Chained to his love

Chapter 2

Chapter 2 – The Unwanted Morning

The morning light spilled through velvet curtains, warm and golden. Elena stirred, her head pounding, her throat dry, her body heavy as if chained to the mattress.

Her lashes fluttered open, but the room she found herself in wasn’t hers. The walls were dark mahogany, lined with shelves of leather-bound books. The air smelled faintly of cedar wood and power.

Her gaze fell on the man seated near the window, his suit jacket off, his white shirt perfectly pressed. Damian Blackwood.

The events of the night returned to her in fragments—her tears, her drunken pleas, the way she had clung to him as if he were the last solid thing in a world collapsing around her, which she tightened her arms around his neck if it’s loosened her world would vanish.

Panic jolted through her. She pushed herself upright, clutching the silk blanket against her chest. “W-what am I doing here?” “can not you send my house or hotel?” she asked Damian .

Damian’s eyes flicked to her, sharp and unyielding. “You passed out in my car. Do you expect me to leave you on the street?” “and I can’t send you to hotel because I don’t want to be headline with you in that situation, bringing you to my house I thought it will be saved .”

His voice was calm, but there was an edge to it—an edge that made her feel both safe and threatened all at once.

“I… I shouldn’t be here,” she whispered, her voice hoarse. “I should go home.”

“You think you can just walk out?” Damian leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Do you even realize the storm you’ve walked into?”

Her brows knit in confusion. “Storm?”

He reached for the morning paper lying on the table and tossed it onto the bed. Her heart nearly stopped as her eyes landed on the headline.

Heiress Elena Sterling Caught in Midnight Scandal With CEO Damian Blackwood.

The grainy photographs showed her entering his car , her tear-streaked face visible under the streetlights. Another captured Damian carrying Elena in his arms entering Damian’s mansion .

“No…” Elena’s hands trembled as she clutched the paper. “This… this isn’t what it looks like!”

“Public doesn’t care what it looks like,” Damian said coldly. “They see an heiress drunk in the middle of the night, clinging to the most ruthless man in the city. That’s all they see and need.”

Her throat tightened. Her father’s reputation. The Sterling name. She could already hear the whispers, the judgment, the shame and how furious her family would be seeing the photos.

“I’ll explain,” she stammered. “I’ll tell them the truth—”

“The truth?” Damian cut her off, his gaze like steel. “That you were betrayed by some worthless boy, drowned your sorrows in alcohol, and begged a stranger not to leave you? You think your family will allow that to spread?” “ and your father will proud to knows choice of his daughter in man to blindly trust, a business man who is known for his judgement and his daughter judgement in people … what a great choices.”

Elena’s lips parted, but no words came. Because he was right. Her family’s pride was everything and her father Mr. Mark Sterling who is proud of his judgement and his reputation was everything for him and can do anything for his family pride. They wouldn’t forgive her for tarnishing their name.

Damian stood, towering over her as he buttoned his jacket. “There’s only one way out of this mess, Elena Sterling.”

Her chest tightened. “W-what way?”

His eyes locked onto hers, unflinching. “You’ll marry me.” I will send marriage proposal to your family and I think they already saw the photos and they are eagerly waiting for your to arrive home to question you.

Her heart stopped. “What?”

“You heard me,” he said, his tone leaving no room for argument. “This scandal can destroy both of us. But if we marry, it becomes a story of passion, not disgrace. You’ll be the woman who tamed Damian Blackwood, and I’ll be the man who claimed the Sterling heiress.”

Elena’s blood ran cold. Marriage? To him? To this ruthless, calculating man who barely knew her? That also drunken situations.

“No,” she whispered, shaking her head. “I can’t… I won’t.”

Damian stepped closer, his presence suffocating, his gray eyes dark with authority. “You don’t have a choice.”

Her breath hitched as he tilted her chin upward, forcing her to meet his gaze. “You wanted someone not to leave you, remember? And I granted what you asked for. Be careful what you wish for, Elena. Because now… you’re mine.” She is the one who can shake Damian control on himself that no woman who threw themselves on him can not move him , Elena is the one with whom ruthless Damian has no disgust to her touch instead he wants her to continue More, so he can’t let her go. He already made his mind that he will made her his by any means Even by force or by blackmail. She has to be his.

Tears welled in her eyes, but his grip was firm, unrelenting.

“This isn’t love,” she whispered brokenly.

“No,” Damian admitted, his lips curling into a dangerous smile. “This is survival.” “But you have to full fill all the responsibility of a wife and I would give love and respect that husband should give to his wife.” “ you love and trust his every words of that worthless man Adrian but what you got in the end ?” Damian asked Elena. What Elena would answer she had no word. “ I love and trust every words of Adrian and I said to myself that he is not like other man who wants to be with me because of my last name , he sees me as only Elena not as Elena sterling heirs of sterling.” Elena question herself instead of answering Damian questions.

And just like that, Elena realized her fate was sealed—not with Adrian, she once believe he was his world and she would spend her life with him even if he could not give her which her parents give her, not with the fairytale she once dreamed of, but with the devil who had caught her at her weakest point