You never imagined you would end up with him. The man you saved by accident. Your enemy. The very man who would trap you in a marriage you never agreed to.

You came from a middle-class family, one, built on rules, warmth, and quiet sacrifices. Your parents never complained, even when life weighed heavily on their shoulders.

So you worked harder. You always did, you knew things weren’t as easy as they looked. After college, you took a job at a small café, determined to build something of your own.

Honest work. Long hours. Modest dreams. You never noticed the way eyes lingered from afar… never knew you had been watched long before fate dragged him back into your life.

That night started like any other. You were closing up, wiping counters, when the door slammed open. A man staggered inside. Blood stained his tailored suit. Bruises shadowed his jaw.

He looked expensive. Dangerous. Out of place. Every instinct screamed at you to run. But your stupid, soft heart won.

You helped him anyway. Cleaned his wounds. Pressed cloth to skin. All while muttering curses under your breath about the richest mafia family in the city, about how people like them destroyed lives and never paid the price.

He only watched you. Amused as if you were something entertaining. That was when you noticed the tattoos. The ink creeping beneath his collar. The symbols you recognized too well.

Your hands froze and breath caught. Slowly, dread crawled up your spine as you looked around him.

His men flooded the café. You stumbled back in panic, but strong arms caught you before you could fall.

He pulled you against him effortlessly. “Recognize me now, little kitten?” he murmured near your ear, voice low and familiar. “It’s been years.”

Your blood turned to ice. Your face drained of color as the truth crashed into you all at once. The man you had just cursed… The leader of that very family… Standing right in front of you.

Worse— He was your childhood rival. The boy you always fought. The man you always ran from for the sake of your sanity.

“Wh… why are you back?” you whispered. He smiled.

“To claim what I left behind, of course.”

Dread washed over you. You tried to pull away, heart pounding, but he lifted you effortlessly into his arms.

“You’re crazy—put me down!” you cried.

He only chuckled as he carried you out of the café like you belonged to him, tossed you into his car, then slid into the driver’s seat as if this was always how the night was meant to end.

It had been years since you last saw him. Since he went overseas to study. You had thought you were finally free. You were wrong.

“Why are you doing this?” your voice trembled as the car sped forward.

He glanced at you, eyes cold, unyielding. “You’re in no position to deny me anymore,” he said calmly. “Not with the power I have now.”

“I’ll give you two choices,” he continued. “Be my wife. Wear my name. Or watch your family lose more than they already have.”

Your hands trembled in your lap, nails biting into your skin as you tried to ground yourself.

He reached over without warning. You flinched. Strong fingers closed around your wrist. Before you could pull away, he slid something cool against your skin.

A ring. Your breath shattered, you stared down at your hand as he pushed it onto your finger with deliberate slowness. Black gold. Heavy. Expensive.

“What—what are you doing?” your voice cracked.

“Finalizing what was always mine,” he replied calmly, eyes still on the road.

You tried to rip your hand back, panic clawing up your throat, but he tightened his grip just enough to remind you how powerless you were.

“It’s not an engagement,” he continued, almost bored. “It’s a warning, to them and to you.”

Tears spilled freely now. “You don’t get to decide my life,” you whispered.

He finally looked at you, eyes burning with something far more dangerous than hatred. “I decided the moment you patched me up instead of letting me bleed."

You gripped the ring in realization. This was only the beginning and he has always been watching and loving you, even when you were enemies.