chapter three
1137 Words
Chapter Three
Even glass walls don't make you safe. Sometimes, they make your cage prettier.
Lily had never been good at pretending, not at school, work, or when Daniel first got sick. But ever since stepping into Sebastian Blackwood's world, she'd done nothing but pretend to be confident, to be composed, to be his wife.
She hardly knew the woman in the mirror.
The silver dress clung to her as it was sewn onto her body. Smooth satin encapsulated around her in curves, hugging her figure behind the least imaginable. She had her hair neatly coiled up and her makeup delicate yet immaculate. She was externally a born-to-fit.
But deep down, she remained the girl in the apartment on the fifth floor with hospital bills past due and a brother who had to depend on her.
Jules circled her like a fashion hawk. “Turn. Good. Walk.”
Lily obeyed, taking cautious steps in her nude heels. She tried not to wobble, but her legs weren't used to this kind of height or attention.
“You’ll walk beside Mr. Blackwood on the red carpet. No hand-holding unless he initiates. No eye contact with reporters unless addressed directly. No personal comments. No questions. Smile. Look proud. Looks like you know who you married.”
Lily forced a smile in the mirror. "Do I?"
Jules didn’t answer. But the tight line in her mouth said enough.
The car was there at 6:45 PM that evening.
Sebastian stepped out of the hall wearing a black tuxedo. Strong, piercing, hard. The lights of the chandelier caught on his cufflinks. Lily first saw the smell of his cologne, and only then did his eyes look sharp, fresh, and rich.
He paused a few feet before her and surveyed her from top to bottom.
Lily flushed. “Did I pass your inspection?”
"You'll do," he said.
The doors opened, and Jules ushered them forward. “You’ll be arriving in exactly seventeen minutes. No interviews unless previously approved. Stick to the script.”
Lily barely heard her. Her heart was beating so hard she could feel it in her throat.
She sat as far away from Sebastian as possible inside the car without being rude. The silence hung heavy between them like a wire.
"You're shaking," he said. She looked down. Her hands trembled in her lap.
“I’m nervous,” she admitted.
“You’re not allowed to be nervous.”
“Right. Forgot I sold that emotion with the contract.”
He turned to her sharply, but said nothing.
The car stopped. Flashes exploded outside the window. The red carpet was lined with photographers, shouting Sebastian's name like royalty.
Then the door opened.
Sebastian got out first. He turned to offer her his hand. It hung in the air for a second — not a request, a command.
Lily took it.
The flashes doubled as she stepped onto the carpet. Cameras clicked like machine guns. Reporters shouted questions.
“Sebastian! Over here!”
“Who’s the mystery wife?”
“Is this the woman from the merger rumors?”
Sebastian did not blink. He directed her on the small of her back, and possessively. Lily smiled and forced herself to hold her chin and shoulders back like Jules had practiced with her.
They arrived at the entrance.
Sebastian drew nearer--much nearer, as though he would kiss her cheek--but he said, in a low voice, "Silence till I order you to speak."
Then he drew back and flashed the cameras a practiced smirk, hand on her waist.
At that moment, they were the ideal power couple.
The ballroom glowed within.
Crystal chandeliers, marble floors, and people so refined they bleed gold. Lily spotted a couple of faces she saw in magazines: CEOs, designers, and celebrities.
Everyone looked at her like she was a novelty—the unknown woman in the arms of one of the most elusive billionaires in New York.
She forced another smile.
A woman approached them — tall, blonde, dressed in red velvet. Her lips curled into something between polite and dangerous.
“Sebastian,” she purred. Didn’t know you were bringing someone new. You finally replaced Marianne?”
Lily froze.
Sebastian instead tightened his hold on her waist.
‘This is my wife,’ he said. “Lillian.”
The woman raised a perfectly arched brow. “Wife? That’s new.”
Sebastian didn’t respond.
But Lily couldn’t ignore the name echoing in her head. Marianne.
The name is from the letter in the locked room. The name Jules had muttered once.
The woman leaned closer, her voice low. “Careful, darling,” she told Lily. He collects secrets the way other men collect watches. Be sure you know which box you came in.”
Then she walked away.
Lily tried to breathe.
“What did she mean?” she asked.
Sebastian didn’t answer.
Hours passed. Lily smiled through dinner. Smiled through introductions. Smiled through a speech, she barely heard Sebastian give.
But her mind was spinning.
Who was Marianne?
Why did that woman act like Lily was replaceable?
And more importantly, why was Sebastian acting like none of it mattered?
When dessert was served, she crept out, saying she had to go to the restroom. She needed air. She had to remind herself of the person she was before engulfed in this world.
She went out to the balcony. The city glittered below like stars scattered across a mirror.
“I was wondering when you’d run.”
Her voice startled her.
Sebastian was in the doorway, with one hand in his pocket and a glass of whiskey in the other.
‘I am not running,’ she answered.
“Everyone runs eventually.”
She turned to face him. “Who is Marianne?”
For once, Sebastian didn’t pretend to not hear her.
He stepped forward. “Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answers to.”
“I want them.”
He stared at her for a long time. His voice, when it came, was colder than the wind.
“She was someone I trusted. And she tried to destroy me.”
Lily swallowed. “Did you love her?”
“Yes.”
The honesty shook her.
“What happened to her?”
“She’s gone.”
“Gone where?”
Sebastian gritted his jaw. “Drop it, Lily.”
But Lily couldn’t drop it. Not when the name haunted every corner of his home.
“Am I just her replacement?” she asked, her voice trembling. So, is that why you chose me?
Sebastian crept so near she could feel the warmth of his chest.
"I chose you," he said, "because you owe me’ And because you’ll do what she never could — keep your mouth shut.”
Lily’s breath caught.
He turned around and went back in.
- Writer
