Seducing Her Husband
img img Seducing Her Husband img Chapter 3 Three
3
Chapter 6 Four img
Chapter 7 Seven img
Chapter 8 Eight img
Chapter 9 Nine img
Chapter 10 Ten img
Chapter 11 Eleven img
Chapter 12 Twelve img
Chapter 13 Thirteen img
Chapter 14 Fourteen img
Chapter 15 Fifteen img
Chapter 16 Sixteen img
Chapter 17 Seventeen img
Chapter 18 Eighteen img
Chapter 19 Nineteen img
Chapter 20 Twenty img
Chapter 21 Twenty-One img
Chapter 22 Twenty Two img
Chapter 23 Twenty three img
Chapter 24 Twenty Four img
Chapter 25 Twenty five img
Chapter 26 Twenty Six img
Chapter 27 Twenty seven img
Chapter 28 Twenty Eight img
Chapter 29 Twenty nine img
Chapter 30 Thirty img
Chapter 31 Thirty One img
Chapter 32 Thirty two img
Chapter 33 Thirty three img
Chapter 34 Thirty Four img
Chapter 35 Thirty Five img
Chapter 36 Thirty Six img
Chapter 37 Thirty Seven img
Chapter 38 Thirty Eight img
Chapter 39 Thirty Nine img
Chapter 40 Forty img
Chapter 41 Forty One img
Chapter 42 Forty Two img
Chapter 43 Forty Three img
Chapter 44 Forty Four img
Chapter 45 Forty Five img
Chapter 46 Forty Six img
Chapter 47 Forty Seven img
Chapter 48 Forty Eight img
Chapter 49 Forty Nine img
Chapter 50 Fifty img
Chapter 51 Fifty One img
Chapter 52 Fifty Two img
Chapter 53 Fifty three img
Chapter 54 Fifty Four img
Chapter 55 Fifty Five img
Chapter 56 Fifty Six img
Chapter 57 Fifty Seven img
Chapter 58 Fifty Eight img
Chapter 59 Fifty Nine img
Chapter 60 Sixty img
Chapter 61 Sixty One img
Chapter 62 Sixty Two img
Chapter 63 Sixty Three img
Chapter 64 Sixty four img
Chapter 65 Sixty Five img
Chapter 66 Sixty Six img
Chapter 67 Sixty Seven img
Chapter 68 Sixty Eight img
Chapter 69 Sixty Nine img
Chapter 70 Seventy img
Chapter 71 Seventy one img
Chapter 72 Seventy Two img
Chapter 73 Seventy Three img
Chapter 74 Seventy four img
Chapter 75 Seventy five img
Chapter 76 Seventy Six img
Chapter 77 Seventy seven img
Chapter 78 Seventy Eight img
Chapter 79 Seventy Nine img
Chapter 80 Eighty img
Chapter 81 Eighty One img
Chapter 82 Eighty two img
Chapter 83 Eighty three img
Chapter 84 Eighty four img
Chapter 85 85 img
Chapter 86 86 img
Chapter 87 87 img
Chapter 88 88 img
Chapter 89 89 img
Chapter 90 90 img
Chapter 91 91 img
Chapter 92 92 img
Chapter 93 93 img
Chapter 94 94 img
Chapter 95 95 img
Chapter 96 96 img
Chapter 97 97 img
Chapter 98 98 img
Chapter 99 99 img
Chapter 100 100 img
img
  /  2
img

Chapter 3 Three

Damian Blackwood's world was never silent, Not empty. never that. His mornings began with schedules delivered to his phone before sunrise. Conference calls with overseas partners. Analysts, attorneys, architects. Negotiations. Decisions. Deadlines. Precision.

Always precision.

He stood by the floor to ceiling window in his office, nursing his third espresso as he stared out at the skyline. It glinted like it belonged to him.

In many ways, it did.

