The Billionaire's Obsession

Chapter 3

The air felt like ice, one button, two.The crowd went silent, phones beginning to rise to record the humiliation.Ivan watched, his eyes unblinking, waiting for her to break, waiting to see the final spark of her pride die.

As Elizabeth reached for the fastening of her final garment, her eyes shimmering with tears of pure agony, something shifted in Ivan.The cool chill was gone replaced by a sudden violent heat in his chest.

Before the fabric could fall, Ivan moved faster than anyone expected, he lunged forward swinging his heavy wool jacket around her shoulders, pulling her body forcefully against his chest to hide her from the world.He held her tight his breathe ragged.

Elizabeth looked up, her face a mask of confusion and terror.Ivan stared back, his own face finally cracking.A look of genuine, terrified surprise written across his features.For the first time, the stone cold billionaire was overwhelmed by a sensation he couldn't name.

A heavy silence smothered the crowd as Ivan's heart hammered with violent, unfamiliar rhythm.Ignoring Elizabeth, he turned his icy gaze on the onlookers.His voice a predatory growl.

“Anyone with the recording of this will find their lives dismantled by sunset.Delete it”

The phones vanished instantly, silenced by the terror of his name.He takes Elizabeth into the SUV treating her like the evidence to be hidden.As the door clicked shut, the interior filled with a suffocating, leather-scented tension.

Ivan stared out the window, his profile stone cold, refusing to acknowledge the drumming in his chest or Elizabeth's tear streaked face.

“Don't flutter yourself”he snapped as they pulled away

“I didn't stop because of pity.I stopped because I don't want my name associated with cheap street theatre”

“You got what you wanted”Elizabeth whispered her fingers digging into his expensive wool jacket.

“I broke now leave my family alone”

Ivan's jaw tightened but he offered no comfort.

When they reached her neighborhood, he didn't even look at her.

“Get out” he commanded coldly “And let's not see each other again”

As the SUV spend off, Elizabeth stood trembling on the curb, clutching his jacket like a shield against the world.Her face pale and ghost-like. Her mother rushed to her with eyes wide with worry.

“Beth, you so look sick.What happened?”

“I'm fine mom” She whispered her voice cracking

Her father stepped forward his face etched with concern but she couldn't face them.She staggered to her room, the last of her strength evaporating the moment the door shut. she bathed in cold water trying to wash off the feeling of the crowd's eyes and three herself into the bed, falling into a dark dreamless sleep.

The next morning, Elizabeth woke to the sound of laughter.Sound that had been missing for days.She walked into the living room to find her parents transformed.

“Beth, you won't believe it”her mother cried beaming.

“The office called, it was all a clerical error.Not only am I back, but they have promoted me to vice principal and your father, his company called too, the have reinstated him with a massive bonus for the inconvenience” Elizabeth forced a smile.Her heart heavy with the truth.She was relieved they were safe, but the cost was a scar was on her soul that only she could see.

When her parents asked why she wasn't getting ready for work, she lied claiming she had been moved to the night shift. she watched them leave for work then sat in the Silence of the house.

She wanted to find a new job but she knew Ivan's shadow was long.Every recruiter in the city would see his no written across her fore head.

Meanwhile across the city Ivan was losing his mind. He stood in his glass-walled office, his hands shaking so violently, he dropped his crystal glass.It shattered mirroring the state of his composure. He wasn't supposed to feel, he was the boy who laughed at death so, why did his chest ache? why did he keep seeing the way Elizabeth's fingers fumbled with her buttons. He rushed to the only person who knew his medical history Dr. Kim.The man who had treated his emptiness since birth.

“My hands won't stop”Ivan growled pacing the examination room like a caged predator.

“Give me a pill, a sedative anything to kill this movement”

Dr.Kim watched him with a mixture of professional curiosity and profound shock.

“Ivan, your vitals are perfect.What you at describing isn't a neurological tremor, it's guilt.It's an emotional response”

“Guilt”Ivan scoffed a bitter laugh escaping his throat.

“Guilt is for the weak.Does guilt make a man's heart feel like it's trying to kick it's way out of his ribs?”

“In your case, yes”The doctors replied

Ivan insisted on a prescription but the pills did nothing.

The image of Elizabeth in the dust haunted him.His pride screamed at him to forget her but his body was betraying him.In a fit of rage, he smashed the remaining glasses on his desk.

‘what has that girl done to me?’

Driven by a desperate need to stop the shaking and regain his cold control, Ivan sent his manager to deliver a formal invitation to Elizabeth.

When the letter arrived, Elizabeth felt a cold spike of dread.She was a short tempered girl by nature but Ivan had taught her the meaning of true power.She was terrified yet she knew that refusing him might bring the walls crash down on her parents again.

‘Doing something is better than waiting to be destroyed’ she whispered to herself.

That night Ivan booked an entire five star restaurant.He hated the noise of common people.But more than that, he didn't want anyone to witness this meeting, he needed to study her.Je needed to figure out the glitch she had caused in his system.

As Elizabeth arrived, she tried to maintain her steeze.Her chin tilted up but her voice betrayed her.

“You called for me? ”She asked, her voice trembling..