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

Not unusual. Elena liked to pretend she still had control. But by the second day, Damien knew it wasn't defiance.

And Damien Vale did not do distance.

He sat in his office, staring at her last message like it was a riddle he hadn't solved. She hadn't blocked him. She hadn't said goodbye. But she hadn't answered. Not once.

He opened his private network. Surveillance. Traffic cams. Payment histories.

That smug, polished, careful man-child with all the warmth Damien never had and none of the power to back it up.

Christopher had once watched Elena from across lecture halls like she was sunlight he didn't deserve to touch. Damien had noticed. Always noticed.

The next photo on the screen made his blood thrum: Elena at a café table, smiling. Smiling.

Christopher leaning in like he had any right to her hands. Her eyes. Her smile.

And Damien sat back in his leather chair, breath steady but rage coiled like a viper beneath the skin.

Let her believe she could breathe without him.

That mistake wouldn't be repeated.

"She's choosing wrong," he muttered to himself. "Again."

She was looking for something safe.

But love—real love—wasn't safe.

And he was the only one willing to burn for her.

Something Shifts