LOGINGina's POV:
I stared blankly, my jaw dropped.
“Uhm! I’m the master of the house.” he said lightly, like I needn’t to ask more.
“How? And why am I supposed to be here when you are the master of the house.” Overly confused. I can’t even have a correct guess of ten percentage about what’s going on.
“You are in danger.” He said folding his arms and turned to look at the long field beside the greenhouse. “Is saving you a crime or something?”
He sounded really calm even when I’m loaded with unanswered questions. He made me even confused of where to start asking them.
I stepped closer to him, mesmerizing the field view together beside him.
“Just tell me.” I rested my back by the wall. “Who are you?”
He smacked his lips and faced me. “Since you demand an answer.” he paused. “I’ll give you one.”
“I’m Damon.” he dropped the name, floating in the warm air.
Everything stiffened.
“What?” I meant to exclaim inside, but it somehow found its way out of my throat.
“Yeah. I’m Damon.”
“So the rumors are real.” Damon was a name that went viral around the Kings sometimes. It happened that someone said the chairman had an illegitimate child named Damon. But he declined it, and avoided the rumor getting to the public.
But if he was real, and the chairman’s son. How does me being here relate to that?
“So why disguise to get me off there when you can send someone do that as a billionaire child.”
“A billionaire child?” he chuckled. “Who is hidden from the public.” he completed the sentence, and I nodded.
I then understood, the chairman decided to hide him or maybe erase his existence by enriching him and delete him off list.
“I know you’re my half-brother’s fiancé—Evan.” he broke the silence.
The part he touched made my heart pumped so fast, my stomach turning. I can’t even understand what is trying to get at.
“I know how much you love each other and all that.”
My eyes turned red. Not from rage but sadness. Remembering he was gone—that he could not be by my side anymore— hit me more than I’d expected. Especially now more than ever.
“He was supposed to be the heir to Kings which is really fine by him.” he released his folded arm. “Everyone loves him anyway.”
He is sounding more serious now, and that made my heart beats more faster. Like some great deal of crap are going to be revealed at the end of the conversation.
“And he was a good brother to me.” I was shocked by that, Evan knew about him too?
“But now!” his voice sounded like he had gotten to the main part of the conversation, so I tried to listen well—paying more attention.
“The problem is my father’s legacy.” What? Is he trying to be the heir or something?
“Jax can’t have it.”
I interrupted. I had to.
“So you’re trying to be the successor too?”
“He gave me the opportunity to shoot my shots!” he said and sat by the bench beside us. The eagerness in the conversation made my eye blind to it.
“Who?” I sat too.
“Father.” Then he raised a finger. “But with a condition.”
“And what’s that?” It was getting more interesting then.
“I should prove myself worthier than Jax.”
“And how are you going to do that exactly.”
“That start with you.”
I paused. Me? How?
Then I said it aloud. “How?”
“This is the point of the bargain.” He brought a paper from a bag beside the bench we were sitting on. And a pen too.
A contract.
“Be my wife for a year and I guarantee you safety afterwards.” He said and stood. “I’ll make the succession really fast.
“What are you saying?”
I was a bit shocked.
“See.” he stood behind me, and I looked up to him from where I was sitting. Those face I saw in the car earlier. The softness. “I really know how much you hate Jax, and I do too. Let’s just have our each victories. And it’s a win win.”
“Then… What if I refuse?” I tried weighing the probabilities.
“You ended up marrying someone you hate. And a real marriage I mean here!” My heart pounded and I hold stiffly to the bench underneath me.
He noticed it and patted me slightly, making no noise out of it.
“And I might still probably be the successor.” He sat back. “Then, I can do anything to you and your husband.”
I hate being intimidated. “What if I marry you and you failed to be the heir. Won’t Jax do the same?”
“Then you have your freedom.” He was quite right. “Jax need you just for the succession. So if you’re with me and he gained it without you. He would not need you afterwards.”
Yes! He was right. Jax needed me to impress his father and become the next chairman.
“But why do your father needed mine’s alliance anyways?” I tried asking if he could know too.
“That’s more than you can know right now.”
“I still can’t rush over this. I need to settle down and weigh the odds.” I stood.
“Uhm! You have to be here till you make your decision.” He said looking blankly at me.
“Sure.” I walked out slowly. “I think I’m safer here.”
I could hear him clapping loudly as I walked out.
A contract marriage? Things are getting more complicated and more questions kept emerging. I just can’t get my head off it.
Anyway! I have to make the best decision for myself. I can’t just follow Evan to the grave anymore — like I’ve been blabbing right after his death. Things are getting more interesting right now on earth.
I walked back to the end of the terrace and stopped by the door to the master bedroom I came out from earlier. It has changed within those few minutes. Now completely feminine, especially my taste exactly like my bedroom but with some additions of luxury.
A maid came by. Bowed. “My lady, lunch is ready.”
“Oh!” I nearly forgot I need to eat. Reminded of that made my stomach groaned— the hunger I had endured since.
“Let me pick something to wear.”
“Okay.” She walked away.
I sighed and entered.
