The silk tie hit the thick carpet without a sound.

Boyd stared down at her. His eyes were completely black in the dim light of the bedroom. "Come here," he ordered. "Unbutton it."

Elinor pressed her back against the mattress. Her hands were shaking so violently she couldn't even form fists. The alcohol in her system made the room spin, but the terror kept her painfully awake. She couldn't move.

Boyd's jaw clenched. He stepped forward, grabbed her wrist, and yanked her off the bed. She crashed against his solid chest.

"Do it," he hissed.

He forced her trembling hands flat against his chest. She could feel the rapid, heavy beat of his heart through the expensive cotton of his dress shirt.

Elinor swallowed a sob. Her clumsy fingers fumbled with the top button at his collar. Her hands shook so much that her fingernail slipped, scraping sharply against his collarbone.

Boyd grabbed her hand, stopping her. His grip was like a steel vice. "Are you this incompetent at pleasing a man?" he mocked, his voice dripping with disgust.

The tears finally spilled over her lashes, hot and fast. "Please, Boyd," she begged, her voice cracking. "Don't do this..."

Boyd looked at her tears. A flash of deep irritation crossed his face. He let go of her hand, grabbed the lapels of his own shirt, and ripped it open. The small pearl buttons popped off, scattering across the hardwood floor like hail.

He shoved her backward. Elinor fell onto the soft mattress. Before she could scramble away, Boyd's massive frame covered her, blocking out the ceiling, the light, and the air in the room.

The night fractured into pieces of sharp pain and suffocating weight. Elinor squeezed her eyes shut, biting the inside of her cheek until her mouth filled with the taste of blood. She didn't scream. She just lay there, letting the darkness swallow her whole.

When the gray light of dawn finally crept through the floor-to-ceiling windows, Elinor was staring blankly at the wall. Her body felt like it had been shattered into a thousand pieces and glued back together wrong. She was numb.

She heard the rustle of fabric. Boyd was standing at the foot of the bed, already dressed in a fresh, perfectly tailored suit. He looked immaculate. The beast from the night before had vanished, replaced by the cold corporate king.

He walked around the bed and sat on the edge. He reached out. Elinor flinched, her breath catching in her throat.

Boyd's hand didn't stop. He traced the pad of his thumb over the dried tear tracks on her cheek. The gesture looked gentle, but his touch felt like ice.

"Do not forget," Boyd said quietly, his eyes locked on hers. "Your adoptive father's life is still in my hands."

He turned and picked up a thick manila folder from the nightstand. He tossed it onto the bed. It landed heavily against Elinor's bruised hip.

Elinor slowly pulled her gaze away from the wall and looked at the document. The bold black letters at the top read: Medical Debt Transfer and Personal Liberty Agreement.

Her eyes dropped to the bottom of the page. The total amount was printed in bold. One billion dollars.

Elinor's pupils dilated. The air rushed out of her lungs. She knew her father's treatments were expensive. She knew Boyd had paid for them. But she never knew it was this astronomical, impossible number.

"I bought all the debt from the hospital," Boyd explained, adjusting his cuffs. "I bought not only the hospital's debt, but the entire pharmaceutical patent that keeps him alive. Every single dose is now billed through me. One billion is just the start. You are the sole collateral."

He leaned in closer, his breath brushing her ear. "Every time you 'please' me, I might consider reducing a fraction of the interest."

The words hit her like physical blows. Her heart sank into a bottomless ocean of ice. This wasn't a one-night punishment for going to a bar. This was a life sentence.

A sudden surge of desperate anger broke through her numbness. She grabbed the thick stack of papers with both hands and tried to rip them in half.

Boyd caught her wrists instantly. He pinned her hands to the mattress with effortless strength.

"Don't be stupid, Elinor," he said, his voice flat. "You have no choice."

He released her, stood up, and smoothed the front of his jacket. He walked toward the bedroom door and opened it.

His executive assistant, Alex Stone, was standing in the hallway, his face completely blank.

"Take her to the private suite on the top floor," Boyd ordered, not looking back at the bed. "Let her reflect on her behavior for three days."

He paused, his hand on the doorknob. "She does not leave that room. She does not touch any electronic devices. No one speaks to her."

Elinor tried to sit up, to fight, but her muscles screamed in agony. Two female maids entered the room. They grabbed her by the arms and hauled her off the bed. Her legs gave out, and they dragged her out of the master bedroom.

