"You think I want to be like this, my Stella? Do you think I chose to be a life sucking monster that goes around and steals little ragazze from their beds each night? Do you?" He growled as I squirmed, trying to free myself.
"N-no. I don't t-think you did. Per favore! Let me go, and I won't tell anyone. I swear!" I whimpered, wriggling. His grip tightened.
He sighed, leisurely taking a lock of my hair and tugging on it. "Shh," he leaned in and whispered in my ear. "Don't squirm, you'll only bring yourself more pain. I would hate that..." Tears started flowing freely down my face.
"Please. Lasciami in pa-" He put a finger to my lips, stopping me.
"Stella? Why do you cry? I could make you happy...Would you like that?" He asked, looking me in the eye. I tried to tell him to piss off and leave me alone, to resist.
But only one answer came to mind.
"Yes."
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Cassiopeia Lomeri -- A successful business owner in Rome, Italy, she has all she could want. A nice apartment, friends, money. Only two things are missing. An adventure, and love.
She then receives a letter from a mysterious benefactor. It's an invitation to stay at a real castle in Luxembourg for 2 weeks with eligible bachelors and bachelorettes (not to mention it's all expenses paid!). She can't help feeling it's fate. A perfect, no perfectly romantic, getaway.
But apon arriving, it is obvious that something is amiss. The benefactor ends up being three devilishly handsome men: Angelo, Luca, and Gilles, who look to be hiding something. Women are disappearing in the night, only to be returned in the morning with sore bodies and surprisingly nasty tempers.
It seems the only people Cassie can trust are her new American friends, Everett and Venus.
Will they together figure out the secret of the benefactors, before Venus or herself are abducted, or will they in turn be seduced?
𝐒𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞 & 𝐒𝐞𝐱𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭.
"Do you have any idea what I'd do if you left me, Elara?" he murmured, his voice deceptively soft.
I didn't answer. I knew better.
He let out a dark chuckle, tilting my chin up until our eyes met. His gaze was wild-obsessed. Unhinged. "I'd hunt you. Drag you back. Chain you to my bed if I had to." His lips ghosted over mine, almost gentle. "And the worst part? You'd still be mine. Willingly or not."
My heart pounded, but I refused to let him see fear. I am not weak or stupid. I won't run like the others.
I will wait. Play the game. And when the time came-I will make him bleed.
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Elara Carter was never one to be afraid. Strong-willed, sharp-tongued, and independent, she had always fought her battles alone. But when she returned to her old school after years, she never expected to step right back into the grasp of the one person she should have stayed far away from.
Luca Moretti.
Once, he was the boy who made her smile-the boy with warmth in his eyes and mischief in his heart. Now, he is a man carved from ice and cruelty, a man whose name alone sends chills down spines. The heir to the most feared criminal empire. Cold, ruthless, and dangerously obsessive. And for some reason, he has set his sights on her.
Trapped in a world of madness and power, Elara must decide-fight for her freedom or surrender to the monster who wants nothing more than to own her completely.
Because in Luca's world, love isn't soft. It's dangerous, consuming, and utterly inescapable.