CHAPTER 12 — DAMIAN PROTECTS HER

Arielle didn’t sleep,

She couldn’t.

Her poverty photos spread across the internet like wildfire, retweeted, reposted, edited, mocked. Memes. Commentaries. Vicious captions like knives.

“Damian married a charity case.”

“She grew up in the slums. Class doesn’t lie.”

“Gold digger. Social climber. Opportunist.”

Every time she refreshed, there were more.

By dawn, she sat curled on the couch in the dim living room, a blanket around her trembling shoulders, the blue morning light painting her face with ghosts.

Her phone buzzed nonstop until she shut it off.

She felt stripped bare.

Exposed.

A spotlight thrown on her ugliest years.

She thought the worst part was the humiliation.

But the real worst part was knowing Emma might see it. That the little girl she was fighting to save would now see her big sister dragged across the world like entertainment.

Arielle buried her face in her hands.

She didn’t hear Damian approaching until his shadow fell over her.

He looked different.

Still cold, Still composed, But his eyes, harder. Sharper. Filled with a fury she didn’t understand.

“You didn’t sleep,” he said.

His voice wasn’t gentle. But it was quieter than usual.

Arielle wiped her face. “How could I sleep?”

Damian didn’t answer.

Instead, he sat beside her. Not close, but closer than he usually allowed.

“You’re not leaving this house today,” he said. “Not alone. Not for any reason.”

She let out a small, broken laugh. “I’m not going anywhere. The whole world knows my face now.”

“Good,” Damian said. “They should see exactly who they’re attacking.”

She blinked. “…What?”

Damian stood abruptly, pulling out his phone.

“Get ready,” he said. “We’re going to the office.”

Her breath stopped. “Damian, I can’t, people will stare”

“They’re already staring,” he cut in. “And they’re going to keep staring unless I put a stop to this.”

Arielle stared at him.

Confused.

Shaken.

Damian Blackwood wasn’t the kind of man who “protected” anyone. He was the kind who bulldozed problems. Eliminated threats.

But her?

She was supposed to be disposable.

A temporary contract.

A tool.

And yet… he was furious.

For her.

She didn’t trust it. Couldn’t trust it.

But she followed.

---

The elevator ride to the Blackwood Corp board floor felt like ascending to judgment.

Arielle kept her head down, trying to shield her face from the employees whispering behind their tablets, phones, glass walls.

“Is that her?”

“The girl from the pictures?”

“She married him looking like that?”

“I heard she lived in a one room shack.”

Every whisper pricked her skin like needles.

Damian walked beside her.

Unbothered.

Expression like carved stone.

But Arielle noticed, his stride was angrier. His hand brushed her back once, steadying her when she stumbled.

A subtle gesture.

Almost protective.

Almost human.

He didn’t acknowledge it.

Neither did she.

The elevator doors opened to the board’s private wing.

Graham Vexler stood waiting, arms crossed, smirk ready.

“Damian,” he drawled. “Lovely morning for damage control, isn’t”

Damian moved so fast Arielle barely saw it.

He grabbed Graham by the front of his suit, slammed him against the glass wall, and spoke through clenched teeth.

“Take. Down. The posts.”

Graham chuckled weakly. “You can’t prove I”

“Don’t lie to me,” Damian hissed. “You had access to her files. You’ve been sniffing around her past for weeks. And Valeria doesn’t know how to plant leaks without help.”

Arielle’s heart raced.

Damian wasn’t defending her quietly.

He was defending her like a man poisoned by fury.

Graham tried to wriggle free. “Damian, be reasonable”

“You humiliated my wife,” Damian growled, tightening his grip, “and you think I’ll be reasonable?”

Wife.

Not tool.

Not contract.

Not inconvenience.

Wife.

Something hot and confusing flared in Arielle’s chest.

Graham’s expression faltered. “Threatening a board member isn't the best thing to do if you want to inherit this empire.”

“The board works for me,” Damian said coldly. “And if they’ve forgotten, I’ll enjoy reminding them.”

He shoved Graham back, releasing him.

Graham staggered, red-faced. “You’ll regret this. The shareholders”

“Get out of my sight,” Damian said. “And pray I don’t destroy you before lunch.”

