Chapter: Chapter 22 : My Girlfriend*EMILY*I woke up smiling. That was problem number one. Problem number two was that I knew exactly why. I reached for my phone before I was even fully awake, squinting at the light. One message. *Adrian: Good morning, girlfriend.* I stared at it. Then smiled so hard my face hurt. I typed back. *Emily: That sounds strange.* His reply came almost immediately. *Adrian: I'm getting used to it.* *Emily: You better.* Three dots appeared. *Adrian: Did you sleep well?* I laughed quietly into my pillow. *Emily: Are you eighty years old?* *Adrian: Answer the question.* *Emily: Yes. You?* There was a pause. *Adrian: Better than usual.* I stared at that. My chest did something stupid and warm. Then another message came through. *Adrian: I'm outside.* I sat straight up. The blanket fell off my lap. *Emily: Outside where?* *Adrian: Your gallery.* I glanced at the clock. 8:47. *Emily: It's not even nine.* *Adrian: I know.* *Emily: Why are
Last Updated: 2026-08-17
Chapter: Chapter 21 : Finally*EMILY*I spent the entire morning lying to myself. I wasn’t nervous. I was fine. It was just Adrian. The lie didn’t hold. I changed my shirt twice before 9am. A blouse, then a sweater, then back to the blouse because the sweater made me look like I was trying too hard. Which I was. I rearranged three paintings on the gallery wall. Then rearranged them again. I told myself I was being ridiculous. Except it wasn’t just Adrian anymore. That was the problem. The man who’d walked into my gallery weeks ago had looked like he owned the building, the block, and probably the city. Sharp suit. Colder eyes. The kind of man who didn’t ask, he decided. This Adrian drank terrible coffee because I’d once said I liked it. This Adrian had shown up to my exhibition in dress shoes and carried canvases without complaining. This Adrian remembered I took two sugars and never asked why. This Adrian had pulled out a sketchbook from when he was sixteen and let me see the boy who d
Last Updated: 2026-08-17
Chapter: Chapter 20: The morning after *EMILY* I woke up smiling and that was the first red flag. I stared at the ceiling, letting it sink in. Adrian. The gallery. The couch. His hand on my back like he was afraid I’d vanish if he let go. The way he’d whispered my name at 1am like it was the only word he knew. I groaned and pulled the blanket over my face. “Oh God.” I was still smiling under the blanket. Stupid. I grabbed my phone. 7:42am. No notifications. No text. No "good morning". No "did you get home okay". Nothing. Right. Because we’re adults. Because we said this wasn’t going to be weird. Because he’s Adrian Marcelli and he doesn’t do good morning texts. I tossed the phone onto the pillow and got up. Made coffee. Checked email. Rearranged three books. Checked my phone again. Still nothing. “Pathetic,” I muttered to the empty apartment. Clara was the first person at the gallery. She took one look at me and dropped her bag. “You’re early and you’re glowing. What happened.” “Nothing
Last Updated: 2026-08-12
Chapter: Chapter 19 : The Line *EMILY* I knew something was different before Adrian even texted. It was 8am and I was reorganizing the same shelf of prints for the third time because my brain wouldn’t shut up. Every time my phone buzzed I checked it. When it was just Clara asking about inventory I felt stupid for being disappointed. Then at 2:17 his name popped up. *Adrian: Are you working tonight?* I stared at it until the screen went dark. Not "foundation meeting". Not "can you review the proposal". Just that. *Emily: Why?* *Adrian: I want to see you.* No reason. No excuse. The last time a man said that to me I ended up crying in a bathroom at 3am. I set my phone face down. Clara looked up from the register. “Who’s making you do that?” “Do what?” “That face. Like you just got caught doing something.” “Nothing.” “Sure.” She rang up a customer and the second they left she leaned on the counter. “It’s him, isn’t it.” I didn’t answer. “You’re smiling,” she said. “When was the last time y
