Issa497
Dionne Valez's life ended the night her house went up in flames.
Her ninth birthday was supposed to be a celebration-balloons, cake, love.
Instead, it became a graveyard of smoke and screams. Her parents dead. Her past reduced to ash.
Now twenty-five, Dionne lives under the roof of Caleb Ashford, a powerful, polished man who wears guilt like silk-smooth and untouchable. He took her in after the fire. Raised her. Gave her a new life. But Dionne has always known something was wrong. Caleb's kindness felt too perfect. Too rehearsed.
Worse? His daughter Lia, her best friend, her only light, knows nothing of the monster her father truly is.
Dionne has spent years transforming herself into a weapon-deadly, beautiful, untouchable. An assassin hiding behind charm and couture, waiting for the day she can tear open the past and find the truth. That day comes when Caleb throws her a lavish birthday party, inviting everyone from his empire... and possibly, the people responsible for destroying hers.
But the night doesn't go as planned.
Because Kaelion Cain Blackbourne is watching her from the shadows.
CEO. Mafia King. Ruthless beyond redemption.
He's here for revenge too. Only Caleb didn't just ruin Dionne's life-he annihilated Kaelion's.
He's not here to flirt. He's here to burn.
And when he kidnaps Dionne, mistaking her for Caleb's daughter, their world collides in a violent, seductive game of betrayal and obsession. She hates him. He doesn't trust her. But both are chasing the same man... and the truth that could kill them.
Beneath every threat, every scar, every slow-burning glance-they begin to see themselves in each other: broken souls molded by fire, bound by vengeance.
In the shadows of Caleb Ashford's empire, love is a weapon, and survival means choosing who to kill first-your enemy, or your own heart.