The Wife He Never Meant to Love (Lila and Damon) novel Chapter 39

11:56 Mon, May 4

Chapter 39

Chapter 39

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“Damon… can we return to Forest Villa?” Lila asked softly, breaking the heavy silence inside the car.

Damon didn’t take his eyes off the road. “No,” he answered firmly. “You said last time Forest Villa is not your home.”

Lila pressed her lips together. This dog really is a headache, she sighed inwardly.

“I mean…” she tried again, choosing her words carefully, “in Forest Villa we can be on our own. No one will bother us.”

“Bother us for what?” Damon asked, glancing at her briefly.

“You know… some privacy,” Lila replied, keeping her tone even.

“Does my parents invade your privacy?” Damon shot back calmly.

“No,” she admitted. “I mean… for our privacy.”

The car slowed at a traffic light. Damon finally turned his head fully toward her, studying her face as if weighing something unspoken.

“Our privacy,” he repeated quietly.

Lila swallowed. “Yes.”

A faint smirk tugged at his lips. “You’re the one who said we’re almost done with our contract. Why are you suddenly concerned about our privacy?”

Lila felt cornered but refused to show it. “Because if we’re going to talk about serious matters,” she said carefully, “it’s better without an audience.”

Damon’s

eyes darkened slightly. “Serious matters… like divorce?”

Her fingers tightened over her phone. She didn’t answer.

The light turned green, and the car moved forward again.

After a moment, Damon spoke, his voice lower now. “Forest Villa is empty for a reason.”

“And what reason is that?” Lila asked.

He didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he drove on in silence, the tension between them no longer just about location-but about something much deeper neither of them was fully ready to confront.

“We can go back to Forest Villa,” Damon said after a long stretch of silence, his voice calm but deliberate. “And talk about divorce… on one condition.”

11:56 Mon, May 4

Chapter 39

Lila’s heart skipped. “And what is the condition?” she asked carefully.

Another pause.

“Give the Blackthorne family an heir.”

Lila almost choked on her own breath. “What?”

“No heir,” Damon continued evenly, eyes fixed on the road, “no divorce.”

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“Are you kidding me?” Lila snapped, her composure cracking. “There is a reason why I included a clause that we would not consummate this marriage!”

“Yes,” Damon replied coolly. “But remember-you’re the one who initiated it.”

The memory hit her instantly.

The night they first crossed the line.

The night she had lost control.

The night logic and pride had both failed her.

“You were the one who begged,” Damon added quietly, his voice lower now-not mocking, not amused. Just factual.

Lila’s cheeks burned. “That doesn’t change the contract,” she shot back.

“The contract changed the moment you did,” Damon replied.

Silence fell again, heavier this time.

“You can’t be serious,” Lila whispered. “You’re asking me to have a child… just so you’ll sign a divorce?”

“I’m asking you,” Damon corrected, “to fulfill something real before you walk away.”

She stared at him in disbelief. “A child isn’t leverage, Damon.”

“No,” he agreed softly. “It isn’t.”

The car slowed as they neared the estate gates.

“But you want an exit,” he continued. “And I want an heir. That’s my condition.”

Lila felt her pulse in her throat. This wasn’t teasing. This wasn’t performance.

This was strategy.

“You’re turning a marriage into a negotiation again,” she said bitterly.

Damon finally looked at her fully. “It was always a negotiation.”

11:57 Mon, May 4

Chapter 39

The gates opened.

And for the first time since the contract began, Lila realized-

The exit she thought was simple.

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The mansion was silent, wrapped in the heavy hush of midnight. Moonlight spilled through the tall windows, painting silver lines across the dark mahogany floors.

Lila stared at the ceiling.

Sleep would not come.

Beside her, Damon lay perfectly still, one arm tucked beneath his head, the other resting lazily across his chest. His breathing was slow-controlled-but she knew better than to think he was fully asleep.

“In the still of the night,” he murmured, voice rough with drowsy amusement, “if you still have that much energy… perhaps we could start creating an heir.”

His eyes remained closed.

His palm, however, slid idly into her hair, fingers threading through the silken strands as though the gesture were absentminded. Possessive. Intimate.

Lila’s jaw tightened.

She turned her head slightly, enough to look at him though his eyes were still shut. “You know,” she said sweetly, a grin curving her lips, “you could ask Maddy to give you an heir.”

Damon’s fingers stilled for half a second.

“After all,” Lila continued lightly, “you two are childhood sweethearts.”

Silence.

“It’s a win-win situation,” she added. “You can finally be with her-especially after she dumped you. I mean… when she decided she wasn’t ready to be Mrs. Blackthorne.”

The air in the room shifted.

The teasing warmth drained into something sharper. Colder.

“Why,” Damon asked quietly, “would you bring up Maddy in our contract?”

His tone was calm. Too calm.

He was still lying there with his eyes closed, as though the conversation bored him.

But Lila knew that tone.

Slowly-deliberately-Damon opened his eyes.

11:57 Mon, May 4

Chapter 39

Dark. Focused. Piercing.

He turned his head just enough to look directly at her.

“Or,” he said softly, voice lowering, “are you jealous of Maddy?”

The question lingered between them.

Lila’s grin faltered for a fraction of a second.

Only a fraction.

Outside, the wind brushed against the glass. Inside, the silence felt far less peaceful than before.

And suddenly, sleep was the last thing either of them wanted.

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“Aren’t you worried,” Lila pressed, her voice deceptively light, “that your darling Maddy will be brokenhearted and decide to leave again?”

Damon did not blink.

“Well,” she continued, propping herself up on one elbow, “she already said she wasn’t ready to be Mrs. Blackthorne. I doubt she’s ready to bear a child either.”

A muscle ticked in Damon’s jaw.

“You need an heir,” Lila said coolly. “That’s the entire purpose of this contract, isn’t it?”

This time, Damon pushed himself upright. The sheets rustled as he leaned back against the headboard, eyes dark and unreadable.

“She said she wasn’t ready to be Mrs. Blackthorne,” he replied evenly. “That does not mean she isn’t capable of being one.”

Lila laughed softly. “Is that what you tell yourself?”

Damon’s gaze sharpened. “You will give me an heir,” he said, his voice firm now-no longer teasing, no longer lazy. “And I will give you a divorce.”

The words landed between them like a signed document.

Cold. Final.

Lila stared at him.

For a moment, something flickered behind her eyes-hurt, disbelief, maybe even anger-but it vanished beneath a bright, brittle smile.

“Oh,” she said lightly. “So that’s the plan?”

She slipped out of bed, the silk of her nightgown whispering against the floor as she stood.

11:57 Mon, May 4

Chapter 39

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“Or perhaps,” she continued, turning to face him fully, “after we divorce, you and Maddy will become the mother and father of my child.”

Her voice rose slightly, edged with something no longer playful.

“Now I see,” she added, her composure cracking just enough to reveal the sting beneath, “you truly are heartless, Mr. Blackthorne.”

Damon’s expression darkened.

“Lila-”

But she was already walking away.

She didn’t run.

She didn’t slam the door.

She simply left.

The soft click of the bedroom door closing echoed louder than any shout.

Moments later, the faint sound of another door opening down the corridor-the guest room.

Then silence.

Damon remained seated on the bed, hands clenched in the sheets, staring at the empty space where she had been.

“Heartless,” he muttered under his breath.

Yet for a man accused of having no heart at all, the tightness in his chest told a different story.

And for the first time that night, Damon Blackthorne did not look untouchable.

11:57 Mon, May 4