Chapter 6: Home

Sienna arrived at the house her mother had left behind.

Her eyes filled with emotion. After enduring a suffocating one-year contract marriage, Sienna was finally free.

She walked toward the front door of the old house and unlocked it with the key in her hand.

The scent of dust and aged wood greeted her as the wooden door slowly swung open.

Sienna stepped inside, placing her old suitcase and small cardboard box on the thick layer of dust covering the living room floor.

She stood silently in the middle of the room, taking in her surroundings.

A thin layer of dust covered the furniture that had been hidden beneath white sheets for years.

Sienna took a deep breath, absorbing the damp scent of the air that felt so honest and familiar.

"I'm home, Mom," Sienna whispered, her voice hoarse.

A bittersweet smile spread across her face.

From this moment on, she would live here alone.

Without pressure.

Without chains binding her to a life of pretense.

Sienna rolled up the sleeves of her white shirt to her elbows.

She was going to clean this house and turn it into a place where she could finally pursue her dreams.

She began wiping away the dust from every corner of the house, allowing herself to grow physically exhausted in an attempt to forget everything that had weighed on her mind.

The problems.

The pressure.

Everything she had endured from Damian's family.

'It's better to be tired from working than exhausted from watching my dignity be trampled on,' Sienna thought as she wiped the corner of the wooden table where her late mother's photograph had once been displayed.

At exactly eleven o'clock that morning, Sienna sat on the floor, leaning against the wooden wall in the living room.

She was breathing heavily.

The palms of her hands were raw and stung from soapy water and constant scrubbing.

Every muscle in her body ached.

Yet when she looked around the room, now clean and brightly illuminated by the midday sunlight, an overwhelming sense of relief filled her chest.

There were no commands.

No sarcastic remarks.

No cold expectations from the man named Damian Blackwell.

"We're starting over from scratch, Sienna," she murmured to herself with a smile of quiet relief.

**

On the top floor of Blackwell Group headquarters, the atmosphere inside the main conference room had reached its boiling point.

"What is this report supposed to be?!"

Damian's deep voice thundered through the air, shattering the suffocating silence inside the air-conditioned room.

He hurled the thick report onto the center of the conference table, the loud impact startling every senior manager present.

"I gave you twenty-four hours to improve the risk analysis for the southern district!" Damian barked, his eyes blazing with anger.

His fist slammed against the table as he glared at each member of the board, all of whom lowered their heads in silence.

One of the planning division managers nervously cleared his throat before lifting his head.

"We're sorry, Mr. Blackwell. Our team has done its best to compile empirical data from the field surveys..."

"But these figures make absolutely no sense!" Damian interrupted sharply, pointing at the documents spread out before him. "You've calculated the occupancy rate using purely commercial data without considering the resistance from the local communities surrounding the area. This project isn't just about constructing another building. It's about attracting the market!"

Damian's breathing grew uneven.

His jaw tightened.

With a rough motion, he loosened his necktie, unable to shake the suffocating pressure that had weighed on him since early that morning.

The conference room fell completely silent.

Not a single director or legal consultant dared interrupt the CEO's anger.

The planning division manager swallowed hard before exchanging a nervous glance with the chief secretary beside him.

Then he looked back at Damian.

"Mr. Blackwell... when it comes to social impact variables and community engagement strategies like these, there is usually a separate assessment prepared by Mrs. Sienna," the man said cautiously. "Mrs. Sienna always knew how to identify the concerns of the local residents and turn them into strengths that made our proposals more convincing to the board of directors."

Damian's gaze immediately sharpened.

"What did you just say?" Damian asked, his voice dropping into a tone so cold that it sent chills through the room.

The planning division manager tightened his grip on his pen.

"I-I mean... a report like this requires the kind of analytical insight Mrs. Sienna usually provides. Our technical team doesn't have the same sensitivity when it comes to interpreting social data. We... we truly need Mrs. Sienna's expertise if we're going to get this revision approved."