I was sold to the devil in a suit married off to pay a debt I did not owe. But Dante Moretti did not know that I would rather burn in his hell than be at his feet. When Selene Hart is forced into a violent marriage with the ruthless, calculating mafia tycoon Dante Moretti, her world plunges into a dark maze of power, deception, and control. What begins as a violent union slowly turns into something much more sinister, an obsession that neither can escape. He's ruthless, cold, and driven by vengeance. She's wild, fire-brained, and has secrets too. Their desire was never destined to happen but where trust is wielded as a weapon and deception seeps into every crevice, lust is their best curse. But where secrets remain hidden and blood-tainted pasts rise from the darkness, Selene knows that she is not only a pawn to Dante's throne, she could be the queen who brings it down. Here, vows are broken, allegiance is deadly, and love might just be the deadliest vow of them all.
The odour of blood lingered. It clung to the air, seeped into the very fabric of the room, an intangible yet unmistakable presence. Even the cold breeze that drifted in from the open balcony doors could not clear it. It mixed with the acrid scent of stale whiskey, Cuban cigars, and the faint trace of gunpowder to create a potent cocktail of sin and brutality.
Dante Romano sat behind his high-backed leather chair, the very essence of power and cruelty. He dominated the spacious office not through speech, but through the fact that he did not need to speak. His silence was his greatest tool, and at present, it cut deeper than any bullet.
Facing him, Luca Moretti huddled on the cold marble floor, his head lowered, his frame shuddering. Sweat poured from his forehead, mixing with the blood dripping from the gash above his eye. His snow-white navy suit was ruined-torn, stained, a far cry from the perfect presentation he once took such pride in.
The man had once been powerful. Believed in. Admired.
Now, he was nothing more than a rat cornered.
Dante twirled the whiskey in the glass, watching the amber liquid whirl against the crystal like liquid gold. His movement was slow, deliberate, his every step planned to remind Luca of one thing: Dante controlled this room. Dante controlled it all.
He breathed softly. "Loyalty," he said, his voice low, almost reflective. "It's an easy thing, really." He looked up, his eyes holding Luca in a gaze that was impossible to decipher. "And yet, men like you make it so."
Luca flinched. "Boss, please... I swear, I didn't betray you." His voice was harsh, desperate. "Someone's lying to you. I would never"
CRACK.
The sound of the gunshot was blinding.
Luca's face twisted in a strangulated cry as Nico, Dante's second, shoved the burning barrel of his gun under Luca's temple. The bullet had not hit him, but the warning had been clear. An inch or two to the right, and Luca would be dead in his own blood.
Dante did not blink. He merely set his whiskey down, rising slowly with a languorous, almost fluid motion. He walked towards Luca, his polished shoes tapping out a death knell on the floor.
As he crouched beside him, Luca whimpered.
"Look at me," Dante instructed, his voice icily soft.
Luca hesitated. Then, with a visible shudder, he lifted his head. His puffed, bloodshot eyes conflicted with Dante's sharp, predatory gaze.
"Tell me something, amico mio."Dante tilted his head to one side, his expression unreadable. "What did you expect was going to happen when you betrayed me?"
"I"
Dante did not even grant him the luxury of speech. In a swift motion, he closed his hand over Luca's throat, holding tight but controlling it. Tight enough to harm, but not quite tight enough to kill.
Luca struggled for air, his fingers clawing up Dante's wrist. "P-please..."
"Know what I despise more than a traitor?" Dante pondered, his smooth voice like velvet. "A lying traitor." His arm clamped about his throat more tightly for half a second before he released him with a shocking suddenness and let Luca sag onto the ground, gasping for breath.".
Dante straightened, cinching the cuffs on his black coat. He hadn't needed Luca's confession. The evidence had been right in front of him,money transfers, covert meetings with rivals, plotting against him. Dante had known it all along.
His voice was even, quite bland. "Nico."
Nico required no instructions.
BANG.
Luca's body convulsed before falling lifelessly to the floor. A single shot, well-placed between his eyes.
Stillness fell over the room once more.
Dante breathed, cocking his head to the side like this killing had been nothing more than the next item on his agenda. And then, with no other glance at the corpse, turned away from the body toward his desk, resumed his whiskey.
"Get rid of him," he instructed.
Nico and one of the other enforcers quickly obeyed, dragging Luca's dead body out of the room and leaving behind a small trail of blood.
Dante drank his beverage slowly, his mind already on the next problem. Betrayals like these were inevitable. Power bred jealousy, and jealousy bred betrayal. He didn't take it personally. He just made sure that all lessons were permanent.
He was going to grab his cigar when his phone rang on the desk.
Unknown number.
His eyebrows drew together. He did not receive unknown numbers very frequently, those who had numbers in his personal directory already knew him.
A sick chill coursed through his belly.
He answered anyway. "Who is it?"
Nothing.
Then
"It's me, Dante."
The voice startled him, though his face remained neutral.
The liquor in his hand threatened to spill. His fingers tightened further on the phone.
"Elena.".
It wasn't a question. It was a statement. A ghostly whisper of a name he hadn't spoken in years. A name that had meant everything. A name that only brought him anger now.
She had just vanished, removed from his existence as if she had never existed. No reason, no goodbyes. Gone.
And now, all these years on, she has the temerity to phone him?
His voice dropped into a killing whisper. "You got some fucking nerve calling me."
A shaking breath on the line. "I know."