Graham fled down the hall.

Arielle stared at Damian, breath shaking. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“Yes,” Damian corrected, “I did.”

There was no softness in his voice.

Just truth.

He glanced at her, long enough for her to see something flicker in his eyes.

Something unguarded.

Something almost,

No.

Impossible.

Before she could decipher it, Damian turned away. “Come. We’re not done.”

---

They stormed into the boardroom next.

Executives sat around the long table, old men, wealthy women, powerful faces pretending neutrality but burning with malicious curiosity.

Phones lit up with her leaked pictures the moment she stepped inside.

Arielle’s stomach turned.

One whispered, “Her village looks like a war zone.”

Another muttered, “This is embarrassing. Damian should’ve married someone… appropriate.”

Damian tapped the table with a single finger.

Tap.

Silence fell instantly.

He surveyed the room with lethal calm.

“Whoever circulated those images,” he said, “will be removed from this company permanently.”

Someone laughed nervously. “Damian, she’s, well, she’s not exactly CEO material,”

Damian’s glare shot across the room.

“You think I married her for her résumé?”

Snickers.

Humiliation.

Arielle wished the floor would swallow her.

Damian continued, voice low and deliberate.

“She is my wife. Which makes her under my protection. Any attack on her is an attack on me.”

Dead silence.

Then he added,

“And I do not tolerate attacks.”

Arielle’s lips parted.

She stared at him.

This wasn’t cold business Damian.

This wasn’t calculated cruelty.

This was Damian in full power.

Unrestrained.

Unmovable.

Dangerous.

And he was using that power for her.

A few board members cleared their throats.

Graham’s assistant finally muttered, “We’ll… take down the leaks.”

Damian leaned back, satisfied. “You will. Or you will answer for it.”

Arielle didn’t know what stunned her more,

His ruthlessness.

Or the fact that he unleashed it for her.

---

The moment they left the boardroom, Arielle finally breathed.

“Damian… I don’t know how to thank you.”

He didn’t look at her. “You don’t thank me.”

“But you defended me.”

“I defended the integrity of my marriage.” His tone grew colder. “Your public humiliation reflects on me.”

Right.

Because everything was about him.

Not her.

Not kindness.

Not protection.

Just image.

Arielle’s throat tightened. “Still… it meant a lot.”

Damian paused mid-stride.

Something shifted in his expression, barely, and for a moment, he looked like he was searching for words he didn’t know how to say.

Then footsteps echoed behind them.

Arielle turned.

Damian’s personal assistant, Lila, rushed toward them.

“Mr. Blackwood,” she said breathlessly. “Graham is calling every news outlet. He wants a statement about your wife’s background. He says the public deserves to know”

Damian’s jaw ticked. “Patch me through.”

Lila handed him the phone.

Damian stepped aside, pressing it to his ear.

Arielle waited, hugging herself.

His voice dropped.

Cold. Sharp.

Deadly.

“No statements,” Damian said into the phone. “You release anything else, and I will bury you.”

Arielle swallowed.

Damian listened for a moment, expression hardening.

Then,

He said the words that broke her.

“She means nothing, She’s just a tool in my plan.”

Arielle froze.

Her breath vanished.

She felt her heart crack, quietly, painfully, like a glass slipping from weak fingers.

Damian kept talking, unaware she was close enough to hear.

“Her past doesn’t matter. Her feelings don’t matter. She’s temporary. Nothing more.”

Arielle’s vision blurred.

Her knees felt weak.

She looked at him, her husband, her protector, the man who just fought the world for her,

and all she could hear was,

She means nothing.

He turned toward her then.

Stopped.

His eyes widened slightly when he saw her face.

Saw what she’d heard.

Saw the heartbreak.

“Arielle”

She took a step back.

Then another.

Her voice broke.

“You think I’m nothing.”

Damian’s expression finally cracked.

Not with anger.

Not with cold.

But with something she’d never seen on him before.

Something like

Fear.

“Arielle,” he said quietly, “let me explain”

But she shook her head, tears blurring the edges of the world.

And walked away before he could take another step, she just so stupid to think he's changing, he'll forever be cold and she'll always never forget that.