Fated Marriage Spoiled by My Ice Billionaire novel Chapter 28

She rushed back to the walk-in closet and discovered he'd already finished putting everything away.

"Hungry?" Damian walked toward her.

"A little." She quickly turned and headed out of the closet.

"You need to stop skipping meals."

"Okay." She couldn't help smiling to herself as she made her way downstairs.

When she got down to the first floor, the maid had already brought out the food.

Isabelle went to the kitchen to wash her hands.

"Mr. Cross is so good to you," the maid whispered in her ear. "He's been waiting this whole time and hasn't touched his food at all."

Isabelle dried her hands and glanced over at Damian.

He was on the phone off to the side, pacing absently, and his eyes happened to meet hers right then.

They both quickly looked away.

*****

"Did you drink your milk today?" Damian put the steak in front of her.

"I did, thanks."

So formal. They didn't feel like a married couple at all, more like they were playing a video game, checking off tasks to level up.

"Turn off your alarm tonight. You don't need to get up so early. We're leaving around ten-thirty tomorrow morning," Damian said.

"Huh?" Isabelle tried to figure out what he meant. "You're coming too?"

"You didn't look at the schedule?" Damian raised his eyes, and his dark gaze made Isabelle's heart jump.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Cross..." She was so nervous she could barely get the words out.

Great. If this were at the office, who knew what kind of hell she'd be catching right now.

"It's fine. Don't worry about looking at it. Just follow my lead when we get there."

Damian finished chewing and seemed to be thinking about something.

Isabelle let out a breath. It felt like she'd just clocked out of work only to clock right back in at home.

Wasn't this making a terrible first impression?

Damian put down his utensils and suddenly seemed to remember something. "Gary's still in the hospital, but someone at the police station buried the case. There's no record of it."

Isabelle's scalp prickled when she heard that, and her knuckles went white around her silverware.

If Gary could get pulled out of that mess, someone with serious power had to be backing him.

"Did you piss someone off?" Damian's eyes were cold and sharp.

Isabelle couldn't bring herself to look at him. She'd wanted to tell him about this a few days ago, but Damian hadn't given her the chance, so she hadn't said anything.

Now that he was asking, Isabelle didn't hold back and told him everything that had happened from start to finish.

Damian laughed quietly.

That was unusual—he was actually smiling in a situation like this.

*****

After his shower, Damian sat at his desk in the study working through files on his computer.

Isabelle settled onto the small couch in the study to work on some sketches.

But her mind was completely empty, and all she could think about were those little gestures Damian had made...

Frustration got the better of her, and she tossed her laptop aside and flopped face-down on the couch.

Damian glanced over at her, and the sight of her perfect figure outlined in that silk loungewear made his throat tighten.

She looked kind of adorable right now.

After a while, Isabelle sat back up, set her sketchpad down, and started searching for something on her computer quietly.

"Damian." She turned her head to look at him.

"Yeah?"

"When we moved last time, where'd you put that box of my sketches?"

She vaguely remembered that Damian had organized some of her things.

He stood up slowly and walked over to the bookshelf display, pulling out a large box.

"You mean this one?"

"Yeah, that's it." Isabelle knelt on the couch and reached out to take the box, treating it like treasure.

"You didn't prepare any portfolio pieces either, did you?" Damian saw right through her.