THE BILLIONAIRE'S FORBIDDEN OBSESSION

LEAVING THE ISLAND

Gabriel noticed the frantic rise and fall of her chest. Wanting to reassure her, he stepped forward and gently reached out, his warm fingers brushing against the cool skin of her hand.

The contact seemed to startle her. Her pulse quickened, and a look of intense hesitation crossed her face...

Before Gabriel could offer a word of comfort, the young girl pulled her hand away.

With a swift movement, the girl turned and disappeared into the dense forest, vanishing into the shadows before he could speak.

"What did I do wrong?" Gabriel whispered.

The girl did not return that evening.

Gabriel stood by the embers of his fire, staring at the thick treeline where she had vanished.

He frowned, puzzled by her sudden disappearance, but the exhaustion of his journey and the hunger in his stomach took priority. He needed to focus on his own recovery.Turning away from the quiet woods, he sat back down by the crackling flames. He picked up the roasted fish and began to eat, the meal restoring his energy as the sun began to dip below the horizon.

The next morning...

Gabriel woke up feeling stronger than he had in days, the nourishment from the roasted fish finally giving him the stamina he needed. He couldn't shake the memory of the girl’s sudden disappearance.

With curiosity and a desperate need to know where she was, he stepped into the dense jungle to search for her camp and explore the island. The forest was a wall of tangled vines, towering palms, and the damp, earthy scent of rotting vegetation. Gabriel kept his eyes trained on the muddy ground, looking for any sign of her passage. But there were no broken twigs, no crushed ferns, and no footprints. It was as if she moved above the ground leaving absolutely no trace of her existence behind.

As he pushed deeper, for the search of her camp, it gradually turned into a full exploration of his surroundings. He marched for hours, the thick canopy occasionally breaking to reveal towering volcanic rock formations.

The island was entirely wild, untouched by any semblance of human civilization. There was no trash washed up from nearby resorts, no faint hum of boat engines in the distance, and no paths carved by hunters.

By midday, Gabriel managed to scale a steep, rocky ridge that cut across the center of the land. Panting from the climb, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and looked out over the horizon.

His heart sank.

From this high point, he could see the entire perimeter of the island. It was small, a solitary emerald dot dropped into a vast, terrifying expanse of sapphire blue. In every single direction, as far as his eyes could see, there was nothing but the open ocean. No neighboring islands, no distant shipping lanes, and no signs of life.

He was completely, utterly isolated.

The next morning followed..

The word "HELP" was formed on the beach, where Gabriel made a small fire to maintain the smoke in that area, through coconut, it was easily identified and have seen by the rescuers from above.

The heavy thumping of rotor blades shattered the silence of the island.Three search-and-rescue helicopters cut through the dawn.

They had been scouring the vast, unforgiving ocean for almost a month, refusing to give up hope of finding him alive. As the aircraft began their descent slow down toward a clearing near the beach, Gabriel knew his time on the island had abruptly come to an end. He had no time to waste, but he refused to leave without a trace.

Hurrying to a large, flat rock near the edge of the tree line, Gabriel pulled the waterproof lighter from his pocket, the very object that had frightened her so deeply. He set it gently on the stone. Then, picking up a sharp piece of white coral rock, he firmly carved a message into the dark surface of the boulder.

"DON'T BE AFRAID" It was a final reassurance, a token from the world of land and fire, left for the creature who had saved his life.

Minutes later, Gabriel was strapped into the rescue helicopter as it lifted heavily into the sky, pulling him back into the reality of human civilization.

Yet, as the aircraft ascended, Gabriel’s eyes remained glued to the window. He looked down at the shrinking green emerald below, now peaceful in that early morning light. There was no sadness in his gaze, only a profound, overwhelming sense of gratitude. He knew he might never fully understand what kind of creature she was, but as the island faded into the vast blue horizon, his heart remained with the girl who had taken him from the sea...

When the sky returned to its quiet, dawn-lit stillness, the girl emerge from the deep shadows of the forest. She moved without a sound, her bare feet pressing lightly into the sand, her gaze fixed on the sky where the giant, thrashing metal birds had just vanished.

The air still smelled faintly of burnt fuel, an unnatural, biting scent that made her nose wrinkle in distaste. She walked toward the clearing, while her heart maintaining a steady, cautious rhythm.

He was gone. The land-dweller who had tumbled from the waves had been taken back by his own kind. The girl sawl it.

Her steps guided her toward the edge of the tree line, stopping abruptly when her eyes caught something new on the large, flat boulder. Resting in the center of the stone was the small, metal lighter.

"Fire-bringer" she whispered.

She flinched slightly, her muscles tensing as she stared at the waterproof lighter. It sat completely still, harmless without the touch of his hand, yet it radiated the memory of that strange, comforting heat she had felt the night before.

Beside the metal object, the dark surface of the boulder had been scratched away. White, jagged lines formed symbols she could not read. She stepped closer, letting her cool fingers trace the deep grooves carved by the white stone.

She did not understand the language, but as her fingertips slid over the chalky white letter,

"DON'T BE AFRAID" a profound, heavy sadness burst deep inside her heart.

A tight ache squeezed her throat, worse than any sting of sea brine. Why had he left like this? Why had he vanished into the sky without a single word to her, without letting her know he was leaving? She had fled into the woods because her heart was racing, not because she wanted him to abandon her.

She picked up the lighter, its metallic surface smooth and cold against her palm. She didn't try to flick it, she simply pressed it tightly against her palm, her eyes blurring, it looked so sad, as she turned toward the empty horizon where the blue water Ten minutes later, Neri walked out of the office wearing a crisp blue janitorial uniform, a heavy ring of keys and a high-clearance access card clipped to her belt. She held a mop in her hand, her eyes looking upward toward the highest floors where Gabriel's office lay. The infiltration had begun. the morning sky.

"Gone..." she whispered.

But as she looked back down at the white markings on the stone, her sadness transformed into a curious face.

She traced the jagged lines once more.Thinking if he just thrown this object away in a hurry, or maybe he was in danger. He was kidnapped by those flying things in the sky, then he left these specific symbols behind just for her.

She looked from the rock to the empty sky, then back down to the fire-bringer. Gabriel knew she was terrified of this tool, yet he had trusted her to keep it?

"Fire-bringer..."