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Chapter 6: The Rule Of Engagement

Penulis: Marvey_pearl
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2025-03-25 13:23:11

The bedroom door slammed behind Isla with satisfying force. She pressed her back against it as if the solid wood could shield her from the memory of Damien's lips on hers. Her fingers rose instinctively to trace her mouth—still warm from his kiss.

“No.”

She shoved away from the door, pacing the length of the extravagant bedroom like a caged panther. The room was a masterpiece of cold elegance—all steel grays and icy blues, the furniture so pristine it might never have been touched. Just like its owner.

“It was all for the cameras. Just for the damned cameras. It meant absolutely nothing!”

She kept repeating to herself like someone fighting a powerful spell.

But her traitorous body remembered too well: the firm pressure of his mouth, the possessive grip of his hands at her waist, the way her pulse had stuttered when he had pulled her close.

“Gosh! Things were going too fast.”

She was still thinking when a sudden knock on the door sounded, cutting off her spiral thoughts.

“Who is that?”

She called out even though she already guessed who was at the door.

Without saying anything, she straightened and strode to the door to pull it open. And there he was, Damien Blackwood, standing right outside. Isla’s throat went a little tighter.

For a second, neither of them moved.

Then, still without a word, she turned and walked back inside, leaving the door open. She heard him step in and the door closing again.

Damien leaned against the doorframe, watching her with that infuriating half-smile.

Then, with a sharp spin, she turned around to face him, flashing accusing eyes.

"We need rules," Isla snapped.

Damien's eyebrow arched. "Do enlighten me."

“What you did back there was not good enough, I just want to know why you kissed me like that…you took me by surprise. You know you can't just…”

"Touching my wife?" Damien pushed off the door, advancing with predatory grace. "That wasn't a surprise, Isla. It was strategy."

"Strategy?"

"To make them believe." He stopped just inches away, close enough that she caught the subtle spice of his cologne. "Unless you would prefer the world sees this marriage for the farce it is?"

Her breath hitched. "There are other ways—"

"None as convincing." His gaze dropped to her mouth. "And none that infuriate Nate quite so effectively."

The mention of her ex was a slap. Isla stiffened, but Damien wasn't finished.

“God I hate this.” She whispered.

She hated how he always appeared a step ahead of everyone. How effortlessly he always seemed in control.

He closed the remaining distance, his voice dropping to a velvet murmur. "If we're doing this, you need to commit. No flinching when I touch you." His fingers brushed her waist, igniting sparks where they grazed. "No hesitation when I kiss you." His breath warmed her ear as he whispered, "And no running when this gets... complicated."

Every nerve in her body came alive.

She should've stepped back. Should've shoved him away. Instead, she held her ground, her chin lifting in defiance even as her pulse raced.

"Fine," she bit out. "But I want answers. Why me? You could've chosen anyone."

Damien's smile didn't reach his eyes. "Because you're Nate's greatest mistake—the one prize he can never reclaim."

Nate's greatest mistake?

What did he mean? And Just how deep did the rift between him and Nate go?

After some time, she hummed, nodded once, and responded in a much lower tone. “Well, next time, no surprises,”

Damien smirked, his expression still not hiding his amusement.

“Fair enough.” He nodded back.

Damien’s eyes stayed for a moment longer, as if testing her limits, before finally pulling back with deliberate slowness.

Then, without another word, he left the room, leaving her standing there.

Isla stood back frozen, staring blankly at the spot where he had just left.

A few seconds after Damien left, Isla remained still, staring at the same door as the same set of questions kept repeating.

Then, finally, she let out a resigned sigh; she turned, went near the bed, and collapsed on it.

She let her head fall back, closing her eyes briefly as if that alone could strip her mind of everything.

She needed some distraction.

She reached for her phone, unlocked it with a swipe, and started to scroll search for anything that wasn’t Damien Blackwood.

But the moment the screen lit up, her face cracked.

A flood of notifications filled up her screen, an overwhelming heap of messages, tags, and mentions that made her abdomen ache.

The internet was on fire.

