THE RUTHLESS MAFIA KING AND HIS FEISTY HOSTAGE
/1/129726/coverbig.jpg?v=d952b45e9b05aae9f5803a8b2c8d4fc6)
The Hockey Prince's Secret Ice Queen
All I wanted was to find a computer genius to process the non-linear dynamic equations for my ecological model. Instead, I found myself cornered by Julian Andrews, the university's hockey prince, trading a public, staged kiss for his academic support. To finalize our "deal," I was dragged to the campus ice rink. The cheerleaders and puck bunnies immediately swarmed him, mocking my plain clothes and treating me like a pathetic joke. Brooke, the head cheerleader, even set up a figure skating competition with a date with Julian as the grand prize. She performed a basic spin, blew him a kiss, and smugly waited for me to fall flat on my face and humiliate myself. His hockey teammates laughed from the sidelines, watching me try to support Julian as he stumbled around the ice like a newborn giraffe. But as I held his warm hand to keep him from falling, I couldn't help but feel something was terribly wrong. Why was a top-tier athlete faking such awful balance? And why did his ice-blue eyes stare at me with such knowing anticipation, as if he already knew about the professional figure skating past I had spent years trying to bury? "Just let go and skate." He whispered, slowly releasing my hand. I took a deep breath, glided to the center of the rink, and landed a flawless double Axel. As the entire rink fell into a dead, shocked silence, I realized I had just exposed not only my own hidden past, but also the biggest secret of the campus god.
Chapter 1 No.1
Sage POV:
"Let me kiss you."
The request was a low, hurried murmur—warm, quiet, and laced with the faintest edge of mortification.
Stunned, I snapped my head up toward the sound.
Julian Andrews filled my vision. He easily towered a head over me, his lean, athletic frame silhouetted against the bright morning glare, casting a long shadow across the cobblestones. Briar University's star forward. Team captain. The athletic department's untouchable golden boy.
Campus rumor had it that Julian was notoriously indifferent, never sparing anyone a second glance.
Behind him, a solid wall of navy-and-gold varsity jackets blocked the brick path. His teammates were whistling, shoving each other, and effectively cutting off my only exit.
The sudden commotion immediately bottlenecked the morning foot traffic. Whispers rippled through the crowd, and within seconds, a dozen students reached into their pockets out of sheer muscle memory, black camera lenses catching the light as they aimed squarely at us.
Julian's sharp eyes tracked the movement, his jaw tightening into a hard, irritated line.
Before I could take a single defensive step back, he closed the distance between us. Leaning down into my space, his broad shoulders shifted in a subtle, fluid maneuver—throwing up an impenetrable physical wall that completely shielded my face from the intrusive glare of the cameras.
His sharp, striking face hovered breathtakingly close. His deep baritone brushed against my ear, lost to the autumn wind, meant for me alone:
"Sorry to drop this on you," he whispered, his pale blue eyes disarmingly earnest, holding a quiet heat that sent a tremor straight down my spine. "The guys backed me into a locker-room dare... but I'm not here to use you as a joke. We can fake it. Angle it so it looks real—whatever you're comfortable with. Just help me get them off my back, and I owe you one."
It was only then that my brain finally rebooted.
What on earth? He's actually trying to kiss me?
A sharp flare of pure absurdity hit me, and my gaze dropped to my reflection in the dark glass door of the adjacent building: an oversized, faded gray hoodie that swallowed my frame whole, soft, thin jeans worn at the knees, bare-faced dark circles carved beneath my eyes from forty-eight hours of non-stop coding, my dark hair hastily twisted into a cheap plastic claw clip, and a pair of oversized, thick black-rimmed glasses sitting heavy on the bridge of my nose, completely hiding my face.
I looked like a refugee from an all-night disaster. How had Briar's golden prince ended up in front of me?
When I looked back up, my breath trapped in my throat anyway. He was too close, his clean scent of winter mint and cedar wrapping around my senses. Having those pale blue eyes staring straight down at me made my chest tighten in a way I really didn't want to acknowledge.
"Clock's ticking, Cap!" Landon howled from the sidelines, hands cupped around his mouth as the rest of the players lost their minds laughing. "Plant one on her, or enjoy the five-AM bag skate!"
A raucous chorus of barks and chest-thumping went up from the team.
A few yards away, two girls heading toward the dining hall froze in their tracks, pointing their phones.
"Wait, who the hell is that?" one of them laughed loudly, zooming her camera in on my face. "She looks like she just crawled out of a dumpster. There's no way Julian's actually kissing her. Post it on Sidechat right now—this is going straight to number one."
The cruel words hit like a splash of ice water, snapping me out of my daze and instantly killing the stupid flutter in my chest.
I hated the attention.
Four years ago, after my family and my former training partner framed me and destroyed my competitive skating career, I swore I would never be public entertainment again. I buried my name, switched majors, and hid behind oversized fleece and thick glasses just to live an invisible life. If I ended up on the campus forums with Julian Andrews, the internet vultures would dox me before noon—and drag up the toxic scandal I had bled to walk away from.
