Chapter One: The Bargain

Rain lashed against the windshield as Elara's fingers trembled on the steering wheel. Her heart slammed against her ribcage, the darkness ahead both terrifying and freeing. She didn't know where she was going, only that it had to be anywhere but there.

Headlights flashed in the rearview mirror. She panicked.

No. Not now. Not when she was this close.

The tires skidded briefly on the wet road as she turned off the main street into a narrow path she barely recognized from memory. Her thoughts were racing, outpacing even the storm.

You have to run. You have to leave.

She tightened her grip. Gerald would be furious when he found out. And Adrian Wolfe? She didn't even want to think about him yet.

Elara had never felt truly free. Not in Gerald's estate where the walls felt more like polished cages than shelter. Not in that house where smiles were staged and affection was a tool. Not once in eighteen years since her mum had remarried had she been asked what she wanted.

The flash of blue and red in the distance made her pulse stutter.

Were they looking for her already?

Suddenly, the road ahead blurred and the world spun.

---

Twelve Hours Earlier

She sat rigid at the edge of the dining table. Her dress bunched under her fists, the fabric wrinkled and damp from her palms. Across the room, a grand family portrait loomed on the wall framed in gold. Katherine's sharp beauty, Gerald's smug smirk, Phoebe and Chloe her step sister's bright eyes all pretending to be a family.

She wasn't in it.

She never had been.

Her eyes fell to her lap.

"You're marrying him," Gerald said.

The words were tossed like an order, not a revelation. Elara blinked.

"What?"

"You heard me," Gerald snapped. He paced behind Katherine, who remained seated, sipping wine with lazy indifference. "You're marrying Adrian Wolfe. The ceremony is in two days. It's going to be a simple wedding, just for both families."

A chill spread through her chest.

"You're joking."

Katherine let out a dry laugh. "No one's joking, darling. It's all very formal. He gets what he needs -a bride. And we get what we need. Investment, stability... survival."

Just think of it as a business transaction.

"I'm not a pawn," Elara shouted.

Gerald whirled on her. "Don't be naïve. This is the real world, Elara. Sacrifices must be made."

Tears pressed behind her eyes, but she held them back. "Why me?"

"Because he specifically chose you."

That shut her up. Her stomach turned.

"What?"

Gerald crossed his arms. I offered options. He wanted you. Said something about your 'quiet demeanor' fitting his preferences.

Elara felt like she might be sick.

"He's never even spoken to me."

"You saw him at that gala once, remember?" Katherine chimed in. Apparently that was enough.Katherine gave off one of her signature chuckles. "And besides, you should be grateful he offered. You get to be the wife of such a great man.. honestly, I don't see what he finds in someone like you."

"This is insane." Elara stood, her voice trembling. "You can't just trade me off as though I am some kind of-"

"It's not a trade. It's a solution." Gerald cut her off .His tone was final. "You're lucky. Do you know how many girls would kill to be in your shoes?"

Her voice cracked. What about my life? My studies?

"Your studies?" Katherine scoffed. Be serious, Elara. No one cares about your little acting dream and besides It's securing your future. And ours. Don't be dramatic. It's how businesses work.

Gerald slammed his palm against the table. "It's done. We're out of options. We need Wolfe's money to save the company."

Then find someone else!" Elera couldn't help yelling. "Someone else, anyone else.. just not me!"

"There is no one else," he retorted coldly. "Your sisters are too young, too unruly. And your mother... well, she's not exactly bridal material."

Katherine gave a light laugh, unbothered.

"So sell something else!" she shouted. "Sell the damn company!"

"There's nothing else to sell",Gerald said.

"You.. you didn't even ask me! You never ask me anything! You can't just trade me off like I'm some problem you need to get rid of."

"Everything you've ever eaten, worn, studied for-who do you think paid for it?" Gerald snapped. "Your tuition, your roof, your meals. You owe us, Elara. And this is how you repay us?"Don't be ungrateful Elara.Gerald said, with malice in his tone.

The silence that followed sucked the air from the room. Katherine took another sip of wine like it was just another Tuesday.

"You were always the easy one to discard," she murmured. "You were never really ours, anyway."

Elara stared at her in disbelief. "I'm your daughter."

Katherine's lips twisted. "You were his daughter. Your father's. Not mine."

That broke her.

"You gave birth to me. I never asked to be born," she fired back.

Katherine just sipped her wine, ignoring her.

She backed away, chest heaving, and fled the room. No one followed.

Back in her room-small, dim, forgotten-she packed the little she had. She didn't know where she would go, but anywhere was better. Even the streets.

She found her dad's old jacket in the closet, still faintly smelling like him. She slipped it on. If she couldn't have safety, she'd have memory.

As she zipped the duffel shut,She stopped for a second as her fingers brushed the inside of the jacket pocket and she felt something crinkle. She pulled it out. A faded photo. Her and her dad at the amusement park.

She had been seven. Her father had taken her and her mother-back when they still smiled at each other-to the amusement park by the water. They rode the carousel three times. She'd begged for cotton candy, and her father had caved despite Katherine's eye-roll.

That day, Elara had laughed freely, spinning in her father's arms as he lifted her high above the crowd. She'd worn a yellow sundress, and her father had said she looked like a sunflower.

"You can be anything, my star," he had whispered in her ear.

Her mother had even smiled then-genuinely. She remembered how her mother had kissed her father's cheek when they thought Elara wasn't looking.

That was the last day she remembered them as something close to happy. A flicker of what might've been.

Her dad had passed not long after that, leaving a silence in her life no one ever tried to fill. No one spoke of him. Not Katherine. Not Gerald. It was like he'd been erased-except in Elara's mind, where he lived in color.

By midnight, the sky was crying.

And so was she.

---

Present

Rain battered the roof of the car as Elara finally pulled into a gas station on the outskirts of the city. She didn't know what to do next. Her fingers trembled as she reached for her phone.

No messages.

No one noticed she was gone. Or they had... and just didn't care enough to chase her.

Adrian Wolfe.

What kind of man agrees to marry a stranger?

She hadn't even met him. But she'd heard the stories. How he dismantled companies and left empires in ruins. How he made deals with nothing more than a stare. Some even said he was part of the Mafia-dangerous, powerful, untouchable. And now, he would own her.

Unless she could disappear first.

Her vision blurred again. She wiped her eyes and turned the key in the ignition.

The car sputtered.

No.

"No, no, no..." she whispered.

But it was dead. The storm had gotten to it. Or maybe fate had.

Shit.

She sat in silence, the wipers frozen mid-swipe, the rain like drums on the roof.

And then, headlights.

One pair.

Slow. Approaching.

She held her breath.