And it was on fire with the very things she was just trying to avoid. Her name and that of Damien were everywhere. Hundreds of people had tagged her.

Notifications were flashing with an absurd number of alerts.

And as she reluctantly opened social media, the barrage of headlines and accompanying posts left her stunned.

Pictures from her red carpet with Damien were plastered across the internet, capturing every moment in agonizing detail.

Particularly the moment when Damien had kissed her.

“Good gracious!”

She murmured as she scrolled down, the comments were even worse.

"That didn't take long. Someone's got a type."

"How long before this billionaire dumps her too?"

Then Sophia's text appeared:

"Tell me this isn't true, Issy."

Isla's jaw tightened.

She had been through this routine of media storms before when she married Nate, but this one was way more brutal.

The sheer viciousness of their labels was worse than she had anticipated.

Soon, her attention shifted to her call log, her head feeling hot at the sight of the several missed calls.

The numbers belonged to her parents they had both called multiple times.

And seeing what she had just seen, she didn’t even have to guess why.

Isla hurled the phone onto the bed like it had burned her. Outside, the city glittered—beautiful, brutal, and utterly indifferent. Somewhere out there, Nate and Vanessa were probably laughing. Somewhere out there, Damien was already three moves ahead.

And here she stood, caught between revenge and ruin, with no idea which side of the line she would land on when this was over.

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    Ever since Isla had signed a contract with Damien, she had become familiar with a new kind of freedom. A life that was the complete opposite of the one she shared with Nate. Back then, she had been a full-time housewife, but there had always been something to do. She would run the errands for his grandparents, do the shopping, oversee the house maintenance, and even scrub the damn floors herself. In Damien’s world, that life was nonexistent. Isla felt like a ghost in the big house with its numerous staff. There was even a time she had attempted to cook just to remind herself of the life she once lived but one of the maids, Amelia, had stopped her with a look so grave it was as though she had attempted to commit a crime. "Mr. Blackwood doesn’t like his wife working." It was perhaps after that particular encounter that the realization came upon her like a heavy cloak. If she stayed like this doing nothing, she would suffocate. The boredom would destroy her before the contract ev

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  • His Enemy, My Husband    Chapter 8: Terms Of Engagement

    Since the red carpet announcement, Isla's phone hadn't stopped ringing—calls from her parents, her sister Sophia, and everyone trying to reach her. But she couldn't answer. Not because she didn't want to, but because she had no words to explain. How could she tell them she had been essentially kidnapped by her ex-husband's billionaire rival? That he had offered the perfect revenge in exchange for marriage? They would think she had lost her mind. So she kept ignoring them, buying time to plan.Saturday morning brought a rude shock. Right after breakfast, a security guard burst in. "Your family is at the gate ma’am.”For a paralyzing moment, Isla stood frozen, panic turning her limbs to stone. Damien was home. This couldn't be happening."Tell them I'll be out in a minute," she managed to whisper, the words sticking in her dry throat.Minutes later, Isla finally summoned the courage to step out of the house. From a distance, she spotted her father, Robert Carter, standing firm at t

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  • His Enemy, My Husband    Chapter 9: Velvet And Venom

    The stylists were done and left a moment ago. Now Isla stood alone in her room gazing into her reflection in the mirror to see their finished work.They had transformed her into a goddess.The deep emerald necklace on her neck shone under the light. The glow of her face intimidated her. The dress they had selected was impeccable: a velvet gown whose off-shoulder cut exposed the smooth, shiny lines of her collarbones.“Great job,” She whispered.This is what being the wife of Damien Blackwood meant. It was nothing like before when she was just a glorified maid bound to the kitchen.Now she was someone stronger. Someone who belonged in this world of power and ruthless ambition. Someone who was not allowed to be vulnerable. But was she?She hummed, not allowing herself to pursue the thought further. “It was almost time for the party.”~~~Isla stepped out about five minutes later, moving with careful control, the sound of her heels steady against the glittery floor. Something switched

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  • His Enemy, My Husband    Chapter 10: Check and Mate