The Blackwood legacy ran through the concrete bones of the city. Hotels. Real estate. Energy. Old money and new empires stitched together by ruthless ambition. He'd inherited the empire, but he'd built his reputation. He wasn't just the heir. He was the king now.

Which was why, when his father told him he had to marry Mia Hart, he didn't see a wife.

He saw a solution, more opportunities.

Although he wanted to resist because he didn't like the idea of his parents making such an important decision for him. He wanted to get married on his own terms.

Until the threat came.

"Marry her, or I sell the shares. You lose majority stake, and you lose everything. Do you really think the board will protect your little legacy?"

He knew his father was dead serious, there was no way Nicholas Blackwood would joke about something like that.

Besides Damian always knew he would never marry for love. He had never been in love in his entire life. So what was the point of causing family rifts.

The Harts' construction business had been bleeding for years. Mia's father too proud to ask for help nearly went bankrupt before the Blackwoods stepped in. Merging the Hart firm under the Blackwood real estate umbrella was brilliant on paper. But it needed a face. A marriage. A united family.

Mia agreed immediately. Without complaint. Without negotiation.

She didn't even ask for a prenup.

Damian had no idea why.

She was a teacher. Soft-spoken. Non-confrontational. No ambition for business, no involvement in her family's company. She had nothing to gain at least nothing obvious. And yet, she signed the papers, wore the dress, and slipped the ring on her finger like she was saying yes to something she'd already decided long ago.

And that unsettled him.

Because Damian didn't like not knowing people's motives.

It wasn't a love story. It was a transaction, born from history and necessity.

The Harts and the Blackwoods went back three generations. Their fathers had been best friends since boarding school, their mothers sorority sisters turned society darlings. Together, they built reputations, wealth, and influence that extended across the world.

Their dream had always been the same: unite the families.

It had seemed inevitable for years. Especially after Mia's mother died.

Damian remembered the funeral the way the air smelled like roses and rain, the way four-year-old Mia clung to his mother's skirt, quiet and wide-eyed. His own mother had wrapped her arms around the girl and never let go.

Mia became a fixture in the Blackwood home after that. She spent holidays in their guest room, wore pajamas picked out by his mother, decorated Christmas cookies beside her in the kitchen. By the time Damian was in college, his mother had long stopped thinking of "Mia" as an outsider but her own child.

His mother had always wanted a daughter.

But complications during Damian's birth made that impossible.

So she chose Mia. Loved her. Protected her. Molded her.

And Damian never gave it much thought. Mia was always... there. A quiet shadow in the corner of his world six years younger, shy, sweet, harmless. A soft-voiced girl who seemed more comfortable with picture books and birthday parties than boardrooms or galas.

They had never run in the same circles.

He barely knew her friends.

She didn't have many.

And she didn't seem to want to belong in the world he lived in.

Later that night, Damian returned home to find the lights off in the entryway. No scent of candles. No faint humming from the kitchen. No sign of her.

He checked his watch. 10:42pm

He was used to it being peaceful, quiet. sometimes though it just felt... hollow.

He walked into the kitchen and found a note on the counter in her delicate handwriting.

Dinner's in the fridge. You can heat it up if you're hungry.

Hope your meetings went well.

Mia

No unnecessary questions about his day. No effort to wait up. No expectation of his presence.

He poured himself a drink and stood in the dim kitchen, staring at the note longer than he needed to.

She hadn't waited up.

Not that she ever should have. He hadn't expected it. Didn't want it.

But still.

Her absence always seemed to echo louder than her presence.

She wasn't like the women he usually dated: ambitious, poised, perfectly trained in playing the games of high society. Mia didn't know how to scheme or charm. She didn't flirt. Didn't manipulate. She wore soft fabrics and smiled at waiters and played with children on a daily basis.

She didn't belong in this life. And yet, she walked through it like she had every right to be here. Quietly. Gently. Steadily.

            
            

COPYRIGHT(©) 2022