Semua Bab Only His On Paper: Bab 11 - Bab 20

The villa was quieter than ever. No chatter, no clinking glasses. Just silence.Damian stood by the big window, arms crossed, stiff like he thought he could control the world outside by staring at it.I should’ve known there’d be no peace after last night.His voice cut through the silence, cold and low. “You weren’t ready.”I blinked. “What?”“You should’ve expected this,” he said, turning to me. His look was sharp, no mercy. “You didn’t handle the press well. You went out alone and let them take your picture.”I wanted to speak, but nothing came out.He stepped closer, voice dropping. “That was careless.”I straightened up, voice sharp. “And you’re the expert? You think I wanted any of this?”He narrowed his eyes. “I’m saying you need to be ready. If you can’t take this life, maybe you shouldn’t be here.”My chest tightened. “This isn’t a game. It’s my life. My sister’s life.”Damian didn’t look away. “Your problems don’t matter. Not past the contract.”I stepped forward, matching h

The next morning, the headline still burned behind my eyes.BREAKING: Mystery Wife’s Sister Admitted to Underfunded Facility — Does Kingsley Know?There was Lily. Pale. Fragile. Alone in that photo. Her private battle turned into public ammunition.I didn’t cry.I couldn’t.Something in me had gone very still.I walked into the sunlit kitchen where Damian stood, back to me, reading over a stack of reports. Casual. Composed. As if the world hadn’t just weaponized my sister.“You don’t get to define my worth,” I said quietly.He turned, brow twitching faintly.“You bought my time,” I added, stronger now. “Not my soul.”His jaw tensed, but he didn’t speak.I didn’t wait for him to. I left before he could offer silence dressed as a strategy.This time, I didn’t walk away like a girl hoping he’d follow.I walked away like a woman drawing her line in the sand.⸻Downstairs, Naomi caught me in the hallway. Her eyes flicked left and right before she spoke.“She’s pushing another story. About

Dinner was at eight.I spent the hours leading up to it not choosing a dress or fixing my hair but pacing in my room, replaying his voice in my head like a warning.What are you hiding from me, Ava?He hadn’t asked it like a husband. Not even like a man.He’d asked it like an interrogator. A man holding a gun and a grudge.Now he wanted dinner?Not a word for days, then suddenly… this?I almost didn’t go.But I didn’t run from fire. I’d lived in it.So when the clock struck eight, I walked into the dining room like a soldier stepping into no-man’s-land.He was already seated. No tie, no staff. Just a single place set across from his and a bottle of red between us.I didn’t say anything as I sat down.Neither did he.For a full minute, the silence stretched thick, tight, unbearable.Then: “You look tired,” he said.I laughed once, bitter. “That’s rich, coming from the man who hasn’t looked me in the eye in three days.”He set his wine down, fingers grazing the stem of the glass as it o

The hallway was empty.But the chill in my spine told me I hadn’t imagined it.I stood rooted, the mirror still humming with something unspoken. It didn’t reflect him anymore only me. My lips slightly parted. My chest rises too fast. The hollow in my throat still echoed where his voice had caught before leaving.He’d been watching me.And I’d felt it…not with my eyes, but with my skin. That strange kind of knowing that lives just beneath the surface, under bone and blood. That breath between almost and nothing.That single moment at the dinner table kept replaying, over and over, like the echo of a struck match: the brush of his fingers against mine. The hesitation. The heat behind his restraint. The promise of something neither of us dared touch.He’d wanted to touch me.And I had wanted him to.Even now, the space between our hands still burned phantom heat, imagined weight. I could feel it more now than when it happened. The curve of his thumb, hovering over my knuckles like a secr

“Then maybe you should’ve picked someone stronger,” he said.I didn’t move.Not at first.I just stared at him. That single sentence cracked through me louder than the shatter of anything I could’ve thrown. I didn’t even flinch when the tears hit the back of my throat. I just stood there, chest tight, my vision burning.“Stronger?” I repeated, low and disbelieving. “That’s what you think this is about?”Damian didn’t say a word. His jaw was tight. His arms crossed. Like he was holding something back.“You think I wanted him?” I took a step closer. “You think I stayed because I was weak?”Still no answer. But something flickered in his expression. Something close to regret but he buried it before I could be sure.My voice cracked. “You don’t get it. I stayed alive because of Lily. I stayed quiet because I was protecting her. You think I wanted to be someone’s punching bag?”His silence was worse than shouting.So I did the one thing I never thought I would do. I grabbed the wine glass