Possession

**Alexander’s POV**

She was still asleep when I woke.  

The first thing I saw was her hair, a wild dark curtain spilling over my pillow, and the curve of her shoulder half-hidden beneath the sheets. The city outside glowed with the first light of dawn, but it was nothing compared to her.  

Isabella.  

Five years, and still she had the power to undo me with nothing more than the sound of her breathing.  

I had told myself that if I ever had her again, I would not let go. Last night, I proved it. I took her, claimed her, reminded her of who she belonged to. And now, with the soft weight of her body pressed against mine, I knew there was no turning back.  

She thought she could resist me. She thought she could walk away. But she had surrendered, and surrender changed everything.  

I leaned on one elbow, studying her face. Even in sleep, there was tension around her mouth, as if her dreams were not peaceful. Guilt? Fear? Both, probably. Isabella was always a storm beneath the surface.  

But storms could be tamed.  

I brushed a strand of hair from her cheek. She stirred, her lashes fluttering, and then those wide brown eyes opened, finding me immediately. For a heartbeat, something raw flashed across her face—vulnerability, maybe even longing. Then the walls slammed back up.  

“Good morning, Mrs. Knight,” I murmured.  

Her lips parted, but no sound came. She sat up slowly, clutching the sheet to her chest as though she could hide from me.  

“You don’t get to call me that,” she said hoarsely.  

I smiled faintly. “And yet, you didn’t deny it.”  

Her glare could have cut glass. “Last night was a mistake.”  

I reached for her hand, prying her fingers off the sheet until her knuckles loosened. “No, Isabella. Last night was inevitable.”  

She pulled away, slipping out of bed, her bare feet whispering across the hardwood as she searched for her clothes. I watched her—every graceful, defiant movement—and felt the hunger stir again. I wanted to drag her back into bed and remind her how easily she came undone beneath me.  

But I held still. Control was a weapon, and I had mastered it long ago.  

You think this changes anything?” she asked, tugging her dress over her head with trembling hands. “You think you can bully me into playing wife?”  

I rose, unhurried, and crossed the room to her. She tried to back away, but I caught her chin, tilting her face up until her eyes locked with mine.  

“You agreed to marry me,” I said softly. “You gave me your body. You let me inside you again. Don’t pretend it meant nothing.”  

Her jaw tightened. “It meant survival. That’s all.”  

My lips brushed her ear as I whispered, “Survival, obsession, love—call it whatever you want. You’re mine now. And I don’t share.”  

She shivered, her breath hitching despite herself. I felt it, the war raging inside her—the pull of hatred, the pull of desire. She could lie with her words, but her body never lied.  

She shoved me back suddenly, fire flashing in her eyes. “I don’t belong to you, Alexander. Not anymore.”  

I let her push me. I let her think she had space. It didn’t matter. She would learn soon enough that fighting me only drew her deeper into my orbit.  

She grabbed her purse from the chair and stormed toward the door. For a moment, I considered stopping her. But no—let her go. Let her think she was free. The more she struggled, the sweeter her surrender would be.  

When the door slammed behind her, the silence pressed heavy around me. I stood there, staring at the spot where she had been, my chest tight with a hunger I couldn’t name.  

Five years ago, she had run. I hadn’t chased her. Pride had stopped me. But I wasn’t the same man anymore. I had built an empire brick by brick, I had destroyed rivals without blinking, I had turned my name into a dynasty.  

And now I had her again.  

This time, I wouldn’t let pride, or fear, or anything else steal her from me.  

---  

By mid-morning, I was back in my office, but my mind wasn’t on the numbers glowing across the screen. Every report blurred into images of Isabella—the defiance in her eyes, the softness of her lips, the way she whispered my name when she broke apart in my arms.  

I had waited five years to feel that again. I would wait no longer.  

My intercom buzzed. “Mr. Knight, there’s a problem at the Reyes account.”  

I smiled faintly. Of course there was. Her father’s company was drowning, and I held the only lifeline. And Isabella knew it.  

“Schedule a meeting,” I said. “With Isabella present.”  

“Understood.”  

I leaned back in my chair, steepling my fingers. The game was unfolding exactly as I intended. She would fight me, yes. She would scream, argue, claw for escape. But every path led back to me. Every choice tightened the noose.  

She thought she could keep her secrets hidden. But I had built my empire on exposing secrets, on prying open the cracks people tried to bury. I had resources, investigators, leverage. And I would use them all.  

Whatever she was hiding, I would uncover it.  

And when I did, nothing would stand between us.  

---  

That evening, I stood at the window of my penthouse, watching the city burn with lights. The glass reflected my face back at me, hard and controlled, but beneath it, a man consumed.  

I had always been relentless in business. But with Isabella, it was more than strategy. It was instinct. It was survival of my own soul.  

I thought back to the night she left me five years ago—the slammed door, the echoing silence, the raw hole she had carved in me. I had sworn never again. Never again would I let someone get close enough to destroy me.  

But Isabella had never truly left. She had haunted every deal, every night, every dream. And when she walked back into my boardroom, fury burning in her eyes, I knew she had been mine all along.  

I would marry her. I would bind her to me so tightly she could never run again. And if I had to burn down everything in her world to keep her, I would.  

Because Alexander Knight never loses.  

And this time, I was playing for keeps.