Demi-Dean

Nadezhda is in trouble. She is pregnant, and worse, she doesn't know the man she slept with that dark, hazy night. But what she does know is that he is powerful. Powerful enough to put her and her baby in harm's way. A mob boss. She's just an ordinary maid. And she's pregnant with his baby. Artyom Paplov has accepted his role as the new heir to the Paplov Syndicate. But his twin brother is trouble. A visit to his uncle brings him face to face with the feisty Nadezhda who's hiding a terrible secret. She's carrying his brother's baby. When tragedy strikes, and Nadezhda's secret comes out, things take a dangerous turn. The Paplov Crime family has always had enemies, but this time they are a lot closer to home than expected. And they want one thing, and one thing only. The death of Nadezhda and her child. The only one who can save her and her child is the last man she wants to ever be attached with. But what happens when the lines between hate and love blurs? Can Nadezhda stop herself from falling for this wickedly handsome mob boss?

I've never been lucky. I lost my parents at a young age to false treason claims against the Redwood Pack. My cruel uncle Storm assumed my father's role of Alpha in the Pack, and ever since he became Alpha, my life has been a living hell. When he brings news of the Northern Alpha King hosting a ball to pick his Luna of the North, he charges me to act as a spy for him. Gather Intel on the runnings of the Northern Pack and bring it to him. Failure to do so? He'll have my head. When I meet Alpha King Elijah Lahiz, King of the North, under weird circumstances, the mate bond snaps into place, and we're bonded to each other. However, after a night of passion, Elijah acts like I don't exist and picks my best friend, Raya, as his Luna. Distraught and feeling betrayed, I run away to the South and into the patient arms of the Southern King Jeremiah, to escape my uncle's wrath. Jeremiah proposes an alliance to take down both my uncle and Elijah. But there's a problem. A huge one, really. I'm carrying Alpha Elijah's child.

Some think I'm cursed. Others think I'm unlucky. But I know what I am. My name is Leora, and I am the Redwood Pack's Alpha's daughter. Well, until my mother died. My father remarried late, so the Pack moved on to new hands. My new stepmother, Amarie, is a spawn of Satan. She gives me to the new Alpha's household as a maidservant as a price for not exiling my father. I become an outcast, abused and punished every single day. On my eighteenth birthday, I find out that I'm mated to the new Alpha's son, Caleb. Enraged, he rejects me, throwing me into the dungeons. In pains, I remain there for days. Then one fateful night, my luck changes. The Lycan King is visiting the Pack to find a mate. Which happens to be me. I'm alone, crying that night, when a towering golden-eyed man charges in and rips the dungeon doors off their hinges. I gasp when he cups my chin, and whispers softly. "Stop crying, mate. I'm here now. And I'll make sure no one ever brings you to tears ever again!" I thought my problems were over then. But it was only the beginning.

Warning: 18+ only. Featuring hardcore taboo and age-gap erotica. This is an erotic boxset containing fifteen stories of irresistible steam, fun, and naughty stories. If you're not up to eighteen, this book is not for you. Get ready to be intrigued. To feel. To...burn. ----------------------- "Now, let's discuss your shorts." A big hand slips under the blanket and glides down my knees to my innermost thighs, a finger finding my pussy, and sinking in. "You are a naughty, naughty girl. Did you wear this to torture me? Answer me." "Yes," I manage after two gulped breaths. "I wore it for you." With no panties. Everything bare. "You want me that bad, Theresa? You want me worked up, right? Feral, agitated, hopelessly turned on, huh?" My lips part as he shifts the stethoscope, listening to my heart pound as I answer. "Y-yes." "Say it. I want to hear every word." "I wore shorts to turn you on, Dr Storm. Every time." Excitement flourishes in my stomach, and I ride it like a tidal wave. "I wore it so you could..." He waits, bristling with impatience as I trail off. A muscle leaps in his jaw, and his whole sculpted body is tense beneath me. "So I could what, Theresa? So I could what?" The silence is so loud, the tension so thick, his eyes so intense, so needy to hear the words, I feel my toes curl. "So, you could put your hand up there, Dr Storm. So, you could touch me."

