Bought by the beast

CHAPTER 1: SOLD

ELARA POV

“WHAT?! Dad Stephen Black? The Beast? Dad, have you gone crazy?!”

The room instantly went silent.

I stood frozen in the doorway, my legs shaking, staring at the three men seated around my father’s massive oak desk.

My Dad’s face went pale.

His usual warm, confident smile was gone.

The man who had always been my rock now looked ten years older, his shoulders slumped, his blue eyes bloodshot and desperate.

There were two lawyers in crisp black suits sitting on either side of him,

“Elara,” Dad said, voice hoarse.

“I told you to wait outside. This wasn’t how I wanted you to find out.”

“Find out what?” I stepped inside anyway, my heels clicking sharply on the marble floor.

“That you’re trying to sell me to Stephen Black? The man everyone calls a monster? The one who destroys companies and people for fun?”

The older lawyer cleared his throat.

“Miss Hart, perhaps it’s best if we..”

“No,” I snapped, cutting him off. My hands curled into fists at my sides.

“I want to hear it from my father.”

The air in the room felt thick, suffocating.

The afternoon sunlight slanted through the floor-to-ceiling windows of Hart Tower, but it did nothing to warm the chill crawling up my spine.

Dad rubbed a hand over his face.

For the first time in my life, I saw real fear in his eyes.

Not the calm, controlled worry he showed at breakfast this morning when we talked about the newspaper headlines.

“Sit down, sweetheart,” he said quietly.

I didn’t sit.

I couldn’t.

My silk blouse suddenly felt too tight, the fabric sticking to my skin.

I had come in here to tell him about my new art collection I would be launching next week at the gala. Expecting a hug and probably a promotion, but I got this.

I wish I had not come either way.

“Tell me,” I whispered, my voice trembling now. “How bad is it?”

The younger lawyer opened the folder and slid a stack of papers across the desk.

There were red stamps everywhere. It was bankruptcy warnings and signals. Most of our creditors had noticed. The numbers made my head spin.

Dad’s voice cracked as he spoke.

“We’re done, Elara. The Hart Industries is bankrupt.”

The words hit me like a slap. I grabbed the back of a leather chair to steady myself.

“What? No. That’s impossible. We had the jets, the houses, the gala planning and even Maria made avocado toast this morning like everything was normal!”

“Those were only appearances,” the older lawyer said flatly.

“Your father has been keeping up appearances for months. There had been huge loans and a lot of hidden debts. The market crash hit harder than anyone expected and The green shipping project? They were delayed indefinitely. Most of the investors pulled out and our suppliers are threatening lawsuits.”

I shook my head, tears burning my eyes.

“But this morning… you said everything was under control. You squeezed my hand and told me the Harts rise above it. You lied to me?”

Dad flinched like I had hit him.

“I wanted to protect you. You’ve worked so hard on the foundation. The employees… they believe in us. I thought I could turn it around one last time.”

“Turn it around?” My laugh came out bitter and broken.

I paced to the window, looking out at the city below.

The river glittered in the distance, Only an eight percent drop and few cancelled meetings. I had told myself it was temporary.

“How long have you known?”

“Three weeks,” he admitted.

“We’ve been in secret talks. Most of the asset sales fell through. The banks won’t extend any more credit.”

I turned back to him, my chest tight.

“And Stephen Black? What does that animal have to do with any of this?”

The lawyers exchanged glances.

The room instantly went cold.

The older one cleared his throat and spoke carefully.

“Mr. Black approached us two days ago. He’s willing to absorb the Hart Industries’ debts. Inject enough capital to revive it and save the jobs. Keeping the name alive… under new ownership.”

“New ownership,” I repeated, the words tasting like ash.

Dad stood slowly, coming around the desk.

His hands trembled as he reached for me.

“There’s only one way to save us, Elara.”

I stepped back. “No. Don’t say it.”

He continued anyway, voice raw with shame and desperation.

“Stephen Black agreed to the terms. All of them. He’ll forgive the debts, restructure everything… but he has conditions.”

My pulse roared in my ears.

The whispers I had heard in the lobby this morning suddenly made horrible sense.

The analysts are going quiet, especially Sarah’s tired eyes. The cookies Mr. Delgado sent, his kind words about loyalty.

They all knew something was dying, and I had been the last one pretending it wasn’t.

I was the only one in the dark.

“What conditions?” I asked, even though some terrible part of me already knew.

Dad’s eyes was filled with tears. Actual tears.

I had only seen him cry once, and that was when Mom died ten years ago.

“He wants the company. And he wants you.”

The room spun.

I gripped the chair harder, my knuckles turned white. “Me?”

“He wants you, Elara,” Dad whispered.

“As his wife. A merger of families and he wants it publicly. That’s the final term. Without it, he walks away and we lose everything. The tower, the houses, the employees’ pensions and everything.”

I stared at him, my mouth open, a scream building in my throat that never came out. Stephen Black.

The Beast of Wall Street.

A very Ruthless billionaire with a reputation for crushing his rivals to dust, and ruining lives in his wake.

I had seen him once at a charity event, he was tall, dark, cold..

And now he wanted me.

“No,” I choked out.

“You can’t be serious. This is my life, Dad. Not some business deal. I’m not I’m not a property to be sold”

The younger lawyer shifted uncomfortably.

“Miss Hart, the documents are prepared. Mr. Black’s team is waiting for your father’s signature by end of day tomorrow. If we refuse…”

Dad reached for my hand desperately,

“I know what I’m asking,” he said, voice breaking. “God help me, I know. But the company is our legacy. Your grandfather built it from nothing. Thousands of families depend on us. If we fall, they all fall with us. I thought… maybe you could learn to..”

“Learn to what?” I shouted.

Tears spilled down my cheeks now, hot and angry.

“Love a monster? Smile for cameras while he owns me? Pretending this is normal?”

I backed toward the door, my mind racing.

The gala next month. My plans for the foundation. The life I thought was mine. All of it crumbling like the cracked walls I suddenly imagined around this entire tower.

Dad took another step forward

. “Elara, please. Just think about it. That’s all he’s asking for now. We can negotiate….”

“There’s nothing to negotiate!”

My voice echoed off the glass walls.

“You already agreed to terms behind my back. You brought lawyers here without telling me. You let me walk in here blindly .”

The older lawyer stood.

“We should give you both some privacy.”

“No,” I said coldly.

“Stay. I want witnesses. I want everyone to hear me say this, I will not be sold to Stephen Black. Not for the company. Not for anything.”

But even as I said the words, doubt clawed at me. I thought of Maria setting the breakfast table this morning. Mr. Delgado’s kind wink and lemon cookies. The employees who nodded politely in the lobby, trusting the Hart name. Could I really watch it all burn?

Dad sank back into his chair, head in his hands.

The strong, unbreakable man I had always known looking shattered.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I failed you. I failed all of us.”