Damian Blackridge stood by the floor-to-ceiling glass panel of his executive suite, monitoring the trading floor below. His eyes kept shifting back to his newest corporate acquisition, Adrian Sterling. The former strategy director of Kingswell Corporate Group, and the brother of Brielle Sterling.
Victor Hawkes had picked him up at the Corporate Boundary Zone at dawn, exactly as Damian demanded. Theodore Kingswell was a coward who folded the second his balance sheet was threatened.
Damian shouldn't have given Theodore the option of transferring another executive. He should have executed a hostile takeover, liquidated Kingswell Corporate Group entirely, and ruined Theodore's reputation to serve as a warning to every other CEO in the financial district.
Doing that would have ruined Brielle's brother in the crossfire. Under normal circumstances, one collateral executive wouldn't bother Damian, but Kingswell Group had already stripped Brielle of enough.
Every board member Damian spoke with claimed the female executives at Kingswell Group were content under Theodore’s restrictive corporate structure. Damian doubted that, but it wasn't his concern how a rival board managed its internal politics.
According to Adrian, his sister found it impossible to bow to the senior directors who stole her research and suppressed her career.
Brielle was never content to let incompetent male executives dictate her work. Theodore was likely thrilled to find a legal loophole to transfer her contract before she organized a shareholder revolt among the sidelined staff.
Unfortunately for Brielle, her fierce drive turned destructive when her fiancé, Kieran Ashcroft, publicly terminated their engagement and stripped her equity.
Damian understood that sudden loss of control. So did his own ambition. That was the real reason he hadn't destroyed her career when she challenged him in front of his entire board. He recognized her rage. It mirrored the dark bitterness he felt after losing his former corporate partner, Vanessa Ellington.
Damian studied Adrian Sterling carefully through the glass, but the man shared few physical traits with his sister. They were polar opposites, save for their striking blond hair.
Adrian was tall, broad-shouldered, and immaculately tailored. Watching him analyze market projections beside Blackridge Global’s top analysts, Damian could tell Adrian operated with calculating precision. Brielle, on the other hand, was pale, thin, and looked like a strong wind would knock her over.
Damian exhaled slowly. He took no pleasure in ordering heavy medical sedatives for her last night. A combination of pharmaceutical suppressants was necessary. He couldn't have an unpredictable liability causing scenes in his headquarters.
Normally, a major firm trained its junior executives to maintain absolute composure under high-pressure buyouts. Kingswell Corporate Group was anything but normal.
Damian intended to restructure that failing firm eventually. Right now, he needed to stabilize the broken woman locked in his holding suite, especially since his own dark instincts pushed him to possess and protect her.
A sharp knock echoed against the heavy mahogany door. Damian growled as the handle turned without his permission.
"Enter," he barked. No one interrupted him without an absolute emergency.
Victor Hawkes stood in the doorway, his jaw tense. "Your new asset just broke out of the medical center."
Damian narrowed his dark eyes, his annoyance instantly hardening into icy focus. "What do you mean? She was under full medical observation."
Victor shook his head. "She either feigned sleep or waited until the head nurse left the floor to slip through a ground-level window. The weather is dropping fast after that storm, and she walked out in a standard hospital gown. She won't last long in this temperature."
"That was likely her goal," Damian said, his voice dropping into a lethal register. "How long ago did she leave?"
"Fifteen minutes max," Victor replied. "She won't get past the perimeter gates. I already dispatched Preston Calloway to secure her."
The thought of another man laying hands on Brielle sent a sudden, dark wave of possessive anger crashing through Damian's gut. He had been trying to suppress this uncharacteristic fixation on her, but the raw drive to dominate and claim her only grew stronger.
He hadn't felt a single stir of desire for any woman since losing his former alliance. Now, out of nowhere, every instinct he possessed demanded he claim this broken female executive.
He wasn't going to let that happen. The last thing he needed was a suicidal asset ruining his corporate leverage.
"Tell Preston to bring her straight to my private office," Damian commanded cold as steel. "And tell him if he leaves a single mark on her skin, I will end his career myself."
Victor bowed his head and exited.
A few minutes later, the private elevator chimed. Heavy, frantic footsteps echoed down the corridor, accompanied by sharp, furious shouting.
Damian listened to her rage with a dark, twisted sense of amusement. She was tiny compared to his security staff, yet she fought like a feral creature.
The office doors burst open. Preston Calloway marched inside, his arms locked firmly around Brielle's waist, pinning her arms to her sides. She thrashed violently against his hold, her bare heels driving into his shins as she tried to break free.
She looked stunning in her rage. Her blue eyes locked onto Damian the moment she cleared the threshold, burning with raw, unfiltered hatred.
"Release her," Damian growled.
Preston let go immediately and stepped back. Brielle didn't hesitate. She lunged straight at Damian, her small hands balling into fists, her chest heaving as her pale skin flushed red with heat.
