ATONEMENT

Privious name of this book :
Twisted Obsession : A Mafia Romance

"obssetion?
No, kiddo.
What I feel for you is much darker than that."

✦ ─────────────── ✦
"Run if you want kiddo. I enjoy the chase."
✦ ─────────────── ✦

Slap

He didn't touch his cheek. He didn't blink. Something inside him simply shut down-the human part. What was left was the Beast. Not rage-rage is loud. This was control. This was the silence of the deep ocean.

He stepped closer, invading her space until she was forced to

"Interesting," he murmured.

That was all. No explosion. No shouting. And that frightened her more than any roar ever could. He reached out and took her wrist. His grip was firm, unavoidable-a band of iron that didn't squeeze, but simply ended her freedom.

"Do you know," he said, his voice lowering to a register that vibrated in her bones, "how many people pray I don't notice them? How many men have died just for looking at me the wrong way?"

His thumb pressed lightly against her pulse. Her heartbeat was frantic, a trapped bird.

"And you," he continued, his eyes darkening into twin voids of obsidian, "raise your hand on me."

He released her wrist suddenly, only to grab her upper arm with a strength that brooked no resistance. He began to drag her.

Not toward the house. Not toward the towels. He dragged her toward the dark, restricted end of the pool-the section where the water was deep, shadowed by the overhanging architecture.

"Advay, stop! You're hurting me!"

He didn't respond. He didn't even seem to hear her. He stepped down into the water first, fully dressed in his charcoal trousers and silk shirt. The surface changed around him, shifting and swirling as if recognizing its master.

Then, she saw them.

Five shadows beneath the surface. Massive. Sleek. Moving in a rhythmic, terrifying orbit.

There are Sharks .

Vrishti's breath froze in her throat. "No," she whispered, her voice trembling. "Ad