THE MISSING BRIDES RETURNS
1688 Words
My body froze completely. For a second, I considered pretending I had heard nothing and running back to my room, but David’s eyes remained fixed on me. There was no escaping the situation now. I forced my legs to move. Each step down the staircase felt painfully loud in the silence of the mansion. I could feel both men watching me carefully, especially David.
The closer I got, the more nervous I became.When I finally reached the bottom of the stairs, I stopped a few feet away from them.The man beside David studied me with open surprise. His eyes moved across my face slowly before he let out a quiet breath.
“So it’s true,” he murmured.
David’s expression darkened slightly. “Daniel.”
The warning in his voice was clear.
Daniel immediately looked away from me. “Right.”
An awkward silence filled the room.
“I wasn’t trying to listen.” I said .David stared at me calmly. “But you did.”
I lowered my eyes for a moment, unable to deny it. David walked closer slowly, stopping directly in front of me. Even standing near him made me uncomfortable . He carried a quiet kind of power that filled every space around him.
“What exactly did you hear?” he asked.His tone was so calm. I swallowed hard. “Not much.”
judging from the way his eyes narrowed slightly, he knew it was a lie. Still, he said nothing about it. Instead, he looked at Daniel briefly before speaking again. “This is Daniel Pierce”. My business partner.”
Daniel gave me a small nod, though he still looked uncomfortable around me.“It’s nice to meet you,” he said politely. I nodded back quietly. But my attention stayed on David.
There was something strange about him. Even when he looked calm, tension surrounded him. Like he was constantly controlling something dangerous beneath the surface.David suddenly reached for my wrist gently.The movement caught me off guard.His fingers wrapped around my skin firmly. Not painful, but impossible to ignore.
“You should rest,” he said quietly.My heartbeat quickened slightly at the closeness between us.For the first time, his voice sounded soft.But before I could react properly, another voice interrupted the moment.
“She really does look exactly like her.”The words came from Daniel. David slowly released my wrist. His face turned cold immediately.
“Leave,” he told Daniel. Daniel looked like he regretted speaking the moment the words left his mouth. Without arguing, he grabbed his coat and headed toward the door.
A few seconds later, the front door shut behind him.Now it was only me and David standing in the silent living room.I looked at him carefully. Then I asked , “Who was she?” “The woman everyone keeps comparing me to.”
He looked away from me for a brief moment before answering. “Her name was Isabella.”
“Isabella,” I repeated.
The name hung heavily in my head. David walked past me without saying anything else and picked up his glass again. His face had become unreadable , like mentioning her name alone was already too much. I watched him carefully.
“Was she your fiancée?” I asked.
“No.” His answer came too quickly. I frowned slightly. “Then why was everyone calling her your bride?” David finally looked at me again, “Because she was supposed to become my wife!”
Something about the way he said it made my chest tighten.Like he had locked every feeling connected to her somewhere deep inside himself.
“What happened to her?”The moment the question left my mouth, the atmosphere changed immediately.
“I told you already,” he said calmly. “Do not ask about her.” His voice remained quiet, but the warning inside it was impossible to miss.
“People don’t just disappear,” I said.Then David slowly walked toward me. My breath caught slightly as he stopped directly in front of me. Close enough for me to notice the faint smell of whiskey and expensive cologne.
“You’re here to follow the contract,” he said quietly. “Nothing more.”
“The less involved you become in the past, the easier your life here will be.” I tried holding his gaze, but something about the intensity in his eyes made it difficult. Before I could answer, a phone suddenly rang somewhere nearby.
David stepped away immediately and pulled his phone from his pocket. The second he looked at the screen, his expression changed slightly. He looked annoyed . Without another word to me, he answered the call and walked towards the large windows. I stood there awkwardly while he spoke quietly into the phone.
“No one speaks to the press without my approval.” He said, “I’ll handle Ethan Blake myself.”