My research was already on the verge of falling apart. I didn't have time for this circus.
I locked my grip around my heavy binders, my knuckles straining white.
"Find someone else for your dare, Andrews," I said coldly, taking a step back to put distance between us, my voice tight with adrenaline. "I'm not interested in being part of your game. Move."
I kept my head down, attempting to brush past him.
"You're Sage Kelley, right?"
The sound of my name brought my boots to an immediate halt.
I blinked up at him, caught completely off guard.
"Professor Beaumont's senior research student," Julian straightened up slightly, his cadence measured and even, carrying an intellectual sharpness that seemed impossible beneath a varsity jacket. "I saw your Havenwood Creek senior capstone proposal sitting on his desk over Sunday dinner."
My heart gave a hard, hollow thud. Professor Beaumont was my academic advisor—and the guardian of the final research endowment my late father had left behind.
Julian leaned in slightly, his voice dropping to a near-whisper against the whistle of the wind. "I spent an hour going over your codebase."
My lips parted. "You... read my proposal?"
"Your simulation keeps crashing because your core fluid algorithm strategy is flawed," Julian murmured, his pale blue eyes deadly sharp. "And Uncle Des mentioned that if you don't deliver a working version by this Friday, the department is pulling your grant—which means you don't clear your senior thesis, and you don't graduate in May."
The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
Friday was the deadline. If the funding was pulled, the project died, my senior capstone failed, and I would be forced to stay another semester without my degree. Worse, my father's final ecological legacy would be reduced to scrap paper.
I had been panicking over that exact deadline for two days straight, and Julian had just laid it out like it was nothing.
Worse, I couldn't even brush him off. I had heard the rumors about Beaumont's nephew—the CS prodigy everyone in the department talked about. I just had never realized it was him.
"I know how to fix your algorithm," Julian stated plainly, laying his cards on the table, his gaze locking onto mine with an unshakeable, quiet certainty. "Help me get through this bet. In return, I'll rewrite your boundary calculations tonight. Deal?"
/0/56934/coverbig.jpg?v=093ff7e8d83a3705342b820932aa27b2)
THE RUTHLESS MAFIA KING AND HIS FEISTY HOSTAGE
Maya Marquez is your average 23-year-old, fresh out of school with dreams of traveling the world and finding love. But her life takes a drastic turn when she encounters Damon Morello, the king of the underground mafia. Damon kidnaps Maya to punish Maya's father for stealing from him. However, things
/0/69800/coverbig.jpg?v=a7c0cebca3dd97224765f216fc3b7835)
Loving the Ruthless Mafia King
Stuck with a drunken dad, Sera is faced with life and forced to become the breadwinner. However, despite the already struggling life, things changed when her father old acquaintance, a cold ruthless mafia king seeks her hand. With hidden secrets, double life and a scarred past, Sera has no idea what
/0/78943/coverbig.jpg?v=7c26ea7975ac40aeec4c2120aba185da)
Mafia KIng and his Obsessed Slave
"Take off your dress. Now," he growled, his eyes locked onto her like he could see right through her. She froze, terrified. "I-I..." Her heart pounded in fear, and tears streamed down her face. She never expected him to say something like that. His patience was running out. He was burning with frust
/0/69848/coverbig.jpg?v=5e054f2de278f93d56fe85ffd31f818f)
Professor And The Feisty Human
"If I didn't know better, I would think I was like those female characters who wants to get away from their werewolf mates, but the bond is too strong. But, that's fiction and I have to go along with facing the fact that I have psychological attachment issues." Willow ***** Liam is Willow's mate
/0/72037/coverbig.jpg?v=11767b650e300a42f6dabb775c200eed)
Sold To The Ruthless Mafia King
I am her boss and the Mafia King and rather than speak to me or tremble at my presence, she is ignoring me. NO ONE IGNORES ME. I'm Lorenzo Carlo, the most powerful Mafia King. "I asked you to come over and you are paying more attention to the books on the floor. Stai bene? (Are you okay?)" I asked
/1/110121/coverbig.jpg?v=b34e3e588d13043b74a493939239f598)
Deadly Game; Seducing The Ruthless Mafia King
"I was supposed to kill you, Cassius," I whispered, my voice trembling. "Do you think you can?" he replied, his gaze piercing. He gently took my hand, the warmth of his touch contrasting sharply with the coldness of the IV drip that fed into my arm. "I would shoot a bullet into your head i
/1/104644/coverbig.jpg?v=a54177805da29b5ba71c331d0916c59a)
Remarried To The Ruthless Mafia King
I found the instruction manual for my own abandonment on a dark web forum while my husband scrubbed the scent of another woman from his skin in the bathroom. The thread was titled "Burden Disposal Strategies." The user, RatKing88, asked a simple question: "How do I dump a loyal wife without trigg
