The clock read 1:17 a.m. when I gave up on sleep.
The mansion was silent except for the faint hum of the city far below. Shadows stretched long across the marble, swallowing everything except the soft silver light that spilled from the balcony window.
I didn't know when Damien returned home because I ate and went inside and he didn't come to check one neither did I hear his footsteps. Am not sure he ate although I couldn't find sleep.
I wandered back into the studio, arms wrapped around herself. The air smelled faintly of oil paint and rain. On the corner of my desk, something glinted faintly under the moonlight — the edge of a folder, half-buried under old sketches.
I frowned. I didn't remember leaving anything there.
Pulling it free, I read the neat print stamped across the top:
"Blackwell Industries — Private."
My pulse tripped. That name again. Her father's old company.
I traced the letters with trembling fingers. I shouldn't open it.
The contract was clear: no questions, no interference in Damien's personal matter.
But the silence pressed against me until it hurt.
But if this is about my father's company what would Damien keep it?
My thumb slipped under the flap. One page slid free, yellowed and creased.
Two signatures at the bottom.
My father's… and Damien's.
The date hit me like strong wind— years before I had even met him.
The first page is a purchase record— Damien bought my father's company five years ago
Oh my Goodness! My hand instantly went shaky I was trembling at this point as I flip through the pages. They where a lot stamped documents, legal documents and assets transfer.
Reading down I saw my father's shaky signature and that of Damien's crips one
I could tell my dad's signature was shaky
The a small note that reads "finalize before he finds out" written in Damien's
My hands tremble as memories begin crashing down in me, my father's frustration and breakdown then about losing the business, his debt, his secrecy.
To make matter worse the file also contains medical payment records, the surgery receipts all stamped with Blackwell finance.
At that moment realization starting hitting me like icy wind on winter seasons
Damien didn't just help me, he owned everything from the start. This marriage contract has been building for years all this was just coincidental because even without my fathers illness it would have still taken place.
Everywhere became blurry, my vision wasn't clear anymore. I couldn't bring my self to think that my dad ….? No no no it can't be what I'm thinking right now.
I brought out the next paper strodding out and it was a photograph. A photograph of my dad and Damien smilling stiffly at each other and dated before I even met Damien.
I knew about him dismantling my fathers business years back but I didn't know about any contracted marriage, my dad only explained it was a business deal then but the explanation wasn't fully detailed he purposely left out some part.
I dropped the file, the paper scattered everywhere, my breathing quickened, I feel betrayed, manipulated, heartbroken, used.
Every conversation with Damien replays differently now.
I tried putting back the papers into the envelope but one slips under the table- a confidential memo caught my attention again.
I open it and found a highlight which reads— "ensure she never finds the truth"
I freezes.
He knew this, He planned this, from the start.
—-
A soft know on the door and Damien's voice calling my name . I quickly wiped my tears and scramble to gather the papers stuffing them into the folder as my hands danced around the papers.
He opened the door slightly, brows furrowed.
You're still awake? He asked
I managed to force a smile, Yeah I couldn't sleep.
He sensed something is off as he studies me with narrowing eyes but didn't say a word.
He left the entrance and walked closer, I began praying inwardly hoping he wouldn't see it. I did not really stuck them into the folder properly some where already protruding out of it.
He looked at me and and back to the room skeptically as his gaze fell on the desk then stopped.
"If you need something, ask me directly," he says softly, but the warning beneath the calm is unmistakable.
He leaves. The door shuts.
I exhaled only after he was gone, I had been holding my breath for sometime.
Oh my God! If for nothing I am glad he didn't get to know I have found out.
The envelope was sitting pretty right under the desk, thank Goodness his eyes didn't reach there.
I retrieved the hidden folder from under my desk and slipped it into my sketchbook
The words echo in my head again— Ensure she Neva learns the truth.
I mumbled— "Too too late" to both my dad and damien.
All these while I have been floating and falling for someone who think of me as a mere piece of transaction.
This anger in me should be directed more to my dad and not even Damien because he was the one who sold me out,
yes I know I don't know how everything played out because my dad is way too secretive for his own good. He feels he could do everything all by himself, though I was young but I could here mom complaining a few times about this.
I can still remember he was in a huge debt after my mom passed on but I don't think that's enough reason for him to sell me out— to sell his only daughter out to some crazy ass inhuman billionaire that doesn't even know how to treat anyone better other than himself.
For someone that feels his money could go places for him and get everything he wants with just a snap of his finger.
Now I know everything between us began with a lie, I think I have to know how deep that lie runs.