Jax’s POV:The warehouse smelled like rust and old rain. I'd been here a hundred times—whenever I had a score to settle. Whenever I had something to eliminate.I stood by the window, watching the street below. Empty. Dark. Just a row of tired streetlights hanging their stretched neck over the vacant road, cars packed beside them like sleeping animals. Everywhere was quiet. The kind of quiet that made you feel alone even when you weren't.The door creaked open behind me.I knew it was him."You're late," I said. Didn't turn around."Traffic."I looked at the mirror before me—the one that cast a fragment of my shirt and the view behind me.Jules. Walking in like he owned the place. Hands in his pockets. That smile already on his face. The one that made me want to hit him. I guessed everyone else would want to too."You don't drive.""I walked." His voice was as calm as his appearance—like I was capable of doing nothing to him. I hated that feeling.I turned. "Then you're not late. You'r
Damon’s POV:The walk to my father's office was routine now. Not what I’d imagined I’d be doing a year ago. Not everyone had imagined, but here I am. Stuck in Jax’s throat.The hallway stretched before me, same as always. My father's face hung at the end of the corridor. Same cold eyes. Same half-smile. Watching. Always watching.I knew the creak of the third floorboard from the left. I knew the way the air changed when you got close to his door—colder, stiller, like the building itself held its breath. I knew that knocking was optional. He said come. So I came. But I had to.I knocked. “Come in.” I touched the door handle. Something stopped me. The realization that how I handle things in there would determine how my race began in the empire. I couldn’t afford to lose to Jax right from the beginning. So I wasn’t losing for sure.I opened the door.The office was just as always. Just as it always was.Vast. Cold. The kind of cold that didn't come from the air—it came from him. From
Damon’s POV:The morning light was gray and soft. Lightly snowy and the view of the cloud was cool.I sat on the edge of the bed, watching her sleep. Her breathing was slow. Even. Her hand was stretched toward the empty side of the mattress—the side where I should have been.I didn't sleep there. Not last night. Not any night.The chair by the window had become my bed. My reminder that this marriage wasn't real.But watching her now—her lips parted, her hair spread across the pillow—something in my chest tightened. Something I didn't have a name for.She's not yours, I told myself. She's Evan's. She'll always be Evan's. Always.I stood up. Walked to the window. The garden below was still. The roses were red against the gray morning.I thought about last night. The rough drive home. The coldness between us. The way she'd looked at me. The fear in her eyes. The way she'd pulled away when I reached for her. The feeling that I was losing.I did that. I made her afraid.My mind ran back to
Damon’s POV:The morning light was gray and soft. Lightly snowy and the view of the cloud was cool.I sat on the edge of the bed, watching her sleep. Her breathing was slow. Even. Her hand was stretched toward the empty side of the mattress—the side where I should have been.I didn't sleep there. Not last night. Not any night.The chair by the window had become my bed. My reminder that this marriage wasn't real.But watching her now—her lips parted, her hair spread across the pillow—something in my chest tightened. Something I didn't have a name for.She's not yours, I told myself. She's Evan's. She'll always be Evan's. Always.I stood up. Walked to the window. The garden below was still. The roses were red against the gray morning.I thought about last night. The rough drive home. The coldness between us. The way she'd looked at me. The fear in her eyes. The way she'd pulled away when I reached for her. The feeling that I was losing.I did that. I made her afraid.My mind ran back to
Gina’s POV:I thought I'd imagined hearing those words. Maybe hallucinating. The stress from the day playing tricks on my mind.The coldness from the wall ran down my spine. I wanted to leave. To run. To disappear into the shadows and pretend I'd never been caught."Hello," he said again. The voice louder than before. Making it realistic.I stepped back. My heel hit the floor harder than I intended.Kelvin?It was Kelvin. The old man. Damon's butler. The one with the walking stick and the quiet eyes that had seen too much."Think we've got company here." He walked toward the shelf I was hiding behind, his footsteps slow, deliberate. Not threatening. Just... certain. Like he already knew who I was before he turned the corner.I held my breath.The dust on the shelves. The smell of old paper. The ticking of a clock somewhere deeper in the room. Everything felt too loud. Too still."Sure." I cleared my throat and lifted my back from the wall. I walked around the shelves and stood before
Damon’s POV:For a second, I felt like I was overreacting. Like I was doing more than the contract required. More than I'd promised myself. More than she could've thought I'd do.I looked into her eyes again. Those gentle eyes—so easy to crush with my anger, my frustration. But I needed to control everything. Maybe I was being too mean. Maybe everything I was thinking about was the contract. The terms. The win.I wanted to ask what the real problem was. Why she'd passed out. What my father had said to her in that office. But too much had already passed between us lately. I was sure she'd barely trust me anymore.But it was clearly a misunderstanding, and I didn't want to question it. Not because I didn't care—because I didn't want to disturb her peace anymore. Maybe me being around was like a threat to her.I stood there. The silence between us was heavy. Suffocating.Say something, I told myself. Apologize. Explain. Anything.But the words didn't come. They never did when I needed th