    Days later, Isla was sitting alone in the office of her new boutique, her manicured fingers eagerly skimming over the contract papers spread before her. From what she was seeing, her business proposal had won multiple grants, zero-interest loans, and exclusive sponsorships. One after another, the contracts bore the names of the high-profile investors and elite brands that had endorsed her. This was the kind of win she ordinarily would have spent years trying and failing to get the attention of, but like magic, it was lying freely on her palms.“Wait…is this for real?”Her expression hardened slightly as she queried herself. It was true that she had worked tirelessly for this, she had poured every element of her ambition into this dream business for some time now.But even so… this came way too easy.“Too convenient.”Just like that? Her brows knitted as she leaned back into the chair in contemplation. The rhythmic tapping of her finger against the desk echoed softly as she tried to

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  • His Enemy, My Husband    Chapter 11: The Knife In the Smile

    “Ugh God!” half-sleepy, with a half-repetitive beeping from her phone stirring her awake the next morning.With a sluggish roll of her hands, she picked up the phone and sat up slowly before finally lifting it to see a train of new notifications waiting on her screen.She blinked, letting her vision adjust to the light before swiping further."Isla Carter’s Success: Talent or Just Another Rich Man’s Wife?"That was the title of the main headline people were tagging her to. Her pictures with both Nate and Damien were placed side by side,, and under the main post, over a hundred thousand people had commented in less than three hours.A cold feeling ran down her spine, as her face started to get dark with foreboding. She swallowed, forcing herself to scroll further down.The main post she found beneath the pictures was worse;It painted her as nothing more than a former secretary who had merely married her way into success, someone whose achievements were not the result of talent but of

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  • His Enemy, My Husband    Chapter 12: The Turn Of The Tide

    Vanessa woke up feeling victorious. She stretched and yawned luxuriously. Today was yet another day to watch Isla Carter getting dragged through the filth of public scorn. She swung her legs over the edge of the bed wearing a smirk. And guess the best part of it all? Vanessa hadn’t even lifted a finger; it was someone else from the sky who had taken it upon himself to do the dirty work. With some effort, she pushed herself up and wanted to rearrange a pillow when a glow from her phone caught her attention. She paused with brows lifted. “More news, perhaps?” Another wave of disgrace for Isla? Well, she certainly wasn’t complaining. Vanessa picked up the phone with a quick flick of her wrist, bringing it closer, prepared to relish every detail. But the moment the words on the screen greeted her face her smirk died an instant death. It was like a dagger straight to the throat. She blinked, then blinked again, as a sudden fever began to descend on her, The headlines weren't ab

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  • His Enemy, My Husband    Chapter 13: The Blackwood Feast

    “We’re expected at the Blackwood estate for dinner,” This was the cold, impassive tone that Damien had used to suddenly inform Isla that they would be visiting his family by the evening of the same day. Isla blinked, momentarily stunned. The same Damien who never spoke of his family? He wants “her,” his fake contract wife, to go see them tonight. What could have happened?She studied him carefully, searching his face for any indication of what this meant to him. But his face remained as it usually was… carved in stone. Then as if sensing the silent question in her eyes, he made a dismissive gesture to add, “It’s just a formality. Nothing else.” But Isla was far from believing that. ~~~ The evening of the dinner arrived, and Isla found herself marveling with glowing eyes as their car approached the grand structure. Old money, prestige class, history; It all loomed in the twilight. Yet, despite the awe-inspiring sight a growing anxiety was disturbing her gut. Soon she will be f

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  • His Enemy, My Husband    Chapter 14: Shadows and Storms

    It was a Wednesday morning, and Isla was busy flipping through the latest sales reports in her boutique. All her focus was on the paper in her hand as she murmured something to herself, noting some patterns in the data, while also pausing to take a sip from the coffee beside her.“Ding!”That was the next sound she heard coming from the front door,“Very usual” A new customer, she reasoned with her face still on the paper “Welcome to….” She mouthed halfway and immediately stopped again.“Something was off”Something about the silence that followed after the chime. No new voice, no cheerful greeting, neither was there any of the typical footfalls of an uncertain shopper.Instead, what came next was the sound of heels against the floor, followed by the slow, exaggerated clearing of somebody's throat. The sound was smug, wrapped with a pretentious politeness.Isla hurriedly lifted her gaze. The sight of her ex-friend, Vanessa, made Isla stiffen in her seat.The moment their eyes met