"Lovely, Cara," he whispers, licking and kissing my clit. I'm twitching, shaking, back arched- He reaches down and picks up the champagne bottle, pouring out the liquid on my body. I gasp at the sudden bubbling cold. I try to wriggle away but he holds me down and sucks the champagne, licking me clean, making these filthy delighted noises as he does it. "I couldn't help myself. You taste too good." - Fed up with her abusive husband, twenty-three-year-old Cara Hellington runs away from home and ends up in a notorious bar, destitute, sad, but relieved and free. When she gets into a verbal altercation with the snotty bartender over the ownership of her credit cards, an unlikely savior comes to her aid. Eros Kazan Alfred. He's tall, massive, rippling with muscles, and covered with dark tattoos. Everything Cara is not used to. Everything Cara is drawn to. She should run towards the opposite direction, away from him. But she runs right onto his bed. After a hot sizzling night together, Cara is comfortable and confident in him taking good care of her. But tensions are rising all around them, as significant figures from their past will stop at nothing to bring them both down. Will they succumb under the wickedly twisted circumstances fate seems to be throwing at them?

Carol: Life was never a bed of roses. At least for me. Abandoned at birth by both parents, and made to go through too many foster homes, I had to put in twice the amount of effort of my peers. Both in education, and in my career. I love children, and I've aspired to land a very good job as a social worker who cares for kids for as long as I can remember. When New York's most eligible bachelor and billionaire Evans Armstrong propositions me to become a nanny for his nephew, I'm speechless. Out of every options he had available, he choose me. And his nephew is the sweetest boy I've ever encountered. Maybe, just maybe I can achieve my dreams after all. Evans: Life was never the same ever since my sister Serena died, leaving me with her son Brandon. Each day that passes, I strive to be a better man, and provide for Brandon everything he needs. He's a smart kid, and he deserves the best. Which is why I go out of my way in searching for a suitable nanny to tend to him, since my efforts can only go so far. When I see Carolina for the first time, she's striking. And her polite demeanor has a ripple effect on young Brandon. I know immediately that she's the right one for him. She would make a wonderful nanny. And perhaps, a wonderful wife.

Professor Blaine is psychotic. It's there in the ruthless ways he punishes students. It's there in his eyes. In his movements. And years spent observing him has made Azira Sidorov develop a soft spot for the hot, intimidating professor. Blaine has been drawn to Azira ever since the first time he punished her in Grade nine. He loves the way her eyes lit up as his whips and spanks hit her skin. Loved the way she asked for more non-verbally too, jerking her hips backwards. Ever since that first encounter, he's been anticipating for more, but Azira is one student that seldom gets into trouble. Now in her final year, and tired of holding back, Azira is bolder and tries to reel him in by causing trouble so she could be sent to him for punishment. It's her own way of getting close to him. Her own way of making him realize that she can handle whatever depravity he's made of. But Professor Blaine is a cold-hearted beast, and he fears he might hurt Azira with his strange thrills. She should quit him before she ends up broken beyond repair. But she's too far gone. Professor Blaine is an addiction. And he is consuming her whole. NOTE: THIS IS A FOUR-BOOK SERIES: BOOK ONE: THE PROFESSOR WHO LOVES ME. BOOK TWO: THE PRINCIPAL WHO WANTS ME. BOOK THREE: THE BULLY WHO HATES ME. BOOK THREE: THE COACH WHO SAVES ME.

Warning: 18+ only. Featuring hardcore taboo and age-gap erotica. This is an erotic boxset containing yet another twelve stories of irresistible steam, steam, fun, and naughty stories. If you're not up to eighteen, this book is not for you. Get ready to be intrigued. To feel. To...burn. --------- "You think I'm a softie?" My voice is deceptively gentle when the rest of me is so hard. "Do you know why I pulled over?" "Why?" she says, seeming to hold her breath. Don't you dare. She's innocent. I say the words, anyway, however. I want to drive her away. Now. She caught me with my walls down and that is the ultimate invasion, made worse because I crave it happening again. "I pulled over because I know tight pussy when I see it." I frame her jaw with my right hand, tilting her blushing face up toward mine. "I'd like to fuck you on all fours, right here in the middle of the road, little girl. Rough as you can stand. Still think I'm a softie?" "No," she gasps, the green of her eyes deepening to a forest shade. "I don't." I ignore the regret stabbing me in the neck. "Good."

