CLAIMED BY THE BILLIONAIRE CEO MAN

Chapter 7

The sunlight pouring into the master suite of the penthouse felt different this morning. For the first time in three years, Elena didn't wake up with a knot of anxiety twisting her stomach. She sat at the marble island in a pale silk robe, sipping black coffee while her tablet displayed the morning’s financial headlines.

VANCE MEDIA SHARES PLUMMET TO ZERO.

JULIAN VANCE FACES FORECLOSURE AFTER MERCER PULLOUT.

"Satisfied?"

Alec’s voice was a low, resonant purr against her ear. He stepped up behind her, bare-chested, wrapped in a dark lounge towel, his wet hair dripping onto his broad shoulders. He leaned down, placing a warm kiss on the exposed curve where her neck met her shoulder, making her skin prickle with heat.

"I’m satisfied with his collapse," Elena said, setting the tablet down. "But I know Julian. He’s like a rodent backed into a corner. He doesn't take defeat quietly—he looks for someone else to bite."

"Let him bite," Alec said softly, his thumb tracing the lush line of her lip. "He’s teeth against iron now. He can't touch you."

His words were reassuring, but three hours later, as Elena stepped into the executive elevator at Mercer Enterprises, she realized her instinct had been dead on.

The CCO floor was bustling. Dozens of designers, art directors, and brand strategists were moving through the glass-walled corridors, carrying fabric swatches and high-resolution renders. Elena had spent the morning leading a creative meeting for the upcoming Global Design Summit—a multi-billion-dollar international contract that would cement Mercer’s dominance over the luxury sector.

As she stepped into her private corner office, her senior assistant, Sarah, rushed in behind her, face pale and holding an iPad like it was a ticking bomb.

"Miss Vance... you need to see this immediately," Sarah said, her voice shaking. "It just hit every major media blog in the city. It’s trending number one on Twitter."

Elena took the iPad. Her blood ran cold.

The screen showed a viral video recorded in what looked like a dark, smoky bar. Julian was sitting at a table, looking half-drunk, tears streaming down his face, surrounded by two notorious tabloid journalists. Chloe sat beside him, sniffling softly for the camera.

The headline blared across the screen:

EXTORTION AND STOLEN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY? EX-BOYFRIEND ACCUSES NEW MERCER CCO ELENA VANCE OF FRAUD AND EMOTIONAL ABUSE.

Elena tapped play.

"She took everything from me," Julian sobbed into the microphone, his voice a masterclass in manipulative actor's grief. "Elena was my corporate director, but behind closed doors, she was controlling. When I tried to end things, she threatened to ruin my firm. She illegally transferred Vance Media’s master design files—the very pitches she’s claiming as her own at Mercer—to her private server!"

Chloe stepped into the frame, wiping an invisible tear from her small, pale face. "Elena always used her weight and insecurity to guilt Julian into staying," Chloe whimpered into the lens. "She lied to Alexander Mercer. She used her position to steal Julian's life's work because she couldn't handle him moving on with me. We are filing a formal fifty-million-dollar lawsuit against her for intellectual property theft."

The comment section below the video was moving so fast it was a blur.

“Is this true? Did she steal his work?”

“I knew a girl like that couldn't just magically land a top CCO job at Mercer Enterprises.”

“Looks like Mercer bought a fraud.”

Elena’s hands trembled slightly as she handed the iPad back to Sarah. The public hum of her office seemed to mute. She had spent years quietly carrying Julian's incompetence, and now, he was using her private loyalty as a weapon to destroy her professional integrity.

The heavy glass door of her office swung open with a sharp click.

Alec strode in, flanked by three senior corporate attorneys in tailored dark suits. His face was a mask of cold, unyielding rage, his icy blue eyes fixed entirely on Elena.

"Sarah, out," Alec commanded without looking at the assistant.

Sarah scurried out, shutting the double doors behind her.

