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

Enzo's voice sliced through the darkness, low and raw, shaking with a desperation I had never heard before. "Don't leave me." His fingers tightened mine, as though he thought releasing would mean losing me permanently. The dim glimmer of the cavern's leftovers lit the anarchy all about us, but his eyes—filled with a mix of dread and rage—held me hostage.

Though my voice trembled beneath the weight of my own anxiety, I said, "I'm not going anywhere." My free palm slid across his cheek, scattering dirt and perspiration. "But we have to get ahead of this place descending on top of us."

Once more the walls cracked, the cavern shaking beneath the weight of almost certain collapse. From above, rocks dropped like lethal reminders of time running out.

"You always say that," he said, his voice cutting. But every time you expose yourself to risk as though you had nothing to lose.

GLIMPSES OF DECEPTION