They took her up a private staircase to the highest floor of the penthouse. They pushed her into a room and locked the door behind her.

Elinor stumbled and fell onto the thick white carpet. She looked around. The room was massive, decorated in gold and cream. It had a massive bed, a luxurious bathroom, and huge windows overlooking the city.

But there was no door handle on the inside of the heavy oak door. The windows were sealed shut, made of thick bulletproof glass. It was a gilded cage.

Maria, the older maid, walked in through a side door carrying a silk nightgown. Her face was a mask of stone. She stripped Elinor of her ruined clothes and dressed her in the silk, handling her like a lifeless mannequin.

Maria left, the lock clicking heavily behind her.

Elinor dragged herself to the bathroom mirror. She stared at the reflection. Her neck and collarbones were covered in dark purple bruises. Her eyes were hollow.

She turned and ran to the heavy oak door. She slammed her fists against the wood. "Let me out!" she screamed, her voice tearing her raw throat. "Boyd! Let me out!"

She pounded on the door until the sides of her hands bruised and bled. No one answered. The silence of the penthouse swallowed her screams.

Her legs finally gave out. She slid down the solid wood, her knees hitting the floor. She curled into a tight ball, her desperate sobs echoing off the high, golden ceiling of her prison.

The first twenty-four hours in the cage dragged by like thick, suffocating mud.

Elinor sat curled in the corner of the room, her knees pulled tight to her chest. She hadn't moved. When Maria entered silently to place a silver tray of roasted salmon and asparagus on the table, Elinor didn't even blink.

An hour later, Maria returned and carried the untouched food away.

Elinor buried her face in her arms. A low, continuous sob tore from her throat. She couldn't stop crying. The tears were a physical reaction to the crushing weight of the billion-dollar debt and the memory of Boyd's hands on her skin.

Two floors down, in the massive corner office of the Walker Group, Boyd sat at his mahogany desk. A live video feed from the London branch played on his massive monitor. Six executives were presenting the quarterly projections.

Boyd wasn't listening.

He wore a wireless earpiece in his right ear. It was connected directly to the hidden microphones in the top-floor suite. Elinor's broken, breathless crying piped directly into his ear canal.

The sound grated against his nerves. He reached up and aggressively twisted his platinum cufflink. His jaw ticked.

"Mr. Walker?" the London VP asked nervously through the screen. "Do you agree with the margin adjustments?"

Boyd stared at the screen. His eyes were cold and dead. "Pause for ten minutes," he snapped. He hit a button on his keyboard, cutting the video feed instantly.

He pressed the intercom button on his desk. "Alex."

"Yes, sir," Alex Stone's voice came through immediately.

"Make her shut up," Boyd growled, ripping the earpiece out and throwing it onto the desk.

Ten miles away, in a cramped, mold-infested apartment in Queens, Deshaun Campbell stared at his cracked phone screen.

He had called Elinor thirty-two times. Every single call went straight to voicemail. He had dragged his bad leg all the way to the NYU campus, standing outside her lecture halls, but she never showed up.

Deshaun gripped the curved wooden handle of his cane. His knuckles turned stark white under his dark skin. He suffered from selective mutism; his vocal cords worked, but the trauma of his childhood kept the words locked behind his teeth.

He typed furiously on his prepaid phone. Elinor, are you okay? Please text back.

Nothing.

A cold sweat broke out on the back of his neck. He knew about Boyd Walker. He knew the kind of shadow that man cast over Elinor's life. If she was missing, Walker was the reason.

Deshaun grabbed his worn winter coat. He limped out of the apartment and took the subway to Manhattan. The two-hour ride felt like a lifetime.

He stood in the massive, marble-floored lobby of the Walker Group building. The security guards at the front desk blocked his path.

Deshaun didn't try to speak. He pulled a small whiteboard and a marker from his backpack. He wrote in large, jagged letters: I NEED TO SEE ELINOR RICHARDSON. He held it up to the guard's face.

"Kid, you can't be here," the guard said, reaching for Deshaun's arm.

Deshaun violently jerked away. He hit his cane against the marble floor, creating a sharp, echoing crack. He held the whiteboard higher. People in the lobby started to stare.

