Lena's POV

The Blackwood penthouse was everything I expected and nothing I was prepared for.

It was beautified with marble floors, panoramic skyline views, glass walls that opened to a private rooftop garden. It was the kind of home you see in magazines, the kind where nothing looked lived-in.

But Leo made it feel like home in five minutes.

He ran from room to room, squealing with joy and dragging his stuffed giraffe along. His laughter echoed off the high ceilings.

Damon stood in the corner with his arms folded while watching. He was Silent and Still. I could see he was torn between a frown and fascination.

“He loves it,” I said quietly.

Damon didn’t reply. He was too focused on Leo. Too caught up in something he couldn't really explain.

And for the first time since signing that contract, I saw it.

The first week was full of awkward silences and stiff dinners.

Damon worked late. I stayed in the guest wing with Leo, trying to keep things normal. We established routines, morning cereal, evening baths and bedtime stories. But it was boring as hell.

But on the fourth night, Leo knocked on Damon’s study door with his pajama top half on and a book in his hand.

“Will you read this to me?” he asked with wide-eye after walking in.

Damon blinked like he had never been asked for anything that simple in his life.

He took the book with a slight hesitation. He sat down on the couch and opened to the first page. He read with a steady, careful and low voice.

And when Leo leaned against him. He curled up beside his arm…

Damon didn’t move away.

That’s when I saw the connection between them, especially, the way he lingered in Leo’s doorway after bedtime.

The soft smile he wore when Leo ran to show him a finger-painting.

And the way he looked at me when he thought I wasn’t watching not like I was a nuisance this time around.

But like I was a puzzle he didn’t know how to solve.

He wasn’t as ruthless as I thought. He was Just… guarded and broken in places I couldn’t see yet.

When he tried to bond with me, I learned about his past in pieces over shared wine at night, during long elevator rides and in whispers when the house was too quiet.

It was a toxic childhood, a father obsessed with high expectations and a mother who died too soon.

The worst part was his fiancée who had cheated with his business partner just before the wedding.

It explained everything. Why he didn’t trust easily.

Why his life was measured in rules and contracts. And why he never let his heart show.

But Leo had no such filters. He tugged Damon into movie nights with popcorn and action heroe movies.

He demanded bedtime hugs, messy art sessions, and birthday cake testing in the middle of the kitchen.

And Damon… gave in. It wasn't instantly, not even all at once.

But piece by piece, he let himself soften.

One night, I walked in to find them asleep on the couch. Leo sprawled across Damon’s chest, both of them snoring softly.

It nearly broke me. Because it didn’t feel fake anymore. Not the connection between them.

………

Many days after. Then the blogs caught wind of the wedding. It started with rumors of an Instagram post and a blurry paparazzi shot.

Then came the news headlines. “Blackwood Billionaire’s Surprise Bride: Who Is Lena Hart?”

They too dug deep. Articles surfaced about the theft allegation from five years ago that I rip off my job.

Some was linked me to my father, Douglas Hart, the former logistics magnate and Blackwood enemy.

Some questioned the timeline of Leo’s birth.

The worst came from a vlogger named Shay Noir. She was infamous for her exposés.

She dropped a thirty-minute viral video titled, “Lena Hart: is she a Cinderella or Corporate Spy?”

She called me a gold-digger and claimed I slept my way into the marriage.

She suggested Leo wasn’t Damon’s son and that I was using him as leverage.

I watched the video in horror, my hands shaking and bile rising in my throat.

It had already hit two million views. I felt heat throughout my body.

The fallout was fast.

Bleone’s PR team called an emergency meeting.

Three major sponsors threatened to pull out of the gala unless I was removed as lead planner.

I stood in Damon’s office. Every bone in my body vibrating with panic.

“I didn’t do this,” I said. “I didn’t ask for any of this.” I was desperate to prove myself.

He didn’t say a word. Just stared out the window with that calm stillness I was beginning to fear.

My voice cracked. “They think I’m using you. That Leo’s some pawn in all of this.”

Finally, Damon turned. His jaw was clenched fiercely.

“Let me handle it,” he said quietly. His voice came in whispers.

“But what if they don’t back down?” I asked with fear.

He stepped closer with his eyes unreadable. “Then we will show them who we are.” He expressed tightly.

That night, I sat beside Leo in bed, holding him a little tighter.

He didn’t know the world was throwing daggers at us.

He only knew his family had changed and he loved it.

I buried my face in his curls and whispered, “You’re everything good in my life.”

And I realized something terrifying.

If this fake marriage ended tomorrow… it wouldn’t be Damon’s power or money I missed.

It would be us - the moment we shared.

This strange, beautiful thing we’d built out of nothing but need and circumstance.

The part of me that had fought so hard to run from the past… Was starting to hope.