edwardsauthorsally

Sold to the highest bidder to pay off a blood feud, I never imagined I would be the pawn in my father's fatal game. Still, here I am before Enzo De Luca, the most vicious mafia leader in the city. Though appealing, he is cold, deliberate, and as lethal. Though my heart races just from his proximity, it is his touch that ignites me. My body betrays me and reacts to him in ways I am powerless over. And I melt as he softly, commandingly says my name.

Enzo loves neither me nor another. In his deadly kingdom, I am only another bargain, another transaction. But every time we are alone, the conflict between us snaps—desire becomes a terrible addiction. Although I detest him for everything he stands for, I yearn for the way he consumes me, body and soul.

He has made it quite evident—our marriage is more about power than love. Still, every angry gaze and every snatched moment in the shadow reveals something different. Benevolent underneath his icy façade lies something broken that appeals to the darkest sides of me. But depending on a man like Enzo may mean losing everything.

Bound to him now, for better or worse, I am caught in a world where loyalty is brittle and treachery carries a bullet. Our friendship gets more perilous the more truths about his empire I find. And as the past calls for us, I have to question myself: will our passion be the thing that ruins us both or can I survive loving a guy like Enzo De Luca?

Burning in his arms is me. But in his universe, I could roast alive.

OWNED BY MR MAFIA

The low light seeping through the cracked windows barely reaches me, but I'm awake—every nerve in my body on alert, every breath a reminder of the wound that almost ended me. Pain flares when I shift, but it's nothing compared to the fury blazing inside my chest. I can't stop replaying it: Enzo's bloodied hands, his desperate pleads, the horror in his eyes. I've never seen him terrified. Not like that.

He sits at my side, head lowered, exhaustion pulling at his features. He hasn't slept. I know it without asking. The weight of everything we've endured pounds down on him, and I feel it too—thick, stifling. I grab for his hand, my fingers brushing across his. He jolts, eyes shooting up to see mine, and for a minute, relief sweeps over his face.

"You're awake," he gasps, as if he'd been holding that breath forever.

"Barely," I say, attempting for a grin. "You look like hell."

He huffs out a laugh—short, humorless. "Right back at you."

BETWEEN LOVE AND VENGEANCE