Chapter 3
A week later, it was time for the Blackwood family’s mandatory monthly dinner.
With Damien away, Elara had to attend alone.
The moment Damien’s mother saw her, her face hardened. “Where is Damien?”
Elara lowered her gaze. “He had something to take care of. He won’t be back for a while.”
Mrs. Blackwood gave a cold sneer, about to say more when the butler hurried over, holding a copy of a gossip paper.
The headline was a picture of Damien and Isabelle, kissing on the deck of a yacht.
Crack! Damien’s mother slammed her chopsticks on the table, her face contorted with rage. “Seraphina! My study, now!”
The second the study door closed, she snapped, “Kneel.”
Elara knelt in silence.
2011 O
“Useless! You can’t even keep your own husband in line!” Mrs. Blackwood was trembling with fury. “I’m giving you two choices.
Esha ya za Aim and get him back here right now, or… you will face the C
Elara’s eyelashes trembled.
She knew that even if she called, Damien wouldn’t come back.
And she couldn’t disturb him while he was with the woman he loved. If he got angry, the entire corporate alliance could be jeopard-
ized.
“I choose the consequences,” she said softly.
Her mother–in–law was livid. “What did you just say?!”
“I choose the consequences,” Elara repeated, lifting her head, her gaze calm. “Go ahead.”
Her face turning a shade of purple, Mrs. Blackwood snatched a riding crop from the wall and brought it down hard across Elara’s
back.
“Are you going to call him?!”
Crack!
“Are you?!”
Crack!
Elara bit her lip, a searing pain spreading across her back, but she steadfastly shook her head.
Finally, the pain became too much. Her vision went dark, and she collapsed.
When she woke up, she was lying face down on a hospital bed, her back wrapped in bandages.
And Damien was sitting by her bedside, his brow furrowed in a deep frown.
“Why didn’t you call me when Mother was giving you trouble?” he asked, his voice cold.
Elara managed a weak smile. “I didn’t want to interrupt your time with Miss Croft.”
Damien was taken aback.
He stared at her pale face, suddenly remembering what the nurse had said.
Chapter 3
“She loves Mr. Blackwood so much that she’s willing to care for the woman he loves…”
Did she… love him that much?
So much that she would rather be punished than disturb him?
That strange feeling in Damien’s chest intensified.
For the next few days, he did something unheard of: he stayed at the hospital to take care of her.
Elara told him it wasn’t necessary, but he didn’t leave.
On the day she was discharged, Damien received an urgent call from his office about a meeting he couldn’t miss.
“Get home on your own,” he said, turning to leave.
Elara nodded, slowly making her way out of the hospital.
As she stepped off the curb, she accidentally bumped into someone.
“Are you blind?!” the woman shrieked. “Do you have any idea how much this coat costs? Look at you, dressed like
you even afford to replace it?!”
Just as Elara was about to apologize, a cold, sharp voice cut through the air from behind her.
“Get lost.”
Damien had gotten out of his car. He tossed a wad of cash at the woman’s face. “Is this enough?”
2011 O
a
pauper. Could
The woman, who had been ready to erupt, took one look at Damien’s expensive suit and commanding presence, and scurried away
without another word.
Damien shot a cold glance at Elara. “Seraphina, did the Vances and the Blackwoods not give you any money? Why are you dressed
like this?”
Elara remained silent.
The Vances had never given her a cent. And while she had access to a Blackwood credit card, she wasn’t the real Mrs. Blackwood,
so she had never touched it.
Seeing her silence, an inexplicable flame of irritation flared up in Damien. He grabbed her arm and pulled her into the car.
“We’re going shopping.”
At the mall, Damien picked out several haute couture outfits for her, each one costing a small fortune.
Elara complied quietly, a marionette with no emotions.
But just as they were leaving the mall…
“Damien?”
A trembling voice called out.
Elara looked up and saw Isabelle standing a short distance away, still wearing the uniform from her part–time job as a waitress.
Her eyes were red–rimmed as she stared at them in disbelief. “You told me… you were in a meeting at the office.”
“Isabelle…” Damien’s expression shifted.
“You can choose not to love me…” Tears streamed down Isabelle’s face. “But how could you lie to me? I shouldn’t have come back. I‘ m just getting in your way…”
Chapter 3
She turned and ran.
“Isabelle!” Damien immediately chased after her.
Elara stood frozen, watching his retreating back, a strange calm settling over her heart.
But in the next second-
CRASH!
A deafening roar echoed through the air.
A large pane of glass from high up on the building’s facade had shattered, plummeting directly towards Isabelle.
She didn’t even have time to scream before she collapsed in a pool of blood.
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