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

Tracking her was child's play—Elena still thought disappearing meant moving quietly. But people always left trails: hotel receipts, cab logs, that one barista who remembered her eyes.

No threat. No ultimatum. Just a truth delivered like a knife beneath the skin.

Damien sat in the black car outside her rundown motel as the sun began to dip. The place was pitiful. Peeling paint, flickering signs, the air reeking of desperation.

This was where she went to be free?

She thought she could outrun something that lived inside her now—him. His hands. His voice. His memory. That kind of imprint didn't fade. It festered. And Damien would be there when it broke her open.

But she opened it with panic in her eyes, the kind that tasted like surrender.

"Pack your things," he said quietly. "You're done running."

"No," she whispered, trying to close the door—but he stopped it with two fingers.

"Elena." His voice was calm, almost gentle. "If I wanted to force you, I already would have."

"I'm not here because I need you, Elena," he said. "I'm here because you need me—and that's what terrifies you."

"Go on. Close the door. Pretend you have control."

No Exist