Elena stood up, smoothing down the front of her high-waisted cream trousers. "Alec, I didn't steal anything. Every file, every vector, every line of code on those drives was created by my hands on my personal laptop—"

"I know," Alec cut her off sharply, stepping up to her desk. He didn't look doubtful; he looked furious that anyone had dared to attack her. "I don't care about Vance’s pathetic fairy tales. My legal team knows he’s lying. But the board of directors just called an emergency meeting."

Elena’s chest tightened. "The board?"

"The Global Design Summit requires total public trust," one of the attorneys stepped forward, adjusting his glasses. "The board is terrified of a PR nightmare right before the bidding starts on Friday. Julian’s lawyers just served Mercer Enterprises with a temporary injunction to halt Miss Vance’s appointment until an independent audit of her design files is conducted."

"An audit?" Elena’s voice rose, a sharp edge of anger cutting through her shock. "That will freeze the entire luxury division! That gives Vance’s associates weeks to stall us while the Summit bidding closes!"

"That’s his plan," Alec said, his voice dropping into a dangerous, low register. "He knows he can't win in court long-term. He just wants to drag your name through the mud long enough to make my board force me to drop you."

"I won't let him win," Elena said, her green eyes flashing with a sudden, fierce heat. "I kept every raw timestamp, every preliminary sketch, and every email thread from the last three years on an encrypted hard drive. It proves I authored every single piece of work he ever claimed."

Alec’s lips curved into a dark, razor-thin smile. "Where is the drive?"

"It’s in a secure safety deposit box at my old bank downtown," Elena replied. "I kept it as insurance the day I realized how reckless Julian was getting with money."

"We go now," Alec said, turning toward the door. "My security team will escort you."

Thirty minutes later, two black SUVs pulled into the underground parking garage of the First National Bank downtown. Rain was pounding against the concrete outside, the sky dark and stormy.

Alec stayed in the lead vehicle, answering a high-stakes call from his board members, while his head of security, Marcus, accompanied Elena inside the bank’s private vault section.

Five minutes later, Elena walked out of the heavy vault doors holding a small, metallic silver hard drive securely in her purse. It was the master key—the absolute proof that would not only clear her name but send Julian Vance to prison for filing a fraudulent federal lawsuit.

"Got it, Marcus," Elena said, breathing a sigh of relief as they stepped back into the dimly lit, quiet basement parking garage. "This ends today."

"Yes, Miss Vance," Marcus said, his voice strangely flat. "It certainly does."

Elena stopped in her tracks.

Marcus wasn't walking toward Alec’s SUV. Instead, he had stepped behind her, blocking the exit ramp.

From the dark shadow behind a concrete pillar, a figure stepped out, holding a heavy metal crowbar. His suit was wrinkled, his hair wild, and his eyes bloodshot with manic desperation.

Julian.

Beside him, Chloe emerged from a parked sedan, holding a sleek black camera phone, already recording.

"Hello, Elena," Julian hissed, a twisted, terrifying smirk spreading across his face. "Did you really think Mercer’s security guard couldn't be bought? I paid Marcus fifty grand with the last credit line I had left."

Elena stepped back, her heel clicking hard against the concrete, her heart slamming against her ribs. Marcus stood firmly behind her, cutting off her only path back to the elevator.

"Julian, you're insane," Elena said, keeping her voice steady, her hand gripping her purse tightly against her side. "If you do this, Alec will hunt you down. You will end up in prison."

"Alec Mercer is upstairs sitting in his fancy car thinking you're safe," Julian spat, taking a heavy, lunging step toward her, raising the heavy crowbar in his hand. "By the time he realizes you're missing, I’ll have that hard drive, your reputation will be destroyed, and Vance Media will take the Summit contract!"

Julian lunged forward, grabbing Elena’s arm with violent force, yanking her toward the open trunk of the sedan.

"Hand over the drive, you fat b***h, or you don't leave this garage alive!" Julian roared.

Elena screamed, digging her heels into the slick concrete, using her weight to throw Julian off balance—just as the loud, deafening roar of a heavy engine echoed from the top of the concrete ramp.

Bright, blinding high-beams flooded the basement garage.

A heavy black Maybach rounded the corner at high speed, tires screeching against the wet concrete, driving straight toward them without slowing down.