Being forged from the trauma that clings to your soul like an additional layer of sin has an elegance to it. When my father and I buried my sister, falling in love with her first love wasn't on the agenda. Don Alessandro Valentino has something I want. Something he refuses to depart with and no matter how much pain he inflicts upon me, I will never give up. I vowed to never let him win. I thought I had escaped his grasp, but his torment had only just begun. Despite everything, he still held the power to manipulate my heart and make me crave to be possessed by him. As secrets come to light and the truth is exposed, can I surrender the battle and surrender what I've been fighting for all along, without hesitation? --- He tore his lips away from mine, peering down at me, brushing the pad of his thumb along his lower lip-smearing my touch as far as it would travel. "You taste like mine." He said in a cold and condescending tone. Then he left. He walked out of the wine cellar without a second glance over his shoulder as Riccardo locked the door behind them.
Some say that Angels mourn for us when we are unable to weep our own tears.
When the pain becomes so overwhelming that we are afraid that if we let the tears fall, they will drown us in our aura of misery.
The air is thick with melancholy as if a heavy cloud of grief continuously hangs over the entire cemetery.
Death lingers in the air accompanied by the faint smell of rain, cheap perfume, and fresh roses.
I shut my black umbrella, letting it slip between my fingers, and I gaze up at the ominous sky as the tears of the Angels cascade down upon us.
It's a cold day.
The sort of day that drills deep into your bones, marking you forever as it licks and nips all over your frigid flesh.
Today, we lay to rest my dear sister, Rose, whose life was tragically cut short.
The coroner's report states she had alcohol and drugs in her system and that's what caused the car accident, killing her three hours later in the hospital.
But I know better.
I know that my sister was murdered and that someone at the Valentino residence had something to do with it.
Rose was no saint, but she never dared to play God with other people's lives on the road; meaning that she would never get behind the wheel under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Don Alessandro Valentino is in the Mafia. He is the most feared man in our country, and I have a feeling many more.
Making his presence known as his henchmen guard every inch of the cemetery not only potentially puts us all in danger, but it also has everyone on edge.
Had it not been for the little girl standing steadfastly by his side, I would have boldly approached him and told him to leave-to fuck off.
Because he isn't welcome here.
The memories of him being, Roses' former flame linger in my thoughts like a haunting melody, ceasing my heart every time I steal a glance in his direction.
The little girl, adorned in a pristine dress with a pearl necklace delicately draped around her neck, is none other than my precious niece, Savannah.
She doesn't know who I am, and it kills me that I never got the chance to build a strong bond with her when Rose was alive.
Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I surreptitiously cast my gaze back to the front, away from him, and the mysterious raven-haired beauty hanging off his arm like a cheap knockoff purse.
The priest's solemn prayer comes to a close. The mourners step forward, each one placing a single, pristine white rose atop the casket of our beloved Rose.
"I am deeply sorry for the loss of your sister and daughter, Mr...."
The sound of a nasally feminine voice breaks my trance.
"Bishop," I sigh irritably.
Since Roses' passing, my father has not been able to string three words together, nor has he shed a tear.
He is nothing but an empty vessel and it scares me greatly
"Rose spoke highly of you, Ivy. She also mentioned how beautiful you were, and I must say that her description of your elegance has done no justice."
Sighing, I shift my gaze from Roses' coffin and I meet her chocolate brown gaze.
"I'm sorry. Who did you say you were again?" I try to keep the bitterness out of my voice because the last time Rose and I spoke, moments before she died, she warned me not to trust anyone affiliated with Don Valentino at the villa.
"My name is Sofia DeLuca, and I have taken it upon myself to be there for Savannah now that she is an orphan," Sofia responds in a voice that makes my skin crawl with venom.
"Savannah is not an orphan." I spit out bitterly.
As the mighty Don Valentino approaches us, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing my grief-stricken eyes, I turn my back towards him.
Feeling like I am offering it to a predator, but the dire thought alone doesn't make me turn around to face him.
A prickle runs down my spine at his nearness, and I can feel him glaring at the back of my head, burning a hole in it.