The head of security recognized him. He had seen the crippled boy waiting for Elinor outside the university gates before. He tapped his earpiece and made a call.

Up in the penthouse office, Alex Stone walked in. "Sir, the Campbell boy is in the lobby. He's demanding to see Miss Richardson."

Boyd looked up from his paperwork. A dark, dangerous shadow crossed his eyes. "Bring him up."

Five minutes later, the elevator doors opened. Deshaun was shoved into the private reception room outside Boyd's office.

Boyd stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, looking down at the city. He slowly turned around. The sheer physical presence of the billionaire made the air in the room feel thin. Deshaun's chest tightened, but he forced himself to stand tall, leaning heavily on his cane.

He raised the whiteboard. Where is Elinor? Is she safe?

Boyd let out a soft, mocking laugh. He walked toward Deshaun, looking at the boy's cheap clothes and the heavy wooden cane. "She is perfectly safe. She is simply paying the price for her disobedience."

Deshaun's eyes widened. He frantically wiped the board and wrote again. It's my fault! She came to my birthday party. Punish me, let her go!

Boyd stopped a few feet away. He tilted his head, studying Deshaun like a scientist observing an insect. "Oh? You want to take her punishment?"

Boyd reached into his pocket and pressed a button on a small remote.

Upstairs in the cage, the massive flat-screen television mounted on the wall suddenly clicked on. Elinor gasped and scrambled backward.

The screen displayed a high-definition, live security feed of the reception room. Elinor saw Boyd's back. And then she saw Deshaun.

"No!" Elinor screamed, launching herself at the screen. She slammed her hands against the glass. "Deshaun! Run! Get out of there!"

But the screen had no microphone. Her voice bounced off the walls of her cage.

Downstairs, Boyd looked at Deshaun. "Very well. I accept your request."

He didn't raise his voice. He simply looked at the two massive bodyguards standing by the door. "Break his other leg. Teach him what happens when he touches things that don't belong to him."

Deshaun didn't even have time to raise his cane. The bodyguards lunged. One grabbed Deshaun from behind, locking his arms. The other kicked the cane away.

Upstairs, Elinor watched in absolute horror. She pounded her bloody fists against the screen. "Boyd! Stop! I'll do anything! Please!"

The second bodyguard raised his heavy, steel-toed boot. He brought it down with sickening force directly onto Deshaun's good knee.

A loud, wet crack echoed through the reception room.

Deshaun's mouth opened in a silent scream. His eyes rolled back in his head as the agony ripped through his nervous system. He collapsed onto the marble floor, his body convulsing.

Boyd stepped over Deshaun's twitching body. He walked directly up to the security camera mounted in the corner of the room. He looked straight into the lens.

Upstairs, Boyd's face filled the screen. His eyes bored into Elinor's soul. He mouthed the words slowly, deliberately.

See? This is what happens when you cry.

Boyd didn't reach for his checkbook. He simply looked down at the agonizing boy. "His medical bills," Boyd said, his voice carrying perfectly to the microphone hidden in the room, "will be added directly to your adoptive father's debt, Elinor. Every time you rebel, the people around you will pay the price." He turned to his guards. "Now get this garbage out of my sight."

The screen in the cage went completely black.

Elinor's hands slid down the cold glass. The air left her lungs completely. Her vision tunneled. She collapsed onto the floor, her body shaking so violently her teeth rattled together. The silence in the room was absolute.

The bodyguards hauled Deshaun up by his armpits. His right leg hung at a grotesque angle, the foot dragging limply against the polished marble.

Deshaun gritted his teeth until his jaw ached. He violently shoved the guards away, refusing to let them carry him. He grabbed his wooden cane from the floor. His hands were shaking from the blinding pain, but he gripped the handle until his knuckles were bone-white.

He put his weight on the cane and his previously injured leg. Every movement sent a wave of nausea through his stomach. He dragged himself toward the elevator.

As he passed Boyd, Deshaun stopped. He turned his head. The look in the boy's eyes was no longer fear. It was a pure, concentrated hatred that burned like acid.

Boyd saw the look. He smirked, adjusting his left cufflink. The hatred of an insect meant nothing to him.

The elevator doors closed, taking the bleeding boy away.

Boyd turned and walked toward the private staircase. He climbed the steps to the top floor and unlocked the heavy oak door of the cage.

