It started with silence.
Lucien had returned from a long day of meetings and negotiations, exhaustion weighing heavily on his shoulders. The sun had just begun to set, casting a golden hue through the tall windows of the Blackwood estate.
He passed through the hallway near his private study, when something caught his eye.
A painting. One he'd never seen before.
He stopped dead in his tracks.
Framed in ornate gold, the oil painting was breathtakingly detailed. But that wasn't what made his blood run cold.
It was the people in it.
A man, him, unmistakably, stood tall in a sleek tuxedo. Beside him, a woman in a wedding dress smiled with eyes full of love.
It was Ava.
Lucien stepped closer, breath shallow. Every brushstroke confirmed what he already feared: this wasn't a dream or a trick of the light. The painting was real. And intimate.
His hand trembled as he reached for the brass plate below the frame.
"Lucien & Ava Blackwood – Wedding Day"
His heart slammed.
Wedding?
"Who put this here?" he barked suddenly.
A maid jumped behind him. "S-Sir, I don't know. It wasn't here this morning."
Lucien's fists clenched. "Find out."
He stormed into his study, slamming the door behind him. His thoughts spun.
Why would a painting like that exist?Why does her face haunt my dreams?And why the hell does the name Ava Blackwood feel so... right?
📌 Meanwhile… in the servants' quarters
Ava sat on the edge of her bed, pale and breathless.
The painting.
It wasn't supposed to be seen, not yet. She had hidden it for months in the attic, tucked behind boxes, wrapped in cloth. It was the only proof left of their marriage that hadn't been destroyed.
And now someone had placed it on the wall.
"Who's trying to expose me?" she whispered, her voice shaking.
She rushed to the attic.
The dusty boxes were still there. But the corner where she had hidden the painting?
Empty.
Someone had gone through her things.
📌 Back in the mansion halls…
Lucien stared at the painting again.
He reached out and lightly touched her face on the canvas.
"She looks at me like she loves me," he murmured.
He didn't hear the soft steps behind him.
"Lucien?"
He turned.
It was Ava.
Her eyes flicked to the painting… and widened in horror.
Lucien didn't miss it.
"You know something," he said quietly. "You're not just a maid. You're not just someone from my past."
She stepped back, visibly shaken. "Lucien… I…"
"Tell me the truth!" His voice cracked.
But Ava shook her head and turned, fleeing down the hall.
Lucien stood frozen before the painting, the words on the plaque burning into his mind.
Lucien & Ava Blackwood
He touched the ring finger on his left hand.
Was I married to her?
And if so…why was everyone lying to him?