"Mi dispiace for your loss." His words caress every inch of my body, licking the rage that simmers deep within me.
Curling my hands at my sides, "we don't want or need your condolences." I hiss over my shoulder. "Leave. Take your men and your cheap whore with you."
I grit my teeth, turning my attention to his henchmen standing by the entrance of the cemetery, their hands resting on their weapons strapped to their torsos.
The warmth of his body turns mine to jelly when he stands behind me, his lips a whisper away from the shell of my ear.
"Ivy Bishop." He hisses my name like it's pure filth sitting on the tip of his tongue. "You should know better than to speak to me in such a manner if you value your life."
Raising my chin, I straighten my spine. "You aren't welcome here, and if you had any respect for Rose at all, you would have stayed away."
I spin around on the spot to face him, losing my footing as my heel sinks into the soft soil; he lurches forward, hooking a strong arm around my torso, and pressing my front to his.
"It should have been you in the car. Not Rose!" The harsh words slip between my lips.
Heat explodes across my chest, then my palms as I try to push him off me, but it only coerces the devil himself to press me against his body more firmly.
He smells like sin, whiskey and cigars, making me dizzy with a forbidden lust that sets my skin ablaze.
One of his brows quirks upward. "Then I'd miss all the fun we are going to have. I know what you've been up to, Farfalla, and I'm here to warn you to stop."
Gulping, "and if I don't, are you going to kill me?"
"Not in the sense that you are thinking," he replies in a husky tone with an underlay of amusement.
"You don't scare me," I whimper, lying, continuing to struggle in his grasp. "Let me go..."
"Liar. You are playing a dangerous game, Ivy. I can feel you trembling beneath my fingertips. Just the way I like my women, at my mercy, bare beneath me like a perfect little doll."
"You're disgusting..."
Something flickers in his eyes, and he pulls me closer toward him, brushing his lips along my jawline.
"The second my lips touch yours, you will belong to me. Life as you know it will never be the same. All you have to do is ask me. Ask me to kiss you, Farfalla..." He taunts me, sending a pleasant shiver down my spine. "You know you want me. I can smell it."
I raise my gaze to meet his as something inside me snaps, "get your filthy hands off me, or I swear to the Gods I will scream bloody murder, you arrogant son of a bitch." I snarl breathlessly with tears brimming my eyes.
Snickering, he releases me as if touching me suddenly burns him, and he holds his hand's mid-air, taking two steps back.
"Gladly, tesoro."
Alessandro continues to hold my gaze like he could kiss the hatred out of me, and it makes me sick to my stomach to think that he can achieve the impossible.
"You bastard..." I whisper, willing my pounding heart to slow down.
Looking over his shoulder with a sinister smirk playing on his lips. "Andiamo," he says harshly, waving his hand forward as he brushes past me with his cheap whore in hot pursuit.
And like a switch going off, I go back to feeling numb.
Vowing to find out the truth behind Roses' death and save Savannah from the Valentino Villa, regardless of what it may cost me eventually.
"You know what happens when you run, spitfire." Tobias nips my lower lip with his teeth then soothes the sting with the gentle caress of his tongue. "I catch you!" --- I should have known that Tobias Landry was behind the circus of my troubles. He, who once was a man I adored in my past life, is now a man who leaves nothing but devastation in his wake everywhere he turns. He can pretend all he likes that he is innocent, but the slight twitch in his left eye says a completely different story. I will fight him to the end to keep the bakery that I have poured my sweat, blood, and tears into! Even, if that means that I have to marry him and give in to his sexual desires. My name is Keri Appleton and this is a dangerous and sultry tale about lies, secrets, and the fine line between love and obsession.
He pins me against the wall, all 7ft of him, towering over me. "Tell me to stop. Tell me you don't want this and I will walk away." He mutters with his hot breath fanning my face. "I want you, Zion," I whisper breathlessly against the shell of his ear. "If you walk out that door, you'll never get to feel how good I'll feel wrapped around you." I nip at his earlobe with my teeth. Something snaps within him as a low rumble vibrates from the back of his throat. "Mine..." He snarls as he picks me up from the ground and crushes his lips against mine. --- The moment I met Zion, I knew my life was never going to be the same again. Being in his presence did crazy things to my body. He is my fated mate, the other half of my soul and the only male who can save me from myself. Turns out I'm not your average human and I have the entire universe questioning my very existence and what energy I possess. They fear me and they have every reason to. Including Zion, his elite of warriors and light oracles.
