FORCED TO MARRY THE RUTHLESS BILLIONAIRE IN 9 DAYS

###CHAPTER 10- OBSESSION*

After that night — after their first confession, after their first time — Caspian Sterling became a different man.

Obsessed.

Not the cold, ruthless billionaire who locked his wife in a penthouse. Obsessed like a man who almost lost his whole world in a pool and will never let it happen again.

He wouldn't let anything happen to Elena.

He moved his office to home. He canceled all business trips. He had GPS on her phone — not to control her, but because he panicked if she was 5 minutes late from The Langford Private Clinic. He had a private nurse follow her when she went to see Margaret Alvarez. He had security cameras at every entrance of Sterling Manor and his penthouse.

If she coughed once, he had Dr. Richards on video call.

If she said her knee hurt, he carried her.

He cherished her so much it scared her.

"Caspian, you don't have to come with me to the hospital again, I was just there this morning," Elena laughed one afternoon, trying to leave.

"I know," he said, already grabbing his keys. "But Margaret might miss me. And Rowen said he made soup."

He was obsessed with keeping her safe. With making her feel like a queen every second. He bought her flowers every day. Not from his assistant. He went himself. He kissed her forehead every time she passed him, like he needed to prove to himself she was still there.

And that obsession was exactly what got Vivienne upset and jealous.

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Vivienne Hawthorne was ruined.

After Rowen punished her secretly at the ball — canceling her father's $50 million loan, blacklisting her from every Sterling-funded brand in New York — no one called her anymore. No invites. No covers. Her father screamed at her every night.

And then she saw i********:.

A paparazzi photo: Caspian and Elena at The Langford Private Clinic. Caspian's hand on Elena's waist. Elena glowing. Caspian looking at her like she was air.

The caption: _Ruthless Billionaire Caspian Sterling is officially whipped. Sources say he is obsessed with contract wife Elena Alvarez._

Vivienne threw her phone and shattered her mirror.

"She was supposed to drown," she hissed to herself. "She was supposed to disappear. That poor, fake, charity-case virgin was supposed to leave."

Jealousy turned to poison in her mind.

If she couldn't have Caspian, no one could. If she couldn't destroy Elena in front of everyone at Rowen's pool, she would destroy her where it hurt most.

Her mother.

Vivienne made a call. A dirty call. To a man she knew at The Langford Private Clinic — a temp janitor who was in debt, who would do anything for money.

"I need you to do something for me," Vivienne said on the phone, her voice sweet and deadly. "Margaret Alvarez. Room 412. The woman who just woke up from a coma."

"What do you want me to do?"

"I want you to make her sick again," Vivienne whispered. "I will pay you $100,000. I want you to put something in her food. Inject some substance into her meal when no one is looking. Make her go back to sleep. Make her daughter suffer. Make her leave Caspian to stay with her mother."

The man hesitated. "That's... that's attempted murder."

"It's just to make her sick!" Vivienne snapped. "No one will know! The old woman is already weak! Do it tomorrow at lunch!"

She hung up and transferred the money.

She smiled.

"If Elena loses her mother again, she will break. And Caspian will finally see she is nothing but bad luck. He will come back to me."

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The next day at The Langford Private Clinic.

Elena and Caspian and Rowen were all in Margaret's room. Margaret was better — she was laughing, she was trying to stand with help. Dr. Richards said she was recovering bit by bit, miraculously fast because her daughter was happy.

Lunch arrived. A tray. Soup, bread, juice.

Margaret reached for it.

And Caspian — because he is now obsessed, because he checks everything — stopped her.

"Wait," he said.

Elena frowned. "Caspian?"

Caspian looked at the tray. The soup had a small hole in the foil cover. A tiny puncture mark, like a needle. And the janitor who brought it was walking away too fast, not wearing his ID badge properly, sweating.

Caspian's ruthless billionaire instinct — the instinct that made him survive Rowen's world — kicked in.

"Don't eat that," he said quietly. He pressed the emergency button. "Dr. Richards! Now! And security!"

Rowen stood up immediately.

Elena held her mother's hand, confused and scared. "Mama, don't eat, please —"

Dr. Richards ran in with security. They sealed the tray. They checked the soup.

And Dr. Richards went pale.

Someone had tampered with it.

Rowen looked at Caspian. Caspian looked at the security camera footage on the nurse's iPad — Vivienne's paid man running out the back door.

For the first time since Elena knew him, Caspian Sterling didn't look obsessed.

He looked murderous.

"Find him," Caspian said to Rowen's head of security, his voice ice cold, ruthless in a way Elena had never heard. "Find him. And find who paid him. And bring her to me."

He turned and pulled Elena and Margaret close, his arms shaking.

No one touches his queen. No one touches his family. Not anymore.

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