The name caught my attention immediately. The man Daniel mentioned earlier. David ended the call shortly after and slipped the phone back into his pocket. When he turned around again, his calm expression had returned.
But something felt different now.He looked at me silently for a moment before speaking.
“Starting tomorrow, you will attend public events with me.”
I blinked in surprise. “Tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“That soon?”
“You’re my wife now,” he replied simply. “People will expect to see you.”
The reminder made reality settle heavily inside me again. “ wife”
Even if it was fake. David moved close to the staircase slowly before stopping halfway.
“One more thing, Zoe.” I looked up at him.
“Do not trust anyone in this house.” The he went up the stairs .
Zoe stood in front of the mirror, adjusting the collar of her pink silk robe . She had spent three days in the Blackwood estate, and everything still felt like a borrowed life. Her room door opened without a knock.“You’re not sleeping again,” David Blackwood said . Zoe didn’t turn immediately.
“Neither are you.” She said.Then his reflection appeared beside hers in the mirror.
“I don’t sleep much,” he replied.
“That sounds like a problem,” she said before she could stop herself. For the first time since she arrived, something flickered across his face. Not a smile exactly… but something close to a smile.
He stepped into the room, placing a thin file on the table near her.“What’s this?” she asked, finally turning.
“Your schedule.”
Zoe blinked. “My what?”
“You’ll attend two charity events this week. A board dinner. And a family gathering on Sunday.” She stared at the file like it was insulting her personally. “I’m not your employee.”
“No,” he said quietly. “You’re my wife.Zoe crossed her arms. “You still haven’t explained why to me.” David didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he walked to the window, looking out at the estate grounds like he was deciding how much truth he was willing to give.
“There was supposed to be another bride,” he said finally. “I know.” His eyes shifted to her. “Do you?” Zoe hesitated. “People said she disappeared “
“She didn’t disappear,” he said. “She ran.” That wasn’t what Zoe expected. Before she could respond, his phone buzzed. He checked it once, then slid it back into his pocket.
“Someone is asking questions about you,” he said. “About me? I’m literally nobody.” “That’s the problem,” he replied. “Nobody is supposed to be in my house.”
A knock came at the door. David didn’t move but the air in the room changed instantly. The door opened and a woman stepped inside. She looked elegant,calm,and too familiar.
“You’re not supposed to be here, Clara.”
Clara stood in the doorway like she owned the air in the room.Her gaze moved past David first, then settled on Zoe .
“So this is her,” Clara said softly.
“And you are?” Zoe asked
“That depends on who you ask.”David stepped forward, blocking the space between them slightly. “You shouldn’t be here.”
Clara tilted her head. “And yet, here I am.”
Zoe looked between them. “Am I missing something, or is this a normal Tuesday for you two?” No one answered her and that told her enough .
Clara finally walked inside, uninvited, heels clicking against the marble floor like she had done it a hundred times before. She glanced around the room with quiet familiarity.
“They’ve redecorated,” she said. “I preferred it before.”
“Clara, leave.” David said .
“I came because I heard rumors,” she replied. “Rumors that you replaced me within a month.”
Zoe’s eyes snapped to David. “Replaced you?”
David didn’t look at her. “That’s not what happened.”
Clara laughed , short and humorless. “Isn’t it?”
She turned fully to Zoe now.
“You know why he married you?” she asked.
Zoe’s throat tightened. “Because he had to.”
Clara smirked . “No.” David’s voice cut through the room. Clara!
But she ignored him.
“He married you,because you look enough like me to keep the board satisfied… but not enough to be dangerous.”
The words didn’t land all at once. They sank in slowly, like something heavy pulling her under.
Zoe looked at David. “Tell me she’s lying.”
David held her gaze for a moment too long. And that was the answer.
Clara exhaled, almost satisfied. “Now,” she said, turning slightly toward the door, “we can start the real conversation.”
And then she added, quietly, Because I didn’t come back for him.
Her eyes shifted to Zoe.
“I came back for you.”
- Writer