"Fuck.." I moan as my feverish skin makes me dizzy with lust. [Yes.] "Evet, Mila. You make me want to ravage you when I should be disgusted by the thought of even touching you." He mutters. "But I'm not. Instead, everything about you makes me mad with desire and I can not control it. God's, I tried to but I don't want to anymore." He removes his hand from the wall, wrapping his fingers around my jaw and he forces me to stare up at him. "You've already had a taste of me and one taste is all you get." I swallow loudly, throwing his words back at him. >>> Mila Starkk is a lively young woman trapped in a terrible relationship with her mafia-infiltrated boyfriend, Ace. After the Esposito boss points a gun at her, she flees, seeking sanctuary in an Irish bar that no Italian soldier would dare enter. She has a one-night fling with a seductive Turkish gentleman. The following day, she is dragged through an alleyway with a knife pointed at her, and by chance, stabs one of the guys before fleeing to the Esposito family for protection; starting a war between the Irishmen. She is thrust into an entirely new world, assigned on missions under their protection, and when she learns she is pregnant, she assures Ace that he is the father. After giving birth, she is given the orders to destroy Aydem Burak, Sedar Ozturk's second cousin. The Don of the Turkish Mafia. Mila is sent by the Esposito's to steal something from Aydem that will financially cripple him. From the time she enters his company, sparks fly between them and when her baby is held as ransom for her completion of the mission, she must decide where her allegiance
Working in the sex industry isn't always what's cut out to be... Some find love, like to cause chaos, and others just simply try to get away with murder. "Am I turning you on, Mikros?" He grunts loudly in my ear. "I can feel you soaking me like a cascading waterfall." He hisses, his hot breath fanning my exposed skin as he continues to caress me with long strokes. "My body is a treacherous vessel; it appears to have its own mind." I retaliate by pushing against the wall, and he slams me against it. "That's all you'll ever own, Amar." a soft moan escapes my lips. "Is my body, never my heart or my mind,"
"You taste like warm sweet honey, and I want more of you!" He growls as he presses his manhood into my hip. "Give yourself to me, tesoro." [Treasure] His words are like fuel to my igniting fire. I want him, I crave him, and when his lips start to suck on my heated skin, I turn into a puddle of water when his hand dips into the top of my dress. He finds my breast, and he kneads it, flicking my erect nipple has my panties moisten with arousal --- Vanessa Maddison: She is as gorgeous and flawless on the outside as she is scarred and tormented on the inside. Luca Venturi: Came storming into Vanessa's life like a raging blaze that burns everything it caresses. He's an Italian billionaire doctor who can have any woman he wants, but he has his sights set on Vanessa. Intertwined by their secrets, they try to defy the odds. They make their own rules and quickly surrender to the exquisite power of possession. What began as a fling evolved into something far greater than either of them could have imagined. What will the Italian billionaire do to save Vanessa when they are thrown into a world they are both unfamiliar with time and time again?
"There will be no falling in love, we will only act as a loving couple when we are in public, we will share a room to make it believable, but no intimacy, touching is off-limits. We'll only have sex once a month, and that's solely to produce an heir. You won't interfere in my business, and I won't interfere in yours. You will be my wife in every sense and you will not be involved with any other man," he said, arrogance seeping from every word. I watch his mouth move, I'm not ready to fall in love with any man, especially not one as arrogant and egoistic as him. I can handle acting as a loving couple, and as for intimacy once a month. I can agree to that just to satisfy my sexual cravings with no strings attached. "Where can I sign?" I asked since I had nothing to lose. *** Nadine's wedding dreams turned to nightmares when she caught her sister and fiancé cheating! With a secret recording, she's ready for revenge. But then mysterious billionaire Logan West offers a deal: A Contract Marriage to take down her ex's empire. But what Nadine doesn't know is her life is getting complicated as she takes her chance to get revenge or risks everything for a chance at love?"
