Chapter one

(Elena POV)

The ballroom glittered with wealth. Diamonds winked under golden chandeliers, champagne fizz bubbled in crystal flutes, and violins sang notes of luxury. I pulled the mask lower over my face with trembling hands and I am trying to breathe, here goes nothing.

Every instinct were screaming for me to run for the heels. I wasn’t a porcelain heiress with a gilded last name. I am an imposter—hiding in satin and silk. But tonight, the “charity bride auction” is my shield. As long as I blend with the other women lined up backstage, they won’t find me.

My heart hammered. Especially him.

Damian Blackwood. The man I am supposed to marry. A billionaire whose name made tycoons tremble. Cold, ruthless, untouchable. I had seen the way he looked at me during our brief engagement meetings—like I was just another piece of asset, another acquisition. And I refuse to be bought.

The curtains lifted. Applause rolled through the crowd.

One by one, we glided onto the stage, gowns shimmering under the lights. Each of us masked, each mysterious, each promised to the highest bidder for the sake of “charity.” My turn came all too soon. My heels clicking like gunshots against the polished floor.

The audience murmured. I could feel their gazes sweeping over my curves, my palm were sweating but I was trying so hard to maintain my posture. Someone called out a bid. Then another. The numbers climbed higher than I ever seen in my life.

And then—

“Ten million.”

His voice cut through the room like a blade. Deep. Unmistakable.

My blood turned to ice. Slowly, against every desperate instinct, I lifted my eyes to the crowd.

Damian Blackwood sat in the front row. No mask. No hesitation. His obsidian gaze pinned me where stood. I couldn’t move, my mind was about to explode. Oh no, not him!!

“Sold,” the auctioneer declared almost instantly, gavel striking with finality. No one dared challenge the offer.

The crowd erupted in applause, but all I can hear is the pounding of my own heart.

Damian rose, unhurried, a dark smile curling at his lips as he strode toward the stage. He looked like a predator claiming his prize.

“Running,” he murmured as he his hands sneaked around my waist, voice low enough for only for me to hear “only made you more expensive, sweetheart.”

The crowd cheered. My mask hid my face, but not the terror in my eyes.

Now, let us back track to why I am in this mess. My family is not on the wealthy side I mean, we manage but with 5 kids, it gets kind of hard to go by and our family is in a lot of debt. Hi my name is Elena and I am the first child. About a month ago, my dad called me into his office and he told me that I am going to be getting married in three month time to the most vicious and cruel man that ever walked the face of the earth. I couldn’t move, I was just staring at my dad like he had grown two heads. What just happened? I thought. No... No... No... No... I can’t be married to him, anyone else, but him. I tried to reason with my father but his decision was final, I am getting married to Damian Blackwood, why me?

So I started plotting, I had to run away, I just had to. I fixed a date when I was going to do it and when the day finally came, I ran. I stayed a motel at the outskirt of town and I laid low for a while until I stumbled upon an auction on my phone; an auction for women to be bought for marriage, I saw this as a great opportunity and immediately I applied. Yes, now you can’t have me anymore, or so I thought.

(Back to the present)

The applause still echoed in my ears as Damian’s hand closed around my wrist, firm and inescapable. He didn’t drag me, not quite—but the quiet authority in his touch made it clear: resistance was useless.

The crowd parted as he led me away from the glittering stage, down a side corridor lined with velvet curtains. Every step felt like a death march.

When the door clicked shut behind them, the noise of the gala died, leaving only the pounding of my heart.

I yanked her hand free, gathering the little that I had. “You can’t just buy me like—like I’m some prize!”

Damian leaned back against the wall, loosening his tie with deliberate ease. His obsidian eyes held mine, sharp enough to pin me in place. “Prize? Don’t flatter yourself. You ran, Elena. And I told you—running only makes the chase more interesting.”

My breath seized. He knew.

“You planned this,” I whispered, fury trembling in my voice. “The auction—”

“Was the perfect trap,” Damian cut in smoothly. “And you stepped into it without hesitation.” He smiled, but there was no warmth in it—only possession. “Did you really think I wouldn’t find you?”

My nails dug into my palms. “I would rather disappear than marry you.”

His expression hardened, the smile vanishing like a mask. “Disappear? Into what? Poverty? Scandal? Do you know how quickly this world would eat you alive without protection?” He pushed off the wall and closed the distance between us in three strides. I felt caged, heat rolling off his tailored suit.

“I don’t want your protection,” I spat.

“You don’t have a choice.” His hand braced against the wall beside my head, caging me in. “Your family owes me everything. Their debts, their mistakes—you are the payment, Elena.”

My stomach dropped. “You’re lying.” No it can’t be true, please tell me it’s a lie.

Damian’s gaze didn’t waver. “No. I’m offering you a bargain. You marry me for one year. One. At the end, you’ll walk away untouched, free, and richer than you ever imagined. But if you run again—” His voice dropped, silken and lethal. “Your family loses everything. And I don’t play games when money is involved.”

My throat tightened. I want to scream, to claw, to bolt—but his words shackles me tighter than his grip ever could.

“Why me?” I whispered hoarsely. “You could have anyone.”

For the first time, something flickered in his eyes. Something dark, unreadable. “Because you’re mine.”

The silence that followed was suffocating. But then I realized the most terrifying part wasn’t that he had trapped me.

It was that a part of me, traitorous and weak, wanted to know what it meant to belong to Damian Blackwood.