HOUSE RULES
1754 Words
Bella discovered three things about Sterling Mansion before breakfast.
First, the house was far too large for any reasonable human being.
Second, the staff appeared to possess supernatural hearing.
And third, Alexander Sterling apparently believed marriage came with a user manual.
She was halfway down the grand staircase when a young maid appeared at the bottom holding a black leather folder.
“Mrs. Sterling?”
Bella stopped.
“Yes?”
“This is for you.”
Bella accepted the folder with suspicion.
“From whom?”
The maid hesitated.
“Mr. Sterling.”
Of course.
Bella opened it.
Inside was a neatly typed document titled:
HOUSEHOLD GUIDELINES FOR MRS. STERLING
Her eyebrows rose.
“You've got to be kidding me.”
The maid immediately looked at the floor.
Bella flipped through the pages.
Breakfast at seven-thirty.
Dinner at eight unless otherwise arranged.
Security clearance required for visitors.
No walking outside the eastern grounds after dark.
No leaving the mansion without informing security.
No access to certain areas of the house.
No opening locked doors.
No—
Bella stopped reading.
She looked at the maid.
“Does your employer normally issue instructions to his wife like she's a new employee?”
The maid wisely said nothing.
Bella closed the folder.
“Thank you.”
She walked into the dining room with the folder tucked beneath her arm.
Alexander was already there.
He sat at the head of the long table, dressed in a charcoal suit, one hand resting beside his coffee while the other moved across a tablet.
He looked as if he had been born at the table.
Bella pulled out a chair.
“I received your love letter.”
His eyes lifted.
“It isn't a love letter.”
“I noticed.”
She dropped the folder onto the table.
Alexander glanced at it.
“Good.”
Bella stared at him.
“Good?”
“It means you read it.”
“I read enough to realize you have entirely too much free time.”
A muscle moved in his jaw.
“I have very little free time.”
“Then perhaps you shouldn't waste it writing household rules for me.”
His gaze sharpened.
“They aren't written for you.”
Bella pointed at the folder.
“It literally says Mrs. Sterling.”
“Because you are Mrs. Sterling.”
She leaned back.
“That still sounds strange.”
Alexander returned his attention to the tablet.
“You'll get used to it.”
“I doubt that.”
For a few seconds, silence settled between them.
Then Bella noticed the plate in front of her.
Breakfast had already been served.
Eggs. Toast. Fresh fruit. Coffee.
She reached for the cup.
“Two sugars,” Alexander said.
Bella paused.
She looked at him.
“How do you know?”
He didn't look up.
“Amelia told me.”
“Oh.”
Bella added the sugar.
Alexander's fingers tightened almost imperceptibly around his coffee cup.
He had no reason to remember how she took her coffee.
No reason to notice the tiny things.
Yet he had.
And he disliked that fact more than he cared to admit.
Bella took a sip.
“Your sister is very nice.”
“She likes you.”
“That sounds like a compliment.”
“It isn't.”
Bella smiled.
“You're jealous.”
Alexander's eyes lifted.
“Of my sister?”
“Of anyone who likes me.”
His expression became unreadable.
“Don't flatter yourself.”
“Too late.”
A small sound escaped Amelia from the doorway.
She was laughing.
Alexander looked toward her.
“How long have you been standing there?”
“Long enough.”
Amelia walked in and sat beside Bella.
“I heard Mrs. Sterling was being disciplined before breakfast.”
Bella slid the folder toward her.
“Apparently I'm a security risk.”
Amelia picked it up.
She read the first page.
Then the second.
By the third, she was biting her lip.
“Alexander.”
“What?”
“This is ridiculous.”
“It is necessary.”
“You wrote twelve pages?”
“Eleven.”
Amelia looked at Bella.
“He counted.”
Bella covered a smile with her coffee.
Alexander's eyes narrowed.
“This isn't funny.”
“It really is,” Amelia said.
He ignored her.
“Bella has been in the house for less than twenty-four hours. She doesn't know which areas are secure.”
“I know how doors work.”
“This isn't a joke.”
Bella's smile disappeared.
She placed her cup down.
“I agree.”
Alexander looked at her.
“But,” she continued, “you don't get to decide where I go every second of the day.”
His expression hardened.
“I do if your safety is involved.”
“My safety is my responsibility.”
“Not anymore.”
The words came out colder than he intended.
Bella went still.
Alexander realized immediately how they sounded.
His jaw tightened.
“You're my wife,” he said more carefully. “Anything that threatens you becomes my problem.”
Bella studied him.
“That almost sounded like you care.”
His eyes met hers.
For one dangerous second, neither moved.
Something tightened low in Alexander's chest.
