Chapter 1

Elena Rivera clutches into the doorknob of her father’s office, her heart pounding heavily against her chest and she barged into the room.

“How could you do this to me father?,” She demanded as she marched up straight to his study table, her voice cracking between disbelief and anger, but she refused to back down.

Her father, Aaron Rivera didn’t acknowledge her presence. He sat behind is luxury leather table, the same table he uses in sealing big business deals and entwined his fingers together. His grey hair and under eye bags should have made him look vulnerable ,but his usual nonchalant unyielding expression hide any sign of weakness.

“This decision is not up for debate, Elena,” he said flatly. His voice carried the same tone he used when dismissing waitstaff or negotiating a deal. Cold. Calculated. Final.

Elena scoffed and took a shaky step forward, her hands balling into fists at her sides. “Not up for debate? You are practically selling me off like I’m some kind of… of property!”

Aaron’s jaw tightened, the little wrinkles around his mouth deepening. “Enough of your theatrics,” he snapped at her. “You think this is easy for me Elena? Do you think I want to do this? Has it every crossed your mind to know what I’m going through putting you in this situation”

Elena’s lips opened slightly, ready to lash back at her father, but the fire in her chest was extinguished by the sound of pain creeping into his voice. She hated that little flicker of doubt it created.

“I have done everything I could to protect this family,” Aaron continued, his tone a lot more softer now but no less final. “But it’s not enough, it never is. The Rivera name is drowning in debt, and everything is out of my hand. Adrian Cross is the only man who can save us now, and you’ll be damned to think I will let this opportunity slip away.”

Adrian Cross. That’s what this whole drama is all about.

Elena’s heart sank, her stomach twisting into knots. She had heard the name whispered in business circles, exclusive parties, attached to rumors of ruthless ambition and unimaginable wealth. He was a man people feared, admired, and avoided all at once. Although she hadn’t met him, she could tell that he was a no nonsense person, just his name had the power to silent a room. But marriage? To a stranger?

“This is absurd, Father!” she shouted, her voice cracking. “I am not some bargaining chip for you to trade, this is my life and I will decide what I do and who I get married to!”

Aaron slammed his fist on the desk, making her flinch. “Do you think I do not know that? Do you think I want this for you? For us? But you are too young, too naive to understand what is at stake. Without Adrian, everything falls apart, everything that I have spent my entire life building. Everything, Elena!”

The room felt like it was spinning in the opposite direction. Her legs felt weak, her breath shallow, she could hear her heart pounding in her chest. “I’d rather starve than be sold off to a man like him,” she muttered, though even as she said it, she was not sure she believed it.

The tension in the room was suffocating. Aaron’s expression hardened further, his eyes narrowing as if he wanted to scold her for being so dramatic, so inconsiderate. But before either of them could say another word, the sound of the door creaking behind her broke the silence.

“Elena Rivera, I presume.”

The voice was smooth, deep, and carried an edge of authority that demanded attention.

Elena spun around so quickly she almost lost her balance. Her breath caught in her throat as her gaze landed on the man standing in the doorway.

Adrian Cross.

He looked like he had stepped straight out of a magazine—no, a movie. Tall, impossibly tall, with broad shoulders and a perfectly tailored suit that looked like it cost more than her father’s entire study. His dark hair was neatly combed back, and his sharp cheekbones could have been chiseled by an artist. But it was his eyes that held her captive: cold, piercing amber eyes that seemed to look straight through her, as if he could see every secret she was hiding.

Adrian leaned casually against the doorframe, his hands tucked into his pockets. A faint smirk danced on his lips, but there was nothing warm or friendly about it. If anything, it made him look even more dangerous.

“Your father didn’t tell me you were so… passionate,” he said, his voice like silk.

Elena’s cheeks burned with resentment. “Oh really, and he didn’t tell me you had the manners of a thief.”

Aaron sucked in a sharp breath, but Adrian didn’t seem the least bit fazed. In fact, his smirk only deepened.

“I didn’t steal anything, Ms. Rivera,” he said smoothly, stepping into the room. “Your father offered, and I gladly accepted. If you have a problem with that, perhaps you should take it up with him.”

Elena opened her mouth to retort, but the words caught in her throat. Her mind was racing too fast to form a rational sentence.

Adrian closed the distance between them with slow yet calculated steps, his eyes never leaving hers. Each step made her heart pound louder, her body screaming at her to run away, to leave, to do anything but stand there frozen like a deer in headlights.

He stopped just inches away, his towering frame making her feel small and insignificant. “Tell me, Ms. Rivera,” he said, his voice dropping to a low, almost mocking tone. “What exactly did you think would happen when you walked in here, shouting and stomping like a little child?”

“I..I thought,” she began, her voice trembling, “that I would be able to talk some sense into my father before he handed me over to monster like you.”

Adrian’s smirk immediately vanished, replaced by a cold, unreadable expression. For a moment, she thought she had struck a nerve, but then he leaned in, his face so close she could feel the heat of his breath against her skin.

“You will learn soon enough,” he murmured, “that over here in my world, sense is overrated. In my world, I get what I want. And right now, Ms. Rivera, I want you.”

Her breath hitched, her pulse racing. She wanted to scream at him, to tell him he was a monster, but no sound came out. All she could do was stare into those cold, ruthless eyes and wonder how she had ended up here.

“Now,” Adrian said, stepping back and straightening out his suit as if none of this had happened. “I suggest you save the dramatics for someone who cares, Ms. Rivera. You and I have a deal to discuss.”

With that, he turned on his heel and walked toward her father’s desk, leaving Elena standing there, trembling, her world crashing down around her.