Warning: 18+ only. Featuring hardcore taboo and age-gap erotica. This is an erotic boxset containing twelve stories of irresistible steam, steam, fun, and naughty stories. If you're not up to eighteen, this book is not for you. Get ready to be intrigued. To feel. To...sin. ---------- “I made myself tight for Big Daddy,” she leans up and whispers in my ear. “Every morning and night, I clenched it really tight, released, clenched, released…” As she says the words, her pussy performs the actions until I’m panting into the space between us, shudders wracking my body. “FUCK,” I growl, sparks blinking in front of my vision. “You’re going to get it now, little girl.” All I can do after that is make her lose her mind. That’s the only way to define it. I shove her legs open on the bed and do exactly as I threaten. I rail her like a dog, slamming my cock in and out of her wet blonde cunt. She screams and claws at me, begging me not to stop, rocking her hips up to meet my hectic drives, my grunts loud enough to be heard in the room next door, along with her calls of my name—and in this moment, I want that. I want everyone in this hotel to know I get to fuck this supple nineteen-year-old. I want them to know she primed her pussy for me so it would be extra snug. And I can’t believe my luck. Whether I’m paying or not, I can’t believe she’s allowing my big, hairy body on top of her smooth, tiny one for a single second. That she’s not only spreading her legs for me, but she’s also moaning with pleasure, not put off by my aggression at all. No, it’s making her hot. “Harder, Big Daddy. Punish me.” I’m not sure how I stop myself from ejaculating. Maybe it’s the intense need to stay locked inside her perfection for as long as possible, but somehow, I hold back. Long enough to pull out of Lia and flip her face down, yanking her hips up and back into my lap. I re=enter her with my purpling cock, our flesh slapping madly as I raw dog her from behind, employing not a hint of gentleness. She doesn't want gentleness, either. Not my girl. She tilts her hips back and asks for it harder. Faster.

When her hot, overbearing, but charming boss gets a hold of her diary, and offers to grant her greatest wish for a child, Twenty-two-year-old Felicity Graham is furious, and hesitant. For one, he's her employer. Two, she wonders if he truly loves her, or if his offer is just based on his father's pressure on him to produce a heir. — Cold, reclusive Shawn Colby has hit a dead end. Undeniably Chicago's most eligible bachelor and a well-known business tycoon, he could have anything his heart desired. Women, cars, numerous houses if he wanted. When his overbearing father demands that he settle down and produce an heir, Shawn can't think of anyone else but Felicity — his calm, sweet personal assistant. When he gets hold of Felicity's diary, and finds out that her greatest dream is to have a child of her own, he propositions her. But Felicity is furious, and hesitant. Besides being Shawn's assistant, she's close to his family as well, and is aware of the pressure he's under to bring forth a heir. What happens when a business trip up-turns their lives? Can Shawn prove that he truly loves her for her, pressure aside?

After the mysterious death of her parents, Portia Esmeralda is bullied into a contract marriage by her two elder brothers who once loved her. But things start going pretty downhill when on her wedding day, the groom is nowhere to be seen and the guests are all killed. As well as her evil brothers. In order to end what would become a generational feud, and save her cousin, Portia agrees to marry Callahan Scarfoni - the monster who ruined her day and killed her terrible brothers. Callahan is a man scarred by his past and thirsty for revenge. His sole plan? Finish off the Esmeralda family till no one is left. Just like how they didn't spare his many years ago. But there's just one Esmeralda he just couldn't hurt, no matter what. Portia. She's his to tame. She's his possession, to own and protect.

New York's most eligible bachelor, Norman Rockwell has everything he could ever as for. Wealth, power, an insane amount of women falling at his feet, and peace of mind. But he's lacking something. One thing his heart desires so much. A baby. An heir. One he would leave everything he's worked for when he dies. He's been with so many women, and none are suitable. None have that flourish, that demeanor of being a mother. They're all after his money. After his dick. All except Sasha, his red-headed, smoking-hot, no-nonsense PA. She's the only one who could rein him in. Keep him in control. Make him smile. But she's not new to the array of beautiful women who normally grace his office. Convincing her to be his won't be easy, but he's willing to conquer her heart. No matter what it takes. She must be the mother of his child. He would have no other woman, but her.