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  • His Enemy, My Husband    Chapter 30: The Gala Gambit

    Isabella was literally glued to Damien's side as they arrived at the venue of the Blake Group’s much-anticipated gala later that night.Damien's attention seemed to be elsewhere, despite being right beside her. His eyes were vague and distant.And when they finally got into the main hall, his eyes swept the entirety of the large room the moment they were past the door.He looked searching, he looked calculating.It was obvious he wasn’t here just to sip wine or listen to some bland, repetitive music. Neither was he here to schmooze or pose for staged photos. Not really.As far as Damien was concerned, this was his definition of strategy.The organizers of this event, ”The Blake Group,” were no ordinary conglomerate. It was a machine of influence. Philanthropy was only a scratch on the surface of what they were actually about. Beneath it ran an even deeper stream of power: talking about quiet funding for political campaigns, backdoor partnerships with foreign stakeholders, and now,

  • His Enemy, My Husband    Chapter 29: Brand New, Familiar Fire

    A week had passed now since Damien and Isla's heated exchange and in the days that came by, neither of them had brought it up.Not once. But that did not mean that things had remained the same between them. The exact opposite had happened.Like before, when they had once crossed lines and silently stepped back this time, the retreat wasn’t colored with the tension of attraction but the quiet hostility of emotional distance. It was Isla, especially, who started to draw this line.The leisurely meals she used to cook once in a while had immediately stopped.The waiting up she once did for him whenever he was delayed at work was gone, too. Now, the kitchen belonged fully to the maids again, just the way Damien supposedly preferred it. A contract of convenience right? Nothing more.And Isla stuck to this role with a new stony discipline. Her movements were triangular now; wake. Dress. Work. Return. Sleep. Repeat. No glances nor greetings.At first, Damien acted like he didn’t notice

  • His Enemy, My Husband    Chapter 28: The Necessary Reminder

    Later that afternoon, Damien was back in the office. His posture was relaxed but not completely. His eyes, though focused on the document before him, hadn’t truly read a single word in the last half hour. They were as distant as that of a man present in a room but miles away in thought.He ground his teeth.For the last few minutes since his return, he had been thinking about his last parting words to Isla at her boutique after the slightly heated exchange between them.“Don’t forget this is just a contract. No personal feelings.”The words echoed in his head again, like something someone else had said. He dragged a hand across his face. What was he even thinking when he said that? Isla’s face when he uttered those words was still very much clear in his head, her silence, her distant eyes. He remembered it all too well now. And it stung more than he expected. He hummed and said nothing else.His thoughts now went farther back to earlier that same morning, back at the mansion. Damie

  • His Enemy, My Husband    Chapter 27: The Breaking Point

    It was 11:43 PM and the entire estate was now swallowed by silence.Yet back in her room, Isla was still awake sitting upright at the edge of the bed, with her back arched forward. The duvet remained untouched behind her.And her right hand was holding up her phone at eye level as the screen reflected in her tired weary eyes. She was staring at the message box specifically, the space where Nate’s strange text earlier that evening had once been.The single message that bore just his name.Just “Nate.”Of course, she had since deleted it, but the memory of it still disturbed her head like a stubborn echo.But why?She had not stopped asking herself that question since she came back from work hours ago. No typo, no follow-up text. No missed calls. “Nothing”Just that one name. Sent deliberately. As though meant to say something without saying anything at all.What was his motive now? What was Nathaniel planning?She didn’t know what to make of it, but she knew that bitch that was l