/0/67432/coverbig.jpg?v=21a581bab353694a766c72a1f523068c)
Protected by the Ruthless Mafia king
Jane, a 22-year-old, had been hiding at her parents' house for a long time. She had no contact with the outside world. One day, she found herself in the arms of Kaius Black. He was the son of a loan shark and a powerful criminal. Jane's father had borrowed money from him, and now she had to pay the
/0/61445/coverbig.jpg?v=fa9ed093ebee8aa5e1ea778080e8ff19)
Marriage Contract With The Ruthless Mafia King
Celine Herrera has always had to fight her stepsister, Delia, for everything she'd ever wanted from a young age. So, she isn't surprised when Delia demands to be given the family company that Celine had worked to build all her life. Since she's not the favorite of her grandfather, Delia is once agai
/0/70168/coverbig.jpg?v=c88438135979aa162c91bca94b26b95f)
IN LOVE WITH THE RUTHLESS MAFIA KING
There isn't a single ounce of fear projecting off him as he stands in front of me, his extreme level of authority practically radiating throughout the room. "Touch her again and the next bullet I fire will go through your fucking skull. Comprendere?" He warns, the threat clearly understood as the d
/1/121275/coverbig.jpg?v=0b8e0ee785661f85ed3690b77afd0e13)
Contract Marriage With The Ruthless Mafia King
I woke up gasping, the phantom smell of smoke and my family's dying screams still burning in my throat. But there was no fire. I was twenty-two again, back on the exact day my father was to announce our arranged marriages. My sister, Janeen, burst into my room with a triumphant smile. "Worrying a
/0/40023/coverbig.jpg?v=ce6049b1ca9bb997013e7c6b4f0f4667)
The King and His Woman
Avila grew up emotionally damaged by the man she thought was her father, she was hated and disrespected in her kingdom and as the heir to the throne, she was rejected by her people because she was born blind. What happens to her after the war and their kingdom is lost to Sabaene kingdom where the
/0/55107/coverbig.jpg?v=620f6f0beeccf734ecf6a09b6a6e2e08)
His Feisty Hybrid Princess
Being the Princess of both the werewolf world and the faerie kingdom, Midsummer, Belle knew her life would always involve many responsibilities and for the most part, she was fine with that. So when her mother, Queen Serena, decides its time for Belle to take over as the Queen of Midsummer, Belle
/0/60724/coverbig.jpg?v=f53a1d6637649a8f8b1265d4e39e8174)
The King and His Lover
In a kingdom where alliances are formed through marriage and rivals lurk in every shadow, a crown prince finds himself torn between duty and desire. Married for political convenience, he never expected to find true love in the arms of a seemingly innocent servant maid. But as their forbidden romance
/0/68168/coverbig.jpg?v=20260526215258)
The Mafia King and his hard-headed slave
His voice was low, teasing. "I wonder what sound you'd make if I went further." I gasped, gripping the sheets as his fingers moved with purpose. My body responded instinctively, lost in the sensation. "More. I need more," I murmured breathlessly, pressing my face into the blanket, failing to muffle
/0/84524/coverbig.jpg?v=20250815182646)
THE DANGEROUS MAFIA KING AND HIS SUPPOSED SLAVE
What would you do if you couldn't have the person you're in love with? * * * Christine Beckley had her future worked out until her mother died in a freak shark attack. Her father uproots their lives in favour of ret
/0/84726/coverbig.jpg?v=20260527094918)
The Chained Bride and the Mafia King
"You're Soaking Wet, Are you sure you don't want me?" he asked, his voice soft yet laced with a dangerous edge "N-no," she stuttered, her voice trembling as his hand slowly moved up her inner thighs, his touch sending a shiver down her spine. "But your body is telling me something different," he
/1/129482/coverbig.jpg?v=ef81d2753b0353bc2dff3c83452fd66b)
HIS RUTHLESS MAFIA QUEEN: UNBOUND
They were born to destroy each other. Matteo De Luca is the heir to one of Sicily's most feared mafia empires. Cold, and ruthless, he has been raised with one rule carved into his blood: Never trust a Moretti. Valentina Moretti is the daughter of his family's greatest enemy and the woman secretly
/0/54788/coverbig.jpg?v=20260526063047)
The Dark Angel and her mafia king
Readers discretion is advised, the use of deadly weapons, slurs, violent languages, sexual assault and explicit sex is included in this novel. "I will not hesitate to bend you over my lap right here and give a raw spanking, so be a good girl and let's get the mission over with, sí?" He questioned
/0/71807/coverbig.jpg?v=20260527012340)
Innocent Brie and the Mafia King
"Destroy the world?" "Well... yeah, we could do that." –––––––––––––– At just 21, Angela never imagined that working one of New York's most dangerous cases would lead to taking in Brianna-a 15-year-old girl with a deadly secret. She's the daughter of the city's most feared mafia boss. –––––––––––
