickles yesterday,” he said, watching me reach for another snack from the pantry. “An entire jar, Harper.”“The baby wanted pickles.”“The baby’s the size of an avocado. I looked it up.”“An avocado with excellent taste in snacks, apparently.”He laughed, pulling me close despite my mouth still full of crackers. “I love you. Pickle obsession and all.”“Good. Because this obsession isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.”We’d settled into a comfortable rhythm since the pregnancy announcement, ordinary domestic routine punctuated by doctor’s appointments and Lily’s increasingly elaborate nursery demands. She’d apparently abandoned the unicorn theme in favor of something she called “space unicorns,” which involved considerably more glitter than either Damian or I felt equipped to handle.“She’s very committed to this vision,” I told my mother
MARRIED TO MY ENEMY'S FATHER CHAPTER 6
HarperI stared at Damian after he ended the call.“You really told him that?”Damian slipped his phone into his pocket.“Told him what?”“That I’m your wife.”His eyes locked on mine.“You are my wife.”“Fake wife.”“Not to the rest of the world.”I hated how much that answer affected me.Before I
MARRIED TO MY ENEMY'S FATHER CHAPTER 5
HarperThe fake marriage ceremony was small and private, just enough for the media circus. I wore a simple white dress. Damian looked devastating in his suit. Lily, Damian’s daughter held my hand during the short vows, her small fingers trusting.I felt like the worst person alive.Afterward, at th
MARRIED TO MY ENEMY'S FATHER CHAPTER 4
DamianThe press conference was scheduled for tomorrow. Tonight, we had to look like a couple in love.Harper stood on the balcony in a silk robe, staring at the city lights. She hadn’t spoken much since my mother’s visit. I couldn’t blame her. The Blackwood hatred ran deep, even I was tired of it.
MARRIED TO MY ENEMY'S FATHER CHAPTER 3
HarperThe penthouse was bigger than my entire childhood home. Marble floors, floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city, and silence so heavy it pressed on my chest. I’d moved in two days after signing the agreement. Fake fiancée for now. Wife soon.I stood in the massive closet they’d cleared
You may also like
You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone
Cora Smith691.0K viewsLet Me Go, Mr. Hill!
Shallow South6.5M viewsMommy, Where Is Daddy? The Forsaken Daughter's Return
LiLhyz3.4M viewsOur Billion-Worth Twins
Velvet Antler614.4K viewsDivorced into the arms of his twin rivals
Shannon Glover39 viewsFive Years On The Run: The Billionaire's Secret Baby
Jp's Ink128 viewsThe Game We're Not Aware
Achimbyeol39 viewsThe Billionaire’s Dirty Possession : Their Genius Bride
Nooriva71 views
