Completed • First Draft - not edited. || "You gonna sit there all night?" Luka glances at me, smirking. I glare back. "I was enjoying the last few seconds of peace before having to spend an evening pretending to like you." "That's funny," he says, unbuckling his seatbelt. "Why?" I snap. "Because I was thinking the same thing." || The rules? Easy enough. 1. Pretend to be the perfect couple. 2. Keep it professional. 3. And whatever you do, don't. catch. feelings. Simple, right? Sofia Calloway never planned on going viral for throwing a drink in Luka Mikhaylov's face. But one video, one pissed-off hockey star, and one furious university later... she's suddenly stuck in a fake relationship with the guy she can't stand. He needs to clean up his image before the NHL draft. She needs the free tuition that comes with the deal. All they have to do is smile for the cameras, hold hands at the games, and act like they don't want to strangle each other. Then come the late-night arguments that last too long. The stolen glances that feel too dangerous. The moment where "pretend" starts looking way too real. Because when you break the rules, someone's bound to lose. And this time, it might be both of them.

"You want to act reckless? Fine. But don't think for a second you're not being watched. This city is full of men who'd love to carve a message into you just to make a point." "And what message would you carve?" I whispered. He reached out. Brushed the back of his knuckles down my jaw, rough and slow. "Mine." It wasn't sweet. It wasn't romantic. It was a brand. And then he dropped his hand. "You have ten minutes to get out of here before I make a fucking scene." ˚ʚ♡ɞ˚ Massimo Bianchi is ruthless, the kind of man who leaves blood in his wake and never looks back. At 29, he's the trusted enforcer for one of the most feared mafia bosses in America - my father, Lorenzo DeLuca, the ghost I never knew but can never escape. I, Francesca DeLuca, have spent my life in the shadows of wealth, too blind to see the truth behind my family's fortune. But when I confront the mysterious man who's been following me, I'm thrown into a world of blood and betrayal, where loyalty is bought and sold like a commodity. Massimo is everything I should fear - cold, dangerous, and bound by an oath to my father. But there's something in the way he looks at me, a dark hunger he refuses to acknowledge. I should hate him, push him away, but the deeper I fall into my family's twisted legacy, the harder it is to resist the pull. But loving a man like Massimo is a risk, and in our world, mistakes are paid for in blood. So the question is - will I be his downfall, or will he be mine?

'𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒉𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒔𝒆𝒙? 𝒊𝒕'𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕.' |18+| - 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒖𝒍𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅, 𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒊𝒕. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Two twisted people taking out justice in the way they know best. She's the queen of the game and darkness. He's the master of control and manipulation. In the dark alleys of underworld, where loyalty is a luxury and love is a liability, one rivalry flame ignites between the ruthless mafia queen and the FBI agent tasked with taking her down and they hate to admit; only one would reign. Power is her game. Seduction is his trap. When he's betrayed and taken under her rein, she offers him a deal; power in exchange of loyalty, but when their moves becomes seduction, who will make the next move - and who will be left exposed? What happens when they both find themselves ensnared in a web of darkness, where the whispers of the shadows revealed truths too horrifying to conceal? Join this pair in the rollercoaster of a life of war, flying bullets, levitating knives and a hell ride of betrayal and love. Just know that even the most just person have secrets carefully concealed beneath layers of deceit. She weaves the web of lies, he pulls the strings from behind. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ "Do it," he drawls, not even flinching at the knife I have on his neck. "I'd rather die at your hands than in anyone's." "Aren't you scared?" I ask, eyes tracing the trail of blood going down his neck. "Scared? Darling, it'd be a privilege if you're the last thing I see before I die."