Chapter 5
Ava’s Pov
The Blackwood estate felt different in the morning light. Golden rays poured through the tall windows, turning the marble floors into rivers of light. But I felt no warmth. Not with the memory of that anonymous message still haunting me.
“Ninety-nine days won’t save you.”
I had barely slept, tossing and turning until dawn. Questions spun in my mind. Who sent it? Vanessa? Someone inside the estate? Or…was it true?
I was sipping my coffee in the grand dining room when Elizabeth entered, her heels clicking against the polished floor.
“Miss Morgan,” she said briskly. “You’re needed in the east garden.”
“The east garden?” I frowned. “Why?”
“You’ll see.”
That answer did nothing to soothe my nerves, but I followed. The east garden was breathtaking, hedges cut into intricate shapes, roses climbing trellises, fountains trickling in soft harmony. It looked like paradise.
Until I saw her.
Vanessa.
She stood near the fountain, a vision in white, her platinum hair catching the morning light. She looked like she belonged in a magazine spread, not a garden. Her red lips curved into a smile the moment she spotted me.
“There you are,” she drawled. “Damien’s new…project.”
I stiffened. “Fiancée.”
Vanessa’s laugh rang like silver bells, sharp and cruel. “Oh, darling, he told you that? How sweet.” She stepped closer, her heels crunching against the gravel. “You’re not the first, you know. You won’t be the last.”
My pulse quickened. “What do you mean?”
Vanessa leaned in, her perfume thick and intoxicating. “Damien needs a face. A shield. A distraction. That’s all you are. And when he’s done, when he grows tired of you, he’ll toss you aside, just like the others.”
“The others…” I whispered, the word tasting like metal.
Vanessa’s smile widened. “Exactly. Don’t believe me? Ask Adrian.”
“Adrian?”
Before I could press further, a smooth voice interrupted.
“Talking about me again, Vanessa? You’ll make me blush.”
I turned and froze.
Adrian Blackwood was everything Damien wasn’t. Where Damien was brooding and sharp, Adrian was golden and easy, his charm radiating like sunlight. He was tall, impeccably dressed in a tailored navy suit, with eyes the same piercing gray as Damien’s—but softer, more inviting.
“Adrian,” Vanessa purred, tilting her head. “We were just discussing your brother’s… habits.”
Adrian’s gaze flicked to me, lingering a moment too long. A smirk tugged at his lips. “I imagine she’s already discovering them for herself.”
My cheeks burned. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, I think you do.” Adrian’s tone was teasing, but beneath it was an edge, a warning she couldn’t quite name.
Vanessa looped her arm through Adrian’s. “Well, I’ll leave you two. I’m sure you have much to…bond over.”
With a final, poisonous smile, she drifted away, her perfume lingering like smoke.
I crossed my arms. “What did she mean by ‘the others’?”
Adrian tilted his head, studying me as though I were a puzzle. “Vanessa likes to stir trouble. Don’t let her get under your skin.”
“That’s not an answer.”
His smirk deepened. “You’re sharp. I like that.” He stepped closer, lowering his voice. “But here’s the truth, Damien has had…arrangements like this before. Brief ones. Always with an expiration date. Always ending badly.”
The ground seemed to tilt beneath my feet. “Why are you telling me this?”
Adrian’s eyes gleamed. “Because you deserve to know what kind of man my brother really is.”
My breath caught. “And what kind of man is that?”
He leaned in, so close I could see the flecks of silver in his irises. “The kind who will break you.”
The rest of the day passed in a blur. I couldn’t shake Adrian’s words—or Vanessa’s. They circled me like vultures, picking at my resolve. “The others. Expiration date. He’ll break you.”
By evening, Damien summoned me to the library. He sat near the fire, a book open in his hands. The flames painted his face in sharp lines, highlighting the strength in his jaw, the shadows under his eyes.
“You’ve been quiet,” he remarked without looking up.
I hesitated. “I saw Vanessa today.”
His hand stilled on the page. Slowly, he closed the book. “And?”
“She said I wasn’t the first. That you’ve done this before.” my voice trembled, but I held his gaze. “Is it true?”
A muscle ticked in his jaw. For a long moment, silence stretched between them, broken only by the crackle of fire. Then Damien wheeled closer, his eyes like storm clouds.
“What Vanessa says—or what Adrian whispers—should mean nothing to you,” he said softly, dangerously. “You signed a contract with me. Not with them.”
“That doesn’t answer the question,” I whispered.
His gaze locked onto mine, unreadable. “Some truths will only hurt you, Ava. Learn to live with not knowing.”
My chest tightened. “But I deserve to know”
“Enough!” The word cracked through the room like a whip. I flinched, my throat tightening.
Damien exhaled, pinching the bridge of his nose. When he spoke again, his voice was lower, almost weary. “Don’t push me, Ava. Not tonight.”
He turned away, wheeling toward the window. His silhouette framed by the fire looked both powerful and unbearably lonely.
And me, despite my fear, felt an ache deep in my chest.
Later that night, unable to sleep, I wandered the hallway. Damien’s warning echoed in my ears, no wandering without permission. But I couldn’t stop myself.
I passed closed doors, endless portraits of Blackwoods long gone. The house was too quiet, too heavy with secrets.
I paused at one door, slightly ajar. Voices drifted through.
Adrian’s voice.
“She’s too innocent, Damien. She doesn’t belong in this game.”
Then Damien’s, colder than I’d ever heard it.
“She signed the contract. She’ll play her part.”
Adrian laughed softly. “Or maybe she’ll break before the ninety-nine days are over. Wouldn’t that be entertaining?”
My blood ran cold.
My hand slipped, and the door creaked.
Silence.
Then Damien’s voice, sharp as a blade.
“Ava…is that you?”
My heart thundered in my chest. I had been caught.