"Richard will always be mine, Elena," The corner of her lips curled up into a sly smirk. Advancing closer, she leaned in to whisper against my ear softly. "Even if I have to kill you to have him to myself, I'll do it." - He's the man she's always loved. The man she's always felt strongly for. But he has eyes on one person only; her hot-shot surgeon sister. When her twin sister fails to show up on her wedding day, Elena Williams has no choice but to step up to the occasion and take her place - but marriage to the noble Richard Delmonte is both exciting and torturous. The elusive, established billionaire mogul and one of the most eligible bachelor of New York is the only man she's ever loved. The only man who's ever filled up her nights. Yet he's madly in love with her sister. Now that her dream has come true and she's married to him at last, Elena vows to do everything in her power to win him over. Even if it costs bringing down the heavens for him.

"I think you enjoyed at least part of your punishment last night, sweetheart." "No," I whispered, my voice barely audible, my eyes still on his hand, on his fingers as they drew small circles that made my toes curl on my exposed, sensitive skin. He moved closer to me, making a small gasp push past my lips as I looked up, our gazes colliding. "Relax. Do you know what the fun part is, Lana? It doesn't always have to be a punishment. It could be something... exciting too. Something you'll most definitely like." — To save her entire family from the Stravkos Mafia - which was the most powerful Mafia family in Tuscany, Italy - Then sixteen-year old Solana Williams agrees to take her sister's place and becomes a sacrificial lamb - becoming Abel Stravkos' wife. Theirs is just a mere marriage of convenience, but now older, wiser and twenty-three, Solana vows revenge for all they did to her family by making Abel's life a living nightmare. Abel Stravkos does not need a wife, but with his cold-hearted father handling the helm of affairs, he's helpless to object. His heart isn't tied to this strange, beautiful, vengeful woman who's been forced down his throat. But the line between love and hate is thin, and Solana's staunch disobedience to his orders fuels his need to control her in every way possible. Driven by revenge, and an undeniable passion sizzling just beneath the surface, it's only a matter of time before their attraction for each other becomes apparent, much to the dismay of his father as well as both internal and external forces trying to pull them apart. Will they ever rise above obstacles lodged in their paths and get their happily-ever-after?

"I'll do anything!" she pleads, grabbing my hands. "I'll do anything. Just let him go. He made a mistake." "That's not an excuse. It was a costly mistake." "Please. I'll do anything you want. Anything at all." I let the silence hang in the air between us as I think carefully, my eyes drawn to how firm and full her tits are. "Anything, princess?" She lets go of my hands and straightens, raising her chin. I watch as she swallows nervously. "Y-Yes. Anything at all." I raise my fingers to her face, smearing my thumbs with her tears. I trail them down her strong jaw, to her throat, over the small hollow between her collarbones, the skin of her chest, stopping between her tits. I circle the spot quietly while she holds her breath, perhaps in anticipation. "Would you let me fuck you, Titania?" — Fiesty, yet innocent Titania Williams is best known for being at the wrong place at the wrong time, and this time she's getting more than she bargained for. When her dear Uncle Patrick betrays one of the most powerful Mafia Lords in New York, Kristoff Stavkros, Titania is caught unexpectedly in the underworld web of crimes and deceit. To save her uncle's life, she makes Kristoff an offer. She'll be his for a month. Thirty days, he owns her body. Stupid, right? But Titania plays by the rules. But how can she come out victorious when Kristoff keeps changing the rules and is hell-bent on making her his forever?

[Book 1] When werewolf shifters are asked to leave Manhattan, Sawyer Rivers is at a loss. Manhattan is the only home he's known having lost his parents when he was younger to a brutal Pack bloodbath. Plus, he's penniless and his heat period is about to hit the roof. Upon the suggestion of a close friend, he visits Bad and Boogie which is a breeding zone for werewolves under the guise of a bar. There he meets Daniel who saves him from a troop of nasty alphas who'd planned to rape him. When Sawyer's heat hits in full force, Daniel has no choice but to knot with him. After the best steamy experience of their lives, Sawyer is set to leave Manhattan. Days and weeks pass and he discovers that he's pregnant with Daniel's child. Daniel who's been on the hunt for him ever since finds him in a miraculous twist of fate and has to convince him to be his mate and Luna, even though Sawyer feels he's not right for him. Can Sawyer deal with his insecurities and the paparazzi that comes with being Daniel's Luna? What happens when a jealous desperado threatens to ruin their bond?

