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

The night air was crisp as Christopher stepped out of the café, coat draped over one arm, his phone buzzing with Elena's name lighting up the screen.

She was beginning to trust him. Let him hold her pain without flinching. He didn't expect her to fall overnight, but he saw the way she looked at him—like maybe, just maybe, he was her safe place.

But that illusion ended in a single breath.

The moment the streetlight flickered out.

The silence grew too loud. A chill crawled across the back of his neck just as he reached his car. He turned instinctively, but the sidewalk was empty.

He laughed softly, shaking his head. Paranoia.

And then he saw him—reflected in the side mirror.

A shadow, tall and composed, standing right behind him.

Christopher barely had time to turn before a hand gripped the back of his neck and slammed him into the door. Not once. Not twice.

"Do you know who I am?" the voice was silk wrapped around steel.

Christopher groaned, struggling, but the grip tightened like a vice.

Christopher coughed. "Damien... Vale."

The name tasted like rust on his tongue.

Damien finally let go. Not out of mercy—out of calculation.

He crouched beside him as Christopher slid to the ground, wiping blood from his lip.

"I let you play house," Damien said, voice low. "I watched you touch what's mine. I saw you kiss her. Lie to her. Pretend you could protect her."

"And now," Damien continued, pulling out a handkerchief to clean his glove, "I'm giving you one chance to walk away."

Christopher looked up, dazed but defiant. "She won't choose you."

Damien smiled. Not with warmth—but with a promise.

He leaned closer, whispered like a lover sharing a secret.

"She just has to suffer when you bleed."

And then he walked away, leaving Christopher broken—and Elena in danger of loving the wrong man again.

The Warning