Chapter 6 From Now On, She's a Blackwood

After the wedding, Elena thought she'd finally be able to leave the Blackwood estate.

Then the butler stopped her in the foyer.

"Dinner is ready, Mrs. Blackwood."

That was when Elena realized a private wedding didn't mean there wouldn't be another round of scrutiny.

Only a handful of the Blackwood family's inner circle sat around the long dining table. There was no celebration in the room, no real warmth for the new bride.

The Vales had already left. Even Richard hadn't stayed.

Elena wasn't particularly uneasy.

Compared to being locked inside a wedding car the day before, she was clearheaded now. She had her phone, and she knew she could leave whenever she wanted.

Adrian sat to her right, still wearing the black half-mask.

At first, the others asked polite, meaningless questions. No one mentioned the sudden bride switch directly, but the occasional glances in Elena's direction made one thing obvious.

Everyone was waiting for someone else to say it first.

It didn't take long.

A man approached with a wineglass in hand.

"Damon Blackwood." He held out his hand with an easy smile. "Adrian's cousin. Nice to finally meet the bride who made the Vales rewrite the marriage agreement at the last minute."

Elena shook his hand once and let go.

"You seem very invested in the wedding."

"Hard not to be when a family alliance changes brides overnight." Damon took the empty seat on her left. "Especially when everyone had been told Maya was the bride, and then you were the one who walked down the aisle."

The table went quiet for half a second.

Elena didn't react.

"If you're interested in the Vales' contract procedures, ask the attorneys."

Damon laughed.

"I'm just curious. You haven't appeared at many Vale events since you were seventeen. The Westchester equestrian season, the foundation galas, last year's winter auction—I don't remember seeing you at any of them."

Every question sounded casual.

Every one of them reminded her that these people knew the version of the Vale family presented to the world.

A version she'd been shut out of years ago.

"Then your memory's fine." Elena picked up her water. "I wasn't there."

"Why not?"

"Because I have my own life."

"Your design work?"

Elena glanced at him.

She didn't remember telling anyone in the Blackwood family what she did for a living.

Damon's smile widened.

"Relax. I only heard you insisted on keeping your job after the wedding. Most people marrying into the Blackwood family start by wondering what the name can do for them."

Elena wasn't surprised he'd looked into her. She simply filed the information away.

"Maybe that's because I never planned on living off a last name."

"Not even your husband's?"

There it was.

The real point of the conversation.

Damon leaned back, his gaze sliding past her toward Adrian.

"Everyone says he dropped out of the succession race after the accident three years ago. Lost his face, most of his influence with it. I can understand why the woman the Vales originally chose didn't want the marriage."

Elena's hand paused around her glass.

Adrian didn't react. He kept cutting into his food as if Damon hadn't spoken.

"So I'm curious." Damon looked back at her. "Why did you agree?"

Someone at the other end of the table lowered their eyes to their drink.

Apparently, dinner had never really been about welcoming the bride.

Elena set down her glass.

"You're wrong about one thing."

"Which one?"

"I'm not sitting here because of how much power he does or doesn't have."

She glanced at Adrian.

"So far, at least, he hasn't forced me to do anything."

Adrian finally looked up.

Their eyes met briefly.

Damon smiled.

"Defending your husband already?"

"I'm not defending him." Elena's voice stayed even. "I'm correcting you."

Damon swirled the champagne in his glass.

"In that case, how about a toast to the newlyweds?"

The server started forward, but Elena covered the top of her glass with one hand.

"No, thanks."

Damon ignored her and poured half a glass himself before sliding it toward her.

"It's your wedding day. One sip won't kill you."

The smell of champagne reached her, and Elena's stomach tightened on instinct.

Yesterday was still too fresh.

She didn't touch the glass.

"I said no."

Damon nudged it closer.

Elena reached to push it away, but he caught her wrist as though it were all some harmless joke.

Her entire body went rigid.

A second later, another hand locked around Damon's wrist.

Adrian hadn't even stood up.

"Let her go."

Damon's smile disappeared.

"It's just a drink."

"She said no."

"Adrian, you can't seriously be this worked up over a joke—"

Adrian's fingers tightened.

Damon's expression finally changed.

"She said no." Adrian lifted his eyes to his cousin. "Do you not understand the word, or do I need to explain it another way?"

The table went completely silent.

Damon stared at him for two seconds before finally releasing Elena.

Adrian let go as well, then picked up the champagne in front of her and poured it straight into the ice bucket beside the table.

"Now you understand."

Damon's face darkened.

"You're embarrassing me in my own home over a woman you've known for one day?"

Adrian leaned back in his chair.

"You grabbed my wife."

"So?"

"So when she says no, she doesn't need anyone else's permission."

Elena went still.

He hadn't said she belonged to him.

He hadn't said don't touch my woman.

He'd said her no didn't require anyone else's approval.

Damon shoved back his chair and left the table.

Someone tried to smooth things over, muttering that the joke had gone too far.

Adrian didn't respond. He simply told the butler to remove the glass.

Elena didn't thank him.

But she understood the difference.

No one tested her again for the rest of dinner.

The looks around the table had changed, though.

Before, they'd been looking at the Vale daughter unexpectedly substituted into a family alliance.

Now they were looking at Adrian's wife.

Dinner ended earlier than planned.

It wasn't until Elena stepped into the hallway that she noticed the faint red marks around her wrist.

Adrian noticed too.

"Does it hurt?"

"No." She hesitated. "You didn't have to step in back there. I could've handled it."

"I know."

"Then why—"

Adrian moved one step closer.

The corridor was dim, and suddenly the eyes above his mask were much too close.

Elena almost stepped back before she realized his hand had stopped beside her wrist without actually touching her.

"I know you could handle it," he said. "But that's my family."

"So?"

"So if they make you uncomfortable, that's my problem."

For a moment, Elena didn't know what to say.

He was too close.

Close enough for her to catch that familiar cedar scent again.

Images from the night before flashed through her mind before she could stop them.

She looked away.

"You're making it very easy for me to mistake you for a decent husband."

Adrian gave a low laugh.

"We've been married for a few hours. Isn't that a little early to judge?"

"Then consider yourself under observation."

"Fair."

By the time they reached the foyer, Adrian had collected his coat.

But instead of deciding where she would spend the night, he asked,

"Do you want to stay here, or come with me?"

Elena looked at him.

"There's somewhere else?"

"An apartment in Manhattan. A house by the lake. Or here." He paused. "Your choice."

Elena glanced back at the brightly lit estate.

These people knew the Vale marriage agreement.

They knew Richard's business.

They knew pieces of a life she'd stopped being part of years ago.

But none of them actually knew her.

She looked back at Adrian.

"The lake."

He nodded without another question and opened the car door for her.

Elena stopped beside it for a second.

Yesterday, she'd been shoved into a wedding car, her phone taken from her, without even knowing where she was being driven.

Today, she had chosen the destination herself.

She got into the back seat.

Adrian climbed in after her.

Just before the door closed, Elena heard him tell the driver,

"The lake."

The car pulled away from the Blackwood estate.

Elena watched the lights disappear behind them and suddenly realized something.

For the first time since the wedding car, getting into one didn't feel like surrendering control.