(Sapphire's POV)
The ride back home was suffocating and the silenced? Extremely loud.
I played with my fingers out of fear. Not like I had done anything wrong by going to visit my best friend.
Staring out the tinted window of the car as manhattan blurred past, I touched my still racing heart. It was calmer now, but my pride was still wounded.
I stole a glance at Damian and quickly looked away. His face was like igneous rock.
Jesus, why was this man so scary?
Taking a deep breath, I tried again.
"Damian, I…"
"Not. A. Word!" He growled at me.
I yelped and sat straighter.
But what was wrong with me? He had dragged me out of the cafe as if I was a misbehaving child, like I belonged to him, but here I was, still scared of his anger.
Wasn't I supposed to be mad at him for embarrassing me in public like that?
"We are here, sir," one of his bodyguards announced from the front seat.
My husband said nothing, but it was obvious he had heard him.
The gates opened by themselves, of course they did.
Everything around here had to be perfect, no?
I knew I was being a hypocrite, because I had these luxuries too back home.
But a girl can be bitter all she wants, no?
The moment we stepped into the house, he removed his jacket and threw it at the elderly housekeeper who had just come into the living room to welcome us back, without sparing her a single look.
She might as well have been a cloth hanger for all he cared.
Without a word, I quickly started tiptoeing to my room.
"Are you running away, wife?" I heard behind me.
"Exactly!" I replied at once and kept walking.
"Do not test me, Sapphire."
Oh, he was pissed.
I stopped and walked back to where he was.
"Leave us," he said calmly.
The housekeeper disappeared faster than flash.
As soon as the door shut behind her, he turned fully to me, eyes blazing.
"You will never do that again."
His voice was deadly quiet.
"Do what?" I wondered out loud.
His gray eyes became colder, if that was possible.
"You will never embarrass me in public like that again."
Was this man serious? Who embarrassed who?
My stomach tightened painfully, "I was just having coffee with my best friend," I whispered, but he heard.
"He was holding your hands!" He hissed.
"Luke has held my hands since we were children. He is like my brother!" I yelled back, then realizing my mistake, I apologized, "I'm sorry for shouting."
"You are no longer a child," his jaw tightened. "You are my wife!"
The word wife sounded less like a title and more like a warning.
"Then maybe you shouldn't have married a woman who had a life before you came into the picture."
His eyes darkened slightly, "your life before me is irrelevant, Sapphire Blackwood. But your behavior with me in it is not. I will not turn a blind eye to your actions, and be rest assured that your actions will have consequences."
Was that a threat?
Anger flared in my chest. "You don't get to control who I talk to or what I do!"
"These are standards that I am enforcing." He was still very calm.
"Standards?" I scoffed. "Is that what you called dragging me out of a càfe like your property?"
"You will watch your tone!" Damian snapped
"And if I don't?" I snapped back.
Something like a smile flashed through his eyes, but it was gone just as soon as it came.
I couldn't even read it.
He took one slow step towards me.
Not enough to touch, but enough to burn.
Enough to dominate the space.
"You are a Blackwood now," he said slowly as if he was talking to a child. "Every move you make reflects on me, on my company, and on my name."
"Well, I didn't realize drinking coffee was a scandal." I said in exasperation.
Who were these people?
"Everything a Blackwood does is a scocietal scandal, especially when my wife drinks coffee and holds hands with another man less than twenty four hours after our wedding."
My cheeks burn from embarrassment. "There was nothing intimate about that conversation I and Luke were having."
His gaze flickered over my face. He was assessing me like a property.
"I will not be made to look weak." He growled lowly. "Not by competitors, not by the press, and certainly not by you, my own wife."
"And you forget that this is not a marriage born of love, but of convenience." I reminded him.
"Oh, I did not forget that for a second, but you will show the public what I want you to show them. I do not care what you do in this house or where you are at what time, but what you do outside this property matters to me, do you understand?"
There it was.
Not jealousy. Damian Blackwood wasn't capable of such emotions.
What he cared about was reputation.
His reputation.
"You…" I began.
But he brought his right hand to his lips.
Silent stretched out before he spoke.
"Do not mistake this arrangement for something emotional, I do not care who you loved before me or what you did, but right now, and moving forward, whatever you do is my business. I am asking again, Sapphire, do you understand?"
I was tired at this point, but happy also that he had clarified that this marriage was nothing more than a business transaction. "Yes, Damian, I understand you clearly."
"Good girl." He replied coldly and turned to leave the room.
"But I will not stop seeing Luke." I called out to him. My voice was very steady. "He is my only friend."
He stopped walking.
"You will see him with discretion." He did not turn around to look at me.
"And if I don't?"
A pause.
"Do not test me."
The warning wasn't loud, but it didn't need to be.
Something in his tone sent a shudder down my spine.
Was this man capable of killing someone?
His entire demeanor had shifted into something darker. Like he was calculating his next move.
"Go to bed or find something to do, Sapphire." He advised and made to leave again.
"I am not one of your employees, Mr Blackwood. So, please stop commanding me."
He turned then, "You are right about that, you're not an employee, but you are my responsibility, so act like it and move!"
He didn't wait anymore.
One minute he was there, and then he was gone.
I kept standing there in the middle of the living room like I had just dropped from space and was indecisive about my next move.
Oh, what a day!
So this was my marriage.
Rules, reputation, power.
No single warmth.
Not even the illusion of love.
Nothing!
The direct opposite of what I'd always expected my marriage to look like.
Taking a deep breath, I stood taller.
If Mr Damian Blackwood wanted a strategic wife, he would get a strategic wife.
I exhaled slowly and looked around the big house.
If I was to survive here, I needed to understand this place.
It was time to explore.
Every corridor and every locked door.
Because men like Damian Blackwood did not build empires without secrets.
He reminded me too much of my own father.
These were powerful men.
But unlike my mother, I was not going to bend to my husband's every whim.
A door clicked shut upstairs at that moment.
Had someone been listening to our conversation?
I made to climb the stairs towards the sound.
But the housekeeper appeared from no where.
"Mrs Blackwood, you have a guest."