The Cost of Saving Him
Mina Mendoza thought her darkest days were behind her. Running her late mentor’s bar in the heart of New York gave her a fragile sense of peace. But all of that shatters one night when a blood-soaked stranger crashes through her doors just before closing time, gun in hand and secrets in his eyes.
Luciano is dangerous, wounded, and devastatingly magnetic, the kind of man Mina swore she'd never fall for. But he’s not just any man. He’s tied to the mafia. The kind of ties that leave blood trails and whispered threats. Helping him survive was instinct. Surviving what came next, that’s the real challenge.
Drawn to him in dreams that feel too real, haunted by her traumatic past, and stalked by the violent world Luciano can’t outrun, Mina finds herself caught in something far deeper than attraction. She’s entangled in a web of lies, bullets, and power where trust is a gamble, and love might be a fatal mistake.
As her world tilts into chaos, Mina must choose: run from the fire, or walk straight into it with the one man who could destroy everything.
Because loving him was never part of the agreement.
And yet, it might be the only thing that saves them both. Luciano isn’t just trouble, he’s the trouble: the Don of a powerful mafia family, running from a betrayal that could cost him everything. Now, Mina is caught in his storm, haunted by dreams, and tangled in a love that defies logic. She saved him once. But loving him might be the most dangerous thing she’s ever done.
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Chapter: What Felt Like Goodbye-Mina- It took about an hour to get comfortable and fall asleep, and I only slept for all of two hours. The dreams didn’t let up tonight, the pain crossing into reality when I woke up. I tossed the blanket off me and swung my legs over the bed, realizing there was nowhere to go; I was safe this time. It didn’t take long for that to register. I was sitting on the edge of Luca’s bed when he came in, my feet barely touching the floor, the city humming through the open window. The sheets were rumpled beneath my hands, warm from my body like they were waiting for something other than rest. I didn’t turn right away because I didn’t need to. I felt him before I saw him.He closed the door quietly behind him, the sound final in a way that made my chest tighten. When he said my name, it wasn’t the Don’s voice. It was low, unguarded, careful.“You should be sleeping,” he said.“I tried,” I replied. “My body didn’t agree.”I turned then. He stood there without his jacket, shirt slightly undone
Last Updated: 2025-12-26
Chapter: A Bad Decision-Mina-I didn’t tell anyone where I was going. Not Luca. Not Frankie. Not Tony. I let the lie sit by omission, heavy and deliberate. Sometimes silence is the only way to move without being stopped.Rafael didn’t ask questions when I told him to come with me. He never did. He checked his weapon, adjusted his jacket, and nodded once. Cartel loyalty wasn’t loud. It was precise.We took a car that didn’t belong to the family. No Gambino plates. No recognizable routes. I made Rafael take three turns. We didn’t need to; I just wanted to make sure we weren’t followed. Paranoia was a habit now, not a reaction.The city looked different when I wasn’t moving through it under Gambino protection. Every corner felt sharper. Every stoplight felt like a mistake. I watched storefronts blur past and wondered how many people had no idea how close they lived to men who decided whether they breathed tomorrow.Alaric chose a location that felt intentional. A half-abandoned commercial space near the river,
Last Updated: 2025-12-21
Chapter: What We Should Have Been-Mina-Frankie found me in the break room off the operations floor, as if he’d been circling the place until he worked up the nerve. The air smelled like burnt coffee and gun oil, which felt fitting. He leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, eyes tired yet alert. When he saw me, something eased in his face, and he didn’t bother hiding it.“You okay?” he asked. “I’m breathing,” I replied sarcastically. “That’s where I’m setting the bar today.” I slid a stale granola bar across the table toward him. He snorted and ignored it.“Fair,” he smiled slightly. We let the silence sit. Radios crackled down the hall, boots passed, metal shifted. War wasn’t approaching. It was already inside the building, living in the walls.“You’ve been avoiding me,” I finally spoke again.He gave a short laugh. “You’ve met my brother.” He stepped inside and shut the door. The click sounded final, like we were sealing something in. “I didn’t want to say the wrong thing.”“You’re saying something now,” I re
Last Updated: 2025-12-20