My body sang a tune only Ryan knew... When Twenty-two year old Sammy Cartwright's NYU football dreams were dashed due to an accidental testicles smash in a heated match, he scheppled back to Todos Santos and after a year feeling depressed, took up his father's teaching job temporarily in Royal Elite High. Too bad he hasn't any formal experience with teaching and the hypocritical principal is threatening to fire him if there isn't an improvement within the end of the month. Dumped by his girlfriend of six-years and navigating his bisexuality, Sammy isn't prepared for the temptation that comes in the form of Ryan Churchill, the principal's bastard son who's got a pretty face and a dirty tongue to match it. But Sammy knew better than to cross his boundaries. When Principal Churchill gives him a chance to prove he's worth his salary and tutor Ryan for a week, Sammy knew he was doomed. Judging by how eager Ryan was to get into his pants and how unashamedly willing his body was to give in to the youngster's demands, Sammy knew seven days were more than enough to break the rules. But the consequences could wreck him for all he's worth. - - - - - My name is Sammy Cartwright and I have a confession to make. I slept with my student who I was supposed to tutor to prove I'm worth his mother's goddamn money. I let him jerk me off. Finger and fuck me to oblivion. I let him drive me insane with his tongue in my arse. I had multiple orgasms, in multiple positions. I fucked his smart little mouth. I slept with my student and I'd be damned not doing it again. Some may call it unprofessionalism, like his rich arse mother did. But I call it destiny, a fantasy meant to happen. My name is Sammy Cartwright and I slept with my student because it made me feel good. Here's why it's all worth it.

I was the perfect Mafia wife, my dowry the foundation of my husband's ambition. I paid for his Yale degree, his tailored suits, and the very mansion he called his own. My reward? He paraded his mistress into my bedroom and declared her his second wife, expecting me to silently finance their affair. They thought they had broken a merchant's daughter. They forgot I was raised by wolves. Armed with a blood chit—a life debt owed to my family by the most feared man in Chicago—I walked into the lion's den. I went to Damien 'The Wraith' Falcone, the Dark Don who rules the Outfit with an iron fist, to demand a simple annulment. But the King of Chicago isn't interested in simple transactions. He saw the steel beneath my silk, the vendetta burning in my eyes. He granted me my freedom, but at a price: my allegiance. Now, I'm a pawn in his lethal game of thrones, caught between a treacherous husband I swore to destroy and a ruthless Don who looks at me with a terrifying, possessive hunger. In a city built on loyalty and betrayal, I'm about to teach them all that a queen's wrath is the deadliest weapon of all.

On my birthday, my husband Dante asked for a divorce over a plate of cold lasagna. He held my hand, tears in his eyes, and told me his mistress was pregnant. "It’s a miracle, Elena," he wept. "God has finally given me a son." He looked at me with pity, calling me "broken" because I hadn't given him an heir in eight years. He moved his pregnant mistress into the penthouse I paid for, and his mother mocked me as a "dry vine" while cooking tonic soups for the new woman. They didn't know the truth I had buried three years ago. I remembered the day the doctor slid the file across the desk: *Azoospermia. Zero sperm count.* Dante was the sterile one. I had burned the results to protect his fragile ego as a Mafia Don. I took the blame. I drank his mother's vile herbal poisons every morning until I vomited, just to keep his secret. Now, he was discarding me for a "miracle" that was biologically impossible. I signed the divorce papers without a tear. Then I bought the debt of his company, put on a blood-red dress, and walked into his heir's Christening. I didn't come to object. I came to plug a USB drive into the projector and show the entire underworld exactly whose "miracle" that baby really was.

"It was just one night stand, and now I'm pregnant with triplets? Gosh!" Josephine Jade never thought that she would have to run away from her own family while pregnant. She was alone, without money, without connections, with three fetuses in her stomach. How can she survive? However, Josephine couldn't give up now, until she managed to reclaim her arbitrarily seized property and get back at everyone who tried to get rid of her. A sick child, a past crush that comes back, a mysterious eccentric man, and a family that hates her, will weave together the journey of Josephine Jade's new life. "You have no right to separate me from my children, you bastard! I will survive and you will submit to me. Just watch!"