"I hate you!" Brielle screamed, her voice cracking with pure venom. "You arrogant, ruthless bastard! How could you strip my equity and lock me in a medical ward?"
She aimed a wild strike straight for his jaw. Damian didn't even flinch. He caught both of her delicate wrists in one broad palm before her fist could touch him, spun her around in a single fluid motion, and slammed her front-first against the cold glass wall of his office. He hauled her hands high above her head, locking her tight against the glass.
Brielle kicked back frantically, but Damian stepped directly into her space. He pressed his heavy, muscular body flush against her back, trapping her legs and hips completely between his frame and the window.
The heat of his body burned through the thin fabric of her gown. Her breath caught as she felt the massive, hard length of his body pressed tight against her soft curves, her core throbbing with a sudden, shameful shock of heat.
"You think this is funny?" Brielle sobbed out, her forehead resting against the cool glass as hot tears spilled down her cheeks. "You stripped my rights, you took my career, and you locked me up like livestock! I am nothing now! You should have just let me walk out into the storm and die!"
Damian glanced over his shoulder at Preston, who stood near the door watching the struggle.
"Get out," Damian ordered coldly.
Once the door clicked shut, Damian tightened his grip on both of her wrists with one hand, keeping her pinned to the glass. He brought his free hand up to stroke the side of her soft, flushed face, his thumb catching a falling tear.
Brielle tried to pull away, but she was entirely trapped beneath his weight, her hips pinned beneath his heavy grip.
"I know what happened to you, Brielle," Damian whispered into her ear, his deep voice vibrating against her neck. "I know Kieran Ashcroft dumped you in front of your peers, and I know you wanted to end everything the moment Kingswell Group discarded you."
Brielle’s eyes snapped toward him, raw rebellion still flashing through the tears. "You don't own my life! It's my choice!"
Damian let out a low, dark chuckle, his heavy thigh sliding between her legs, pressing firm pressure right against her wet, aching core through the thin hospital gown.
Brielle gasped out loud, her chest heaving against the glass as a wave of intense, filthy arousal shot straight to her belly.
"Not anymore it isn't," Damian growled, his thumb pressing possessively against her trembling bottom lip. "Your contract was bought and paid for. You belong to Blackridge Global now. You belong to me."
"I am not your asset!" she spat out, though her body betrayed her, her back arching slightly into the hot press of his hard chest.
"If you attempt to harm yourself or flee this corporate campus again," Damian warned, his dark eyes locking onto hers with lethal intensity, "I will trigger the debt-acceleration clauses on Kingswell Corporate Group. I will liquidate their entire infrastructure, seize every asset, and destroy every board member attached to that firm."
Brielle swallowed hard, her pulse hammering visibly in her throat. "No... You can't. My brother works there. My friends are still on that staff."
Damian gently tucked a loose strand of blond hair behind her ear, his fingers tracing down her neck to feel her racing heartbeat. "Then I suggest you learn to obey me, little executive. Do not try to run again."
Brielle bit her lower lip until it nearly bled. She lowered her head, bowing to his overwhelming leverage. "Yes, Mr. Blackridge," she whispered bitterly.
"Good," Damian murmured.
He signaled Victor over the internal comms. "Send for the new female transfer from Kingswell. The one named Selina Whitlock. I have an assignment for her."
Damian released Brielle's wrists and stepped back, watching her lean against the glass for support as she tried to catch her breath.
A moment later, the office door opened, and Victor escorted Selina Whitlock inside.
Damian took Brielle by her arm, guiding her firmly toward the center of the room.
"Selina," Damian said, his voice absolute. "I am placing Miss Sterling under your direct supervision. It is your personal responsibility to ensure she remains on this campus and stays compliant. If she attempts to harm herself or escape again, your career at Blackridge Global is over, and you will be terminated with cause. Understood?"
Selina bowed her head immediately. "Yes, Chairman."
Brielle stared between Damian and Selina, absolute shock and anger twisting her pale face.
"Do you understand the consequences now, Brielle?" Damian asked softly, stepping closer to towering over her. "If you fail to comply, Selina pays the price."
Brielle clenched her jaw so hard her teeth creaked. She met his gaze with burning hatred before looking down at the floor. "Yes, Chairman," she gritted out.
"Take her to the executive quarters," Damian ordered Selina. "Have administrative staff issue her proper corporate attire. Those hospital garments are unacceptable."
Brielle crossed her arms over her chest, trying to cover her shivering frame as she followed Selina out of the office, casting one final, furious glare over her shoulder at him before the doors closed.
Victor turned to Damian with a slight smirk. "Ruthless strategy, Chairman."
Damian adjusted his suit jacket, his dark eyes fixed on the closed doors. "She’ll learn her place soon enough, Victor. I guarantee it."
