Auctioned heart

Chapter4

Damian hasn’t said a word since he picked me off the floor and let me cry in his arms. He still hasn’t asked me any questions, nor has he acted like the last few minutes happened.

I remember my father telling me that the most important thing in life is to have zero expectations, especially from people who owe me nothing. Damian and I are only in the same space because of Genevieve and her gallery.

This will be over after a week, and I won’t have to see him again. He is under no obligation to know what is wrong or why I broke down at the sight of the destroyed model car.

So, why is that so hard for me to take in?

By the time we stop in front of the Blackwood mansion, I am beginning to regret not taking his offer when Damian asked that I stay back at my house if I wanted to. I look out at the imposing structure stretching towards the skies.

Vines snake around it from all corners, intentionally so. It is meant to look like an archaic structure from the Victorian era, but I catch glimpses of modernity, poorly hidden, like the water fountain in the centre of the space, the smooth ground as opposed to the crunch of gravel under the tyres, and the white coat over the stone walls.

“My mother can be a little mean,” Damian says, stepping out and walking around the car to open my door. He continues the minute I step out. “Ignore whatever jab she throws your way. The night will be over in no time.”

I nod silently, allowing him to lead me through the entrance into the mansion. It looks more like a threat than a home. But I can totally picture Damian growing up in here. It is no wonder he is so …cold.

“Mr. Damian,” a uniformed, weathered man greets from the doorway with a smile on his face. All of me thinks Damian is going to ignore him, like he does to every other person that crosses his path.

So, imagine the surprise on my face when his lips actually stretch into a genuine smile that reaches his eyes. “How are you doing, Spencer?”

“Great,” the butler beams. “I’ll take your coats for you.”

“I can do that myself,” he mutters, nudging towards me. “Help her instead.”

Spencer’s warm hands graze my neck as he shrugs my coat off before bowing respectfully, then disappearing down a hallway. I wait for Damian to move again before falling into step beside him. He strides into the hallway after Spencer, and we trudge on in darkness and silence before it breaks out into a larger living area.

“Damian,” someone calls from the landing of the huge stairs at one end of the room. “What a weird surprise.”

The man walks down the stairs, and I feel Damian go rigid beside me. Even though he tries to act unbothered, I can see through the façade. Through both of them.

“I thought you would be at your office by now, poring over figures while the rest of the world goes by.”

“And I thought you would be out there, looking for the fiancée of another man to f**k into the night,” Damian counters, not skipping a beat.

I stand next to them, trying to decide if sneaking away will serve me better right now.

“I thought you said you’d gotten over her already.” There is a sneer in his tone as she shakes his head slowly, “I guess she still has a chance with you, considering the fact that you have been sleeping with her for closure.”

“Is that what she told you?”

The stranger’s lips curl into a cruel smile as he pulls away from Damian. “I don’t need her to tell me anything, Damian. I can see through you, just as I have been able to all these years. It is only a matter of time before…”

“Can you both not do that tonight?” An older yet elegant woman strides in. I can see the resemblance. While Damian takes her hair, the other guy, who has to be his brother, takes her eyes and overall look.

Her gaze falls on me, and she halts. “And you are?”

“Bella,” Damian says at once, just as my lips part. “She’s with me.”

“With you?” his younger brother echoes, a chuckle escaping his lips. “God, Damian, you finally brought home someone who doesn’t look like a mannequin.”

“Lucas!” their mother chides, her eyes glaring daggers at him. “You promised.”

“Fine,” he sighs, raising his hands in the air in mock surrender. He doesn’t say anything else, moving towards the dining room. Damian glances at me for a fraction of a second before walking behind them, leaving me no choice but to do the same.

Mr. Blackwood, their father, is already seated when we get there. He must have heard the whole confrontation, but if he did, he gives nothing away, beaming at his wife when she floats around the table to join him.

He plants a chaste kiss on her forehead, while Damian pulls out a seat for me. Lucas is fast, plopping into the empty one next to me. For a minute, I think Damian is going to start another war, but he swallows whatever thought creeps up in his head and moves to the other side of the table, opposite me.

“How did someone like you end up with a grump like my brother?” Lucas murmurs as the chef announces the menu for the night, a cart rolling in next to her.

“We are not actually…”

“I know,” he says. I saw it in the tabloids. The heir to the Blackwood dynasty, Damian Blackwood, purchases Bella Carter at an auction.”

Suddenly, the air shifts and I risk a glance up. Damian’s parents have their eyes on me. In that split moment, I see something pass through their gazes.

Recognition.

It is just a flicker, but I see it. A tightening at the corner of their mouths. But as abruptly as it appeared, it vanishes into thin air, that it might as well have been a figment of my imagination.