My mother is marrying a monster tomorrow. I'm the only one who remembers. My widowed mother was arranged to marry Lorenzo, a powerful Mafia Capo. I thought his status would finally bring us protection. But on the third day of their marriage, Lorenzo moved his pregnant mistress, Camilla, into the estate's master suite. She loudly claimed the child in her womb was the orphaned blood of a fallen soldier. "A Capo of Lorenzo's stature is doing your mother a service," the Syndicate wives mocked me, demanding we accept our place. Camilla systematically seized my mother's territory cuts and subjected her to endless psychological torture, while Lorenzo simply turned a blind eye. When the baby was born, it bore the exact same distinct birthmark on its neck as Lorenzo. Only then did we realize Lorenzo had used my mother as a convenient shield for his illicit affair, stealing my dead father's legacy and slowly draining our lives away. I didn't understand why the Family's brutal justice allowed a thief to siphon funds under the guise of caring for a martyr's widow, leaving us to die in absolute disgrace. Opening my eyes again, I was back to the day before the mob wedding. Looking at my six-year-old hands, I grabbed the torn marriage petition and stole the secret trust documents. This time, I ran straight to the heavily guarded gates of Don Salvatore, the most ruthless executioner in the city.

I was dragged back from the countryside by my father for one purpose: to be a sacrificial lamb. He ordered me to marry the mafia Don Damien Valachi in place of my sister. Everyone in the underworld knew that this Don's brides never saw the light of the next day. My stepmother put on a fake smile and took my hand, calling it an "honor"; my sister hid behind her, unable to conceal the gleam of triumph in her eyes. I smiled coldly and held up two fingers: "Twenty million dollars. Now." My father tried to play tricks, planning to take back the money from my trust fund after I died, but I had someone transfer every cent out before the wedding, leaving him a zero balance. The next day, the wedding car pulled up to the Valachi estate. The butler ordered the driver to use the service entrance-it seemed my groom didn't think I was worthy of the front gate. I got out and switched to an armored vehicle. I floored the accelerator, crashing straight through the estate gates. The gates shattered, and I didn't stop until I reached the main steps. I jumped out, the heel of my shoe crushing a broken iron railing, and shouted: "The bride is here." I looked up, scanning every window until my gaze stopped on one dark pane. I knew Damien was watching. I brushed the dust off my skirt, raised my voice a notch, and smiled: "What, the Don of the Valachi family doesn't dare come out to meet his new wife?"

For two years, I played the perfect, silent wife to Damien Moretti, the ruthless Don of the New York mafia. But tonight, he threw a thick manila envelope onto our nightstand. It was an annulment. "Giuliana is back. She's dying, and I am done playing house with you." His first love had returned, supposedly sick with terminal cancer. He demanded I sign the papers and leave the penthouse immediately so he could rush to her side. He looked at me with absolute disgust, expecting me to break down and beg. When she later staged a fake assassination attempt to frame me, Damien blindly believed her pathetic tears. He dragged me to the hospital, ready to unleash his murderous wrath on me for daring to touch his precious white rose. I looked at the man I had shared a bed with for two years. He was supposed to be a powerful, calculating leader, yet he was completely blinded by a cheap liar and a forged medical report. He actually thought I was just a weak, greedy socialite who would quietly take the fall. He had no idea that behind my docile mask, I was 'K', the digital underworld's most elusive hacker. I calmly signed the papers, took his millions, and pulled the real security footage of his perfectly healthy ex. At tonight's family dinner, I am going to shatter her fragile facade and make the Don choke on his own stupidity before I walk away for good.

I was the brilliant money launderer for the most feared syndicate on the East Coast, and the fiercely loyal wife of its Underboss, Dante. While I worked sleepless nights to build his underworld dominion, he secretly diverted my operations to fund a luxury club for his naive barista mistress. When I confronted them and publicly exposed her, Dante didn't show a shred of guilt. Instead, he slapped me across the face in front of the entire syndicate. He draped his tailored jacket over his crying mistress to shield her, then turned his cold eyes on me. "Apologize to her right now, or I will send every single soldier in your crew to the slaughterhouse." He then weaponized the mafia's whisper network to destroy my reputation, painting me as a hysterical, paranoid woman just to legitimize his affair. For years, I had blindly endured his psychological torture, believing my devotion would eventually earn his respect. But looking at the brutal purple handprint on my cheek, and the ninety-nine dried bouquets of white roses he kept in the attic to carelessly patch over his toxic abuse, my heart finally turned to ice. I didn't throw a tantrum, nor did I beg for his love anymore. I left his apology blood diamonds on the table, drafted my mafia severance papers, and walked out of his territory for good. This time, I would build my own empire, and let him drown in the ruins of his.