Chapter: What He Leaves Behind-Mina-Weeks passed before the city finally stopped holding its breath. The noise never completely disappeared, but it eased into something darker and quieter. The kind of calm that only happens when everyone knows blood is about to spill. I learned how to read that silence quickly.We met in a warehouse that officially belonged to no one. It sat between Gambino territory and what used to be Moretti land, neutral in the way only temporary alliances are. Concrete floors, steel tables, armed men lining the walls like furniture. This was not a peace meeting; it was a planning room for murder.Luciano stood at the head of the table, calm and precise. He wore black, as he always did when working, no jacket, and his sleeves rolled up just enough to remind everyone who he was. The Don never raised his voice.Frankie sat to his right, with perfect posture and a composed expression. He issued orders when asked and kept his eyes on the maps. In public, he was reliable. In private, he still avoi
Last Updated: 2025-12-16
Chapter: What Love Cost Us All– Luciano –Frankie didn’t wait for permission. He stood in the yard with his keys already in his hand, jaw tight, eyes dark. The warehouse hummed behind us, generators and radios filling the silence no one wanted to acknowledge. Men kept their heads down, but everyone felt it. Something had shifted, and it wasn’t coming back the same.“I’m running the routes near the house,” he said. “South fence. Creek road. Anywhere that phone could’ve come from.” His gaze flicked past me toward the doors. “After that, I’m picking up Mina’s things. Clothes. Art supplies. She shouldn’t feel like she’s borrowing a life.”“You don’t have to do it yourself,” I said. “I’ve got men.”He shook his head once. “She trusts me.” His voice dropped. “Right now, she doesn’t trust you.”The words landed exactly where he meant them to. He walked past me and opened the SUV door. Gravel popped under the tires when he pulled out, the gate sliding open and slamming shut behind him. The sound echoed longer than it shou
Last Updated: 2025-12-15
Chapter: The Last Thread-Luciano-Frankie entered at dawn, boots scraping across the concrete as if he'd walked through every ghost in the city. His jacket was half unzipped, and his shirt was damp with sweat. He closed the warehouse door with a soft thud that sounded louder than a gunshot. I watched him cross the floor without looking my way, which felt worse than if he had shouted.The reports from the raids were stacked on the table. Mina had fallen asleep two hours earlier with the files open in her lap. Rafael carried her upstairs without waking her, and the sight of it scraped something raw inside me. Frankie wiped a hand down his face and finally looked at me. There was no anger left in his eyes. Just exhaustion and something colder.“You got what you needed tonight,” he said. His voice was low but steady. “Three hits. Three routes cut. You won.” I didn’t answer. He took one step closer. “So tell me this. How long are you going to pretend this is about Alaric and not about her.”The warehouse was stil
Last Updated: 2025-12-07
Chapter: The Fracture MultipliesThe ground continued to tremble long after Kaine’s warning settled into Mae’s bones. The thin line of gold light at the horizon pulsed once, then again, like a distant heartbeat answering her own. Ash drifted through the air, clinging to her skin, her chains humming low beneath it all. Whatever had awakened was not rushing. It was gathering.Sethis stood rigid beside her, shadows drawn tight, coiled like a blade held back by restraint alone. His gaze never left the glowing horizon. “That light does not belong here,” he said. “It feels wrong.”Kaine watched it with a familiarity that unsettled her. The gold in his eyes flickered, dimmer now, as though something in the distance pulled at him. “It does not belong anywhere,” he replied. “That is the problem.”Mae forced herself to breathe. Every instinct screamed that this was spiraling beyond her control, yet the fracture inside her was calm. Not quiet. Calm. It pulsed steadily, as if this was always the direction things were meant to mo
Last Updated: 2025-12-28
Chapter: Ashes in GoldKaine emerged from the ashes as if the world had been waiting for him. His eyes glowed with a steady gold that pulsed like a heartbeat, and the chains draped along his arms shone with a warmth that didn’t belong to death. Mae couldn’t breathe. Her body froze, caught between terror and relief.Sethis instinctively stepped in front of her, shadows rising in a defensive wall that flickered with uncertainty. The air around them shifted, heavy and electric, as if reality itself strained to comprehend how Kaine remained alive before them.Mae took one step forward. Her pulse echoed loudly against her ribs, her chains vibrating with frantic energy. She searched his face for something familiar, anything that proved he was the man she knew and not a shadow from the fracture.Kaine only smiled, slow and steady, as if he were greeting her in the quiet morning light instead of amidst the ruins of a battlefield that had nearly claimed them all. He lifted a hand slightly, palm open, offering calm i