After a one-night stand with Gavin Russell, the Powerful and cold alpha CEO, Iris Green was smitten and she thought there could be something between them after realizing they were fated mates. Her hopes were crushed by his harsh words, "I don't eat the same food twice." Broken, she returned to her city to manage her family business but soon realized that a seed had been planted. Giving birth to a set of twins, she could not endure raising them alone, when they looked exactly like him. She sent one of them to Gavin with a note, "Dessert after supper." Gavin frowned when he received the parcel, from his son. He sent people to fetch that blondie but it was as if she disappeared from the face of the earth. Of course, the Green family was mysterious and she was the new head of the family. She only gets seen whenever she wants to be.
He told her to call him Daddy. Not because he earned it, but because he fucking owned her. The moment she signed that contract, she stopped being a woman with dignity and became his filthy little plaything. His holes to use. His mess to ruin. He didn't just fuck her, he rewired her. Stripped her clean of boundaries and filled her with sin. Every punishment made her scream. Every game dragged her deeper into his twisted world. And the way he praised her... Good girl. She should've run the first time he said it. But Daddy doesn't let his toys leave. He breaks them until they beg to stay. ** Mia's life changed the night she let a stranger ruin her. One night. She never expected to see him again. Until she walked into her new job... and her boss turned around. Ace.Her one-night sin in a thousand-dollar suit. Only this time, he wasn't asking her to be his assistant. She was to be his wife.
Charlee was left at the altar and became a laughingstock. She tried to keep her head high, but ultimately lost it when she received a sex tape of her fiance and her half-sister. Devastated, she ended up spending a wild night with a hot stranger. It was supposed to be one-time thing, but he kept popping up, helping her with projects and revenge, all while flirting with her constantly. Charlee soon realized that it was nice having him around, until her ex suddenly appeared at her door, begging for another chance. Her tycoon lover asked, “Who will you choose? Think carefully before you answer.”
Rena got into an entanglement with a big shot when she was drunk one night. She needed Waylen's help while he was drawn to her youthful beauty. As such, what was supposed to be a one-night stand progressed into something serious. All was well until Rena discovered that Waylen's heart belonged to another woman. When his first love returned, he stopped coming home, leaving Rena all alone for many nights. She put up with it until she received a check and farewell note one day. Contrary to how Waylen expected her to react, Rena had a smile on her face as she bid him farewell. "It was fun while it lasted, Waylen. May our paths never cross. Have a nice life." But as fate would have it, their paths crossed again. This time, Rena had another man by her side. Waylen's eyes burned with jealousy. He spat, "How the hell did you move on? I thought you loved only me!" "Keyword, loved!" Rena flipped her hair back and retorted, "There are plenty of fish in the sea, Waylen. Besides, you were the one who asked for a breakup. Now, if you want to date me, you have to wait in line." The next day, Rena received a credit alert of billions and a diamond ring. Waylen appeared again, got down on one knee, and uttered, "May I cut in line, Rena? I still want you."
Darya spent three years loving Micah, worshipping the ground he walked on. Until his neglect and his family's abuse finally woke her up to the ugly truth-he doesn't love her. Never did, never will. To her, he is a hero, her knight in shining armour. To him, she is an opportunist, a gold digger who schemed her way into his life. Darya accepts the harsh reality, gathers the shattered pieces of her dignity, divorces him, takes back her real name, reclaims her title as the country's youngest billionaire heiress. Their paths cross again at a party. Micah watches his ex-wife sing like an angel, tear up the dance floor, then thwart a lecher with a roundhouse kick. He realises, belatedly, that she's exactly the kind of woman he'd want to marry, if only he had taken the trouble to get to know her. Micah acts promptly to win her back, but discovers she's now surrounded by eligible bachelors: high-powered CEO, genius biochemist, award-winning singer, reformed playboy. Worse, she makes it pretty clear that she's done with him. Micah gears up for an uphill battle. He must prove to her he's still worthy of her love before she falls for someone else. And time is running out.