  • His Enemy, My Husband    Chapter 26: A Few More Days

    Isla stared back at Isabella. Her posture did not change, but the meaning behind her unsolicited history lesson did not go unnoticed. It hung in the air like poison. Isla controlled her expression and tried not to let it show on her face. She folded her arms slightly, offering a cool smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, and in an equally dry tone she responded, “Well, lucky you still remember.” There was a pause; Isabella lifted one of her brows as if she were amused or unimpressed. But in the end, she said nothing else. The quiet animosity between the ladies stretched taut, heavy like a cloud of rain that refused to burst. Getting to her boutique later that morning, Isla entered her office, shut the door, and lowered herself into her chair with an attitude to speak of restraint. She was in a fight with herself, her head, and her mind, trying not to think of the last few minutes back home and, as a matter of fact, the last 24 hours. Trying not to think of Damien and his

  • His Enemy, My Husband    Chapter 25: A Guest with a Key

    Isla stared at Damien for a little too long.She allowed his question to hang in the air at first because of the speed with which he had caught her off guard and secondly, because she could not seriously believe he was asking her that. So he really wanted to know if she would be okay with him bringing in his mistress…or old friend rather than living in a space that was supposed to be theirs. In the end, she gave a small shrug.“Why are you asking if it would bother me?” Her tone managed to remain smooth, but there was a glint in her eye. “I thought personal feelings weren’t allowed.”Damien didn’t blink. His eyes, however, stayed fixed on her like he was trying to read her mind as usual.“I’m simply being polite,” he finally replied coolly.Isla’s face twisted, her nose wrinkled, then she shook her head at once.“No,” She blurted. “No, you’re just being cruel.”Then without waiting for what he would say next, she turned around sharply to resume her procession to her room, disappear

  • His Enemy, My Husband    Chapter 24: Would It Bother You?

    The next morning Isla discovered Damien had disappeared from the mansion.After her return from work yesterday, she had carried herself through her routine blindly, dodging the memory of everything that had taken place before she closed from work, and barely seen Damien since then. All that she had heard yesterday from her room notifying her that he was back was the echo of his footsteps on the stairs and of the maids greeting him.He also had not bothered to check up on her. And strangely, she wasn’t sure if she was relieved by that or disappointed.This morning, he just left without even leaving as little as a text or a voicemail behind.Although she tried searching a few extra places to be double sure of the observation, particularly his study. Yet she had found nothing, he was really gone.“Just like that? Was that how it is now?”After letting out a gasp she blinked rapidly as she tried to make sense of the sinking feeling.Soon after that, she stepped back, walked to the nearest

  • His Enemy, My Husband    Chapter 23: Arising Questions

    Over a week had passed since Isla saw a bit of Damien's vulnerable side. They had quietly returned to their normal way of life since then, with neither of them trying to bring the event up.However, despite the pretense, it was so clear that something had changed between them.And this “change” started with no other person but Damien himself.For five straight days now, he has been showing up at Isla’s boutique at exactly 5:00 p.m. He sent No texts. He made no explanations; all he did was appear at the exact time she was closing to pick her up.Three times out of the five times, he had asked in that low, dry voice of his, keeping his gaze straight ahead,“Did you eat today?”And Isla had tried her best to answer back as stiffly as possible. There were no romantic gestures, no flowers, no small talk. Just silence. But it was also obvious that it wasn’t just business anymore.Another unexpected thing that happened during the week was two days ago, which was on Friday.Clarissa, Damien

  • His Enemy, My Husband    Chapter 22: The Man Behind the Wall

    “Something in the air was wrong.”Since the beginning of today, and maybe even a bit of yesterday, Isla had started to notice some weird developments in the mansion.It had nothing to do with the curtains, lighting, or even the decor as a whole.It was about her husband…Damien.The usual routine of his existence, his ever-enduring discipline, had taken a surprising pause.For the first time since they signed the contract, Damien, of all people, did not go to work. And guess what? Today was a Monday.“A proper work day!”Isla was already dressed up for her boutique shift, expecting to find the mansion empty by that hour.But instead, she stepped out of her room to see the young man in the sitting room.“Still in his house clothes.”A sight that until now, she would have classified as close to impossible.Isla remained still for a second, her eyes narrowing in quiet curiosity.Damien was slanted on the couch and by his side was his smartphone buzzing over and again to a call, yet ignor

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