Claimed by his obsession

0·sandy

Sophia's life exploded on a random Tuesday. She walked in on her husband cheating and got a divorce she never saw coming. But that wasn't brutal enough. Within the hour of that cold night, Marcus's mother, Victoria, threw her out of the house. Sophia was left with nothing. Zero dollars, a few clothes, a suitcase a beggar would say no to, and worst of all, no family. Life was a sick joke, and she was the punchline. She hated it. She hated that her life had been all about a man, and now it was ending the second he decided he was done with her. Then the enemy showed up. Dominic Black. The Vales’ number one rival. He was there with a haunting deal: he wanted to adopt her. By making her an honorary Black, he could publicly shame the Vales for their cruelty and use Sophia’s insider knowledge to tank their stock. With her, they could bring Marcus to his knees. With no other choice, Sophia said yes, stepping into the den of tigers. She met the second most feared Black. Damien Black. Damien was the last Black brother. At six, his parents suddenly walked out, leaving the five boys to fend for themselves. Dominic was left with the sole responsibility of raising his four younger brothers. But Damien was the genius. He snatched a scholarship to a prestigious school in England and, with his crazy brain, spent half his life overseas getting opportunities his brothers couldn’t. He lived by one rule: if his parents could leave him, anyone could. The only safe option? Never let anyone in. So he built a wall. A fence so high that no one could climb through. Until Sophia. She was the very first person to bring the slightest emotion out of him. She was different. But she was also supposed to be his honorary sister. She was supposed to be off-limits. And that's what drove him crazy, because Damien Black always got what he wanted. She'd be no different. Inciting Incident; When Marcus saw the Blacks had their hands on her, his first thought was to get her back, despite the divorce. He refused to look weak in the eyes of his mother and the board. At the gala where Sophia was announced as the newest Black sibling, Marcus tried to embarrass and drag her out. Damien wouldn't let him touch her. When he realized talking wouldn't knock any sense into Marcus's head, Damien did the one thing his elder brother would never approve of: He kissed her. In front of everyone. Marking Sophia as his before the world. Humiliated, Marcus left, vowing to make a fool out of the Blacks—Sophia included. The public kiss didn't just bruise Marcus's ego; it set off a nuclear explosion in the city’s social hierarchy. By claiming Sophia as his own instead of a sister, Damien effectively spat on Dominic's meticulous PR strategy, turning a sympathy play into a massive scandal that threatened the Black family's reputation for cold, calculating logic. Marcus, boiling with humiliated rage, didn't slink away; he leaked doctored photos to the press. The story: Sophia was having an affair with Damien while married to Marcus, painting her as the villain who destroyed her marriage. This move was designed to trigger a morality clause in a massive government tech contract Damien was bidding for, threatening to bankrupt the BCT branch before the ink was even dry. Dominic was livid. His masterpiece of revenge was turning into a total liability. He ordered the other brothers to keep Damien and Sophia apart, but the tension in the Black fortress was unbearable. Zane, the silent, observant fourth brother who handles the family's underground connections, revealed chilling news: Victoria wasn't just trying to shame Sophia. She had hired a third-party security firm to retrieve Sophia, by force if necessary, to keep her from testifying about the Vale family’s offshore tax evasions. The crisis peaked when mercenaries tried to snatch Sophia from a luxury spa. Damien, who'd been tracking her phone out of a burgeoning obsession, arrived just in time. He didn't just save her; he went on a dark, violent rampage, proving he’d lost his legendary control. In that blood-soaked moment, he realized he wasn't protecting a project or a sister—he was protecting the only person who made the world quiet enough for him to think. This shift from corporate rivalry to physical warfare forced the Blacks to realize they weren't in a business battle anymore. They were in a