They tell me love is a pretty lie. A cruel deception. I wouldn't know-I've never been given the chance to believe in it. A daughter of the Cosa Nostra, passed from one husband to the next like a prized possession, I have learned one thing: a woman's value is measured in obedience. But then I come back, and he's there. Enzo Mancini. Silent. Ruthless. Untouchable. Except... I have touched him. Once, before the lies. Before the fire. Before he left me with nothing but ghosts of a boy who used to stare at me like I was his only sin. Now, he looks at me like I'm his reckoning. Like he's been starving. Like he'll ruin me all over again. The worst part? I want him to. Enzo Mancini She was never supposed to know the truth of that night. The blood on my hands. The fact that I let her believe I was the monster. I told myself I could let her go. That I could watch her slip through my fingers, fall into the hands of men who never deserved her. And I did. She doesn't know what I've done for her. How many bodies I've buried. How many sins I've committed in her name. She's everything I should stay away from. Soft where I am hard. Chaos where I am order. A temptation so dangerous, it should be a death sentence. But I can't stop. I can't stop watching her, wanting her, losing sleep over the way she lingers like a curse in the nightmares she inhabits. She calls me heartless, and like everyone, I let her believe it. She doesn't know that every step she takes away from me is another step toward a man who won't live long enough to touch what's mine. I saved her from the fire long ago, the same one I caused. And now, the flames are swallowing me whole. 17+ Mafia Dark Romance *Standalone*

*WAS DELETED AT 600K READS* Adriana Mancini I was raised to bite, not bow. So when they told me I was to marry Nikolas Volkov-heir to the Bratva, enemy to my blood-I didn't cry, I laughed. They thought they could tame me with diamonds and alliances. And for the first time in my life, I realized I didn't have a choice. As for him.. It's the eyes that speak to me. Blank but compulsive with secrets, empty yet dominating with control. Like stone. I wonder, is his heart made of it too? Nikolas Volkov After a bloody feud with the Cosa Nostra, I'm forced into an arranged marriage-to the one woman I can't control. Adriana Mancini. A hurricane in stilettos with venom in her smile. She tests my patience, taunts my power, and tempts my darkness. She thinks I won't ruin her just because she wears my ring. But this marriage was never meant to be peaceful. It was built for war.