Elinor was lying on the floor beneath the blank television screen. She looked like a discarded ragdoll. Her eyes were open, staring blankly at the carpet, completely devoid of life.

Boyd walked over to her. The sight of her absolute defeat sent a strange, uncomfortable prickle down his spine. He reached down to pick her up.

The moment his fingers brushed her shoulder, Elinor violently flinched. It was as if he had pressed a hot iron against her bare skin.

"Don't touch me!" Her voice was a broken, raspy whisper, but it vibrated with pure venom.

Boyd's face hardened. His jaw ticked. "It seems the lesson wasn't clear enough."

He ignored her weak attempts to push him away. He bent down, scooped her up into his arms, and carried her toward the massive bed in the center of the room.

Elinor thrashed wildly in his grip. She balled her hands into fists and struck his chest, his shoulders, his neck. Her hits lacked power, bouncing off his solid muscles like rain against a window.

Her futile resistance didn't anger Boyd. It ignited a dark, twisted heat in his blood. His grip tightened around her waist.

He threw her down onto the soft mattress.

Before she could bounce back, Boyd leaned over her.

Elinor's survival instinct snapped. The image of Deshaun's broken leg flashed behind her eyes. A primal rage exploded in her chest. She didn't shrink back. She lunged forward like a cornered wildcat.

She opened her mouth and sank her teeth deep into the muscle of Boyd's shoulder, right through his expensive suit jacket and shirt.

She bit down with everything she had, her jaw locking tight.

A sharp, piercing pain shot through Boyd's shoulder. He let out a low grunt. He could feel the fabric tear and the sudden, warm wetness of his own blood seeping into his shirt.

He didn't pull away. He didn't strike her.

Instead, a strange, dark thrill rushed through his veins. His pupils dilated. He looked down at the girl attached to his shoulder.

"Finally grew claws?" he whispered, his voice thick with a sick kind of excitement.

He wrapped his massive arms around her back, pulling her body flush against his, trapping her completely. He buried his face in the crook of her neck.

Elinor refused to let go. She tasted the metallic tang of his blood on her tongue. She wanted to tear the flesh from his bones.

Boyd turned his head. He found the soft, pulsing skin just below her ear. He opened his mouth and bit down.

It wasn't a kiss. It was a brutal, territorial bite. His teeth scraped hard against her tender flesh, breaking the skin just enough to leave a permanent, bruising mark. He tasted her blood, mixing with the scent of her fear.

The sudden, sharp pain shocked Elinor. She gasped, her jaw releasing his shoulder. She stared up at him, her eyes wide with horror and confusion.

Before she could scream, Boyd's mouth crashed down onto hers.

He swallowed her scream completely. The kiss was punishing, tasting of copper and violence. He forced her lips apart, invading her mouth, claiming every inch of her breath.

Elinor pushed against his chest, but his weight was crushing. Her oxygen depleted. Her muscles burned with exhaustion. The fight slowly drained out of her, replaced by a suffocating helplessness.

Her hands fell limp onto the mattress. She stopped moving.

A single, hot tear slipped from the corner of her eye. It rolled down her cheek and soaked into the pillow. Then another.

She wasn't sobbing. It was a silent, broken weeping. The sound of a trapped animal that knew it was going to die.

Boyd felt the wetness against his cheek. He felt the absolute stillness of her body beneath him.

He froze.

The dark excitement in his blood suddenly vanished, replaced by a heavy, suffocating pressure in his chest. The silent tears felt like acid burning through his skin. He pulled his mouth away from hers.

He looked down. Her eyes were closed, tears continuously spilling over her lashes.

Boyd's breath grew ragged. He didn't understand the sudden panic gripping his throat. He abruptly rolled off her. He grabbed the thick duvet and pulled it up, wrapping it tightly around her trembling body, cocooning her.

He pulled her wrapped body against his chest, locking his arms around her so she couldn't move.

"Sleep," he ordered. His voice was harsh, but his grip was strangely careful.

Elinor was too exhausted to fight. Surrounded by his scent and the lingering terror, her brain finally shut down. She slipped into a heavy, dreamless unconsciousness.

Boyd lay there in the dark. He listened to her breathing slow down. He slowly reached up and touched his own shoulder. His fingers came away sticky with blood. He stared at the red stain on his fingertips, his jaw clenched so tight his teeth ached.