The next morning, Esther woke to the scent of coffee and silence.
She wasn't used to that.
No maids. No buzzing chefs. No assistant reciting her schedule.Just the quiet hum of Nairobi's skyline and a neatly set breakfast table.
Shawn was already seated, sipping black coffee like it was a ritual. Dressed in a simple grey hoodie and dark jeans, he looked like a college student pulling an all-nighter, not a newlywed with a hidden empire.
"Morning," she said, brushing her hair back as she slid into the chair across from him.
He nodded. "You like eggs?"
"I'm a vegetarian."
He raised a brow. "You ate lamb last night."
She froze.
She had—during their blind date.
"You noticed that?"
"I notice everything," he said simply, then continued eating.
Esther leaned back. "You're weird."
"You married me."
"Touché."
Midway through breakfast, her phone buzzed.It was her uncle.
Uncle Martin.The vulture who'd been circling her father's fortune since the funeral.
She ignored the call.
"You're not going to answer?" Shawn asked, casually.
"No. That man thinks he runs my life."
"You'd be surprised how many people think they run things," he said, staring into his cup like it was a crystal ball.
Esther tilted her head. "You always talk like that?"
"Like what?"
"Like you're thirty percent prophet, twenty percent philosopher, and fifty percent enigma."
He cracked a rare smirk. "You do math when you're nervous?"
She blinked. "What makes you think I'm nervous?"
"You married a stranger and moved into his penthouse in less than twenty-four hours."
He had a point.
She got up, pacing toward the floor-to-ceiling windows. The view of the city below was breathtaking. It made her feel both powerful and small.
"I've made bigger business deals in less time," she said.
"This isn't a deal," Shawn replied quietly. "It's a vow."
She turned. "Don't go getting sentimental on me. This is a contract marriage, remember?"
"For now."
She squinted. "What's that supposed to mean?"
But he didn't answer.
Instead, he stood, took his plate to the sink, and vanished behind the mysterious locked door again.
She stared at the hallway long after he was gone.
What kind of man disappears after breakfast and walks into a room even she isn't allowed to enter?
She had no idea that behind that door…a spiritual realm slept.And within it—so did his power.