I watched my husband sign the papers that would end our marriage while he was busy texting the woman he actually loved. He didn't even glance at the header. He just scribbled the sharp, jagged signature that had signed death warrants for half of New York, tossed the file onto the passenger seat, and tapped his screen again. "Done," he said, his voice devoid of emotion. That was Dante Moretti. The Underboss. A man who could smell a lie from a mile away but couldn't see that his wife had just handed him an annulment decree disguised beneath a stack of mundane logistics reports. For three years, I scrubbed his blood out of his shirts. I saved his family's alliance when his ex, Sofia, ran off with a civilian. In return, he treated me like furniture. He left me in the rain to save Sofia from a broken nail. He left me alone on my birthday to drink champagne on a yacht with her. He even handed me a glass of whiskey—her favorite drink—forgetting that I despised the taste. I was merely a placeholder. A ghost in my own home. So, I stopped waiting. I burned our wedding portrait in the fireplace, left my platinum ring in the ashes, and boarded a one-way flight to San Francisco. I thought I was finally free. I thought I had escaped the cage. But I underestimated Dante. When he finally opened that file weeks later and realized he had signed away his wife without looking, the Reaper didn't accept defeat. He burned down the world to find me, obsessed with reclaiming the woman he had already thrown away.

In the dark underbelly of Philadelphia, two opposing crime families-the Morgans and the Rinaldis-have maintained a tenuous peace. However, when a merciless Japanese gang executes the killings of their leaders to instigate turmoil, the equilibrium of power breaks, sending the city into a lethal battle of trickery, treachery, and vengeance. Sierra Morgan, the unacknowledged and overlooked daughter of the Morgan clan, is plunged into a perilous task: wed Dominic Rinaldi, the icy and strategic new Don of Il Condottiero, and deceive him for the sake of her vengeful half-siblings. It's a task she cannot decline, but as Sierra enters the foe's lair, she realizes that Dominic is not the cold-hearted villain she thought he was. Underneath his harsh facade exists a man marked by grief, allegiance, and hidden truths. As their arranged marriage develops into an unforeseen situation, Sierra feels conflicted between her allegiance to her family and the increasing emotions she harbors for the man she was meant to ruin. But betrayal runs deep on both sides, and when shocking truths emerge-including a secret child, forbidden affairs, and an insidious mole within the Rinaldi clan-Sierra realizes the true enemy may not be who she thought. With bloodshed escalating and time running out, Sierra must make an impossible choice: protect the man she loves or betray him to save herself. Can love survive in a world where loyalty is bought with blood, and betrayal is just another business transaction? A story of forbidden love, power struggles, and shocking twists, this gripping tale will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page.

For five years, I was the perfect, silent fiancée to the most feared Underboss in the Cosa Nostra. On the eve of our wedding, I opened his sacred syndicate ledger and found a painstakingly detailed log of my best friend, Serena. He tracked the exact phases of her menstrual cycle and her preferred brand of imported painkillers. Yet just last month, when I was doubled over on the bathroom floor in agony, he refused to go to the pharmacy for me. "An Underboss does not run mundane errands," he had told me with flat, incurious eyes. He bought Serena a twelve-thousand-dollar blood-red gown, forced me into a cheap off-the-rack slip, and demanded she stand right between us at the altar. Worse, I discovered they were plotting to drain my parents' entire life savings to fund a money-laundering front for his illicit gambling operations. I had endured his coldness and emotional neglect, believing his severe mafia code applied to everyone. I never imagined he reserved every last measure of his humanity and warmth for the woman who was supposed to be my maid of honor. Looking at his handwriting, the blindfold finally fell from my eyes. I calmly photographed the damning pages, wired my parents' money to a secure offshore account, and sent a new directive to our wedding planner. If he wanted to give my best friend my place, I would make sure the entire underworld was there to witness it.