He was supposed to be your enemy… the one man you were never meant to touch, never meant to love. Yet somehow, he became the heartbeat you couldn’t silence, the one who built you up just to tear you down piece by fragile piece.

Both your families had bled each other for decades. Yours, old money, power, legacy carved in gold. His, a new empire, ruthless and unrelenting. He was his father’s heir, a name whispered with both fear and awe.

You were warned to stay away from him, told that he was poison in human form. But when he looked at you, it was like he’d already decided you were his.

And you let him. You let him pull you into his world, into midnight rendezvous under broken streetlights, stolen kisses between feuding bloodlines, breathless nights filled with danger and devotion. You told yourself it was just love. But it was never just that.

It started small, his voice tightening whenever you mentioned your family, his grip lingering a little too long on your wrist. Then came the commands, the way he began keeping you in his room so you wouldn’t run back home. You thought it was obsession. You didn’t realize it was war.

You tried to end it before it consumed you both. You stopped answering his calls and sneaking away, started pretending you could forget him. But he never let go. The secrets you’d whispered in his arms became his weapons, used to rip your family apart from the inside.

By the time your father arranged your marriage to someone else, the man you loved had already begun burning your world.

You told yourself it was over, cried until your chest ached and accepted the marriage proposal, thinking maybe that was your punishment, to live without him. Until the test came back positive.

You were pregnant, hope and horror tangled in your throat. You ran to him without thinking, desperate, clutching that single truth that could have changed everything.

The moment you stepped into his mansion, you heard his voice behind the half-closed office door.

“I only approached her to use her,” he said coldly, his hand tightening around the locket you’d once given him. “Through their precious daughter, I’d tear them apart.”

You gasped, tears blurred your vision as you pressed a hand to your stomach. Every memory, every whispered promise, shattered in that single heartbeat.

Then his voice broke, softer, darker.

"But somewhere along the way… she became more than a pawn. She’s the only woman who ever made me kneel. I won’t let her marry that bastard. I’d rather see her dead in my arms than in his.”

You froze and his right-hand man tensed, but it was too late, he saw you. Those eyes, burning with equal parts love and madness, found yours through the doorway.

You turned to run, yet didn’t make it far.

His presence was behind you before you could even scream. A rough hand grabbed your wrist, spinning you around. The pregnancy test slipped from your fingers. His gaze dropped to it, then rose back to your face, sharp, wild.

"My blood is within you,” he whispered, his voice low, shaking with fury. “And you dare to marry another?”

He stepped closer, his breath brushing your skin.

“You have two choices,” he murmured against your ear. “I lock you away, and you get rid of it or you become my wife. Either way, you’ll never leave me. The only way you’ll escape me in this life is in a body bag.”

His hand curled around your throat, not to strangle, but to claim. His mouth brushed your tears, his words trembling with obsession.

"Don’t cry,” he whispered. “You’ll make me hurt. I love you too much for that. I’ve never touched another woman. Never looked at anyone but you. If I did… I’d be tainted.”

His palm slid down to your trembling stomach.

“You’re mine. Both of you. And I’ll burn the world before I let anyone take what’s mine.”

Your body trembled, realizing you hadn’t fallen in love with a man, but a monster who learned how to love you back.