dammedreader
Lorenzo Moretti is the kind of man mothers warn their daughters about-if they're lucky enough to know he exists.
To the rest of the world, he's a myth. In the underworld, he's something far worse. A king built on blood, violence, and absolute control, Lorenzo doesn't negotiate-he takes. Ink coils around his body like a map of every sin he's committed, and there isn't a single soul who has ever seen mercy in his eyes.
He doesn't feel. He doesn't hesitate. He destroys.
Arianna Hayes learns that the hard way.
Sold to settle a debt she never created, she's dragged into a world she doesn't understand and thrown at the feet of a man who looks at her like she's nothing more than property. Fear becomes her only constant-sharp, suffocating, and inescapable. Every glance, every step, every word from him feels like a threat waiting to happen.
Because Lorenzo doesn't need chains to keep her.
He is the cage.
Arianna is terrified of him-of the power in his voice, the darkness in his touch, the way he watches her like he's already decided her fate. She knows better than to fight, better than to speak... but fear can only silence someone for so long.
And when that fear starts to crack, something far more dangerous takes its place.
Defiance.
Lorenzo notices.
And instead of crushing it, he becomes obsessed with it.
What begins as ownership turns into something twisted-something consuming. He doesn't soften. He doesn't change. If anything, he becomes worse. More possessive. More dangerous. More unpredictable.
Because monsters don't fall in love.
They claim.
And once Lorenzo decides Arianna is his, there's no escape. Not from his world. Not from his darkness.
Not from him.