Chapter 8 – Family Table

I stared at the last message until my fingers went numb.

I still have your panties, Sophia.

There was only one person who could send that.

Adrian Vale.

I locked the phone and put it face down on the bed. It didn’t help at all. The words stayed in my head.

The phone buzzed again.

Don’t ignore me.

I was about to type back when I heard footsteps in the hall.

“Sophia.” Damien’s voice. “Downstairs. Now.”

I shoved the phone into my bag, fixed my dress, and opened the door.

He was already walking toward the stairs, like he didn’t need to check if I would follow.

The dining room suddenly felt too tight to me. Bella sat on Damien’s right, in the chair that used to be mine. She had changed into a white dress. Her cheek was still a little red, but she looked pleased.

There was a third plate across from her.

It was for me.

“Sit,” Damien said.

I sat.

A maid brought soup. Nobody spoke at first. Everyone started eating. 

Bella smiled at me. “You look better. A little.”

I didn’t utter a word.

Damien put his spoon down. “From tonight, this is how it will be. Bella stays in the master room. You stay in the guest wing. Meals are together. No more disappearing.”

“I’m not a child. You can’t cage.”

“Then stop acting like one, and yes I can cage you because you have no money to take care of yourself.”

Bella touched his hand. “She’s still in shock. Give her time.”

The way she said it made my heart boil. Like she was the wife now. Like I was the problem they had to manage.

My phone buzzed in my bag.

I froze.

Damien looked at me. “Are you going to get that?”

“No.”

It buzzed again.

Bella raised an eyebrow. “Maybe it’s the man from last night.”

The table went still.

Damien’s eyes locked on me. “Is it?”

“I don’t know.”

“Check.”

“No.”

He leaned back in his chair. “Check the phone, Sophia.”

I pulled it out just enough to see the preview.

“I have your ID.”

My stomach dropped.

I locked the screen immediately.

Damien held out his hand. “Give it to me.”

“No.”

“I wasn’t asking.”

Bella laughed softly. “Just give it to him. Unless you have something to hide.”

I held the phone tighter. “You don’t get to go through my things.”

Damien stood up, walked around the table, and stopped beside my chair.

“You moaned on my call,” he said quietly. “You came home with no underwear. And now your phone won’t stop buzzing at my table. Give it to me.”

“No.”

For a second I thought he would take it anyway.

Then Bella spoke.

“Let her keep it. If he’s that important, he’ll show himself soon enough.”

Damien stared at me a bit longer, then went back to his seat.

I couldn’t reply. Not here. Not with both of them watching me.

The rest of dinner was worse than a fight. Bella talked about moving the rest of her clothes tomorrow. Damien nodded like it was business. I ate enough to look normal and tasted nothing.

When the plates were taken, Damien stood.

“You’re done. Go back upstairs.”

I stood too. “This is not going to work.”

“It will,” he said. “Because you have nowhere else to go tonight.”

Bella smiled as I walked out. “Sleep well, Sophia.”

I didn’t answer.

In the guest room, I locked the door and sat on the bed. My hands were shaking when I opened the phone again.

I have your ID.

I typed fast.

What do you mean?

The reply came immediately.

Didn’t you wonder how I got your number?

I stared at it.

Then I remembered. When I ran that morning, I grabbed my dress and my bag in a hurry so it must’ve fallen off.

You left it in the room.

Another message.

That’s how I got your number and your address too.

My mouth went dry.

My address?

Yes. I’m outside. Come and collect it. Or I can walk in and give it to your husband myself.

I sat there with the phone in my hand, heart beating too hard.

Why would a man like him still want to see me? Why would Adrian Vale come to this house for a woman he met in a bar?

I typed:

“It was one night. That’s all it was supposed to be.”

“Then come take your ID and say that to my face.”

“I don’t want people thinking I threw myself at you.”

“Then stop hiding.”

Still thinking of what to say, then he sends another message.

“Five minutes. Or I knock on the front door.”

That one scared me more than the rest.

I stood up before I could talk myself out of it. I didn’t change,I just put on shoes. I opened the guest room door slowly and listened.

The hall was quiet.

I went down the back stairs, past the kitchen, and out through the side door. The night air was cool. The grass was wet under my feet. Every sound felt too loud.

A black car was parked on the street beyond the trees.

I walked towards him.

The window lowered.

Adrian Vale sat in the driver’s seat like he had all the time in the world. Same calm face. Same dark eyes. No smile.

In his hand was my ID.

“Get in,” he said.

I stayed where I was.

“I only came for that.”

“Then come closer and take it.”

I looked back at the house. The upstairs lights were on. Damien was in there. Bella was in there. My old life was in there.

“Why are you here?” I asked. “It was one night.”

“You ran.”

“I had to.”

“No. You got scared.” He turned the ID between his fingers. “Scared of my name. Scared of what people will say. Scared that last night didn’t feel like nothing.”

“I’m married.”

“And he moved another woman into your room.”

My throat tightened.

“If anyone sees me with you, they’ll think I threw myself at you because you’re rich.”

“Let them.”

“Easy for you to say.”

He opened the door from inside.

“If Damien sees you—”

“I don’t mind him seeing me.”

The words made my stomach drop.

He said it like Damien was nothing. Like this house, this name, this marriage, none of it reached him.

My phone buzzed in my hand.

Damien.

Where are you?

I stared at the screen, then at Adrian.

He saw the name too.

“Choose,” he said.