He broke eye contact first.
“It's responsibility.”
Bella noticed.
She was beginning to recognize his pattern.
Whenever she got too close—not physically, but emotionally—Alexander built another wall.
She wondered what had happened to him to make walls seem safer than honesty.
“Fine,” she said. “I'll follow reasonable security measures.”
“Good.”
“But I won't ask permission to go to work.”
“You don't have to.”
“I won't report every person I speak to.”
“If they're strangers—”
“Alexander.”
He stopped.
Bella leaned forward slightly.
“I am a doctor. I speak to people all day.”
“I know.”
“I have patients.”
“I know.”
“I also have a life.”
His gaze returned to hers.
“I know.”
Something about the way he said it silenced her.
Not anger.
Something else.
Something almost weary.
Bella sat back.
“Then we're clear.”
“Yes.”
Amelia looked between them.
“Are you two always like this?”
“Yes,” they answered simultaneously.
Amelia burst out laughing.
Bella smiled.
Alexander stared at both of them as though they had personally betrayed him.
“I have a meeting.”
“Run away,” Amelia said cheerfully.
Alexander stood.
His chair scraped against the floor.
He picked up his phone.
Before leaving, his gaze briefly landed on Bella.
She was laughing at something Amelia had said.
Her expression was completely unguarded.
Warm.
Beautiful.
The thought came before he could stop it.
His breathing changed.
He immediately looked away.
Beautiful was not a word he should associate with Bella Hart.
He walked out.
Amelia waited until the doors closed.
Then she leaned toward Bella.
“He's in trouble.”
Bella blinked.
“What?”
“My brother.”
Bella laughed.
“Why?”
“Because he hates losing control.”
“And?”
Amelia smiled knowingly.
“You make him lose control.”
Bella almost choked on her coffee.
“That isn't true.”
“Oh, sweetheart.”
“Don't call me sweetheart.”
“Fine. Mrs. Sterling.”
Bella groaned.
Amelia laughed.
Across the mansion, Alexander entered his private study and shut the door harder than necessary.
Sebastian was already inside.
He looked up from the documents in his hands.
“You're late.”
“I live here.”
“That doesn't make you less late.”
Alexander ignored him.
Sebastian studied his expression.
“What's wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“That's interesting.”
Alexander removed his jacket.
“Why?”
“Because every time you say nothing, something is very obviously wrong.”
Alexander glared.
Sebastian smiled.
“You're doing it again.”
“Doing what?”
“Pretending you're not affected by your wife.”
Alexander's face became cold.
“I am not affected by Bella.”
“Of course not.”
“I married her for strategic reasons.”
“Obviously.”
“For one year.”
“Absolutely.”
“No emotions.”
“None whatsoever.”
Alexander stared at him.
Sebastian raised both hands.
“All right. I'm finished.”
“You should be.”
Sebastian looked down at the folder on the desk.
Then his expression changed.
“There is something else.”
Alexander's mood immediately shifted.
“What?”
“We checked the eastern wall again this morning.”
“And?”
“Someone had been there.”
Alexander went still.
Sebastian slid a photograph across the desk.
A faint footprint was visible in the damp soil beyond the wall.
Alexander studied it.
“How recent?”
“Within the last twenty-four hours.”
His jaw hardened.
“Any cameras?”
“None covering that section.”
“Of course.”
Sebastian hesitated.
“There was something else.”
Alexander looked up.
“What?”
“Someone accessed the mansion's external security system last night.”
The room seemed to become colder.
“From outside?”
“No.”
Alexander's eyes narrowed.
“Then from where?”
Sebastian held his gaze.
“Inside the property.”
Silence.
Alexander looked toward the closed study door.
His mind immediately went to Bella.
The balcony.
The eastern wall.
The light she'd seen.
And the strange certainty that whoever was watching them wasn't finished.
“Double security,” he said.
Sebastian nodded.
“For Bella?”
“For everyone.”
Sebastian paused.
Then he asked quietly, “Especially her?”
Alexander didn't answer immediately.
He hated the answer forming in his mind.
“Yes.”
Sebastian nodded once.
Alexander picked up the photograph again.
Someone had entered his property.
Someone had bypassed security.
Someone was watching Bella.
And he didn't know why.
But there was one thing he knew with absolute certainty.
Whoever it was had made a mistake.
They had chosen the wrong mansion.
The wrong family.
And, perhaps worst of all—
They had chosen the wrong woman to threaten.
Because Alexander Sterling had spent eight years learning how to destroy his enemies.
He had never learned how to stand by and watch someone hurt what belonged under his protection.
And that realization unsettled him more than the intruder ever could.
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