Cold dread spread through my body.
I jumped out of bed just as my bedroom door burst open and Damian strode in.
His hair was slightly damp, as if he had just come out of the shower, and he was only wearing sweatpants and no shirt.
His expression was sharp, but he looked completely in control.
I rushed towards him.
"Damian! What is happening? Is the house on fire?"
He grabbed my hands immediately, steadying me.
"It's under control," he said calmly. "It's not a big fire."
But my heart was still racing.
"What do you mean it's not a big fire?" I asked breathlessly.
"Fernandez and the others are already putting it out." He replied calmly. "It didn't spread."
I swallowed hard, trying to calm down.
"How did a fire even start inside the house?" I asked as we both walked out of the room and down the stairs. "Was it the kitchen? Maybe Sophie left something on the gas and forgot to put it out before she left for bed, or…"
"No."
The way he said it made me pause.
My stomach tightened.
"If it wasn't the kitchen…" I whispered in fear, dread creeping into my voice, though I didn't even know why I was suddenly feeling scared. "Then where was it?"
For the first time since we got married, I saw my husband hesitate.
And that alone was enough to terrify me more.
"Damian?" I pressed. "Where did the fire start?"
He looked at me for a long moment before answering.
"…Your studio."
The world tilted.
My breath left my lungs in a sharp gasp as my knees buckled beneath me.
But before I could crumble to the floor, Damian caught me.
"Careful," he muttered, tightening his hold on me.
"My studio." I whispered weakly.
I was in a state of disbelief.
How?
Why?
He guided me to a chair and gently pushed me into it.
"I need to go there." I said immediately, trying to stand up.
He pushed me back down.
"You will sit here and gather yourself, and that's not up for debate."
"But my…"
"No!"
"My paintin…" I was on the verge of tears.
"You will not be going to a smoke filled studio, Sapphire." His tone was clear.
I sat down and sighed.
Why?
I was just beginning to think I had my own space in this big house.
The sound of rushing feet made me sit upright just as Fernandez came into view.
"The fire has been put out completely, boss." He informed Damian.
I let out a shaky sigh of relief.
Thank the Lord.
"And it didn't spread to the other rooms." He added.
My shoulders relaxed a little more.
This was good news.
Then he dropped the bomb. "But everything inside the studio… is burned."
My head snapped up.
"What?"
I stood up immediately.
"Damian, I need to see it. Now." I was ready to run all the way there.
Fernandez hesitated and his eyes flicked towards his boss, then back to me.
"The room is still very smoky, Ma'am." He said very carefully. "It wouldn't be safe for you to go in right now."
I looked at Damian desperately.
"I have to see it."
He studied my face for a moment before shaking his head.
"Tomorrow morning."
I nearly screamed.
"But…"
"I will have them open the windows and clear out the smoke," he continued, "but you will see what is left of it in the morning."
I felt helpless and my chest felt tight.
All my paintings, all those hours of hard work, just gone like that.
But even as he let me back to my room, my mind stayed on one particular painting.
The one I had painted of Damian.
__________________
I didn't sleep. Couldn't sleep. And Damian sat in my room throughout the night.
I didn't know if it was to make sure I was okay, or to stop me from running there.
The smell of smoke was still faint in the air.
"Let's go check it now, Damian. It's morning." I begged.
"Okay." He agreed and stood up.
We walked without a word until we reached the wing where the studio was. And my hands trembled as I pushed open the door.
The sight inside made my chest to tighten painfully.
Everything was black.
My easels, canvases, brushes, the shelves, the table, the paintings, all burned. Destroyed.
I could barely recognize these paintings, but I still knew which was which.
Ash crunched beneath my feet as I stepped inside further.
I was looking for something specific.
A painting that was not with the others.
"No…" I whispered.
I started moving frantically over the wreckage.
My knees gave out beneath me as my vision became blurry.
"It's not here, it wasn't destroyed with the others, so where is it?" I muttered to myself.
Behind me, footsteps approached.
Damian.
He stopped when he saw me kneeling among the ashes.
"Sapphire."
I looked up at him through my tears.
"The painting."
His expression hardened.
"The one I made of you." I whispered.
"Don't worry about it, it's burned." He tried to smile.
"No, it's not burned. And it's not in the studio. Someone took it." I was very sure about that now.
"What?"
"It's missing, Damian." I was now looking at him in the eye.
And I watched as they darkened like stormy clouds.
His entire demeanor changed.
"I knew someone was behind this." He spat. "Now I'm angry."
He held my hand and dragged me out of the messed up studio.
"Come."
We went back to my room and he waited while I took a shower to clean off the smell of smoke and ashes.
He just sat there, not saying a word.
But his eyes never left my body when I came back into the room from the bathroom.
When I reached for my clothes, I paused.
"Turn around." I said shyly.
"No."
I froze.
"Damian…"
"You're my wife, so I can see your body."
My cheeks burned.
Slowly, I changed while his eyes went up and down my naked body.
"Beautiful." He muttered.
This was the most intimate moment we had ever shared.
"Let's go." I told him once I was done.
He nodded, grabbed my hands and led me downstairs.
"Sophie." He called.
The housekeeper appeared from the kitchen.
But something about her looked…off. Like she was scared even.
Her hands were shaking slightly and her face looked pale.
"Good morning, Sir, Ma." She greeted. Even her voice was shaking.
I frowned.
"Sophie, are you okay?" I asked playfully. "You look like you saw a ghost or do you have a fever?"
She giggled softly. "It's just…a fire in the house? That's really scary. And it has left me really shaken, Ma'am."
I groaned. "Tell me about it! I am so shaken." I laughed.
"Damian had heard enough of our chattering. He turned to the housekeeper, "stop making my wife stress, feed her instead."
"Of course, sir." She replied and quickly walked back into the kitchen.
Damian turned around and spoke into his earphones.
"All of you. Living room. Now."
Within seconds, the entire security team stood in front of him.
His voice dropped dangerously low.
"I am going to ask just this once."
Silence filled the room.
"Who did this?"
No one spoke.
The tension was almost unbearable.
Damian brought out a device.
"When I prepared that room and turned it into a studio, I put a hidden camera outside because of situations like this." He past the device to Fernandez. "Check who it was. And it better not be any of you, because no one can enter this property to vandalize my wife's studio without your help."
The security team went stiff.
I could see some of them sweating.
Oh, Lord.
Fernandez chuckled without humor and he shook his head in bewilderment.
He past the device back to Damian and I shifted my head to look too.
I felt air leave my lungs when I saw the person walking the passage and entering the studio late last night.
Sophie.