The Possessive Lord's Contract Wife

Damien and Zayne returned to the carriage, then set off for the estate.

"I’m certain there will be someone to speak of seeing us there, so we need to get our stories straight. I know you might be angry that you didn’t get to kill him, but this is best so you don’t get arrested. A lot of people want to see you arrested," said Zayne.

Damien looked out of the window. "I’m still going to kill him. I’m going to let her continue with her little story to keep my name protected, and then I’m going to take him from her hands."

"I should have known this was your plan. You walked away from that without shooting him once. Well, at least your name is cleared for now. While I want you to get your revenge, I don’t want to see you taken from your family," said Zayne, his gaze lingering on Damien.

Zayne studied Damien’s face. "Perhaps now would be a good time to go to your wife. Not to bring her home yet, as there are still matters to face, but to calm you. I’ve never heard you cry out like that."

Zayne worried that Damien still had emotions to let out over the news, and while he was present, he knew he couldn’t comfort Damien as well as Eloise could.

"I am going to visit her tonight. I don’t want to bother her when she might only now be settling in. She deserves to have a little fun," Damien said, though his heart ached to see her now. The thought of her smile was the only calm to his torment, yet he forced himself to wait.

"We both know that Eloise would prefer if you came to her now instead of worrying about her having fun, but I will let you make the choice. I know you want silence, but I have something to say now," Zayne pressed, his voice softening.

"Your parents were good people. They treated me well whenever I came to the estate, and I saw how well they treated others. They didn’t deserve to die over someone else being greedy. I am truly sorry that you had to lose them," Zayne said, the emotions breaking through his composure now that Damien’s rage had eased.

"I don’t know what you feel now, and if you yell at me for what I say next, I completely understand. I want you to get your revenge, but I also want you to be very careful. I remember how eager your father was to teach your duties," Zayne added, then stopped abruptly.

He looked away from Damien to the window. "My apologies for bringing up the past."

Damien’s gaze remained fixed on the window, but he had been listening. "You knew them, and you spent more time than you should have at the estate. You’re allowed to look back and mourn them, but I don’t want to hear it just yet."

"I’m not angry with you," Damien said, shifting to look at Zayne. "I just need it to settle for a moment. Eventually, I need to share this news with my siblings, and I will need to keep them together. So, I just need a moment to calm myself."

"You know, I understand how you need to be when it comes to your siblings, but we’re alone right now. You don’t need to bottle up your emotions before me. You don’t need to be strong before me like I’m one of your siblings," Zayne said earnestly.

"I’m a friend," Zayne reminded Damien. "You can cry before a friend. I’ve done it twice before to you, and you did it once today. I won’t judge you if you cry before me now or even mourn them."

Damien’s lips curved faintly. "I know you like the back of my hand, Zayne. There’s going to be a day when you trouble me by bringing up today and speaking of what occurred."

"I shouldn’t let a good moment like this go to waste. It will be a good time for us to look back and laugh at. Well, for me to laugh at and for you to get annoyed. I hope you would stop treating me like I’m your sibling, even though I am honoured," Zayne said, his smile unknowingly calming what Damien felt.

"But I’m a friend today. I don’t need you withholding your emotions because you’re worried about me needing to lean on you," Zayne added.

"I can’t help it when someone is younger and shorter than I am-"

"I am not shorter than you!" Zayne fired back. "My shoe size is even bigger than your own."

"You used to stuff your shoes to make it look like bigger shoes fit," Damien said, revealing Zayne’s childhood secret with a sly grin. "Your mother told me, so don’t think of denying it."

"Why would she share that with you, and why are you speaking to my mother? You’re the little bird she keeps talking about, aren’t you?" Zayne asked, squinting his eyes suspiciously.

"Your mother writes to me, and since I am not rude, I respond to her. She is fun to speak to since she shares all your childhood secrets with me," Damien said, turning to the window to hide his smile.

"You bastard! You shouldn’t have any secrets from me-"

"You kept that Hayden’s business wasn’t doing well to yourself. I could have brought it up during my meeting with Camille, and then she might have killed him instead of knocking him out," Damien pointed out.

"Right. Wait! Why didn’t you mention it to her now? You just had your chance," Zayne realised, his eyes widening.

"I missed the first opportunity to share it because of you. I’m not going to mess up the second one. She has a story to sell to everyone around her. I’m not going to have her spoil it by being worried about her money. I’m going to share it at the right time," Damien said, already calculating how to use it.

"You’re going to use it to shield yourself from the court. If they think Hayden was taking money from Camille or others, that widens the circle of people he has as enemies. What if we expose that little investment offer, which I think is a scheme?" Zayne wondered.

"Do as you wish. While I believe Camille is done with Hayden, she’ll be careful not to ruin her pretty little reputation around town. She’s not going to want to become a widow or fully expose what he did," Damien concluded.

"But you will. I am curious how you intend to kill him while he is in her care," Zayne said, leaning forward.

Damien smiled, and it showed his usual cunning side. The smile was not joy, but certainty. The kind that chilled Zayne to the bone. "That’s a secret."

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