Last Updated: 2026-08-11
Chapter: Chapter 18: Off the ClockThe address he sent wasn’t the foundation. It was a coffee shop in West Village. The kind with chipped mugs and plants in the windows. Not Marcelli.I stood on the sidewalk with my tote bag and checked my phone again. Foundation meeting. 2PM. That’s what the email said yesterday.The door opened and Adrian stepped out. No suit. Black jeans, black sweater, sunglasses pushed up into his hair. He looked younger. Less like a headline.“You’re early,” he said. “You’re not at the office.”He smiled. Just a little. “There is no office today.”I frowned. “What do you mean?”“I mean I lied.” He shoved his hands in his pockets. “There’s no meeting. No foundation thing. No exhibition.” A pause. “I just wanted to see you.”That stopped me. Adrian Marcelli didn’t do things without an excuse. Security. Business. A photo op. There was always a reason I could point to when people asked why I was with him.This was the first time there wasn’t one.“Okay,” I said slowly. “So what do we do
Last Updated: 2026-08-11
Chapter: Chapter 17: Babysitting *LEO* By eleven in the morning I’d already been told no three times. Don’t leave the building alone. Don’t take the car without telling Adrian. And don’t, under any circumstances, make Rowan regret agreeing to babysit me today. I was sitting across from him in Adrian’s office, watching him drink Adrian’s coffee out of Adrian’s mug like he paid rent here. “You’re actually doing this,” I said. “Yes.” “It’s Saturday.” “Yes.” “You have a life.” “No.” I frowned. “That’s depressing.” Rowan lifted the mug. “I have a job.” “That’s not a life, that’s a sentence.” “You’re one to talk. You’re sitting in your brother’s office at eleven on a Saturday because you have nothing better to do.” I looked around. “I’m sitting in my brother’s office drinking his coffee.” “You invited me.” “I didn’t think you’d say yes.” Rowan set the mug down. “You said, and I quote, ‘Come downstairs if you want to watch me make terrible decisions.’” “I was joking.” “I wasn’t.
Last Updated: 2026-08-09
Bound To The Devil's contract
"You are my wife in name, my captive in private, and my possession in bed. Do not expect my respect, Elena, and never expect my love."
To save my younger brother from a death sentence, I had to sell myself to the devil. And in this city, the devil wears a bespoke Italian suit, carries a blood-stained gun, and goes by the name Dante Alighieri.
He is the ruthless, cold-blooded Don of the Outfit—the exact man who brutally dismantled my family’s empire. When my father fled the country, he left behind a trail of blood and millions in unpaid debt. Dante offered a single, terrifying way out: a contract. To clear the debt and keep my brother alive, I have to become his wife.
Our wedding night wasn’t a fairy tale; it was a declaration of war. Dante wants to punish me for my father's sins. He wants to break my pride.
But he underestimated me. I may be trapped in his gilded cage, but I am no fragile mafia princess. I refuse to bow.
The problem is the terrifying, electric chemistry between us. Behind closed doors, our furious arguments turn into breathless, explicit encounters that blur the line between hatred and obsession. His touch is a punishment, but my body betrays me every single time he pins me to the mattress.
I’m playing a dangerous game, trying to survive the monster in my bed without losing my heart. But when a rival faction puts a target on my back, the ruthless villain flips a switch. Suddenly, he is tearing the city apart to find me, proving that he will brutally destroy anyone who dares to touch what belongs to him.
He bought my body for revenge. But he will burn the world to keep it.
