Chapter 15 – Trapped
599 Words
Elena’s heart pounded against her ribs, her breath coming in short, shallow bursts as Damon’s arms tightened around her.
She struggled, twisting against his grip, but he was unyielding—a wall of muscle and control.
“Let me go, Damon,” she hissed, her voice shaking with fury and fear.
His breath was warm against her ear. “I told you, I can’t.”
She went still at the raw intensity in his voice.
Not won’t.
Can’t.
The weight of that realization sent a shiver through her.
“Why?” she whispered.
He didn’t answer right away.
Instead, he slowly loosened his hold, just enough for her to turn and face him.
His dark eyes burned into hers, filled with something she couldn’t quite name. Possession. Desperation.
Something deeper.
But she didn’t trust it.
Didn’t trust him.
“From the very beginning, you’ve been playing me,” she said, voice laced with betrayal. “You knew who I was before I even stepped into your world. And you planned all of this.”
Damon’s jaw tightened. “I had my reasons.”
“That’s not an answer.”
He exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair before pinning her with his gaze. “Your father didn’t just owe me money, Elena. He made a deal. A stupid, reckless deal.”
She swallowed hard. “What kind of deal?”
Damon hesitated.
And that hesitation told her everything.
Something inside her twisted painfully.
“My father put me in this position, didn’t he?” she whispered. “He didn’t just owe you money. He owed me.”
Damon’s silence was damning.
A sharp, bitter laugh escaped her lips. “That’s why you’ve been watching me. That’s why you made that contract before I even knew you existed.” She shook her head. “You weren’t just collecting a debt, Damon. You were claiming me.”
His gaze darkened. “You were always meant to be mine, Elena.”
Her stomach dropped.
He said it so simply, as if it had always been a fact.
Like her fate had been sealed long before she ever had a say in it.
Rage bubbled up inside her, cutting through the fear. “I don’t belong to you.”
Damon’s lips curled into something dangerous. “Don’t you?”
She shoved at his chest, but he didn’t budge.
“Elena.” His voice was quieter now, almost coaxing. “You think I wanted it to happen like this?”
She searched his face, desperate for something—anything—that made this less terrifying.
Less real.
But all she saw was a man who had been orchestrating her life from the shadows.
“Whatever you think this is, you’re wrong,” she said, her voice laced with defiance. “You don’t own me, Damon.”
His smirk faded. “No. But I do have you.”
Her pulse roared in her ears as he lifted his hand, his fingers brushing against her jaw in a touch that sent fire racing through her veins.
A contradiction.
Because she hated him.
And yet…
She felt the pull, the magnetic force that made her body betray her every time he got too close.
Damon’s thumb traced her bottom lip, his voice a low murmur. “And I don’t intend to let you go.”
The promise in his words sent chills down her spine.
Because for all her resistance, for all her rage—
She knew he meant it.
And worse…
Some dark, broken part of her wasn’t entirely sure she wanted him to.
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- Writer
