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

"Do you think I'll just forgive you for this, Lena?" I insisted, my voice shaking with equal parts despair and rage. Though the apartment was dark and the flickering streetlight outside produced shadows, her expression was plain to me—defiant and agonized.

Her lips opened, and for a second I assumed she might argue, but she did not. Rather, her eyes locked with mine, full of a mix of remorse and will. "You have not to pardon me. simply listen.

I shook my head, walking away from her, then turned swiftly back. Listen, then? With what? Another justification is Yet another lie?

She moved forward, her hands shaking as they sought for mine. " Enzo, I had no option. You believe I was seeking this? To undermine you?

I snatched my hands away, the hurt of her words like daggers. You did turn away from me! Lena, you sold all of us. You turned over all we had worked on. You passed to me.

SHADOWS OF DECEPTION