OWNED BY THE DEVIL

Chapter 1- THE DEBT HE BOUGHT

A lawyer wore black to my mother’s funeral.

He didn’t wait until after. He didn’t wait until the casket was closed.

He waited until the priest said “Amen.”

“Miss Elena Voss,” he said, while Mama’s body was still in the room. While people were still pretending to pray.

“Your father owed Vantrex Holdings 9.2 million dollars. The payment is due in thirty days. With penalty interest, the total is 11.4million.”

9.2 Million.

The number hit me like a fist.

It knocked the air out of me in front of 40 mourners.

My Mother had been dead 72 hours.

And the Coles had already sent a bill.

I didn’t cry.

Crying was for people who had time.

I had Mara. I had 30 days. And I had nowhere else to go.

So I crawled to the devil.

Vantrex Tower. 80 floors of glass and arrogance.

The elevator didn’t go up. It rose. Like it was better than gravity.

The city below looked tiny. Breakable. Owned.

Lena Morrow met me at the doors. Black suit. Black eyes.

“Mr. Cole is busy. You have ten minutes.”

She didn’t ask my name. She already knew it. She already hated it.

His office wasn’t an office. It was a war room.Just black,

Floor to ceiling windows. No pictures. No plants. Just a desk big enough to sign death warrants on.

And behind it: Damian Cole.

He didn’t look up when I entered.

He finished typing one last email. Slow. Deliberate. Like he wanted me to stand there and feel small.

Thirty-eight.

Suit that cost more than my mother’s hospital bills.

Watch that could pay off half my debt.

Gray eyes that looked through me like I was glass.

“Close the door, Lena,” he said. His voice was flat. Final.

Click.

For a full minute, silence.

Just him looking at me. Cataloging me.

Like I was an asset he was about to depreciate.

Then he spoke.

“Marry me.”

I thought I misheard.

I laughed. It cracked in the middle and bounced off the glass walls.

“Excuse me?”

“Marry me, Elena.” He said my name like he was testing how it felt in his mouth. Like poison.

“Six months. You attend galas. You play the dutiful wife. You live in my penthouse. You follow my rules. In return, I wipe the debt. You keep the house. Your sister keeps her future.”

My throat closed. “And if I refuse?”

He leaned back. Laced his fingers.

“Then I take everything. The house , The car. Mara’s tuition. And I leak to every news outlet that Richard Voss was a thief. That he stole from Vantrex. That he died a fraud. Is that the legacy you want for him?”

Rage shot through me so hot it burned.

“You’re disgusting. You’re using a dead man to blackmail his daughter.”

“I’m correcting an imbalance,” he said. No emotion. “Your father signed a contract. Contracts have consequences. I’m just the one enforcing them.”

He slid a folder across the desk. Fourteen pages.

On the last page: Richard Voss. Shaky signature. Dated 4 years ago.

Note this ;

Tucked behind it was another paper. A death certificate.

Richard Voss. Cause of death: "Undetermined. Case closed."

Stamped by a police captain who now worked for Vantrex Security.

My blood went ice.

“You killed him.” The words came out before I could stop them.

Damian didn’t flinch. “Careful, Miss Voss. Accusations are expensive.”

He tapped the contract. “Sign. Or I make sure the world believes your father was a criminal. Your choice.”

My hands were shaking. Not from fear. From hatred.

From the fact that this man could sit there so calm while he held my entire life by the throat.

I signed.

Elena Voss.

Right under my father’s name.

The second the pen lifted, Damian’s eyes changed.

Not soft. Not kind.

Possessive. Like a wolf that just cornered prey.

“Good girl,” he murmured. “You just sold yourself for six months. Try not to waste my money.”

Walking out, Lena grabbed my elbow in the hall. Hard.

“Don’t get ideas,” she hissed. “He doesn’t marry people. He brands them. And when he’s done, he throws them away. You’re a transaction to him. Remember that.”

I yanked my arm free.

It seems to me that lena has a crush on his boss

That night at 11:58PM, my phone buzzed. Unknown number.

8PM. My penthouse. Tomorrow.

Wear black. And Elena?

If you’re late, I will assume you’re running. And I hate chasing things I already own.

I threw the phone across the room.

My chest was heaving. My hands were fists.

I didn’t know the penthouse had rules.

I didn’t know he had already decided which ones I would break.

And I didn’t know that the man who just bought me...

...had been watching my father for 4 years.

Waiting for me.

``Tbc~