Whatever was in her voice sent hair standing on end on his arms.
"I wouldn't have, but"
"But what?" His voice had gone razor-cold. "You walked, dolcezza. Left me. Now what? You going to waltz back in here?"
Silence.
Then
"I need your help."
Dante laughed. Hard, dark, humorless.
"Elena..." His voice turned mocking. "You disappear for years, and now, suddenly, you need my help?"
"Yes."
His jaw locked. "Why?"
Another silence. Then, in the softest, most fragile voice
"Because they're going to kill me."
Dante was frozen.
The room, the city, the world, it all stopped.
He stood up straight, his muscles coiled with tension. "Who?"
A pause. Then,
"Your brother."
His blood turned to ice.
The phone nearly dropped from his hand. His brother.
Marco Romano had been dead for five years. He had seen the body. He had buried the body.
"Elena," his voice coldly killingly calm, "what the devil do you mean by that?"
Before she could answer-
A scream.
A struggle.
Glass shattering.
"Elena!" Dante shouted, his entire body coiling.
The line went dead.
For a moment, there was nothing but silence.
Then Dante moved.
He raised his gun. "Take her to me," he ordered them, his voice a hard warning of war.
His men stepped into motion.
Because if Marco was still alive, if the one man to ever defy Dante's rule had returned
Then this wasn't about Elena.
This was a declaration of war.
And Dante never lost.
She was his beacon. He was her bane. After a brush with death in a troubled relationship, Ava Monroe promised herself she would never again be owned by a man. Timid, resilient, and determined to create her own life, the last thing she expected was to be kidnapped by a man far more deadly, Xavier Blackwood, a brutal Alpha whose reputation was soaked in blood and whose heart was locked behind ice. But Xavier doesn't make mistakes. And he never lets go of what's his. Ava isn't a woman to him, she's the one. The one destiny put in his arms, even when she doesn't want to be tamed. With madness running through his blood and secrets screaming beneath his skin, Xavier will do whatever it takes to break all the rules, kill every threat, and destroy anyone who so much as touches her. But Ava's not the broken girl he expected. She's fire contained in scars. And if he thinks he can tame her... He's going to learn what it's like when a beast falls in love with a storm. One broken girl. One beast in love. One dark, deadly bond that neither of them can escape. He's willing to burn the world to keep her. But can she survive his flames?
Deanna Frostclaw was always in charge of her life, her future, and her heart, until destiny intervened. She was meant to be with one guy, but when her mate turns out to be not the one, she believed, everything changes. Her genuine mate is Isaac Greywood, the arrogant, entitled, unforgiving Alpha. A heartbreaker, an arrogant leader, a well-known playboy... he is everything she vowed she never wanted but could not resist. One touch makes her tremble. One look causes her to lose control. Isaac, however, is not alone himself. With seven strong Alpha guys all asserting their link to her, she finds herself trapped in a web of attraction. Deanna has to choose whether to fight for the love she believed was hers or give in to the strong pull of fate tying her to not one but seven alphas as she negotiates this complex web of desire, rivalries, and unmistakable attraction.
Sawyer, the world's top arms dealer, stunned everyone by falling for Maren—the worthless girl no one respected. People scoffed. Why chase a useless pretty face? But when powerful elites began gathering around her, jaws dropped. "She's not even married to him yet—already cashing in on his power?" they assumed. Curious eyes dug into Maren's past... only to find she was a scientific genius, a world-renowned medical expert, and heiress to a mafia empire. Later, Sawyer posted online. "My wife treats me like the enemy. Any advice?"
Natalie used to think she could melt Connor’s icy heart, but she was sorely mistaken. When at last she decided to leave, she discovered that she was pregnant. Even so, she chose to quietly leave his world, prompting Connor to mobilize all of his resources and expand his business to a global scale—all in a bid to find her. But there was no trace of Natalie. Connor slowly spiraled into madness, turning the city upside down and leaving chaos in his wake. Natalie finally surfaced years later, with wealth and power of her own, only to find herself entangled with Connor once again.
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.
Rumors claimed that Fernanda, newly back with her family, was nothing more than a violent country bumpkin. Fernanda just flashed a casual, dismissive grin in response. Another rumor suggested that the usually rational Cristian had lost all sense, madly in love with Fernanda. This frustrated her. She could tolerate gossip about herself, but slander against her beloved crossed the line! Gradually, as Fernanda's multiple identities as a celebrated designer, a savvy gamer, an acclaimed painter, and a successful business magnate came to light, everyone realized they were the ones who had been fooled.
The day Lilah found out that she was pregnant, she caught her fiancé cheating on her. Her remorseless fiancé and his mistress almost killed her. Lilah fled for her dear life. When she returned to her hometown five years later, she happened to save a little boy's life. The boy's father turned out to be the world's richest man. Everything changed for Lilah from that moment. The man didn't let her experience any inconvenience. When her ex-fiancé bullied her, he crushed the scumbag's family and also rented out an entire island just to give Lilah a break from all the drama. He also taught Lilah's hateful father a lesson. He crushed all her enemies before she even asked. When Lilah's vile sister threw herself at him, he showed her a marriage certificate and said, "I'm happily married and my wife is much more beautiful than you are!" Lilah was shocked. "When did we ever get married? Last I checked, I was still single." With a wicked smile, he said, "Honey, we've been married for five years. Isn't it about time we had another child together?" Lilah's jaw dropped to the floor. What the hell was he talking about?
"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?"