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Chapter: Chapter 57: What They HidELENANobody spoke after Jack's last words.The sentence just hung there in the stale air of the library, too heavy to fall. They planned for it.The laptop remained open on the table where Marco had left it, its screen dimming slightly before brightening again, stuck on that final frozen frame. The image was grainy, corrupted by time and by whoever had tried so badly to erase it, but the three men in it were unmistakable.My father. Younger, his hair still dark, his shoulders not yet bowed by whatever guilt he would carry for the next twenty years.Rafael. Unchanged, somehow. The same cold stillness, the same watchful eyes, even then.And Jack's father. A man I had never met and yet felt like I had been running from my entire life.I couldn't stop looking at that third man. Not because I recognized him, but because of the way Jack was looking at him. Like a wound that had never properly closed had just been ripped open again.Because Jack remembered. And that meant there was somethin
Last Updated: 2026-08-26
Chapter: Chapter 56: The Night she Disappeared*ELENA* The photograph sat on the table between us, and none of us reached for it. For several long minutes the only sound in the room was the ticking of the clock on the wall. My younger self stared back at me from the faded paper, small and serious. I looked about seven. My father’s hand rested on my shoulder the way it always did in pictures, firm and possessive. Several feet behind us stood Rafael, half in shadow. And right beside my father was a man whose face had been scratched out so thoroughly that all that was left was a dark smear. I lifted my eyes to Jack. “You said you remember that night.” He nodded slowly, like the memory was something heavy he had to lift. “Some of it.” “Then tell me.” He dragged out a chair and sat. “I was younger too. I don’t remember everything clearly.” “But you remember me disappearing?” “Yes.” “What happened?” Jack glanced down at the photograph again. “There was a party at the house. Your father had people over. Busine
Last Updated: 2026-08-22
Chapter: Chapter 55: What They Hid *ELENA* I couldn't stop hearing the sentence. `She can't know what she is.` It had followed me from the library to my room, through dinner, and into the early hours of the morning. It was in the steam of my coffee. In the sound of the door closing. In the space between Dante's words when he thought I wasn't listening. By sunrise, I'd given up trying to ignore it. I found Jack in the greenhouse. He was sitting on the old wooden bench beside the window, repairing one of the gardening tools. The morning light fell across his hands. Gold and dust. He looked up when I entered. “You're up early.” “I need to ask you something.” His expression changed. His shoulders tensed. “What?” I closed the door behind me. The glass muffled the sound. “Rafael.” Jack's hand stopped moving. The screwdriver froze mid-turn. I knew immediately. He knew something. “You know what he meant when he said I couldn't know what I was.” Jack looked back down at the tool. “I d
Last Updated: 2026-08-21
Chapter: Chapter 54: What she is *ELENA* I didn't sleep in my room last night. I slept in the library. On the couch. With Dante's sweater over me and the folder from yesterday spread open on the coffee table. Every few minutes I would jolt awake and check if the photograph was still there. The scratched-out face. My father's handwriting. `COME BACK.` It was. It always was. By morning, the manor felt wrong again. Not because of Rafael. Because of the silence. Because of what we didn't know. The staff moved quieter. Leo barely spoke at breakfast. Jack kept looking at his phone like he was waiting for it to ring. And Dante... Dante hadn't slept either. I found him in the study at 6am. He was alone. He had a glass of whiskey in his hand but he hadn't touched it. The ice had melted. I closed the door behind me. The sound was soft but he still looked up. “We need to talk.” He nodded once. “About Rafael?” “About the original Raven.” Dante set the glass down. He didn't drink fr
Last Updated: 2026-08-21
Chapter: Chapter 53 : The Name Before Him*ELENA*I couldn't stop thinking about Leo's words. Not Rafael. Not even the Raven. The man before him. The one whose face Leo couldn't remember. The one whose name made my father write warnings on the back of photographs. By breakfast, I'd barely touched my food. The eggs were cold. The coffee had gone bitter an hour ago and I was still staring at it. Dante noticed. Of course he did. “You're thinking too much.” I looked up from my plate. My fork was still hovering over it. “That’s rich coming from you.” His mouth twitched. The smallest hint of a smile, but it didn't reach his eyes. “I mean it.” “So do I.” He reached across the table and took my hand. His palm was warm. Steady. A contrast to how cold I felt. “We'll figure it out.” I looked at him. “You don't know that.” “No.” He squeezed my fingers once. “But I'm not going to let you figure it out alone.” Across from us, Leo pushed his toast around his plate. He hadn't taken a single bite.
Last Updated: 2026-08-20
Chapter: Chapter 52: What Leo Remembers *ELENA* I barely slept. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the same photograph. Rafael Vieri. Early thirties. Calm eyes. A face that didn't look like a monster. The face we'd been searching for without knowing we were searching for him. By morning, the entire manor felt different. The air was heavier. Quieter. Nobody said it out loud, but we were all thinking about the same thing. The Raven had a name now. And somehow, that made him more frightening. Names meant he was real. Names meant he could be found. I found Dante in the kitchen before breakfast. The lights were still dim. He was standing by the counter with his phone in his hand, thumb scrolling, but he wasn't really reading. “You've been there for ten minutes,” I said. He looked up. Dark circles under his eyes. “You're awake.” “I couldn't sleep.” “Neither could I.” I walked toward him. The tile was cold under my bare feet. “Did Marco find anything?” “Not enough.” “What does that mean?
Last Updated: 2026-08-20
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