The Forbidden Bond

chapter 6

Elara pov

My hands wouldn’t stop shaking.

Even after he left, the air in the café still felt heavier, colder—like his shadow clung to every corner. I kept wiping the same table over and over, but the image of his eyes burned into me.

Damian Hale.

The name alone carried weight. Everyone in New York knew who he was—the richest CEO in the world, the man who built empires before most men even figured out who they were. Ruthless. Untouchable. The kind of man fathers warned their daughters about.

And yet… he sat at my table. He spoke my name like it already belonged to him.

I shouldn’t have even answered him. I should have run into the kitchen, begged someone else to serve him, done anything to avoid those crimson-sharp eyes that seemed to slice right through me. But I froze. I stayed. I listened.

Why?

I didn’t understand it myself.

When he slid that black card across the table, I swear my heart stopped. It was heavy with unspoken promises—and threats. A card like that wasn’t just plastic. It was power. His power.

I should’ve ignored it. I should’ve left it on the table, pretended it never touched me. But instead… instead, my gaze kept drifting to it, as if my very soul knew it was a door I wasn’t ready to open.

“Elara?”

I jumped at the sound of Maya’s voice. My best friend leaned over the counter, wide-eyed and smirking. “Was that Damian Hale you were talking to?”

I wanted to deny it. Lie. But the look on her face told me she already knew.

“You’re insane,” Maya whispered, half thrilled, half horrified. “Do you know how many women would sell their souls just to have him look at them?”

“I don’t want him to look at me,” I muttered quickly, too quickly.

But even as I said it, I could still feel the ghost of his stare crawling over my skin. The way he said, Don’t make me come looking for you.

No one ever noticed me before. I was the invisible girl, the orphan adopted out of pity, scraping through life waiting tables and trying not to drown in debts that weren’t even mine. People like Damian Hale lived in a different universe. A world of penthouses, black-tinted cars, and power plays I couldn’t even begin to imagine.

So why did he notice me?

I shoved the thought away and threw myself into work. Orders. Plates. Bills. Anything to keep my mind from circling back to him. But it didn’t help. Every time the café door swung open, my chest tightened, expecting him to walk back in.

By the time my shift ended, I was exhausted, but not from the labor. It was him. His presence still clung to me like smoke.

Walking home, I kept my head down. The streets of Ovwian were busy as usual, but even the noise couldn’t drown out the sound of his voice in my head. Call me when you’re ready to stop pretending this little life is enough for you.

Was he right?

I hated the thought. Hated how much it stung because deep down, I knew my life wasn’t enough. Scrubbing tables, counting tips, living in a cramped apartment with an adoptive family who barely looked at me—this wasn’t the dream I once had. But that didn’t mean I wanted him.

Did it?

I pulled the black card out of my pocket, glaring at it like it had the answers I was too afraid to face. My fingers trembled. I should throw it away. Burn it. Anything.

But instead… I slipped it back into my bag.

And that was my mistake.

Because Damian Hale never gave something he expected to be refused.