POV: Ella
When the limousine doors opened in front of the exclusive "Obsidian" club, the camera flashes blinded me so intensely that I instinctively recoiled. This wasn't an ordinary party. It was a gathering of predators in tuxedos, and I was the freshest prey put on public display.
"Don't you dare lower your head," Kaiden's low, commanding voice vibrated right against my ear.
He stepped out first and offered me his hand. His palm was large, hot, and steady. The moment my fingers brushed his skin, an electric charge surged through my body again, stealing my breath. Kaiden didn't just help me out—he authoritatively pulled me to his side by my waist, claiming me in his embrace before hundreds of lenses.
His hand on my bare back felt like a searing brand. I could feel every single one of his fingers against my skin.
"Smile, Ella. Tonight, you are the most expensive woman in this city. Let them see that I spare no expense for what belongs to me."
We moved along the red carpet. I felt thousands of eyes on me. Women watched with stinging envy; men with undisguised hunger. But the moment Kaiden's icy gaze brushed over someone, they looked away. He was the alpha in this concrete jungle, and everyone knew it.
Inside, "Obsidian" resembled a modern temple of luxury: crystal chandeliers hanging from steel chains, black marble, and live music that made my chest vibrate.
"I can't breathe when you hold me like this," I whispered, trying to pull away slightly.
Kaiden only tightened his grip, forcing my hips flush against his powerful legs. His lips nearly grazed my earlobe.
"You don't need to breathe on your own. Every breath you take is under my control now, remember?"
The orchestra changed tempo. A tango began—aggressive, passionate, full of hidden struggle. Kaiden didn't ask for permission. He simply led me to the center of the ballroom.
It wasn't a dance. It was a duel. His movements were precise and dominant. He led me as if my body were an extension of his own. When he sharply dipped me back, supporting me with only one hand at the small of my back, my heart nearly leapt out of my chest. I saw only his dark eyes, where actual gold seemed to burn now.
"Do you hate me, Ella?" he whispered, pulling me back up and pressing me so close I could feel the heavy thud of his heart.
"More than anything in the world," I exhaled, though my fingers instinctively gripped his shoulders tighter, feeling the steel muscles beneath the expensive fabric of his tuxedo.
"Liar," he murmured, dragging his nose along my neck, inhaling my perfume mixed with the scent of fear and arousal. "Your body screams something else. You're trembling from my touch, and it's not fear. It's hunger. The same hunger I have."
He leaned even lower, and I was certain he would kiss me right there, in front of all of New York's elite. My lips parted involuntarily, waiting for it... But Kaiden stopped a millimeter from my skin. His smirk was more painful than a slap. He knew I wanted it. And he intended to torment me with this unexpected refusal.
"Kaiden! What a magnificent toy you've brought tonight."
We stopped. A man in his forties with an oily gaze and a glass of expensive whiskey approached us. Julian Vargas—Kaiden's chief rival and a man whose name my father always uttered with a shudder.
Julian shamelessly took my hand and pressed it to his lips, lingering far too long. I felt Kaiden's body beside me turn into a taut wire.
"Ella Reynolds..." Julian squinted, examining me with a strange, almost recognizing expression. "I knew your mother. She was an incredible woman. Though... she always had a weakness for men who couldn't protect her."
Kaiden intercepted my hand, literally tearing it from Julian's fingers. His voice turned so low and dangerous that a vacuum seemed to form around us.
"Your presence here is a mistake, Julian. You should mind your own debts rather than my woman."
"Yours?" Julian laughed, but there was no mirth in his eyes. "You think a billion dollars makes you the owner of her soul?"
He took a step toward me, seizing the moment when Kaiden was distracted by a waiter approaching with an urgent message.
"You look so much like her, Ella... But Thomas Reynolds never had a right to such beauty. He was always just a temporary guardian of someone else's treasures. Ask your 'master' whose blood actually runs in your veins. And ask where the woman who gave you those eyes disappeared to."
The world around me swayed. A temporary guardian? What did that mean?
Kaiden returned, instantly sensing the change in my state. He drove Julian away with a single look, and the man departed, casting one last cryptic glance at me.
"What did he say to you?" Kaiden gripped my chin, forcing me to look at him. His eyes were full of fury and... jealousy?
"Nothing... just nonsense about my mother," I lied, though everything inside me was screaming with uncertainty.
Dinner was a torture. Every move I made was judged. When one of the ladies present, the wife of some oil tycoon, decided to "accidentally" bump into me while passing by, splashing white wine onto my dress, I froze in shame.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, dear," she spat with a fake smile. "I'm just not used to seeing 'merchandise' at events like this."
The room went silent. I felt tears pricking my eyes. But Kaiden didn't let me fall. He rose slowly, and his mere presence made the woman turn pale.
"Mark," he addressed his assistant, never taking his eyes off my offender. "What is the name of her husband's company?"
"Petro-Global, sir."
"Buy it. Right now. And fire her husband before we finish dessert."
A whisper of horror rippled through the hall. In one minute, he had destroyed a family's entire life just because they insulted me. It was madness. It was absolute, unchecked power.
"Let's go," he snapped at me.
He grabbed my hand and pulled me across the hall to the exit onto a dark terrace, where a night garden was in bloom. As soon as the doors closed behind us, cutting off the noise of the crowd, he pinned me against the wall. The cold of the marble and the heat of his body—I was trapped.
"Are you looking for the truth from others, Ella?" he growled, his face an inch from mine. "Are you listening to losers like Julian?"
"He said my father is just a guardian! Kaiden, what does that mean? Who am I? Why did you really buy me?"
Kaiden slammed his fist against the wall next to my head, making me flinch.
"Because I couldn't stand the thought of you belonging to anyone else!" he erupted, and there was so much pain and passion in that shout that it stole my breath. "I waited years for you to be old enough so I could legally take you. You aren't merchandise, Ella. You are my fate, which I tore from the claws of others."
His gaze dropped to my lips. This time, he wasn't going to stop.
"Do you want to know the truth?" he whispered, his hand sliding under my chin, tilting it up. "The truth is that I am the only person in this world who will never let you fall. Even if I have to burn the whole world down to do it. Listen only to me. Feel only me."
He leaned in, and his lips finally crashed onto mine.
It wasn't a gentle kiss. It was an explosion. It was a fire that instantly incinerated all my defenses. He kissed me hungrily, possessively, as if he wanted to drink in my breath and replace it with his own. My hands instinctively tangled in his hair, pulling him closer. I hated him, I feared him, but in that moment, I wanted only one thing—for him never to let go.
He pulled away from my lips for only a second, breathing hard. His forehead rested against mine.
"Say it," he commanded hoarsely. "Say that you want to belong to me."
I opened my mouth to answer, but at that moment, a muffled voice came from the door.
"Mr. Wolf..."