Last Updated: 2025-11-29
Chapter: The Return of FireThe wind carried the scent of ash and iron, stirring the remnants of battle around them. Mae’s pulse thrummed against her throat, every beat echoing in the chains that still glowed faintly beneath her skin. Sethis stood only a breath away, his presence wrapping around her like a storm contained by will alone.“You’ve bound yourself to it,” he said quietly. “To the fracture. To him.” Mae’s fingers tightened at her sides. “I made a choice.”“No,” Sethis whispered, stepping closer, his shadows tightening. “You answered a call. One that will not stop until it owns you.”She turned to face him, the violet light in her eyes flickering. “You think I don’t know what I’ve done? You think I don’t feel it clawing through me?” Sethis’s expression shifted. Anger, grief, and something deeper. “You gave yourself to the thing that wanted to unmake you.”“I ended the war,” she said, voice trembling with exhaustion. “The champion fell.” He laughed once, dark and hollow. “Fell? Mae, it kneeled. There’s
Last Updated: 2025-10-11
Chapter: Crown of Violet FireThe Champion fell to its knees.The sound was like mountains breaking, stone groaning against the weight of surrender. Ash and flame swirled around its colossal frame as if the battlefield itself could not understand what it had just witnessed. The creature that had brought gods to ruin, that had swallowed armies whole, bent before her with its chains scraping low into the fractured earth.Mae’s breath caught. Her hands trembled in the still air, though her violet chains no longer shook. They pulsed in quiet rhythm with her racing heart. The Fallen stared in stunned silence, each of them caught between rage, awe, and disbelief.Lucien’s voice was the first to pierce the stillness, raw and unsteady. “No. This is not victory.” His chains rattled uselessly, still pinned by Mae’s will. His eyes burned into her like fire meant to scorch away illusion. “It kneels because you are surrendering yourself. You are feeding it exactly what it wanted.”Riven’s wings twitched against the bindings, f
Last Updated: 2025-09-22
Chapter: The Choice ForetoldThe smoke had not yet cleared. The champion loomed at the edge of sight, unmoving, its chains rattling faintly like distant thunder. The air was heavy with ash, the scent of scorched earth clinging to every breath. Mae stood stiff in the silence, her chains dimming to a low violet glow, their energy coiling restlessly beneath her skin.Ashar was the first to break the stillness. His blade lowered, flames guttering into faint embers. His voice carried the weight of grief. “Kaine is gone.”Riven’s wings shivered, folding against his bloodied back. He kept his gaze down, jaw tight, as if saying nothing would shield him from the truth. Sethis’ shadows slithered closer to Mae, protective and sharp, though even his eyes betrayed strain.Lucien finally dragged himself upright, chains dragging heavily behind him. His face was drawn, his body battered, but his gaze never left the colossal figure in the distance. “It has not left,” he muttered, almost to himself. “It watches.”Mae’s throat tight
Last Updated: 2025-09-18
Chapter: Violet AshesThe battlefield was quiet now, but the silence was worse than any roar. Smoke curled across shattered ground, ashes drifting in violet light that still lingered in Mae's veins. Her chest heaved, lungs burning, chains coiling and writhing as if they had a life of their own. The champion had not moved, but its presence pressed down on her, massive, patient, waiting for the fracture to falter.Mae's knees buckled, and she sank to the scorched earth. Her fingers clutched at the chains, trying to steady them. Kaine's golden light had vanished. The echo of his command lingered. Run. His sacrifice still radiated warmth in her memory, but it was gone. She was alone.Behind her, faint movements caught her eye. Ashar's flames smoldered, Riven's wings trembled, and Sethis' shadows curled like serpents across the cracked ground. Lucien did not rise. Fear twisted in her stomach, tighter than the chains around her arms.The champion shifted, slow as a mountain, eyes locked on her. The ground trembl
Last Updated: 2025-09-10
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