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

"Is this all we are Enzo?" My voice quivered as I fixed my gaze on him across the little ledge, the sharp relief of the fractures below reflecting his features. " Running, fighting, never knowing who we're up against?"

His dark, fierce gaze fixed on mine revealed a flutter of something else—regret? Embarrassment? "It's not who we are," he remarked gently, his voice piercing the far-off rumble of the cavern. "It's what the planet has pushed us to grow into."

"That's not an answer," I said, the edge of irritation teping into my voice. "Every time I try to understand, every time I ask for the truth you shut me out."

Enzo moved forward, the rough dirt underneath moving dangerously. "Emilia, the truth is different from what you believe it to be. Worse still. And should you know—" He stopped himself; his jaw tightened.

Tell me, I begged, hands tightening into fists at my sides. You owe me really a lot.

A DANCE WITH SHADOWS