Chapter 19 – Damian is Informed

Damian’s POV

The glass walls of Blackwood Enterprises’ top floor reflected the Manhattan sky in sharp, endless angles. From his office, Damian could see the whole city, the arteries of traffic pulsing, the towers clawing at the blue sky, but none of it settled the restless storm in his chest.

He had spent the morning buried in contracts, snapping at assistants, dismissing calls. Yet through it all, one image clung stubbornly to his mind: the photograph tucked inside the envelope his father had given him days ago.

A young woman. Hair pulled back. Eyes wide, uncertain, almost startled, as though she hadn’t realized the photo was being taken.

Evelyn Carter.

The name was scrawled neatly across the top of her file. He didn’t know why Gregory had wanted him to see it. Didn’t know why his father’s investigators had trailed her, snapping pictures of her leaving a diner, carrying groceries, walking alone with her back hunched as if the weight of the world pressed her down.

What game was Gregory playing?

The door to his office burst open without warning. Only one man on earth would dare.

“Damian,” Gregory called, striding inside with his cane clicking against the polished floor. Reed Dawson followed, briefcase in hand, his expression a mix of irritation and amusement.

Damian leaned back in his chair, tightening his jaw. “Ever heard of knocking?”

Gregory didn’t bother answering. He sat across from his son with a deliberate calm, folding his hands untop the cane. “We need to talk.”

“I’m busy.”

“You’re never too busy for your legacy,” Gregory snapped.

Reed set his briefcase on the desk, flipping it open. “This won’t take long.”

Damian’s gaze flicked between them. “What the hell is this?”

Gregory’s voice lowered into that sharp, commanding tone that had ruled Damian’s childhood. “It’s done. The agency has secured your surrogate.”

The words landed like a blow. Damian shot to his feet. “What?”

Gregory’s eyes glinted. “Evelyn Carter. The girl in the file I gave you. She’s signed the contract. She will carry your heir.”

For a heartbeat, Damian’s world narrowed to silence. Evelyn’s face burned in his mind, not glamorous, not calculating like Vanessa, but real. Too real.

“You went behind my back,” he said, his voice dangerous.

Gregory smirked. “I went ahead of your excuses. You waste time, Damian. Time is the one luxury you don’t have. Without an heir before thirty-five, the company goes to the board. Is that what you want? Strangers dismantling my empire?”

Damian’s fists clenched. “My life is not your chessboard.”

Reed cleared his throat carefully. “Look, Damian. I get it. Nobody likes being pushed into this. But the contracts are signed. Legally binding. If you back out now, it’s not just messy. It’s catastrophic. Lawsuits. Damages. Your reputation in flames.”

Damian rounded on him. “You’re siding with him?”

“I’m siding with reality,” Reed said evenly. “Gregory moved fast. Smarter than I’d like to admit. The ink’s dry. The girl is in.”

Damian turned back to Gregory, fury vibrating under his skin. “You had your men follow her. Spy on her. Manipulate her. And now you expect me to accept it?”

Gregory’s tone was cool as steel. “I expect you to be a Blackwood. Do you think she matters? She is nothing but a means to an end. A womb for your heir. That’s all.”

Something twisted in Damian’s chest at his father’s words. He told himself it was disgust at the manipulation, at the invasion of his life yet again. But Evelyn’s eyes, wide, vulnerable, flashed in his mind, and he couldn’t shake the feeling that Gregory was wrong. That she wasn’t nothing.

Damian sank back into his chair, glaring. “I’ll meet her. But understand this, she means nothing to me. This is business. Nothing more.”

Gregory’s mouth curved into a cold smile. “Finally, sense.”

But Damian’s knuckles stayed white against the desk, and for the first time in years, he wasn’t sure if sense was what he felt at all.

Vanessa’s POV

Vanessa Hart had always known when something was slipping through her fingers. It was an instinct gotten from years of clawing her way up from nothing, of holding men’s gazes long enough to keep them hooked, long enough to take what she needed before they moved on.

And lately, Damian had been slipping.

So when his assistant told her he was “in meetings” and couldn’t be disturbed, she didn’t believe a word of it. Vanessa didn’t wait for invitations. She took what she wanted.

Her heels clicked against the marble floor as she strode down the corridor to his office, ignoring the receptionist’s protests. She pushed the door open, and froze.

Gregory Blackwood sat inside, cane across his lap, Reed Dawson leaning against the desk. Papers lay spread out between them.

Vanessa caught only fragments, surrogate… heir… Carter…, before Gregory’s sharp eyes flicked toward her.

“This is private,” Gregory snapped.

Vanessa plastered on a smile, though fury burned her chest. “Well, excuse me. I didn’t realize I was interrupting family time.”

Gregory rose slowly, his disdain thick enough to choke. “You always interrupt, Vanessa. You should learn when you are not wanted.”

She forced a laugh, scurrying toward Damian’s side. “Oh, come on. You two plotting world domination again? Damian, darling, don’t tell me you’re keeping secrets from me.”

Damian’s jaw tightened. “Get out, Vanessa.”

Her smile faltered. “What?”

“You heard me.” His voice was ice. “This isn’t your concern.”

She leaned closer, lowering her voice. “You don’t need them. Whatever this… surrogate nonsense is, it’s beneath you. I could give you what you want. You know I could.”

She let her hand trail down his chest, her body pressing close, the way it had always worked before. But this time, Damian didn’t move toward her.

He caught her wrist, pushing her hand away with a cold finality. “No. You never could. Not what I need.”

The rejection cut deeper than she let show. Vanessa’s eyes glittered with barely concealed rage. She smirked, masking her hurt with a smile. “Fine. Play your games. But don’t forget, Damian — games always end. And when they do, the pieces left standing aren’t always the ones you expect.”

She turned on her heel, her perfume lingering sharp in the air as she stalked out.

Gregory watched her go with contempt. “That woman will bring nothing but ruin.”

Damian didn’t answer. He was staring at the papers still sitting on his desk, his father’s words echoing: She is nothing but a womb.

But he couldn’t shake Evelyn’s eyes.

Damian’s POV

The office was quiet after Gregory and Reed left, but silence didn’t ease him. Damian sat alone at his desk, the envelope heavy in his hand.

He pulled out the photo again. Evelyn Carter.

Her profile was simple, almost laughably ordinary compared to the women who usually crossed his path. A diner waitress. Debts. No family. Nothing to gain, nothing to offer but herself.

And yet… those eyes.

They weren’t seductive, calculating eyes like Vanessa’s. They weren’t wide with ambition like the socialites who circled him. They were raw. Honest. Frightened, yes — but something else, too. A quiet strength.

Damian scowled, shoving the photo back inside the envelope. She was just a pawn in Gregory’s game. He couldn’t afford to see her as anything else.

But as he leaned back in his chair, staring at the sky, the image returned unbidden. The way she held herself, shoulders tense but head high. The way her eyes seemed to challenge even as they trembled.

For the first time in years, Damian Blackwood found himself unsettled by the eyes of a woman he had never met.

He didn’t know who Evelyn Carter really was.

He didn’t know why his father had singled her out.

But Damian knew one thing with unnerving certainty:

She was about to change everything.