Lashirah_Hash

> He saw her once—and that was enough.

Elena Rivers was just a waitress at a high-end gala she didn’t belong to, filling in for someone else's shift. She didn’t know her spilled glass of champagne would be the moment Damien Vale—billionaire, recluse, and dangerously obsessive—noticed her.

He never spoke to her. Not then. But he watched.

And when he wanted her closer, he made it happen.

Now, Elena is working directly under him, unaware that the life she thinks she controls is already entangled in the hands of a man who doesn't just want her—he needs her.

He’s patient. He’s powerful. And he’s been planning this from the moment she walked into his view.

OBSESSION IN SILENCE

He could feel it. Sense it, like a string pulled taut between them. Elena Rivers had opened the box—held the collar in her hand. And though she had dropped it, she had looked at it.

Damien sat in his private study, the room dim except for the golden fire licking shadows across the walls. He stared at a surveillance still—grainy, black-and-white, paused on the moment her fingers grazed the velvet.

The look on her face—shock, conflict, heat. Need.

"You remember," he whispered, tracing her image with one finger.

All those years and she had tried to erase him. Pretend. Run.

He reached for the glass of scotch beside him, untouched. He didn't need it tonight. The fire in his blood was enough. It wasn't just desire—it was obsession, curated, sharpened over time. Elena was the only thing in this world that made him feel alive.

She was scared. But she was curious too.

He pulled open a drawer and retrieved a sealed envelope. Inside: a black card with silver lettering. No instructions. Just an address. A date. A time. Friday. Midnight.

He slid the envelope into a padded courier bag and tapped it once.

Damien leaned back in his chair, a slow smile unfurling.

"I'll make you beg, Elena," he murmured, voice low and reverent. "And you'll hate how much you love it."

He closed his eyes and pictured her—skin flushed, breath caught, soul unraveling.

And this time, he'd take it piece by piece… until there was nothing left but him.

The Game Begins